About us
Jan 2018
Garry and I have now undertaken a BigY test. This has confirmed our position on the Y tree as BY32862. This is one step down from FGC15895, and is an SNP so far unique to Strudwick.
We have a further 76 unnamed SNPs that willneed to be placed correctly on the tree as more people test to BigY level. Comparing Garry and my STR resuts from the Big Y may also help in arranging the tree branch. BigY is an expensive test, but hopefully prices will come down over time. A combination of YDNA testing at the Y37,Y67 and Y111 level, with additional BigY tests when possible, will gradually fill out the branches below BY32862 as we determine most recent common ancestors for our various Strudwick branches.
July 2016
The STRUDWICK DNA Project has just received results for Garry, adding to the YDNA knowledge, so I thought it worth looking at what it all means so far.
There are currently five Strudwick branches who have taken Y37DNA tests, Garry, Marcus, Trevor, Haydn, and Darrell.
Before looking at the results,here is a summary of what the Y37 test can help with. It is rather long, but explaining DNA testing is not easy in just a few words.
There are two main pieces of information that can be determined from a YDNA test, the first is the Haplogroup of the tester, and the second is a list of other testers who are related on the paternal line.
A haplogroup is a major branch on the paternal tree of humankind.
The branch is a variation in a single nucleotide that occurs at a specific position in the genes, where each variation is present to some appreciable degree within the population.
A single nucleotide polymorphism, often abbreviated to SNP (pronounced snip) is the marker that identifies where there is a mutation in the DNA, in the case of our testers, a mutation in the Y chromosome.
The DNA can also tell the order in which these mutations occurred, and so provide a timeline for the mutation events.
As an example, if a set of ten Y chromosomes (derived from ten different men) contains a mutation, A, but only five of these chromosomes contain a second mutation, B, then it must be the case that mutation B occurred after mutation A. Furthermore, all ten men who carry the chromosome with mutation A are the direct male line descendants of the same man who was the first person to carry this mutation.
The first man to carry mutation B was also a direct male line descendant of this man, but is also the direct male line ancestor of all men carrying mutation B.
Series of mutations such as this form lineages.
Furthermore, each mutation defines a set of specific Y chromosomes, and this is what we call a haplogroup.
Over time more and more mutations have occurred, and these become the fork or branching points along the human tree. These mutations continue right to this day.
Human Y chromosome (Y-DNA) haplogroups are named from A to T, and are further subdivided using numbers and lower case letters.
The earliest humans are Haplogroup A. Haplogroups can be used to plot migrations of human populations over time, so A and B are found in Africa, whereas C is spread across Oceania and beyond, and so on.
DNA tests, such as FTDNA's BIGY, look at the many SNP's in the genes, and can determine where an individuals DNA fits in the overall tree of humankind, and this refined haplogroup position is known as the haplotype.
The YDNA tests used in the Strudwick Project, do not specifically look at Haplogroups, but can give a broad determination of haplogroup and haplotype, and this information is reported on the FTDNA pages.
The YDNA tests main function is to examine the Y chromosome to report particular areas that have been identified as useful markers for genealogy research.
These are areas where segments of the genome repeat, called Short Tandem Repeats (STR's)and the mutations are either an additional copy or removed copy of the repetition.
You can see your STR results on the FTDNA Y-STR page, and it lists a table with the 37 STR names that were tested, and the number of times the particular dna segment was found to repeat. So for example, in my case the Y-STR marker called DYS393 was repeated 12 times.
These mutations in the number of repeats, occur at a statistically predictable rate, and so where two DNA samples that are otherwise identical have a single mutation difference, the period of time back to when the mutation occurred can be estimated.
SO... what do we know!
4 of the testers have been assigned Haplogroup J, more specifically Haplogroup J- haplotype M172 or J-M172
Haydn has been assigned Haplogroup I, or I-M253.
This means that any common ancestor between Haydn I-M253 and the other J-M172 testers must have existed tens of thousands of years ago, the I haplogroup predominant in Scandinavia, the J through the middle east.
So for the purpose of the project we can say that Haydn is not related to the other Strudwick testers. This confirms the genealogy data, with the Strudwick name passing from the female line, a number of generations ago. We are using the Familyfinder tests to further explore Haydn's ancestry.
The remaining 4 J-M172 participants are much more closely related, by varying degrees.
Marcus and Trevor are the closest relationship, with only one mutation difference out of the 37 markers tested. This is known as a Genetic Distance of 1.
It means there is a 90% chance that we shared a common ancestor in the last 11 generations.
Garry differs from Trevor by 2 mutations, a genetic distance of 2, or an 80% chance of sharing an ancestor in the last 11 generations.
Garry and Marcus are a Genetic Distance (GD) of 3.
Darrell is a GD of 4 to Trevor, 5 to Marcus and 6 to Garry
It is interesting to note that there is one other name that appears on the match list for most of us, that is not a Strudwick.
There is a Mr Joe Dale Elliot who matches Marcus at GD 3 and Garry and Trevor at GD 4. Tracing Mr Elliots tree takes us to Wisborough Greene and also Cranleigh. Its possible that Mr Elliot shares a common ancestor with the Strudwick's at some time in the not too distant past.
The next steps are to add further Strudwick's to the project, and try to narrow down the common ancestors. Upgrading some of the tests to Y67 or Y111 may also be useful to firm up the times to the most recent common ancestors (MRCA's)
From a project point of view, the data so far supports the view that all Strudwick type people are related, however the data is so far based on just four testers and so fairly tenuous.
More participants are needed, so if you are a Strudwick male, get in touch.
