Project Home Page
For researchers of
Worden, Warden, Werden, Werding, Wharton
and similar surnames
NEWS! The new Grant Program is now available from the Worden Family Association. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the section titled Worden Family Association Bill and Pat Worden DNA Fund for details.
Welcome to the Worden DNA Project
DNA testing has become a new standard for genealogical proof. Whether you have spent many years researching your family or you are a newcomer to genealogy, DNA testing can help you determine your family origins. While it does not work in a vacuum and is most useful when combined with a traditional paper trail, DNA testing can provide scientific evidence that you do or do not share a common ancestor with another. Read on to learn more about how this new tool can help you with your own genealogy.
For those who have already tested with certain other companies...
Please notice that Family Tree DNA is offering substantially reduced prices to persons who have tested with certain other companies and who join an existing project. If you or anyone you know has done DNA testing with Relative Genetics, DNA Heritage, Ancestry, Oxford Ancestors, or Genebase and is interested in transferring to FTDNA – in order to upgrade to more markers or to have expanded testing done or simply to learn more about how your results can help you advance your own genealogy – you are invited to join our Surname Project. To take advantage of this special offer, please be sure to contact the project administrator to obtain a special order form: Worden Project Administrator. Note that if you tested with the National Geographic/Genographic project, you may join this project at FTDNA at no cost because FTDNA does the lab processing for NG/G.
Why DNA Testing?
Surname DNA testing is the newest tool available to genealogists. These tests help genealogists verify their paternal ancestry (father's father's father, etc.) in a quick and easy way. It saves time, prevents mistakes, and provides invaluable data that can be obtained in no other way. The only cost is for the testing itself. We project administrators are volunteers who hope to gain knowledge about our own heritage. We receive no compensation or incentives from Family Tree DNA or any other entity. Note that only a male with any of the subject surnames may participate but, if you have Worden, Warden or similar ancestry, you can be represented by even a distant cousin whose name is Worden, Warden, etc. Note that only a male with any of the subject surnames may participate but, if you have Worden ancestry, you can be represented by even a distant cousin.
Why Should You Become Involved?
Reading the news, watching specials on Public Television, seeing the many articles popping up in all the major news magazines … Doesn’t it make you wonder how modern science, and DNA testing in particular, can help solve some of your genealogical puzzles? After spending years rummaging through courthouses, libraries, family papers, cemeteries and the internet, aren’t you ready to use the latest tool to find your roots, once and for all?
How does it work? Scientists mapping the human genome in 2000 found it consisted of about 3 billion pairs of DNA chemicals or "letters," and that those letters were 99.9 percent similar from one person to the next. It's within that 0.1 percent difference that the science of genetic genealogy was born. Just like notations in an old Bible or census records, family history is recorded in our genes. A father's Y chromosome DNA is passed down virtually unchanged to his sons while mothers pass down their mitochondrial DNA to their sons and daughters. While MtDNA can help us find our earliest roots, long before surnames came into existence, it is the Y-DNA that only males carry that holds the secret for genealogical purposes. And Ladies, don’t feel left out. Just find a male cousin – even a distant one – and he can represent your line.
As a Worden descendant who has done my share of “rummaging,” I decided to make science work for me and all the other Worden researchers out there who have “holes” in their paper trail or want to extend their research to:
* Eliminate or confirm relationships.
* Focus research towards related families.
* Direct research into a geographical area.
* Direct research into a specific timeframe.
* Establish country or region of origin.
* Confirm variant surnames are the same family.
* Learn about our family's pre-surname migration.
* Strengthen weak paper trails.
* Avoid pursuing false connections.
Few of us are entirely comfortable with the research we and others before us have done. Virtually all our findings have words like “probably,” “could,” “may,” “perhaps,” and “assuming” liberally scattered throughout. Let’s get to the bottom line. We’ve exhausted all the traditional research tools. It’s time to let a simple, painless DNA test provide the answers. The cost is a few tanksful of gas or probably no more than a research trip to a nearby town. Think about gas, tolls, parking fees, copying costs, meals, possibly an overnight stay – all sometimes yielding little or no new information. Instead, you could simply swab the inside of your cheek a few times in the comfort of your home. Then sit back and wait about six weeks. You will receive a handsome certificate displaying your genetic profile, a series of numbers that are meaningless by themselves. But they hold the key to your paternal ancestry and, when matched against the profiles of others, can yield information that can be obtained in no other way. Those numbers will be compared against the ever-growing database at Family Tree DNA and at other universal databases and you will likely find other testees whose results match yours, if not immediately then in future years. You will be notified as new matches occur.
As you can see on the Results page at this website, we have so far identified two Worden/Warden lines. For some, the results are not surprising because the traditional genealogies have pointed to them all along, but now the proof is indisputable. For others, the results suggest some clear research avenues to pursue. For still others, there may be a nonpaternal event in some distant generation, such as an unknown adoption, and there may be an opportunity to find a heretofore unsuspected genealogy. Or no clear match emerges, in which case the testee can expect a future match as more men are tested.
