A potential project for population geneticists

One of the most influential American books of the late 20th Century was historian David Hackett Fischer's Albion's Seed, which outlines four different population streams out of Britain before 1776 -- from north to south in the U.S.: Puritan, Quaker, Scots-Irish, and Southern English -- and their profound influences on modern America.

The technology of DNA research is approaching the point where it would be feasible to test Fischer's model on living Americans and their distant kin in the British Isles. Look for genetic markers indicating Puritans or Scots-Irish or whatever in people with closely documented genealogies, then examine their proportions in regions across the country.

Considering the large amounts of money devoted to genealogy in this country and abroad, this project could be both exciting and lucrative.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer