THE CHILVERS DNA PROJECT    

What's this all about then?

As we all know from the news, DNA testing has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past few years. DNA testing for genealogical purposes can now identify family groupings, whether there are likely to be connections between various branches of a family (or not!), and even indicate the long-ago origins back into Pre-history.

We have started a DNA Project for the CHILVERS family with a leading operator in this field, Family Tree DNA, who are based in the United States, linked to the University of Arizona. We're just starting with this so of course numbers involved are tiny at present. But the more CHILVERS we can get involved (and I'm afraid it has to be a male CHILVERS, but ladies you may have a brother, Dad, uncle etc who may be willing to take part) then the more results we can get, and the more analysis that can be done.

OK, I'm with you so far - tell me more.

The CHILVERS name seems to have firmly originated in Norfolk and Suffolk. The question, of course, is whether there is one line of CHILVERS originating from one male individual sometime back in time encompassing all the CHILVERS now around, or was the CHILVERS name adopted by different families? If the latter, how many groups are there? It is obviously likely to be easier to do this with a name like ours than with SMITH for example. As a guide, in the 1851 UK census there were just 97 male CHILVERS listed as "head of family" and 19 CHILVER. Take that back a few generations, and the numbers of "families" would appear to be likely to reduce, as many of this hundred or so are probably brothers and cousins (if not later generations of others in the list). DNA testing of living CHILVERS may help sort some of this history out.

In my own case for example, throughout this site I mention other local CHILVERS groupings around Old Buckenham that I can find no link to. Maybe there is no link, so I can direct my attention elsewhere, or maybe there will be a clear genetic link, which makes looking for the common forebear (the MRCA - Most Recent Common Ancestor - in the jargon) really interesting.

So how does this work? I don't like giving blood!

Nor do I, and no blood's involved. You can order a test kit online which is sent to you - and basically you use something like a toothbrush on the inside of your cheek. Send the test-kit back to Arizona, and await the results.

You can order different levels of testing. What's called 12-marker testing is the lowest level and, because we have a project we get reduced rates - this costs $99 (currently about £50). This basically can tell definitely if there is no connection or that there may be a connection. More markers mean more accuracy, and a 37-marker, which starts to give real information about links and branches costs $189 (slightly less than £100) at group rate.

Presumably there's some science behind all of this?

Of course. But some people don't want to know about the science, so here's a link to another page that deals with the techy stuff that you can ignore if you want. The page will open in a new window.

LINK TO THE TECHY STUFF

What results have we got so far?

As I said above we're just starting this, so we have no results yet, but hopefully will over the next few weeks and months. I'll put emerging findings on this page, so bookmark it and come back regularly. Better still - sign up.

Here's the link for you to join up:

http://www.familytreedna.com/surname_join.aspx?code=A30597&special=true

WHAT'S ON THIS SITE