Burgess Surname DNA Project--Report #12


Dear Burgess Cousins,

It's been four months since my last report. During the first week of June, I was handed a writing assignment that took me most of the summer to complete. This means that I'll have three novels coming out in late fall, all under my pen name, Robert Reginald--but it also required that work on the Burgess project be put aside for a while.

We had a number of DNA results this summer, including three matches with the Thomas Burgess line of Massachusetts (one of these was not previously predicted), and a tentative match with either the line of Edward Burgess of Pittsylvania Co., VA, or with that of his cousin or brother, William Burgess of Montgomery Co., MD. We won't be able to tell if this match is real until we enhance the record to 25 markers.

We also had three results that currently do not match any other record in the project.

We obviously need more volunteers, and we need to enhance some of the records that we have to either 25 or 37 markers. I urge those of you who have sufficient financial wherewithal to begin doing this on a gradual basis with your own records, or to volunteer to enhance those of your known cousins. No further testing is required for enhancements. I also urge those of you who have expressed interest in the project, but have never actually signed on, to do so now. If you don't have the money, I'm willing to pay for any test out of my own pocket, if I think it will help add some vital information to the project.

Alas, I have some bad news to report as well. We started this Project in the summer of 2004. Just a year later, we've had the first reported deaths of Burgess Project participants. In recent months Sam Burgess, Gene Burgess, and Jim Burgess have all passed away.

I didn't know the first two gentlemen, but my seventh cousin Jim Burgess was a career submarine captain and a good man. He was just the second individual to join the Burgess Surname DNA Project, and he signed up immediately for a 37-marker test. This ultimately proved to be of great importance to the development of the overall project. He and his family survived two close brushes with major hurricanes in the summer of 2004. I remember him telling me then that he had moved inland "just to escape this sort of thing." He and the others will be greatly missed.

All good wishes:
Prof. Michael Burgess