Dear Burgess Genealogist,

We have three new Y-chromosome DNA matches to report.

The family of Edward Burgess of Lawrence Co., Kentucky has now been linked genetically to William Burgess of Bedford Co., Virginia. Genealogists have long speculated on the possible connection between these two families; we can now confirm that they actually exist. We now have number markers in hand from descendants of three of William's four sons, and they all match; in addition, they match the numbers of the descendants of William Burgess of Richmond (later King George) Co., Virginia, pointing towards a common male ancestor who lived no later than the mid-1600s.

Two more families have also now been linked to the family of Thomas Burgess of Sandwich, Massachusetts, including one line whose ancestry was uncertain. The early records of Rensselaer and Washington Cos., New York, include the intermingled families of two different Burgess groups, one descended from a Hessian soldier who remained in North America after the Revolutionary War, the other from Benajah Burgess, known to be connected to Thomas's eldest son, Thomas Jr. We have now confirmed that George Burgess Sr. and Jr. of Washington Co. belong to this second group.

These newest results point toward a developing trend in the Burgess DNA Project. The known larger Burgess families are beginning to break out from the pack, with multiple random affiliations becoming apparent, even from families whose ancestral information was largely unknown prior to their participation. The large families are showing more random matches because they have a much larger descendant base, and this trend should continue into the indefinite future. We also have some families whose profiles have yet to match any others in the project, and probably always will, but the trend appears gradually to be moving in the other direction.

As always, please check my personal website (www.millefleurs.tv, under the "Burgess Genealogy" link) for regular updates to the Burgess DNA Project, and also for additional Burgess family data which I'm adding from the early records. Dan Burgess has kindly cumulated earlier versions of these reports on his own website, www.burgesslegacy.org.

All best:

Prof. Michael Burgess