Please note that this project provides genealogical research support ONLY for OLIVER men who have Y results.  It was designed as a SURNAME project, not a project that encompasses anyone with a person named Oliver in their lineage.  The explosion of autosomal testing and transfer to FTDNA of such results in 2015 has lead to many people joining this project who do not have such data.  However, IF a person has been autosomal tested and can email me their Oliver lineage and tell me which group they should belong to, I will attempt to add their line and initials to the appropriate chart.

To order a Y DNA test kit. I recommend ordering 37 markers. Ordering more markers has not proven useful to the few men who have done so.  Some people believe that ordering more markers might help them find more matches, but the opposite is true.  If you have many matches and want to narrow down to try to see what branch of a family you might be on, it "may" help to order more markers if the others in your matching group also do.  However, this has not proven to be the case in the Oliver families tested so far.

The Oliver Y-DNA project was begun in 2003. It was administered by Mr. Pat Oliver until his death in August of 2009. Over 100 Oliver men had been tested by that time. His webpage was available until January, 2010 but is no longer available on at its previous URL. A copy is now posted here, but keep in mind that his email doesn't work and that this page does not show recent participants.

As of November 20, 2009 this webpage became the "homepage" for the Oliver Y DNA project based on results at FTDNA. I have attempted to use the same or similar colors that Pat used for the groups of Oliver men whose Y haplotypes match closely.

Most men in the  groups of matching Oliver men  have provided genealogical information which allows one to see connections to a common ancestor.

A webpage that shows only the genealogical charts for most of the groups.  Please see:
http://www.sheilaschmutz.net/Oliver/OliverLinesCombined.html

Cyan Group 01 - Maryland ancestors
Dark Green Group 02 & Light Green Group 03 - Bertie County, NC ancestors and Irish ancestors
YellowGreen Group 04 - New Jersey ancestors
Bright Yellow Group 05- Caroline County, VA ancestors
Coral Group 06 - many Samuel Oliver ancestors from Ireland, SC, KY
Lime Green Group 07 - late 1700s VA ancestors
Turquoise Group 08 - Charlotte County and Caroline County, VA ancestors
Pale Blue Group 09 - North Carolina to Georgia
Pale Yellow Group 10 - George Oliver (1726 Stafford Co, VA - 1786 Rockingham Co, NC) descendants
Magenta Group 11 - Carolina and Georgia Oliver ancestors
Blue Group 14 - James Newton Oliver (1815 TN -
Oliphant-Oliver Group 15 - Duncan Oliphant (1682 Scotland - abt. 1734 Hunterdon Co, NJ) descendants
Maroon Group 17 - VA to Franklin County, TN
Teal Group 19 (not shown)
Silver Group 20 - Georgia and Mississippi
Violet Group 21 - Tennessee and Arkansas
Gold Group 22 - Descendants of John Oliver b. 1750 Delaware

Persons who have done Family Finder testing with FTDNA, or who have done an autosomal DNA transfer of their results from another company to FTDNA are asked to email their matches and try to derive their own interpretations of genealogical connections.

Some men are named Oliveira and were originally included in this project since the name shares some similar roots. Please see more information on the Oliveira Members Page. Now that there is a project for the Oliveira Surname, I suggest you join it and not his one please.

A few people in this project who have Y DNA results have joined because they are interested in Oliver genealogy or because they have a female ancestor whose mother was an Oliver. These individuals are placed in the Pink Group. They are not expected to share Y DNA markers since they are not related to a common male ancestor. Ideally these people should only join a project based on the last name of the man who was tested.

Likewise some Oliver women may choose to have mtDNA testing done. Because the mitochondria that have mtDNA markers are only inherited through the maternal line, sharing a last name is not indicative of shared mitochondria. This webpage is not attempting to support mtDNA results or interpretation at this time.

It is believed that surnames that were passed from father to children did not begin in Great Britain until about 1400.  (see  http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~taylorydna/surname-theory.shtml).  Although none of us traces our genealogy back that far, this will be the potential limit of using surnames and Y DNA to find common ancestors.

If you are the SPONSOR of another man named Oliver, then you may order the kit and have it sent to him. When his kit is received and returned to the lab, then you can pay for it via a contribution to the "GENERAL FUND" which can be credited towards that kit.  Likewise if multiple family members are contributing, they can each pay a portion to the "GENERAL FUND".  Please be sure to email me (sheila.schmutz@usask.ca) about your wishes regarding any contribution you make.

Please fee free to email me (sheila.schmutz@usask.ca) about your Y DNA results and to provide additional genealogical data. I am a descendant of Augustus Oliver, shown in the Bright Yellow Group, through one of his daughters. A late male "cousin" was kind enough to supply the Y DNA to help my relatives confirm our genealogy to Augustus. We have been able go back a couple more generations through the cooperation of matches in this project, for which we are very grateful. I hope that you can have as much luck as we have had! Sheila Schmutz ______ Text last updated June 2, 2023. Y data are automatically updated by FTDNA as soon as markers are completed.