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ABOUT THE DNA TEST SITE

Currently they have slightly over 3200 projects underway at Family Tree DNA -- about 85% of all projects to date world wide. We receive over 100,000 visitors a month to their web site, which means and increased chance for individuals to become aware of the existence of a project with our Surname and variants, and join it. We have added Nuckols, Nuckles, Nuckels, Knuckles, Nuchols, Nuckoles.

They have no project set up fee; they offer free analysis of the results and provide comparative tools for calculating genetic distance. Family Tree DNA is backed by the Molecular Lab for Science and Evolution at the University of Arizona, one of the 5 leading Y-Chromosome universities in the world. They are the only Genetic Genealogy firm supported by one of these major Y chromosome labs.

They also preserve the DNA for 25 years because we know this technology is at its infancy and if you don't preserve the DNA you can't refine a sample when someone passes on...and frankly their clients are typically not spring chickens.

They also provide, exclusively, a prediction of the Haplogroup of each person...which locates them on the 'phylogenic' tree of Homo Sapiens...If you ever see The Journey of Man by Spencer Wells -- he's tracing man's deeper ancestral world wide migrations through the 'phylogenic' tree. It's something that you will become familiar with because it's incorporated into their system.

ABOUT THE NUCKOLLS PROJECT

The Y chromosome is passed from father to son unchanged, except for a mutation about every 500 generations. Testing the Y chromosome will provide you with a genetic finger print consisting of 12, 25 or 37 numbers. By comparing this finger print to others with our surname, you can determine if they are related.

The objectives of Surname Projects vary. Here are a few:
Identify others who are related
Prove or disprove theories regarding ancestors
Solve brick walls in your research
Determine a location for further research
Validate existing research

Often a Surname Project has multiple objectives, and the objectives may even change over the life of the project.

Most Surname Projects start with the objective to identify others who are related, and through out the project the other objectives are achieved simply as a result of the project.

2. Select 12, 25 or 37 markers

Molecular Biologists and population geneticists at the University of Arizona have developed their panels of markers focusing on what we, genealogists, need to obtain out of the test. It is not just throwing any quantity of markers into a panel. Each marker is chosen for its volatility or stability (mutation rate) along with Anthropological information that can be obtained from the markers. That is why their 37-marker test is the highest resolution test available; we are not dealing strictly with quantity, rather with quality.

The next step for our Surname Project is to decide whether you test 12, 25 or 37 markers. Family Tree DNA recommends establishing the Project with the 12-marker Y chromosome test. 12 markers are sufficient to determine whether or not two people are genetically related. In addition, the 12-marker Project price of $99 is more affordable for participants.

The value of the 25 or 37 marker test occurs when two participants are related based on the 12-marker test. When participants match with the 12-marker test, the test can be upgraded to 25 markers for an additional fee of $90 and then to 37 for $59. The objective of the upgrade to the 25 or 37 marker test is to further reduce the time frame of the common ancestor between the matching participants. The common ancestor also referred to as the Most Recent Common Ancestor, or MRCA.

Typically, participants are very interested in upgrading their 12 marker test to 25 markers when a match occurs. Two individuals are considered related for the 12 marker test if they match 12/12, 11/12, and sometimes with 10/12. In the first two situations, an upgrade to the 25 marker test is recommended.

The first goal to find the first two participants. Participants must be direct male descendents, since the Y chromosome is passed from father to son. If you are a direct male descendent, you are 50% of the way to jump starting this project. You'll need to find just one other participant. Most likely you have had contact with others with your Surname during the course of your family history research. One course of action is to select a few of those contacts and write them a letter or email about your project, and ask them to participate as the genetic representative for their line or family.

Once you start getting results back for participants, we will then have Genetic Genealogy News for our web site, our project participants, and others interested in our Surname family history.

The Surname Project pricing is:
12 marker Y-DNA* test $99 + postage
12 to 25 Marker Upgrade $49
12 to 37 Marker Upgrade $99
25 marker Y-DNA* test $148 + postage
37 marker Y-DNA* test $189 + postage
67 marker Y-DNA* test $269 + postage
37 to 67 Marker upgrade $99