The Jacob Surname YDNA Project is primarily open to persons desiring to prove a paternal connection to John Jacob, Sr. (1631-1726), 17th century immigrant to Anne Arundel County, Maryland. However, the project considers other persons for membership having the Jacob or Jacobs surname. To participate, please provide the Jacob Group Administrator your paternal lineage so that test results may be used to identify common ancestors by name. Furthermore, lineages will be useful to researchers constructing family trees. When requesting to join this project please briefly describe what is known or believed of your paternal ancestry (names, dates, and locale). After each person joins the project, a "Recent New Member" posting automatically posts to the Activity Feed. Please introduce yourself to the project by commenting on the post. We all want to know something about the persons we "match." Also please donate to the project in keeping with our pay-it-forward philosophy: “Pay-it-forward – An expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of the original benefactor.” In genetic genealogy, paying it forward is not entirely altruistic but is the best way to get the most from one’s genetic inquiry through DNA testing. That’s why Y-DNA surname projects have general funds and solicit donations from its members. Group administrators obtain permission of key project members with pedigrees and apply donated funds to upgrade FTDNA tests to gain additional data. The data is used to better interpret new matches and emerging evidence of ancestral/familial relationships – to help construct a family tree. Essentially then, by joining and testing under a surname project, one hopes to match other project members that tested before and who know and have shared their lineage with the project. Their results are used to interpret yours. Therefore, what you discover from your genetic inquiry is attributable to the genetic and oftentimes financial contributions of project forerunners. Should you pay them back? No, pay it forward. Donate to the Jacob group fund to pay for strategic tests that will help the Jacob Surname Project construct a broader and more accurate genetic family tree – one that identifies even deeper ancestral connections and can more reliably predict member relationships within its branches. In fact, researchers have used our project’s success and presented its test results in international symposia to advance the field of genetic genealogy (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnSFwpQS_wM&t=261s). We have come a long way since the project inception in 2005 and with your financial support we will remain at the forefront of this scientific yet very personal inquiry into who we are.