ROCKWELL DNA PROJECT
History and progress of the project (updated Feb. 2015)
The Rockwell DNA Project was organized in 2002. The Rockwell Family Foundation sponsored it and paid for the testing of over 30 donors—all men surnamed Rockwell and Rockhold. The results demonstrated the close relation between the three old Connecticut families, as well as the different pattern for the Rockhold family (included because several lines took the Rockwell surname). Our testing was done through the Salt Lake City-based company Relative Genetics. This company was later purchased by Ancestry.com.
In 2014, Ancestry announced the “retirement” of their y-DNA testing service. This was a business decision, based on their members’ interest in a newer technique, autosomal testing. The change involved the removal of access to the useful table that compares results of different donors. This effectively put an end to the Rockwell and other DNA projects, as they had been handled up till now.
Not wanting to see all of our work undermined, I extracted the results from the table at Ancestry, and constructed a new table showing the results. I have arranged the entries into a logical order so that the members of the different lines—William, John, Josiah, plus Robert Rockhold—are grouped together, and those most closely related are adjacent to each other.
I am still getting occasional requests to participate in the project, so it may be worth continuing it with another company. Currently the main company still doing y-DNA testing is Family Tree DNA, and I have begun to point people there. I plan to get my own markers moved there as well and organize a Rockwell group there. Others who have been tested through Relative Genetics or Ancestry.com may consider doing the same.
Links to the original report from Relative Genetics
More links