DNA Project

About the Blackburn Surname Project

The Blackburn Family Association is the administrator of the Blackburn Surname Project at www.familytreedna.com. Over the years, almost 300 people have participated in some aspect of the DNA project.

The core of the project initially was to establish a clear Y-DNA trail for the family of John Blackburn, the immigrant ancestor to North America. At least one descendant of each of his sons has provided a DNA sample – and the results have been an exact match, providing us with a point of reference. The DNA results have allowed the Association to come to some clear conclusions in two areas.

First, there were a number of Blackburn families where a great deal of circumstantial evidence existed relative to their descent from our immigrant, John Blackburn. The results allowed us to confirm those connections.

The second conclusion, while productive, has been extremely disappointing. The Y-DNA results for the family of John Blackburn of County Armagh, Ireland have not matched a single other Blackburn line, either in North America or Europe. The origin of our Blackburns before they arrived in Ireland remains a major mystery.

More and more participants are ordering other testing through the Blackburn DNA Project, especially the “Family Finder” product. This test provides an individual with their individual DNA breakdown by region of the world and provides information on other participants to whom they have DNA connections. This product has allowed us to confirm genetic connections on both the maternal and paternal side and has been extremely useful.

Interested parties can register to participate directly at www.familytreedna.com. Or you can contact the project administrator at khowley@aol.com. The pricing discounts available under a surname project extend to all sorts of DNA tests beyond the simple Y-DNA test.