About the Project
Welcome to the Vance/Vans Y-DNA Project. Broadly, our goal is to determine which Vance/Vans lineages are related to each other. We hope this project will provide the clues and extra evidence needed to make breakthroughs in extending lineages that have stumped genealogists for many decades and in connecting lineages not previously known to be related. We hope to discover and sort out relationships between American, Irish, and Scottish lineages, and to include the variant surnames Vaus and Vaux in our analysis.

Though we keep the identity of our participants private, we make the results of our project publicly available so that all those interested in Vance/Vans genealogy may benefit. If you’d like to be included on our mailing list to receive news, updates, and project reports, please drop us a line at vancedna@gmail.com.

The Administrators
Adam Bradford (adam.bradford@gmail.com)
James Vance Elliott (jvance@tiac.net)
Dustin S. White (dustinswhite@hotmail.com)

Special Offer

Thanks to a generous donation, funding is now available to help with the cost of DNA testing for individuals who are descended from certain Vance pioneers, as follows:

• Descendants of Andrew Vance (d.c.1754, Frederick Co., VA). We currently have a descendant of Andrew’s son Andrew (married Ann Ramey) in the project. Funding is available for another son of Andrew and Ann, but we would very much like to test descendants of Andrew Sr’s sons Samuel and John.
• Descendants of John Vance of Bedford Co., VA. One of John’s sons, Jacob Vance, moved to the Pendleton District of South Carolina, then on to the Giles/Lincoln Co. area of TN. Jacob had sons Jacob (married Mary Eddins), James (wife Nancy), and John (wife Agnes Gilmore).
• Descendants of John Vance of Sullivan Co., TN. It is believed by some that this John Vance might be the son of Jacob Vance of SC.
• Descendant of Samuel Vance of Washington Co., VA (wife Sarah Colville) from any son other than Samuel or Robert. We have descendants of Samuel from his sons Samuel and Robert, but are seeking a third participant from a different son.
• Descendant of Samuel Vance of Surry Co., NC (wife Alice Carr) from any son other than Nathaniel.
• Descendants of David Vance (d.c.1768, Hampshire Co., VA, wife Janet). We have descendants of Maj. William Vance and James Vance of Frederick. We would like to further test the theory that they were brothers to David Vance of Hampshire.
• Descendants of James Vance (d.1762, Frederick Co., VA). Possibly through his son John Vance who married Jane Black.
• Descendants of Thomas Vance of Union Co., SC. He is known to have been the father of George Campbell Vance.
• Descendant of David Vance of Mecklenburg Co., NC. We would like to test and confirm the theory that David Vance was the brother of Patrick Vance of Chambersburg, PA and Knox Co., TN, a few of whose descendants are in the project.
• Descendants of James Alexander Vance of Chester Co., SC. He was supposed to be a cousin of Patrick Vance of Chambersburg, PA and Knox Co, TN.
• Descendant of Hugh Vansof Boston, Mass. This Hugh was the son of John Vans merchant in Ayr, who was the son of Alexander Vans of Barnbarroch and his wife Margaret Maxwell.

Funding for all volunteers from these lines will be allocated on a first-come, first-served, basis. In order to protect against fraud, we will require volunteers to submit lineages of some detail before we authorize funding.

Who May Participate
Only males who are descended in a direct line from males with the surnames Vance, Vans, or their variants may be tested for our project. This is due to the nature of the Y chromosome, which is only passed from male to male. Those who would like to participate but who are not descended in a direct male line may still join by submitting the DNA of kin who are direct male descendants of their Vance ancestor.

Those who are unable to test, but who are interested in and supportive of the project, may wish to contribute financially. This money will be put towards Y-DNA tests and upgrades for participants deterred by the cost of testing. If you are interested in making a contribution, please contact us at vancedna@gmail.com.

Cost
We are customers of Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), the most prominent genetic genealogy firm in the world. FTDNA is the testing service used by the worldwide Genographic Project now being conducted by the National Geographic Society.

FTDNA offers four panels of DNA markers, for a total of 67 markers. The first panel of 12 markers is excellent for ruling out relationships; but in case of a match on 12 markers, an upgrade is usually necessary to further confirm the relationship. Upgraded results also allow us to make a more detailed analysis and gain invaluable clues as to how matching participants are related to each other.

For initial tests the costs are as follows:

The costs for upgrades are listed below: