ROANOKE ISLAND, N.C. (AP) -- Researchers say they may be able to use
D-N-A to uncover the fate of the Lost Colony.
Using genealogy, deeds and historical narratives, researchers have
compiled 168 surnames that they believe may have connections to the Lost
Colony.
Fred Willard is director of the Lost Colony Center for Science and
Research that is working to figure out what happened to the colony
settled 20 years before Virginia's Jamestown.
Willard thinks some colonists migrated inland. Researchers hope to test
cheek swabs of possible ancestors.
While D-N-A won't make any immediate connections beyond living
relatives, the samples can provide clues to a person's country of origin
and other shared family traits. Genealogy will have to fill in the
blanks.
The owner of a private D-N-A analysis company helping in the research
says the group may later seek to test American Indian remains or the
colonists' known relatives who remained in England.
