Text Box: Project News & Announcements: October25, 2003:Technology steps in to spare me the task of having to edit HTML pages every time I wish to make an update. As of today, all future updates to this page will be posted to http://home.earthlink.net/~ppayne1203/weblog. This new page is known as a “blog” or weblog, which allows me to postupdates easily. October 10, 2003: As I have news to report, I will post it here. I’m just wrapping up with a facelift for the web site which gives it a totally new look. I hope you enjoy it. Since I began the project in 2002, the comments it has received have been very positive. The project has a wide appeal. Although the majority of contact comes from the public, I have also been contacted by professionals in the fields of genetics, history, television and radio. There is interest by teams of geneticists from around the country who wish to perform the DNA testing for the project. A production company has expressed an interest in producing a show for the Discovery Channel’s “Unsolved History” series based on the project. I have spoken to a producer from the company on two occasions and I am now in a holding pattern while they attempt to sell the idea to Discovery and make the necessary arrangements. I am told by some in the know, however, that these production idea’s rarely make it off the ground. Nevertheless, it provides a great deal of encouragement. Finally, later this month I will be interviewed on WSNL, AM 600, Flint, Michigan, which I am looking forward to with excitement. This type of interest is critical to the project’s success since it has no funding of it’s own. It will require partnership’s and support like this as the project advances to the research and testing phases. A variety of professions will need to be involved with such an ambitious project and I hope that this web site will generate interest among them. In the meantime, I continue to spread the word and work on the research. I believe that I have now identified some of the English families to which the colonist’s belonged. Of course, no records have been found to confirm this, but likely families can be identified through associations in records. There is also the possibility that descendants from these families later settled in the colonies where they are also associated in records with other Roanoke surnames. I am attempting to locate living descendants of these families who would be willing to submit DNA samples for testing when the project reaches that stage. They will comprise one of the two test groups. The other test group will be comprised of Native Americans who belong to tribes with traditions of descent from Roanoke Colonists. The Lumbee are one such tribe, but there appear to be several other tribes to consider as well. I encourage anyone who belongs to a family with a surname present at Roanoke, to consider participating in the project. Keep in mind that there must be some reason to believe that the family has an association with Roanoke. Those reasons might include family connections during the 16th and/or 17th century with other family names present at Roanoke; or associations with some of the few known families involved with Roanoke, such as the family of Ralph Lane, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Francis Drake, or Sir Walter Ralegh. Some of the families I am particularly interested in contacting include the following from 17th century Virginia and Maryland: Arthur, Bayley, Bennett, Bird, Borden/Burden, Bright, Brook, Brown, Butler, Cage, Coleman, Cooper, Ellis, English, Harvey, Jones, Lucas, Martin, Mallett, Nichols, Payne, Powell, Pratt, Smith, Sutton, Taverner, Taylor, Warner, Waters, White, Wright and Withers. I am also interested in contacting people with Roanoke surnames whose ancestors had 16th century associations with Suffolk and Norfolk. Please e-mail me if you think you might qualify [I will be unable to respond to everyone]. October 16, 2003: Radio interview scheduled with WSNL AM 600, Flint, Michigan. If you would like a transcript of the interview, send me a request. October 31, 2003: Lumbee Fall Powwow, Lumberton, North Carolina. I will be attending and look forward to a good time at my first Powwow! © 2002 Patrick A. Payne