The focus of our project is uniting our various Freeman families into their true lines of descent and helping move our resesarch over the walls that we so often encounter when documents have failed. In the years since we received the results for our first test on November 8th 2002, we have verified numerous genealogies, have redirected several folks to the ancestral lines they belong to and have presented data that has the potential to correct age old errors in family lines and have found new cousins to share our interest and pursuit in defining our lines of descent. Through our haplogroup designation, several of us now have a much better idea of the migration paths our ancestors followed thousands of years ago....and some of us have been surprised with our ancient heritage. We still have several "orphan" families who are awaiting a new testee who joins and who will match their line. As we close in on our 5th year in existance we have had an exciting journey....and we look forward to continuing growth and many more wonderful advances in our quest for our heritage. Thank you for your continuing interest and support.

I have added a page with various land, will, and marriage data for early Virginia containing the Freeman surname. Click on the tab, "Selected Early VA Records" on the left.

Our numbers continue to grow...not at a tremendous speed, but slow but sure. When we first started out on our journey to find ancestral relationship through this new and exciting study of DNA we did not know where it would lead. We've watched each test come back with anticipation...anticipation of confirming our family line...or breaking down the barriers that have plagued us and finding the pathway to our roots. We've reached some highs in excitement ...and we've experienced the let down when our test comes in as an "Orphan". Our anticipation of finding descendants of the elusive Bridges Freeman Family of Virginia has still not been realized...and we continue our search for a sibling line of descent in England to finally give us the "real" lineage. Many have jumped in to sort out the pieces of data...and we are still left with assumptions that can not be proven. I've studied the findings of reserchers who have poured countless hours of research into finding "the key"...but have come up short of making an absolute determination. DNA research can and does give us the promise of setting lines of descent straight...but we have learned that "the" answer can be elusive as we search out the descendant who will become involved and answer the questions once and for all. This is what DNA is all about, and we are on the brink of seeing the benefits of DNA testing coming to light. The more participants we have...the more valuable this project will become.

Much of the discussions on DNA testing is quite technical in nature, but John Blair, administrator of the Blair DNA project has created a webpage called "DNA 101: Y-Chromosome testing" that breaks down the basic terms and and concepts of what DNA technology is about into layman terms. You can access his well done page at: DNA 101. A number of excellent web pages have been created and are available for viewing on the web.

We have had our first Freeman descendant from England become a member of our project. Although we did not find any familial ties to our current testees...we continue to hold out the expectation that someone will join and make the leap across the pond. We are anxious to have the participation of more of our English and European Freeman "cousins" in the hopes that they may hold the key to tying our Freeman families back to their origins in the old country. In many cases, many of the families from across the Atlantic have the same problems in tying down their early ancestors as we do. Their participation could very well be beneficial to them as well as us.

The more participation we get from our male Freeman cousins..the better "picture" we will be able to develop of our various Freeman family roots. We still need our male Freeman cousins who are descended from early Colonial America to become involved. Ideally, our project will grow to include Freeman descendants from each region in the Americas in our DNA database. Perhaps, the day is not too far off when we will be able to add the DNA fingerprints of our English, Irish and European Freeman family lines and we will have the potential to knock down many more of our brick walls.

Every day, more and more DNA projects have their beginnings. Some of these groups have been under way for some time and have the good fortunate to have European participants. They have been successful in tying American and European ancestries to a common ancestries. Once the value of using DNA becomes better known, it will become an important part of the family historians research sources.

With the wide dispersion of Freeman family lines across the face of the early frontiers of the new world, it has been an elusive ancestry to tie down. Our families have emerged from Colonial New England, New Jersey and New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and across our borders to the north. Wouldn't it be a major breakthrough to our research if we could find a familial link among some of these various branches. There has been much speculation that there are links between the Virginia and New Jersey Freeman families....but those bits of supporting documentation have eluded us. DNA can also help us by eliminating research on those family lines where DNA markers show no relationships are likely.

The Y-chromosome is used in genealogical testing and NO medical information is identified in the DNA markers. The test is accomplished by a simple cheek swab with a special brush. Security and confidentiality of all DNA test results is of the utmost importance of testing labs, and no information is released without the participant's authorization. Normally, participants allow results be released to project managers, but results are identified by coded "names" and no specific identification of individuals is given. In cases where relational matches are found and participants have given specific authority...they are given contact information so they can share genealogical research with other members of their particular family line. The basic DNA tests for genealogical matching are the 12 marker test of the male Y-chromosome and identifies common ancestry in the 400 - 1000 years range. Some who have found matches with other participants choose to have tests expanded to the 25 marker test. The expanded test can verify common ancestry occurred at some point within a much shorter timeframe.

Because Y-chromosome testing is limited to males, we ladies have to enlist the aid of brothers, uncles or male cousins from our family line with the surname Freeman to act as our "proxy" I enlisted the help of a 2nd cousin to act as our family line representative. There are tests to link to the female line of descent for those who may find that of interest.

I have provided several links on the left. The first link is to a Lineage Data Sheet where information on your Freeman family line can be entered and sent by e-mail to me. I will add information I receive to a database so we can get a feeling of where the Freeman lines came from geographically. You don't need to participate in the DNA test in order to fill out the lineage data sheet and send it along. This information will become very important when we begin looking for grouping patterns when our DNA test results start coming back.

Thank you for your interest and hopefully you will come to see the value of building a DNA database and will become a participant and help our base of knowledge grow.

Hope Freeman Carnicle