As a part of the Border Families project of Family Tree DNA, a number of Carothers and Carruthers are having their DNA analyzed and documented.  Family Tree DNA is a genealogical tool designed to aid individuals wanting to "connect" with other relatives lost in time where the paper trail no longer exists.  As a result of having your Y chromosome DNA analyzed, you receive the actual allele values for 12 locations on the Y chromosome.  A perfect match of all 12 allele to another person with the same surname (or a variant), would indicate that you have a 99.9% likelihood of sharing a common ancestor with that person in a specific timeframe.  Graphs and charts of the timeframes are provided along with the results of your Y DNA test.  More specific tests can also be purchased beyond the 12 allele test.

Results of the Carothers / Carruthers who have signed up thus far for the DNA testing in the Border Reivers Project, can be found at Carruthers results page.

Further information can be obtained from www.familytreedna.com and www.familytreedna.com/dna101.html. 

Some definitions are provided here:

Allele:  one of the different forms of a gene that can exist at a single locus (or position in a chromosome).

Chromosomes:  bundles of tightly coiled DNA.  Humans have 23 paired chromosomes;  22 pairs of autosomes and 1 pair os sex chromosomes.  A single chromosome of each pair is passed from each parent to child.

Haplogroup:  a genetic population group associated with early human migrations and which can today be associated with a geographic region. It is important to note that even though female and male haplogroups may have the same letters, their definitions are different.

Haplotype:  one person's set of values for the markers that have been tested. Two individuals that match exactly on all markers have the same haplotype.

Gene:  the functional and physical unit of heredity passed from parent to offspring.

RAO (Recent Ancestral Origins):  a database of countries of origin reported by people who have been tested.

Y-DNA:  non-recombining DNA which determines whether a child will be male or female.  Y-DNA passes from father to son almost unaltered for long periods of time.

A Count Of Official Participants By Surname

Border Families project of Family Tree DNA now has 490 official participants. Of these, 472 have so far returned their kits. The total includes:

• 23 Armstrongs
• 1 Barraford
• 3 Beatties
• 7 Bells
• 1 Bennett
• 1 Bligh
• 1 Bogue
• 1 Bone
• 6 Burns
• 15 Carothers, Carruthers and Cruthirds
• 1 Charlton
• 1 Chernek (female Border Reiver descendant)
• 1 Christian
• 1 Clendaniel (or Glendenning)
• 1 Collingwood
• 1 Coulter
• 1 Crawford
• 1 Cresswell
• 1 Crozier
• 1 Dalgliesh 
• 6 Davisons and Davises
• 1 Dilks
• 4 Dixons
• 2 Dodsons/Dodds 
• 3 Douglases
• 1 Duckworth
• 1 Dunn
• 1 Eckersley
• 145 Elliotts, Elliots, Eliots and Ellwoods
• 3 Elders
• 1 Fenwick
• 1 Fletcher
• 2 Forresters and Forrests
• 4 Gilchrists
• 1 Gordon
• 1 Gowland
• 5 Grahams
• 2 Grays
• 19 Halls
• 1 Hanson (female Border Reiver descendant)
• 1 Harle
• 2 Headleys
• 9 Hendersons
• 8 Herons and Herrons
• 1 Hetherington
• 1 Hildreth
• 1 Hodgin
• 1 Hounslea 
• 1 Hume
• 5Hunts and Hunters
• 2 Inglises or Engles
• 22 Irvings, Irvines, Ervins, Irwins and Erwins (including one genetic Irvine named Hamblen)
• 2 Jameses
• 30 Johnsons and Johnstons
• 1 Kenny
• 11 Kerrs and Carrs
• 2 Kilpatricks
• 1 Kimbley
• 1 Kirkland
• 1 Koch (female Border Reiver descendant)
• 1 Laidlaw
• 1 Langley
• 5 Littles
• 3 Logans
• 3 Lowthers
• 1 McCracken
• 1 Milburn
• 1 Minto
• 1 Muhn (female Border Reiver descendant)
• 3 Murrays and Morrows
• 2 Musgroves and Musgraves
• 1 Neely
• 2 Nixons
• 1 Noble
• 3 Ogles
• 1 Oliver
• 2 Plunketts
• 1 Porter
• 1 Proctor
• 2 Reades or Reeds 
• 1 Redpath
• 2 Ridleys
• 5 Robsons
• 5 Rutherfords and Retherfords
• 1 Rutledge
• 1 Salkeld
• 8 Scotts
• 1 Shortridge
• 6 Simpsons (although 1 person apparently joined twice)
• 2 Spences
• 2 Stevensons or Stevenses
• 2 Stewarts (although 1 claims to be a Drysdale)
• 3 Storey
• 4 Taits or Taitsons
• 1 Thibault (Border Reiver descendant through non-patrilineal lines)
• 8 Taylors
• 1 Telford
• 2 Trumbles (or Turnbull)
• 1 Tweedie
• 1 Veitch
• 1 Vowles
• 1 Walker (female Border Reiver descendant)
• 2 Watsons
• 1 Waugh
• 1 Weir
• 3 Whites
• 1 Whitfield (but probable descendant of another North British lineage, possibly a Page)
• 2 Wilsons
• 9 Witheringtons and Wetheringtons (including a genetic Witherington surnamed McCormick)
• 1 Young