This Family Project is intended to:
1. Help researchers on common or related families work together to find their common heritage (See the Patriarch Page)
2. Identify the DNA of the ancestor families and compile them and their lost branches into distinct genetic lineages through DNA matches.
Worden Family Association
Bill & Pat Worden DNA Fund
DNA Testing Policy
Recognizing that DNA testing has become an essential tool for confirming a genealogical paper trail, determining a common ancestor and extending one’s genealogy when the paper trail ends, the Worden Family Association Board has adopted the following set of guidelines.(Please also see our websites for the Worden DNA Project: www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/worden and www.ftdna.com/public/worden.)
Every Worden male, or at least the oldest male in a family, is encouraged to have at least the basic 12-marker Y-DNA test. The results of this test will prove, with 99 percent certainty, that he descends from Dr. Samuel Worden b. 1646 or from his ancestor. If his results do not match the DNA signature that has been established for Dr. Samuel Worden and his Worden ancestors, then he either descends from an unrelated Worden ancestor or a nonpaternal event such as an adoption has occurred at some point in his lineage. Further testing beyond 12 markers should eventually determine where line breaks have occurred. For example, for many Worden descendants the paper trail ends in the 1700s or even later. By determining via DNA testing which son of Dr. Samuel they descend from, they would then be able to narrow their research to that particular line.
To further this goal, a special fund has been established. Of course it is expected that those who have an interest in a particular individual’s DNA test results – whether that is the person to be tested, a relative or the family genealogist – will normally pay for the testing itself. Grants will be considered only for those who cannot afford to pay. The Bill and Pat Worden Fund will help pay for these tests through grants (see Grant Application below), as follows:
· Any Worden male who wishes to be tested and can provide some evidence of research into his own Worden genealogy but cannot afford to pay for his own test may apply to the Association for a grant.
· Any Worden male whose initial test results and paper genealogy suggest that further testing will be of benefit to the Association may have such further testing paid for by the Association if he or another interested party is unwilling or unable to pay.
Given that the Association has a clear and strong interest in the results of DNA testing as they pertain to Worden family genealogy, everyone who has tested or will test in the future will be asked to agree to the following:
Because the science of DNA testing is in its infancy and new tests are likely to be made available in the future, I authorize the Worden Family Association to order additional testing of the DNA sample that is currently held by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). Upgrades may be paid for by myself, my relatives, the Association or individual Association members. The DNA sample itself will be held by FTDNA according to its own policy. This approval can be rescinded at any time by me by notifying the Association in writing and reimbursing the Association for this grant.
Bill and Pat Worden DNA Fund Grant Application
This application, as well as the actual order with Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), may be completed by either the prospective testee or his sponsor/nominee. I/we cannot pay for part or all of DNA testing and hereby request a grant to be applied to a DNA test with Family Tree DNA. Additional information appears below under “Reason for grant request.” Evidence of my genealogical research is attached.
I agree to the following:
Because the science of DNA testing is in its infancy and new tests are likely to be made available in the future, I authorize the Worden Family Association to order additional testing of the DNA sample that is or will be held by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). Upgrades may be paid for by myself, my relatives, the Association or individual Association members. The DNA sample itself will be held by FTDNA according to its own policy. This authorization can be rescinded at any time by me by notifying the Association in writing and reimbursing the Association for this grant.
Signature_______________________________________ Date:____________
Print name:_____________________________________________________________
Address:______________________________________________________________
Phone:________________________________________________________________
Email:________________________________________________________________
Reason for grant request (which test and why):________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Copy and paste this Grant Application in an email to Grant Program.
Useful Links:
Family Tree DNA websites:
Project Administrator's website and blog:
http://genealogyanddna.blogspot.com/
Worden Genealogy:
Mailing Lists: Worden and Worden-DNA
ORDER NOW! Family Tree DNA Worden DNA Project
Disclaimer, Conditions and Agreement
The Worden Surname DNA Project or its project administrators have no commercial affiliation with any profit-making organization and receive no compensation for services or expenses involved with the project. This webpage is maintained for posting DNA results and pedigrees of participants who choose to make their information available.
Although the Worden Project offers discounts at FTDNA, that by no means suggests a business partnership or other relationship between the Project and the Laboratory. All funds are payable only and directly to the Laboratory. The Worden Project will not be the recipient or steward of any DNA samples and has no responsibility for their care, handling or return to participant, nor duty to act on behalf of a Participant in mediation of any dispute between the Participant and the Laboratory.
While a match between two participants may suggest that they share a common male ancestor, it will not identify the specific ancestor and there is no guarantee that every participant will match anyone in this project or in any public database.
By participation in the project, the participant agrees to all conditions of the Project.
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