by Phillip G. Goff, GGFA Director of Genetic Genealogy
A research team consisting of Peter Clarkson, Camellia Acker, Harry Broad, Maureen Pierce and me has achieved a major breakthrough in the Gawf/Goff family of Tennessee and Alabama. This breakthrough is discussed in the Archives & Research>DNA Surname Study page on this website. I’m pleased to announce that these recent discoveries are now being woven into the genetic name assign to this family, which is discussed below.
Research is ongoing into this family to further corroborate facts and push the lineage back further in time. Key to this effort is to recruit more Barlow males to take the Big Y 700 test, which literally draws the branches of a family tree, based only on the DNA. This will provide much-needed evidence to discover the precise Barlow family from which the Gawf family sprang.
For more information, please check our DNA Surname Study pages or email me at dna@goff-gough.com. Each new participant helps to fill in the history of the Goff/Gough families.
Phillip Goff is the co-author, along with Roy L. Lockhart, of The Four Goff Brothers of Western Virginia. Since 2004, he has run the Goff/Gough Surname DNA Study, which today has about 400 participants.