The Palatine DNA Project

DNA Projects, often affiliated with a genetic genealogy testing company, are used to coordinate the testing and result analysis of individuals that have the same surname, originate from a common location, or have a comment set of ancestors. For example, I’ve started the Bettinger DNA Project for individuals with the “Bettinger” surname. An example of a project that hopes to analyze the DNA of a common set of ancestors is the Palantine DNA Project.

From Wikipedia:

“Around 1709, the Rhineland-Palatinate region between what is now known as Germany and France was highly contested by each side. At least 13,000 residents left for Holland and London. The English sent them on to America where close to 300 families, led by the Reverend Joshua Kocherthal and the Reverend Johann Frederick Hager, settled in the Hudson River Valley, most noticeably in Saugerties, New York.”

According to the Project’s website:

“This Palatine DNA Project welcomes all direct descendants of these brave and hardy men and women. The goal is to determine if and how these families are related and to reunite those families that were split apart during the great exodus from Germany and resettlement throughout the world. DNA testing can make this possible, and this new Palatine DNA Project will coordinate test results from all companies in an effort to reach this goal. Not only will participants learn about their connections to Germany but they will also learn about their very deep roots, the path their ancestors took out of Africa many thousands of years ago that led them eventually to Germany.”

There is more information about the Palantine DNA Project in an article from The Daily Freeman, a small newspaper from that area of New York. It’s a fun article, worth a quick look. Interestingly, as I was reading the article, I recognized the name of a friend that I went to college with. It truly is a small world.