Garry and I have now undertaken a BigY test. This has confirmed our position on the Y tree as BY32862. This is one step down from FGC15895, and is an SNP so far unique to Strudwick.
We have a further 76 unnamed SNPs that willneed to be placed correctly on the tree as more people test to BigY level. Comparing Garry and my STR resuts from the Big Y may also help in arranging the tree branch. BigY is an expensive test, but hopefully prices will come down over time. A combination of YDNA testing at the Y37,Y67 and Y111 level, with additional BigY tests when possible, will gradually fill out the branches below BY32862 as we determine most recent common ancestors for our various Strudwick branches.
July 2016
The STRUDWICK DNA Project has just received results for Garry, adding to the YDNA knowledge, so I thought it worth looking at what it all means so far.
There are currently five Strudwick branches who have taken Y37DNA tests, Garry, Marcus, Trevor, Haydn, and Darrell.
Before looking at the results,here is a summary of what the Y37 test can help with. It is rather long, but explaining DNA testing is not easy in just a few words.
There are two main pieces of information that can be determined from a YDNA test, the first is the Haplogroup of the tester, and the second is a list of other testers who are related on the paternal line.
A haplogroup is a major branch on the paternal tree of humankind.
The branch is a variation in a single nucleotide that occurs at a specific position in the genes, where each variation is present to some appreciable degree within the population.
A single nucleotide polymorphism, often abbreviated to SNP (pronounced snip) is the marker that identifies where there is a mutation in the DNA, in the case of our testers, a mutation in the Y chromosome.
The DNA can also tell the order in which these mutations occurred, and so provide a timeline for the mutation events.
As an example, if a set of ten Y chromosomes (derived from ten different men) contains a mutation, A, but only five of these chromosomes contain a second mutation, B, then it must be the case that mutation B occurred after mutation A. Furthermore, all ten men who carry the chromosome with mutation A are the direct male line descendants of the same man who was the first person to carry this mutation.
The first man to carry mutation B was also a direct male line descendant of this man, but is also the direct male line ancestor of all men carrying mutation B.
Series of mutations such as this form lineages.
Furthermore, each mutation defines a set of specific Y chromosomes, and this is what we call a haplogroup.
Over time more and more mutations have occurred, and these become the fork or branching points along the human tree. These mutations continue right to this day.
Human Y chromosome (Y-DNA) haplogroups are named from A to T, and are further subdivided using numbers and lower case letters.
The earliest humans are Haplogroup A. Haplogroups can be used to plot migrations of human populations over time, so A and B are found in Africa, whereas C is spread across Oceania and beyond, and so on.
DNA tests, such as FTDNA's BIGY, look at the many SNP's in the genes, and can determine where an individuals DNA fits in the overall tree of humankind, and this refined haplogroup position is known as the haplotype.
The YDNA tests used in the Strudwick Project, do not specifically look at Haplogroups, but can give a broad determination of haplogroup and haplotype, and this information is reported on the FTDNA pages.
The YDNA tests main function is to examine the Y chromosome to report particular areas that have been identified as useful markers for genealogy research.
These are areas where segments of the genome repeat, called Short Tandem Repeats (STR's)and the mutations are either an additional copy or removed copy of the repetition.
You can see your STR results on the FTDNA Y-STR page, and it lists a table with the 37 STR names that were tested, and the number of times the particular dna segment was found to repeat. So for example, in my case the Y-STR marker called DYS393 was repeated 12 times.
These mutations in the number of repeats, occur at a statistically predictable rate, and so where two DNA samples that are otherwise identical have a single mutation difference, the period of time back to when the mutation occurred can be estimated.
SO... what do we know!
4 of the testers have been assigned Haplogroup J, more specifically Haplogroup J- haplotype M172 or J-M172
Haydn has been assigned Haplogroup I, or I-M253.
This means that any common ancestor between Haydn I-M253 and the other J-M172 testers must have existed tens of thousands of years ago, the I haplogroup predominant in Scandinavia, the J through the middle east.
So for the purpose of the project we can say that Haydn is not related to the other Strudwick testers. This confirms the genealogy data, with the Strudwick name passing from the female line, a number of generations ago. We are using the Familyfinder tests to further explore Haydn's ancestry.
The remaining 4 J-M172 participants are much more closely related, by varying degrees.
Marcus and Trevor are the closest relationship, with only one mutation difference out of the 37 markers tested. This is known as a Genetic Distance of 1.
It means there is a 90% chance that we shared a common ancestor in the last 11 generations.
Garry differs from Trevor by 2 mutations, a genetic distance of 2, or an 80% chance of sharing an ancestor in the last 11 generations.
Garry and Marcus are a Genetic Distance (GD) of 3.
Darrell is a GD of 4 to Trevor, 5 to Marcus and 6 to Garry
| trevor | marcus | garry | darrell | |
| trevor | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| marcus | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| garry | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| darrell | 4 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
It is interesting to note that there is one other name that appears on the match list for most of us, that is not a Strudwick.
There is a Mr Joe Dale Elliot who matches Marcus at GD 3 and Garry and Trevor at GD 4. Tracing Mr Elliots tree takes us to Wisborough Greene and also Cranleigh. Its possible that Mr Elliot shares a common ancestor with the Strudwick's at some time in the not too distant past.
The next steps are to add further Strudwick's to the project, and try to narrow down the common ancestors. Upgrading some of the tests to Y67 or Y111 may also be useful to firm up the times to the most recent common ancestors (MRCA's)
From a project point of view, the data so far supports the view that all Strudwick type people are related, however the data is so far based on just four testers and so fairly tenuous.
More participants are needed, so if you are a Strudwick male, get in touch.