November 30, 2006
Greetings friends and family,
 
The Hooper DNA project has been in progress for a little more than four  
years now. When we started the project we knew little about DNA testing. We had  
no idea what to expect from our first test results. We've learned a lot since  
then and have seen firsthand how DNA testing can reconnect families that went  
their separate ways generations ago.

To date we have results for 76 Hooper men from the testing company, Family  
Tree DNA. So far 61 of these men have had their results posted to the Hooper  
Connections website. The results break down into 17 unique Hooper families. The 
largest of the groups has 24 participants. Through DNA testing, this group 
of  Hoopers with ancestors in the western Carolinas, northern Georgia and 
southeast and middle Tennessee have been reconnected after their family branches 
had gone  their own ways more than 200 years ago.

Project participants come from throughout the United States as well as from  
Australia and Canada.

If you have tested through the Hooper DNA project at Family Tree DNA and  
have not had your results posted on the Hooper Connections web site 
<www.hooperconnections.com/dnatable.html> contact: Clay Hooper at <clayhooper@sbcglobal.net>. 
Clay will  need your express permission to publish your results 
as well as a "mini" family  tree. This tree should trace your Hooper line as 
far back as you know. Look on  the Hooper Connections web site and click on any 
of the participant  numbers. This will show you the "mini" tree for that 
participant and give you an  idea of the preferred format. 

If you are interested in DNA testing check out the information at 
<http://www.hooperconnections.com/dnaintro.html> as  well as general DNA testing 
information at <http://www.familytreedna.com>.

Hopefully we can continue to connect families and learn even more about the  
history of the Hooper family.

Take care and have a joyous Advent.
 
Wade Glascock

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November 10, 2003

Hello friends and relatives,

The Hooper family DNA project is now more than a year old and in the last 
year we've learned so much.

We now have results for 46 Y-chromosome DNA tests and have several more on 
order. We've also just gotten an order from our first international participant. 
Welcome to Gary from Australia!  Maybe some of the American Hoopers will soon 
have a new cousin Down Under.

All of the received results are from American Hoopers and they fall into 
eleven different families. One recently received result is a fairly close match to 
one of the families but there isn't enough information to classify this 
result. It's possible this result may end up constituting a unique twelfth family. 
You can see all the results and other information about the project on the 
website at http://www.hooperconnections.com/dnaintro.html

Several of the participants are finding that they have DNA matches with 
people with surnames other than Hooper and are wondering if these may be relatives. 
The answer to this is somewhat tricky. Technically these Hoopers and 
non-Hoopers are related but only in the sense that everyone is related if you go back 
far enough. Participants end up with non-Hooper matches for a couple of 
different reasons. One possible explanation is that there is a relationship but it 
goes back to before surnames became hereditary. In Europe surnames became 
hereditary between 500 and 1000 years ago. By example let's say that 500 years ago 
Bob the farmer and John the hooper were brothers. In 2003 Bob's descendant, 
Tom Farmer, and John's descendant, Mike Hooper, take the Y-DNA test. There's a 
good chance that Tom and John's results will come out very similar. Tom and 
John are genetically related but there's no way to prove it. With DNA testing as 
with standard genealogy the first sorting tool is the surname. You're always 
going to look for possible relatives amongst those with the same surname.
Another possible reason for matches between people with different surnames 
has to do with the DNA itself. For each of the DNA markers there are several 
possible values. However one value for each will be the most common. If you end 
up with a set of marker values where most or all have the most common value 
then you will end up with erroneous matches and near matches. Once again the 
solution is to look for matches with people of the same surname.

I would also like to remind everyone that there is funding available for 
those of you who are interested but don't feel you can pay the full amount of the 
test. Persons with confirmed genealogical ties to Europe and those from U.S. 
lines that haven't been explored or that are poorly represented have the best 
chance of receiving funding. You can find details at 
http://www.hooperconnections.com/fundingfrontpage.html

That's all for now.
Take care.

Wade Glascock

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June 14, 2003

Hello all,

To date 43 Hooper men have participated in and received results in the Hooper 
family DNA project. Ten distinct Hooper lineages are represented. So far all 
the participants have been from the U.S. 

Because of the way that the DNA is inherited only males are able to 
participate. Moreover only males with an unbroken male only Hooper line can 
participate. As a general rule, men with the last name Hooper.

It is possible to test your line even if you aren't a male Hooper. My own 
Hooper lineage is on the maternal side of my family. I got a cousin to take the 
test to prove our Hooper relationship from our ancestor Jesse Hooper (born 
1758). Co-opting brothers, fathers, cousins, etc to test your own line is always 
an option.

For those of you having reunions this year, I have written a short two page 
presentation about the Hooper DNA project available for you to print out and use to 
help familiarize people about the project. Let me know if you would like a 
copy.

Thank you to everyone for making the Hooper project the success that it is.
Have a great Summer.

Wade Glascock

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