DNA Test Giveaway.

SLAVENS.NET 10TH ANNIVERSARY GIVEAWAY!

The website is celebrating its 10th anniversary by giving away three 37-marker Y-DNA tests from FamilyTreeDNA. Between the economy and my lacking time to actively recruit new participants, DNA Project growth has slowed the past year. Let's jump start 2012 by bringing in three new family lines!

If you believe you qualify for one of the free tests, email me at iarooster@earthlink.net as soon as possible! Tests will be awarded on a first come, first served basis-- that said, we will take a second name for a stand-by in case the first person drops out or is found-- through checking census records, for example-- to belong to a family line already in the Project.

Here are the categories-- be sure to tell me which category you belong to when you send your email.

"Open" Category.

We'll give away a test to the first qualified person to respond for each of the categories. The only limitations are that your family line must not already be respresented in the project, and that you're able to trace your line back to 1880 or before (so that we have a good chance of confirming your line's not already in the project). If you can't go that far back, email me anyway; perhaps we can work together to go back another generation or two.

"The Auld Sod."

Since the website was launched on St. Patrick's Day 2002, another DNA test will be given away to a prospective participant can prove descent from an ancestor born or living in a specific parish, town, or townland in Ireland in 1880 or before. Most of us Americans of Irish descent are lucky to know even the county our ancestor came from, so increasing the number of participants who do know their details may help their long-lost "cousins" find their roots. Again, we're restricting this to families not already in the DNA project so as increase our scope.

This giveaway has been claimed!

"Missing Persons."

~~For the third giveaway, let's find someone descended from a family we know a little about, and see if they match up with any of our other lines!~~

Dennis Slaven aka Duncan Spear

The story of Dennis Slaven can be found elsewhere on this website (such as the bottom of the Bios page). We know Dennis/Duncan had at least one son, William Spear, who had several sons and grandsons. Researchers believe that several direct-line male descendants are living today, perhaps in the Terre Haute, IN area.
Cornelius Slaven
There are several mentions of a Cornelius Slaven in the late 18th and early 19th century. It's unknown if they are all the same person, or two or more men with the same name. From a bounty land warrant, it's known the Virginia Revolutionary War soldier Cornelius had a son, but the line stops with that mention.
Norcut Slaven
Norcut is mentioned in Spotsylvania County, Virginia and Wilkes County, Georgia records. He is known to have had a daughter, and it's unknown if he had sons.
William Slavens
There are lots of William Slaven(s) out there; this is the one in Pike County, Illinois in 1840, Iowa in the 1850's, and Missouri in 1860, and who died in the Civil War. Circumstantial evidence connects him with John and Elizabeth Slavens of Smith County, TN, who circumstantially connect to the John and Elizabeth Slaven of Highland County, Virginia line through their son William. The Jacob Slavens line, similarly circumstantially connected, tested as a match to the Highland County line. A William Slavens match would further that connection.
Frank Slavin
While famous Australian boxer Frank Slavin's only son died childless in WWI, Frank had brothers who would carry the same genetic line. A researcher believes that at least one direct-line male descendant lives in Australia.

This giveaway has been claimed by a descendant of William Slavens!

A final word...

Just a reminder: to be eligible for the DNA project, the participant has to be a direct-line male descendant of the Slaven/Slavin/etc. ancestor; that is, the son of a son of a son... etc. The Y-chromosome is only passed down from father to son, so if a "daughter of..." is in the line of descent, that descendant is not eligible for the project. (However, that person may have a grandfather, uncle, second cousin, or some other relative who is a direct line male descendant who could supply the cheek cells for testing.)