The WorldFamilies
Story
Here's our story - the Barton DNA Project was started in 2001 and soon became the focal point of extensive cooperation and sharing within the Barton families. The merger of genetic information with traditional genealogy was an exciting breakthrough. In some cases, it answered questions that traditional research couldn't answer. Probably more importantly, it energized and expanded the group of people working on the histories of the Barton families. Today, we have one of the largest Surname DNA Projects in the world, but more importantly, we have a large community of Barton researchers working together to share their information and puzzle out issues. We have a Barton family-wide Historical Society, a newsletter, a database, a website, a DNA project with sponsorships to focus testing and a set of family websites. (Barton was #42 worldwide in the last ranking - now with 210 in the project)
Our learning evolved into the World Families Network in early 2004, where we created a website to help other Surname Projects by sharing our learning and providing a place to find general information. This was initially a passive helping through information and an offering of a free site to support surname projects with no internet website.
Since late 2004, we have been establishing projects to help more families have the same opportunities we have enjoyed. We start projects where one does not already exist at Family Tree DNA - the premier DNA testing company (and our partner). We receive a modest compensation from FTDNA for this service - which we hope will allow us to keep doing this indefinitely. (The individuals and project administrators have the same relationship with FTDNA that they would have if we weren't involved - and the testing costs are the same best prices enjoyed by every project)
Our overall plan is to start, and then nurture the projects, to find good leadership to take them over, to provide the project admin with ever-improving tools to manage their project, and to have fun doing something we enjoy. (Finding that common ancestor, proving a long held theory, or puzzling out a surprising result are all exciting to us.)
We also provide project sites and administrative support to existing projects which need our help. Some of these are very large projects; some are small; each is different in their needs - which we work to specifically meet.
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Terry Barton
An
Engineer who earned his MBA in
mid-career, Terry is retired from
the corporate world and works full
time on WorldFamilies.net these
days. He also volunteers in his church
and community
and speaks as a Master Gardener.
Terry is President of
Barton Historical Society and
Coordinator of the
Barton DNA Project... |
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Richard Barton, MD
A physician for
over 20 years, Dr. Barton is also a
long time amateur genealogist and
computer enthusiast. World Families
Network is a natural outgrowth of
his involvement with the
Barton Historical Society and
its goals...
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Some of our Ancestral Surname Projects:
Allard, Armistead
Barton, Biggs, Birdsong, Blow, Briscoe,
Bynum
Cheney, Clewis, Conway, Cresap
Deberry, Dillard
Edgerly
Fleete
Geer, Goudelock
Harlan, Hassell, Heald, Hinekley, Hockley,
Hodges, Hornsby
Isom
Jennett
Kerby, Kilbourne, Kirby
Lathrop
Marriott, Mizell, Murff
Nance, Newsome, Norwood
Ogle, Oldham
Poindexter
Ramsford, Rentz, Robeson
Seat, Shackleford, Sheppard, Sherbourne,
Sneed, Sowerby
Taaffe, Tate, Thompson, Tidmore, Tyler
Vess
Waddell, Wakeham, Wisinger, Woodard,
Woodward, Wortham
