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From: "John C. Carter" <>
Subject: RE: [DNA] St. Petersburg Times article
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2001 01:11:06 -0500


Hello, all.

Ann, thank-you very much for your invitation to join this list! I had not
previously known of its existence.

I browsed through some of the recent list messages, and came across this
one (attached below) pertaining to the recent article in the "St.
Petersburg Times" written about my efforts with DNA testing.

I am surprised at the difference in price, as this is the first I've heard
of this. I did not realize that my price had been based upon an earlier
pricing schedule. I apologize to anyone who may have been misled by the
content of the newspaper article. I will follow-up with Diahan Southard.
(She is indeed correct that there were some unusual circumstances,
however. My test was originally part of the "Special Cases" being done by
BYU, as a sideline to their ongoing worldwide study. My case was
eventually transferred over to the firm Relative Genetics, where
Diahan--formerly with BYU--is now employed).

One thing the article didn't mention (but which Ann saw in a recent post
of mine on another list), is that I am currently involved in a "follow-up"
test, as I have contacted another purported distant cousin (male) in the
Hardcastle line who has agreed to be tested. (I was interviewed for the
article several weeks before it was actually published). For this new
test, the purported common male ancestor is two generations further back
than that of the previous test, so the margin for error is increased. But
these results may help solidify the previous results, or may reveal
an(other) flaw(s) in the purported lines of descent.

Once the new results are available, I can follow-up for anyone who may be
interested.

P.S. Here is a direct link to Donna Murray Allen's article, for those who
may not wish to search the Times' website for it:

http://www.sptimes.com/News/120601/Floridian/Genealogy__DNA_testin.shtml

(There is a typo in the first sentence of the article--which is my fault,
since she let me proofread the article before printing, and I missed it!
It should say "...prove his great-grandfather HOPEWELL Carter...," not
"Alexander" Carter. But this will not change the effect of the story for
general readers).

Thanks again!
John


-------------------------------------------------------

From: <mailto:>
Subject: [DNA] St. Petersburg Times article
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 11:24:30 EST
Donna Murray Allan had an article about cousins looking for common ancestry
with DNA techniques in the St. Petersburg Times, Dec 6. You can find the
article by going to <http://sptimes.com>; and searching on the key words DNA
Donna Murray Allen. The article has excited some comment in other mailing
lists because of the low price quote, but I checked with Diahan Southard of
Relative Genetics about that as well as the implication that the DNA test
"proved" that the two fellows were first cousins exactly. Here is Diahan's
response, quote with permission:

"You are correct in saying that Carter and Hicks do just share a common
paternal ancestor, and therefore it is only because of other evidence that
they know they are first cousins and not related through some other
paternal
line. Also, the price quoted in the article was the price that he paid,
but
that was on the pricing schedule before I started working here at Relative
Genetics. The price for Y chromosome testing here at Relative Genetics is
$260 per person, though there are significant discounts available for group
testing.
We can do direct first cousin testing though, for those who are interested
in
that. The cost for that testing is $650 for the two alleged first
cousins."


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