DNA testing works in many ways and it is the Y-DNA testing that I am referring to on this page. For those of you who remember their biology, when the 23 pairs of chromosomes from the woman and the 23 pairs of chromosomes from the man get together, a baby is made. The egg always carries the X chromosome and the sperm carries either the X or the Y chromosome. If a Y sperm fertilises the egg, a boy is produced (X-Y) but if an X sperm fertilises an egg, a girl is produced (X-X) [apologies if this is factually incorrect, but this is a rough reminder, not a biology lesson].
The Y chromosome therefore gets passed down from generation to generation via the male side of the family and it is the analysis of specific points of the male DNA that can determine if there is a common link between two unrelated men, even if the link is generations back.
Following a series of emails from Linda Kay Hardesty in which she advised me that her uncle Claud Henry Hardesty had submitted his DNA for testing, Linda kindly offered to pay for me to be tested and I gratefully accepted her offer. Having sent back the sample to the lab, I eagerly awaited my results and when they arrived, was disappointed to note that there was no match between Claud and myself.
I then offered to pay for the testing of another male Hardisty / Hardesty member whose lineage can be traced back to William Hardisty of 1577 (as far as we currently know) and Richard Hardesty of Florida, USA took up my offer.
Currently, the testing kit has been paid for and will hopefully be arriving with Richard fairly soon. As soon as more information is known, then I will update this page.
Should anyone else wish to get themselves tested, there are three tests available:
12 Marker Test ($159.00)
25 Marker Test ($229.00)
37 Marker Test ($289.00)
Once we have at least 6 people tested, we can start up a Surname Project and perhaps determine more than can be unearthed via certificates. If you would like to order a testing kit, in the name of family research, then please visit http://www.familytreedna.com and let me know so that I can keep track.
You can also visit www.ysearch.org to view and compare our results.