Subj:	sarrat genealogy
Date:	8/26/99 11:34:17 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From:	[email protected] (Small, Kent)
To:	[email protected] ('[email protected]')
Hi Paul:
I too am interested in the Sarrat (sic Surrett) genealogy for medical 
reasons. There is a rare inherited macular degeneration that runs 
throught (sic through-out) the family.. at least the part in NC.  
I have been studying them for 12 years now an am on an intense search 
for the mutated gene.  
I have a pedigree of over 5,000 people. I began studying the family 
while I was  at Duek. (sic Duke)   I would very much like to hook up 
with you primarily to find more affected affected(?) family members 
and to make the trans Atlantic connection.  
Additionally, because of the molecualr (sic molecular) genetic research 
I am doing, I can tell if an affected person is a direct descendant from one 
of the original "brothers". 
Please contact me and we can tlak (sic talk) more...
thanks
Kent W. Small, M.D.
Professor, UCLA
Director, Macualr (sic Macular) Disease Center, UCLA
Director, Retina Division Research Lab, UCLA

Dr. Small,
I saw your article (See Attached) from a newspaper article in the Buncombe County, North Carolina of Aug. of 1996. I am requesting information on yor work & the research of the "Surrett family back 11 generations to the immigrant "Brothers of Ireland" who came to the Buncombe Co., NC. area in the mid-1700's. I understand you have studied these descendants for 10 years." See Note {5} Aug. 01, 1996

Dr. SMALL, publishes the "North Carolina Macular Dystrophy Newsletter" to keep the family updated on his research.

Dr. SMALL, a Duke University graduate, said that 25 years ago a trio of Duke researchers {1} identified the (SURRETT) family as carrying the dominant gene. Dr. SMALL has traced the genealogy of the (SURRETT) family back 11 generations to the immigrant "Brothers of Ireland" who came to this area in the mid-1700's. There descendants have been studied for 10 years. Dr. SMALL did not identify the family.

The concentration of the disease here has nothing to do with inbreeding, Dr. SMALL said, but with the dominance of the gene. Each effected person has a 50-50 chance of passing the condition along to his or her off-spring. Men and women are equally effected.

Dr. SMALL is mapping and cloning the gene that causes the disease. According to Dr. Robert MACHEMER, M.D., professor of Ophthalmology and Vitreo-Retinal surgery at Duke University, Dr. SMALL is one of the leading researchers in efforts to pinpoint the gene. Dr. MACHEMER said identifying the gene will enable adults to know if they will transmit the disease to their off-spring.

In those affected with the "North Carolina Macular Dystrophy" sight problems may show up in infancy. Other forms of macular degeneration are age-related.

Dr. SMALL, said that although the condition is rare, it has been found in seven apparently unrelated families in Texas (a relationship to the North Carolina SURRETT family is possible in this case) Chicago, Belize in Central America, France, Britain and Germany.

The (SURRETT) Buncombe County family is the largest. The family pedigree consists of about 5,000 individuals dating to the late 1700's. {5} While members of this family are concentrated in the Southeast, individuals are scattered across the country.

Among the (SURRETT) family members, Dr. SMALL said, one-third have moderate impairment of their eyesight, one-third have moderate impairment and function well and one-third have severe vision loss to the point that they can not drive.

As far as he knows, Dr. SMALL said "no one has become completely blind from North Carolina Macular Dystrophy."

In his research, Dr. SMALL hopes to clone the gene in order to develop therapies for the disease. "Once we get the disease causing gene cloned, many avenues of hope begin to open up."

Dr. SMALL's goal is to be able to replace the bad gene with a good gene. He said his research group has succeeded in doing that with mouse embryos. Other therapies may be as simple as taking some supplement - a pill - to overcome or modify the effects of the gene.

"Theoretically," Dr. SMALL said, "the disease could be eliminated now with a fairly low-tech procedure in-vitro fertilization." He explained that the eggs carrying the "bad" gene could be eliminated before fertilization takes place.

"I am not inclined to tell this (SURRETT) family to stop having babies, because most of them function very well," Dr. SMALL said.
(End of Newspaper story)
Monday, Aug. 02, 1996

   Mabel S. King writes in part from: (Page 191)
   TITLE: Some Surratt-Sarratt families in the United States, 1715-1980
   AUTHOR(S): 
   Sarratt, Laura A. (Young), 1917-1991 (w/o Norman H.) 
   Sarratt, Norman H., 1913-1997 
   PUBLISHED: Fresno, Calif.; Pioneer Pub. Co., 1980. 
   DESCRIPTION: book 236 p.; ill.; 26 cm. 
   NOTES: Includes index. Bibliography: p. 192-193. 
   SUBJECTS: Surratt family. 
   LC CALL NO.: CS71.S96251980
   LCCN: 80-146760 
   DEWEY CLASS NO.: 929/.2/0973 ED: 1980 

Mrs. Dorothy "Dot" Hyde of Candler, (Buncombe Co.) NC did a research project at Duke University Medical Center{1} in Durham on this family. Her research shows that three brothers came to Transylvania County {2} from Ireland. Their names were Johnny, David, and Obed, Sr. {3} Johnny and his nephew, Obed, Jr. settled in the Sandy Mush section of Buncombe County. There are more Surretts in Oklahoma than anywhere else." {4} From Sarratt/Surratt Family Book 1980