Floating English Menu

Welcome letter to the French Heritage DNA project
Hopefully the information presented in this letter will allow you to take full advantage of many of the features offered by this project.
To order a DNA test through our project please go to page:
We have two websites. One is sponsored by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and can be found at
This site contains the YDNA and the mtDNA results shown in subgroupings, usually by surname or by the name of the immigrant or earliest ancestor. Those participants that have not been categorized yet due to the absence of a clearly established French relationship (apparent French name or French ancestor) are shown as "Unidentified" at the bottom. This site is limited to those testing through Family Tree DNA Company and to those who have transferred to FTDNA from the National Geographic's Genographic Project.
The other website, containing many other features, can be found at FrenchDNA.org
They both contain results but in different formats. Each has access to the other. The latter site is in French and English. It also offers the ability to:
  1. Examine and access data by haplogroup and subclade rather than linearly by surnames.
  2. Efficiently compare signatures belonging to the same haplogroup. This is done by calculating an index of relatedness between signatures.
  3. Compose subsets of signatures based upon surnames, subclades, kit labels or a combination of these properties. The gathered signatures can be easily copied into a spreadsheet or text editor.
  4. Add new mtDNA and Y-DNA signatures to an already composed subset and compare these among themselves or to all signatures of the local database.
  5. Join the French Heritage DNA Project from another company than FTDNA. Our external database contains DNA signatures from companies other than FTDNA or iGenea or National Geographic.
  6. Access a page of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and answers and other useful information related to DNA testing.

When accessing either website, please be patient. We have over 1500 members and during busy times it may take several minutes to download to your computer.
To take full advantage of the power of genetic genealogy, please consider the following:
  1. If you change your email address please update your personal page at FTDNA so others may contact you. The only available source of contact between members that match each other is the email address. That is also the only way project administrators have to contact you.
  2. Become familiar with your personal page at FTDNA. To access, your Kit Number and password are required. Each time a match occurs between your signature and that of another in the FTDNA database this information concerning kit number and password is sent to you by Email.
  3. Your personal page provides you with the ability to:
    1. Update your contact information (VERY IMPORTANT).
    2. Join other projects especially your surname project if one exists, and your YDNA and mtDNA haplogroup projects as appropriate.
    3. Order other tests.
    4. Review your results.
    5. Review your haplogroup assignments.
    6. Analyze the list of your matches.
    7. Contact selected matches.
    8. Review the ancestral origins of those that match your DNA signature. This will give you some idea of the origins of most of the people that you match.
    9. Easily upload your YDNA and MtDNA results to www.ysearch.org and www.mitosearch.org This is important as it expands the possibility of finding matches. (VERY IMPORTANT).
    10. Enter your earliest direct paternal and maternal ancestor's names and plot their ancestral homes on a map of the world. (VERY IMPORTANT).
    11. Upload your GEDCOM file so those participants that match you can see a portion of your family tree.
To find out more about your haplogroup(s), do a Google search for (YDNA haplogroup___) and/or (mtDNA haplogroup___) and look for the Wikipedia description. For other questions, review the FAQ page at www.ftdna.com
Join the International Society of Genetic Genealogy at www.isogg.org
This is a free, internet group of over 7000 members that has a considerable amount of information available through its website. It also sponsors an up to date version of the phylogenetic haplogroup tree.
If you have taken the YDNA test, please send us a listing of your direct paternal lineage back to the name of your earliest immigrant ancestor. Include the date and place of marriage and name of spouse. With your permission, we intend to post this information on our website, associated with your Kit Number.
If you have taken the mtDNA test, please send us a listing of your direct maternal lineage back to the name of your earliest immigrant mother. Include the date and place of marriage and name of spouse. With your permission, we intend to post this information on our website, associated with your Kit Number.
If your Y-DNA belongs to haplogroup J, J1, J2, G2, E3b, R1a, or R1a1, please consider joining the Canadian Anusim Project at or contact Deborah Jensen for more information. Anusim means of Jewish tradition but having abjured or voluntarily converted to Christianity or Islam in order to avoid further persecution.
If you have taken the mtDNA test and are descended on your direct maternal line from one of the Mothers of Acadia, please join the Mothers of Acadia project at
Joining other projects does not imply leaving the French Heritage DNA project. The success of this and of any other DNA project depends upon giving your results the widest possible audience with the hope of eventually matching someone else. If others cannot see your results the importance of your participation is greatly lessened.
Thank you for your participation in the French Heritage DNA Project and if you have any questions please contact one of the project administrators,

Alice Fairhurst
Doug Miller
Jacques Beaugrand