The Swiss Anabaptist DNA Project - Family Project Website

The Swiss Anabaptist DNA Project

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Group Administrator: Bonnie And Hal - bschrack1@comcast.net
Group Co-Administrator: Hal Cross halcross@halcross.com

Project Surnames:

Albrecht	Amish	Amman	Amstutz
Anabaptist	Aschliman	Augsburger	Bachman
Bachmann	Beachey	Beachy	Beechy
Beiler	Bender	Berkey	Blank
Blauch	Blough	Bontrager	Bontreger
Borkholder	Borntreger	Brandenberger	Brenneman
Burkey	Burkhalter	Burkhard	Burkhardt
Burkholder	Burki	Byler	Christner
Chupp	Coblentz	Cross	Detweiler
Easch	Eash	Egli	Egly
Eicher	Engel	Erb	Esch
Esh	Eyer	Farmwald	Fischer
Fisher	Frey	Fry	Funk
Garber	Gerber	Gindlesperger	Gingerich
Gingrich	Glick	Gnaegi	Good
Graber	Grabill	Graybill	Guengerich
Gundy	Guth	Habecker	Habegger
Hapeger	Haphegger	Hartzler	Hawbaker
Hawbecker	Headings	Helmuth	Herschberger
Hershberger	Hertzler	Hirschberger	Hirschy
Hochstetler	Holly	Hooley	Hoover
Hostetler	Huber	Jantzi	Johns
Jost	Kanagy	Kauffman	Kaufman
Keim	King	Kinsinger	Knepp
Krabill	Kraybill	Krehbiel	Kuhns
Kurtz	Lantz	Lapp	Lehman
Leichty	Lichty	Livengood	Mast
Miller	Mischler	Mishler	Mullet
Nafziger	Neuhauser	Nisley	Nissley
Nofziger	Oesch	Orendorf	Otto
Oyer	Peachey	Peachy	Petersheim
Plank	Raber	Ramseier	Ramseyer
Reber	Rediger	Renno	Rickenbach
Riehl	Rupp	Schantz	Schenk
Schertz	Schlabach	Schmucker	Schowalter
Schrack	Schrag	Schrock	Schürch
Schwartz	Schwartzendruber	Seese	Seib
Sherk	Shetler	Shirk	Showalter
Shrock	Sieber	Siever	Sipe
Slabach	Slabaugh	Smucker	Sommer
Speicher	Stahley	Stahli	Stahly
Stauffer	Stehly	Steiner	Stoll
Stoltzfus	Stuckey	Stucky	Studer
Stutzman	Summers	Suntheimer	Swarey
Swartz	Swartzendruber	Täufer	Troyer
Tschantz	Umble	Unsicker	Unzicker
Wagler	Weaver	Weber	Wenger
Wengerd	Whitmer	Whitmore	Wingard
Witmer	Yoder	Yost	Yutzy
Zehr	Zimmerman	Zook

Group General Fund:

Project Background:

Welcome to the Swiss Anabaptist DNA Project. We hope this project will allow our families, who share not only centuries of history, but a great deal of our DNA, to benefit from this powerful new tool. There are at least two levels on which it can be useful. Genealogical puzzles and mysteries can by solved by comparing the test results of selected descendants of the ancestors in question. But beyond this, we can glimpse much further into the past than genealogical records extend. The possible origins of our ancestors in a variety of ancient tribes can be explored by discovering the genetic groups that are represented among Swiss Anabaptist descendants today.

We strongly encourage male participants to test at least 25, and preferably 37 or more Y chromosome markers; the more markers that are tested, the more we'll be able to discover in regard to the family's paternal ancestry. Both male and female project members may have their mitochondrial DNA tested, to learn about their maternal ancestry. Females who wish to investigate their paternal ancestry may recruit their father or brother, or an uncle, nephew, or cousin related to their father through the Y lineage, and sponsor his testing.

The members of this project are encouraged to also join and participate in a surname project devoted to investigating their own family's lineage. Family Tree DNA allows customers to join multiple projects with different purposes. A project like this one, focused on the deep genetic history of an entire population, is not able to work on the history or genealogy of individual families, though comparison of test results between families can sometimes be important in answering specific genealogical questions.

Members of this project are strongly encouraged to also upload their results to the Ysearch.org public database, which is open to anyone who has had their Y-DNA tested, regardless of which company it may have been tested by. This provides a very helpful way for all genealogists who are using DNA in their research to share information freely with one another. On your personal page, under "Y-DNA Matches," you will find a link to automatically upload your results to Ysearch. Please take advantage of it!

Here are some links to good sources of information on genetic genealogy for beginners. It's best to read the pages from more than one source, as each may help to shed light on questions that others may not answer:

http://www.familytreedna.com/dna101.html

http://blairgenealogy.com/dna/dna101.html

http://www.familytreedna.com/tutorial_B.html
("Reading and Comparing Results")

http://www.kerchner.com/dna-information.htm

http://www.kerchner.com/anonftp/pub/introg&g.htm

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq_privacy.html

http://www.worldfamilies.net/faqs.html

More to come!

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All Contents Copyright 2001-2004 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.
Project Background, Goals, Results and News are copyright of the specific Surname Project

Project Goals:

The purpose of this project is two-fold. First, we hope it will be educational, and that members will feel free to ask questions about genetic genealogy. This is a new discipline that augments and extends the "paper trails" of your heritage through the use of small variations in the DNA that each of us carry. This technique can be useful for documentation of family relationships but it is not a substitute for digging out historical information from old family and public records.

The second purpose of this project is to gather data on the ethnic and geographic origins of our European ancestors. Early Anabaptist recruits came from local enclaves which in turn were likely established by peoples of multiple origins. We are united by our common Anabaptist heritage today and are often lumped together as "one people", but DNA and some historical information suggest that there may have been considerable genetic heterogeneity among the early converts. If so, then DNA samples from living descendants should reflect that diversity. By collecting DNA results in a database such as this, it should be possible to establish detailed information regarding Anabaptist origins and diversity.

DNA Test Results (mtDNA) for Project Members