The Sandifer Y-DNA Project was started in October 2006. As the Project grew and it expanded from just the surname Sandifer to various variants of that surname to include Sandiford, Sanderfer, Sandefur, Sanderford, etc. surnames. As DNA results started to come in it became obvious, based on DNA, that those with Sandiford variant surnames were of the R1 DNA haplogroup and those with Sandifer variant surnames were of the I1 DNA haplogroup, that is, they were not biologically related to each other. There were only a couple of exceptions to that. Therefore, a Sandiford Y-DNA Project was set up and all those members that had a R1 haplogroup were moved to the Sandiford Y-DNA Project.

The Sandifer Y-DNA Project has now become more specific in who can join the Project. You may join the Project if you meet one of the following criteria.

• You are male with a Sandifer variant surname, such as, Sanderfer, Sandefur, Sandefer, Sandiver, etc.

• You are a male that has a I1 haplogroup and a very good DNA match with a member in the Sandifer Y-DNA Project no matter what your surname is.

• You are a male or female who is managing an account of one of the above members of the Project.

Note: When we set up the Sandiford Y-DNA Project those Sandiford members could also be members of the Sandifer Y-DNA Project as well if they wished. But there is truly no value in them doing so. 

Several general things were discovered from early tests of the I1 haplogroup results:

• That our Project members DNA STR marker results indicated that we of a I1 Anglo-Saxon generic subclade with a couple of STR markers showing a little Norse heritage as well.

• Our members’ ancestral migration path seemed to be from Scandinavia/northern Germany into the British Isles and from there across to Colonial Virginia, possibly via Barbados. And in conjunction with paper trail research, from Virginia there seemed to be two migrations paths, one westwardly through Kentucky, Indiana, etc., and second, southwardly through South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, etc.

• With those early DNA STR marker results we were able to develop clusters of closely matching DNA and using that information either confirm are deny some paper trail family trees. 

• With FTDNA’s development of the “Big Y” test a few years back we have been able to gain a better understanding of our DNA results based on the testing of SNPs. SNPs are more specific than the STRs in that they have a much lower mutation rate. 

Note that STRs and SNPs are locations along the Y chromosome where mutations can occur.

More than half the project members have now taken the Big Y test, and from their results, we have been able to accomplish a number of DNA related opportunities.

• We have been able to develop a genetic family tree, called a hapotree, whose branches are based on SNP locations. Based on the members SNP results, of those who have taken the Big Y test, we can now place those members paper trail family trees on the haplotree, and with their STR results we can refine those positions on the tree. 

• Because of this haplotree development we now know where the haplotree branch of the common ancestor of all the project members is located on the haplotree, and we can estimate the time back to the most recent common ancestor.

• We can more easily confirm or deny paper trail results. For instance, for years people have thought that Johnson P Sandifer, Joseph Sandifer and Joshua Sandifer were brothers and sons of William Nightingale Sandifer. We now have DNA proof of that and that they were also grandsons of Peter Sandefur.

• The haplotree has allowed us to determine the genetic DNA lineage of every project member who has taken the Big Y test. This means that every descendant of each member will have the same DNA lineage of that member.

As the project grows we will be able to expand the haplotree and hopefully determine where in England our ancestors migrated from. And also, maybe determine the father of our common ancestor.