Canton Family History

PROJECT NEWS

Family Tree DNA Discounts

The period for taking up these generous discounts ends on 30 September. It takes a very few minutes to order online - and I will gladly advise about that. However, realistically, I feel I would have been contacted long before this if anyone were seriously interested. That’s disappointing, but there we are!

In view of that, I am withdrawing my published offer to buy two (the minimum order) or more kits to distribute in the months ahead. Really, I only needed one, to donate to someone in my own line, and anything extra was part of the practical goodwill I feel to this project, the only way we are going to break through the immense research difficulties caused by lost records.  In case anyone thinks that’s a matter of guesswork on my part, I should mention that my experience in academic and genealogical historical research over several decades affords me some credibility in this.

There is still a Free Offer posted up by me for any descendant of my great-great grandfather, James Canton - this will be financed when someone comes forward.

We have one test in the Y-DNA pipeline: that of a member of the large GL (Gloucestershire -> London) line, a descendant of the great John Canton FRS, the Enlightenment scientist. We look forward very much to seeing and sharing that result, perhaps in about six weeks’ time.

FTDNA and Hurricane Ike

I have today received a further bulletin about this. Basically, all is well and work is going to schedule. If anyone would like to see the letter, they should please just ask me.

PERSONAL NEWS

I have mentioned here in recent months that I am suffering from a painful condition, for which I am to start treatment in the coming week. As soon as I am over that, I am off to London for a few days, which will include a check-up with my St Thomas’s consultant. As a result, I don’t plan to write any more individual letters until all that is over. My doctor told me to cut back, so that I have only been replying to correspondents at weekends recently, but this will be a complete break for about three weeks.

My doctor was all for me doing ‘fun’ things like Facebook, which is relaxing and distracting in a good way. See me there if you want to - as far as I can tell, if you put ’Sheila Rowlands Wales’ into the search box, I am the only one to come up.

There has been no news of the CSP to report recently as we are waiting for results from one Y-DNA test - please bear in mind that the special discounts will last to 30 September, so new additions will be very welcome!  We are also waiting for one mtDNA result, which is having a more refined test, not due until October.

Below is a copy of the latest newsletter  from FTDNA, sent on 21 September:

Dear Customers,
 
As a follow-up to our letter informing you of the level of preparedness Family Tree DNA established regarding the coming of Hurricane Ike to Houston, we are coming to you now to update you on our status post-Ike.
 
a) As you may know, all of our standard Y-DNA and mtDNA tests are processed at the lab in Arizona, and therefore, this processing has not been affected at all.
 
b) Also, as we advised previously, we have taken appropriate measures to safeguard and protect the data and our servers and therefore all computer systems are in place and functioning normally.  You may have noticed that our web sites have been up, available, and are running normally as they were before and during the storm.
 
c) The building where Family Tree DNA’s offices and Houston laboratory are located is without power, like most of Houston office buildings, and sustained damage, like so many other Houston office buildings.  This means that the building will be closed for the next few days until it is ready for tenants to return.  Despite this situation, several members of our staff have worked over the weekend to transfer equipment to other locations so that our normal office operations can resume on Monday, or at the latest on Tuesday, from an alternate location.  All postal mail will be picked up normally at our local post office, so that kits can be checked-in and processed normally.
 
d) The coming days will allow us to have a better assessment of when our Houston lab will resume normal operations, at which point we will be back to you again with additional information about any delays in delivering results for the advanced tests that our lab processes in Houston. (Advanced panels, FGS and Deep Clade Y SNP’s)
 
Please forgive us if in the next few days we don’t meet our standard level of customer service as to e-mails and phone calls.  We will be back to normal as soon as possible.  We appreciate your continued support .
 
E-mail us anytime!
 
Bennett Greenspan            Max Blankfeld
President                              Vice-President, Operations and Marketing
bcg@familytreedna.com    max@familytreedna.com

http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com
“History Unearthed Daily”
713-868-1438