The project will endeavor to answer certain questions:

Questions related to Martha Philips:

•       Was Martha Philips the daughter of a Philips family?  Or was she a Philips by marriage?

•       Is it possible to determine the names of her parents?

•       Was Martha married one or more times? 

•       Is it possible to identify each of her children by name?

•       Can her mtDNA haplogroup be determined?

•       Can the Y-DNA results of her direct male line descendants be used to determine if two or more descendant lines share the same father?

•       Can the Family Finder results ofher descendants be used to determine if two or more descendant lines share the same father?

The project will endeavor to identify and catalogue historic documents that provide information about Martha.  

Questions related to the Phillips Families who lived in western North Carolina from 1790-1870:

•       Can autosomal DNA be used establish relationships among the descendants of the various Phillips families living western North Carolina?

•       Can autosomal DNA confirm that these families were related?

•       Can the project identify and document these relationships?