Project Results

The Henderson DNA Project has taken on a life of its own. We grow by five or more members each month, and our presence has proliferated across the World Wide Web. In this evolving growth, I have become something of a kindly old caretaker watering the roots, pruning the rough limbs, and giving our Henderson family tree some semblance of shape and utility. My satisfaction comes when unknown cousins find each other through DNA testing or, quite the opposite, when known blood relationships are disproven as adoption or an illegitimate birth is discovered. Yes, DNA testing can bring unintended results though still beneficial in new knowledge gained.

A long-term goal of the Henderson DNA Project is to display for future generations of Hendersons a DNA map of Scotland, Ireland, and England showing where all the old Henderson families began, at least in genealogy terms, back in the 15th or 16th century. We also aim to show a DNA map of the rest of the world, where our restless Hendersons disembarked on the shores of the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

There was not much order in the way the Hendersons migrated out of Scotland. Realizing this early on, we designed a database and reporting system that would bring needed order to the chaos. It's a unique system, based on common sense. When you go to the link below for Y-DNA and mtDNA TEST RESULTS, you'll see our test results with a line of random looking numbers to the right of each index identifier. Each line of numbers represents a single member's DNA signature. The numbers are in fact scores for individual markers in the DNA sequence.

When a new test result arrives at Henderson DNA World Headquarters, there is a standard process that takes over. Each new DNA signature is entered into a spreadsheet at a position nearest matching or closely matching signatures of other Henderson members. Over time as new members join, these matching and closely matching signatures begin to cluster. We identify these clusters by an alpha-numeric code starting with Family Group A1. Other clusters closely matching but not exactly matching become Family Group A2 and then Family Group A3 and so on. When we receive a signature that cannot be closely matched to Family Group A, we assign a new identifier, thus Family Group B is created with its own unique line of alpha numeric subsets.

Currently our project website displays 215 members including several Hendricks and Henrys in addition to Hendersons. I am pleased that this project has seen such rapid growth in the short time we have been active. Many Henderson cousins, unknown to each other, have been matched up by way of our forum, and we are beginning to see groupings in our DNA results that point to the original Henderson root families of Scotland. You can view our DNA results table by going to the following link:

Y-DNA and mtDNA TEST RESULTS

These results are posted for the benefit of our project participants and members of the Clan Henderson Society. For this reason, our results are identified by membership and DNA kit number rather than by name.

Let me remind you that membership in the Clan Henderson Society is not a requirement to participate in the Henderson DNA project, but it's affordable at $15.00 per year and just makes good sense to join. With increased membership in your Clan Henderson Society, we will be able to offer more genealogy tools to help you overcome that brick wall or find cousins you never knew you had. Click here if you would like to join the Clan Henderson Society.

If you have already tested and received your results from the Henderson DNA Project, you may question the need for another member of your family to be tested. The reason you need a second or third sample is that distant cousins who share a common ancestor two or more generations back in time may have slightly different DNA due to fast moving mutations in certain markers. This is the reason we recommend at least two DNA results at the cousin level (not the brother level) to verify the signature of the family line. More than two results at the cousin level (none of whom are brothers) would be more beneficial to future family genealogists. Once you have the definitive signature of your family line, there is no need for further testing. If you discover a distant family that may be related to you, a comparison with your verified family line signature will confirm or refute the relationship.

Questions or comments about the project may be directed to the Project Administrator, James E. Henderson (dna-admin@clanhendersonusa.org)

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