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From:
Subject: Re: [DNA] Surnames Projects - June 30, 2007 - Part 2 of 3
Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2007 16:49:00 EDT
In a message dated 7/8/2007 8:18:05 A.M. Central Daylight Time,
writes:
The below list of largest FTDNA projects reminded me of the measure of
success that I believe is important. Many projects include a goal such as "to find
how all Linkerbachs (made up) are related." The question then arises, "am I
done yet?" In my view, it is desirable to achieve the goal quickly and with
as few participants as possible. This frees up time to move on to the next
goal. I believe that measuring a goal is as important as setting it.
First, I'm not sure the list of projects was ever intended to define
"success" -- just to show the growth in the number of surname projects and the size
of projects. Second, I'm not sure that "am I done yet?" is the only valid
criterion for judging whether goals have been met. Finally, even if it were,
a surname project can have a series of goals, to each of which the "am I
done yet?" question can be applied, and the answer "yes" returned and yet the
project lives on -- because there's always another question.
Some surnames can be "successful" and "done" with small numbers because
there aren't that many people of the surname. For such projects a project size
of 55 may represent all the living males of the surname who will agree to
test. In which case, that project is certainly both successful and done. For
other, more "popular" surnames, like WEBB, a project like we have of 168, is
still a "drop in the bucket" considering how many WEBBs there are spread out
over the world. Yet along the way, we have achieved a number of goals:
1 -- My initial goal: Have I established that George Washington Webb of
1853 CA is the "missing" son G W Webb of Elias Webb? Yes, that's "done." It was
"done" with the first 6 sets of markers returned for the project, given the
perfect match between the two testees at 25 markers and the paper trail.
2 -- Have I proven that Frank Parker Hudson's conclusion that Rice Webb and
Stephen Webb and Jesse Webb of Jefferson County, GA 1798 - 1820 were all
related? Yes, that's "done" as well, although it took a few years to find,
recruit and test descendants of all of them.
3 -- Have I found enough DNA evidence to suggest who Elias Webb's parents
"based upon a preponderance of evidence?" Yes, I think that's "done" as well,
or at least as well as it ever can be done, using both Y-DNA and mtDNA
evidence.
4 -- Have I examined the "all Webbs in the US are descended from the four
sons of Alexander Webb" story and reached a conclusion regarding its truth or
lack thereof? Yes, that's "done" as well, since we have discovered at least
three different DNA signatures among the alleged "four sons." And for the
"Southern Webbs," whom legend has all arising from one man, we have about 15
different DNA lineages._Untitled_
(http://webpages.charter.net/chamberlayne/history/figure4a.jpg)
5 -- Have I established a "presence" for the project among WEBB researchers?
Yes, I believe that is "done" as well, since we have testees now from the
USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and South Africa and have allied our Project with
the WEBB One Name Register.
6 -- Have I validated that my WEBB family's origins in the USA? Yes, that's
"done" by a match from the Isle of Wight Co, VA and one from Essex Co, VA.
Those are just some of my personal goals for the project. Other
participants have achieved personal goals as well -- finding the father of their former
"oldest known" ancestor, identifying that the WEBBs in their two lines of
descent were not related genetically, etc. etc. Meanwhile, we have "stumbled"
over information that nobody set out as a goal to begin with -- a relationship
between a line in Wiltshire, England, and a group of WEBBs in RW-era NC, the
identification of which line is associated with the Richmond Alias Webb fami
ly, an awareness that descendants of one line have made it to at least
continents by now, and so on.
Yet still we have new goals arising all the time. For the current year, one
of my goals is to increase participation from UK WEBBs, Another is to see if
all the pre-RW Stephen Webbs were related or not. Another is to try to get a
picture of the early Virginia Webb lines and triangulate each line as much as
possible. Even if the WEBB Project had 400 participants, that would still
be a "drop in the bucket" in getting a picture of the WEBB surname diversity
and origins, given that there are so many all over the world.
In short, "success" and being "done" and size aren't necessarily related.
Taking the list of "largest" projects for anything except as a measure of
growth of DNA testing among genealogists is a misinterpretation of the data.
Anne
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