has seventeen Skillman members at present, fifteen in America and two in England. From the Y-DNA results of the first fifteen American members, we have positively confirmed all five known separate and distinct branches of Skillmans in America.

Two descendants of Jacob-3 Skillman and one of the three Harts have all upgraded to 111 markers at Family Tree DNA. These results are posted to this website under the "Y-Results" drop-down menu and remove any doubt that the three Harts and the American Skillmans share a common ancestor. One of the Jacob-3 descendants and one of the three Harts have also completed a SNP (Deep Clade) Test. The results of the SNP (Deep Clade) test indicates that our ancestors came from the exact same part of Europe, almost certainly England, and is further evidence that we share a common ancestor.

The Reverend William Jones Skillman published his genealogy of the first five generations of the Skillmans in America in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record in twelve consecutive quarterly editions in 1906 through 1908. In his introduction he states that the early Skillmans may have gone to England from the Netherlands and that our name may have been Schilleman, as there were many of this name in the Netherlands. We have recently added a Schilleman whose ancestors came from the Netherlands to the Skillman DNA Project and, based on his 37 markers, he is not related to the Skillmans in America or to either of the two Skillmans in England. We would hope to test at least one more Schilleman to give us a larger sample, but for the moment we are still searching for the ancestors of Thomas-1 Skillman through Y-DNA.

Many of our Skillman ancestors were soldiers in the Continental Line, state militias, or otherwise committed themselves to the cause of America's independence. If your Skillman ancestor was such a Patriot, you are qualified for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) or Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The Project Administrator is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and will gladly advise any member of this project on the application process. For information on the SAR, see the website at http://www.sar.org/

In November 2011 the Project Administrator attended the 7th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy sponsored by Family Tree DNA in Houston, Texas. There were 180 Project Administrators from the US, Canada, and other countries in attendance. In addition to the Family Tree DNA staff, speakers included several genetic scientists and academics covering all aspects of the genealogical applications of DNA.

The Skillman DNA Project now has a page on Facebook. If you are a Facebook member, enter "Skillman DNA" in the search box and visit our page. Please add our project page to your "Like" list.

Please note, It is important to discuss your goals before ordering a DNA test kit. See the new Activity Feed page for additional News.