DNA Project

About the Y-DNA Project for Nesbitt/Nisbet Families

N/N Family Tree

In 2003, Tom Nesbitt started the DNA project for N/N Society members and others who want to use this new scientific tool to help trace their Nesbitt-Nisbet line and ancestors. We are using FamilyTreeDNA who work with the University of Arizona, which does the actual testing. The test is a simple saliva test and is done in your home with a kit that is mailed to you. You will receive DNA coding results along with our current DNA administrator, Jean Skar.

If you are interested in learning more about the DNA Project or participating, please contact Jean at dnacoordinator@ibydeit.org or visit the Nesbitt/Nisbet FamilyTreeDNA Profile.

For assistance with ordering the DNA test, please download the YDNA Instructions.

For assistance with setting up your DNA profile, please download the Profile and Privacy Recommendations.

DNA Groups

To learn more about the DNA groups, please visit the N/N page on FamilyTreeDNA.

Our Autosomal DNA Coordinator - Adam Nisbett

Jean Skar

Adam Nisbett is the Society's Autosomal DNA Coordinator. Adam resides in Missouri and has had an interest in genealogy from an early age. His Nisbett ancestry traces back in the USA to Alexander Nisbet(t) b. 1731 who lived in the Waxhaws on the border between the Carolinas. Adam was fascinated by family history books like Newton Alexander Nisbet's "Nisbet Narrations" which detailed family history of Adam's branch of Nisbetts and speculated about connections to famous Scottish Covenanter Nisbets, which created a long-lasting interest in digging up details and evidence regarding these stories and has not waned even after discovering that many of the speculated links have proved inaccurate.

Adam has been working with autosomal DNA testing for over a decade, having been quickly fascinated with the potential opportunities to find additional clues not easily discoverable by traditional documentation search methods. Autosomal DNA differs from the other major type of DNA testing, the Y-DNA test, in that autosomal DNA is a mixture of all sorts of pieces of one's family tree rather than being inherited from the direct paternal line alone as is the case with Y-DNA. After exploring what was possible with his own autosomal DNA test, Adam began recruiting siblings, parents, aunts and uncles and other extended family to also test so as to be able to fully leverage more advanced analysis methods like 'visual phasing' of autosomal DNA. Using these methods, Adam mapped out his autosomal DNA to specific grandparents, great grandparents and beyond and has used these mappings to break through a few personal genealogical brick walls on branches of his tree that had not been documented as well as his Nisbett line.

Leveraging this experience, Adam has joined the Nesbitt/Nisbet society's DNA project to provide support as the co-administrator for autosomal DNA while Jean Skar remains the society's co-administrator for the Y-DNA side of the project. Adam can be contacted at anisbett@ibydeit.org if anyone has Nesbitt/Nisbet autosomal DNA questions.

Our Y-DNA Coordinator - Jean Skar

Jean Skar

Jean Skar is the Society's Y-DNA Coordinator. Born in the United States, but raised in Canada, Jean currently resides in Norway. Her interest in genealogy stems from her diverse background, which includes roots going back to Scotland, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, England, Denmark, and France. Jean found her link to the Nesbitt/Nisbet Society through her mother, whose maiden name was Nisbet. Jean's grandfather, James, was born in Scotland in 1899 and immigrated when he was young with his parents, a brother, and two sisters to Alberta.

Jean started her genealogical research with her own family, and began working backward. She has used the International Genealogical Index, the National Archives of Scotland, the Scottish Genealogy Society, studied books and microfilm at libraries in Scotland, performed online research, and integrated information from a vast amount of public records. Jean's research often incorporates travel, as she visited Glasgow and Edinburgh while searching the original documents in Scotland, including Sasines, deeds, the census, vital records, and wills. In addition to her duties with the Society, Jean also runs a separate website for her research at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nisbet/.

Jean is retired, with two daughters and five grandchildren. She says her hobbies are "Genealogy, genealogy, genealogy." She can be reached at dnacoordinator@ibydeit.org.