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Hello Graham Family and Friends,

I am announcing the beginning of a Graham Family DNA Surname Project.

Let me introduce myself. I am Kathi Bobb. I am descended from a Graham family who resided in Tennessee and North Carolina in the late 1800’s. My ancestor Levi Graham married Mary Searcy in Rutherford County North Carolina in 1850.

There are many Graham families in the United States. It is one of the 50 most common surnames. This can make tracing your family tree complex.

There is now a scientific way of determining if branches of the Graham family have a common ancestor from between thru 30 generations. It is shown with a DNA test using the Y-chromosome. The Y-chromosome is passed from father to son with few mutations over many generations. Therefore it is traceable.

The purpose of the project is to determine common ancestors among the Graham family branches. Qualified candidates are invited to participate A qualified candidate is a male who carries the Graham bloodline from father to son.

The sample for the test is collected by using something similar to a tooth brush and brushing the inside of the cheek (like high school biology). Then the sample is mailed to the lab.

Results are available in about 6 weeks. The results come in a series of 12 or 25 numbers. The numbers are then compared to the other participants for matches. If there are 25/25 matches share a common ancestor.

The company I have chosen to do our study is Family Tree DNA. They have done a good job of making the cost more affordable. We are saving about $100 per test. The price for the 12 marker test is $99 and the 25 marker test is $169. Both plus $2 shipping. This sounds like a lot of money, but when compared to the cost of the books, trips, association fees that we serious genealogists have bought over the years it is really a bargain.

I have done a similar surname reconstruction project with my Stewart family. We have about 50 participants so far. I started the Stewart family DNA project by testing 3 descendants of 3 sons of my ancestor Noah Stewart who was born in 1785 in North Carolina. All three descendants matched proving a common ancestor. They were related from 6-7 generations back. We then tested a descendant of a supposed brother to Noah and he matched perfectly to the others proving our theory that he was Noah’s brother.

You can look at that site at:
www.angelfire.com/nb/stewartdna

The Graham DNA site will be at
www.angelfire.com/nb2/grahamdna

Also, if you would like more details about the FTDNA testing information can be found at:
www.familytreedna.com

If you would please pass this along to any GRAHAM family ( including any variation of spelling) I would greatly appreciate your effort.

Please contact me at bobbkat1@aol.com if you would like more information about the project.

You can sign up directly at:

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_det.asp?group=Graham

Kindest Regards,
Kathi Bobb