Project Background
GOAL: The purpose of the project is to supplement traditional genealogical research methods through Y Chromosome DNA testing in determining project member’s paternal ancestral line.
In the United States, the Davis surname is the 7th most common name. They are a racially diverse group, being 64.7% white, 30.8% black, and 4.5% other according to the 2000 US census. The Davies surname is the 988th most common surname, and is much less racially diverse, being 91.34 % white.
In Great Britain, this is reversed. There Davies is the 6th most common surname overall, and being the most common surname in 7 of the 22 Welsh councils. Davis is the 54th most common surname, but is 4th in Bristol and 5th in Gloucestershire.
Saint David (c. 500 – 589) is the patron saint of Wales. The Welsh word for David is Dafydd. In Welsh, the f is pronounced as a v, the y as an I, the dd as th, so Dafydd is pronounced dah-vith, which became Anglicized to Davis, or the possessive form Davies. NOTE: In Wales, I believe most still pronounce Davies as day-vis, not day-veez as in the U.S. and England.
PRICING:
Here is the regular pricing for project members:
Y-DNA12 - 12 marker test for $99 (Non-group price is $119)
Y-DNA37 - 37 marker test for $149 (Non-group price is $169)
Y-DNA67 - 67 marker test for $239 (Non-group price is $298)
The 12 marker test will tell you your haplogroup, and people you MAY be related to. You may get some false positives with people who are not your surname. The reason is that most project participants are the Atlantic Modal Haplotype associated with haplogroup R1b, and as such will have the first 6 markers in common, and only 6 other markers from which to differentiate. The 37 marker test will give you much more definitive results as to who you are related to. And FTDNA is now offering the 67 marker test. Whichever you choose now can always be upgraded later for an additional fee as shown below:
Y-DNA12to25 for $49
Y-DNA12to37 for $99
Y-DNA12to67 for $189
Y-DNA25to37 for $49
Y-DNA25to67 for $148
Y-DNA37to67 for $99
RESULTS: To see the Results Chart click on the "Y-DNA Results" box in the upper left hand column. The Results Chart is automatically updated by Family Tree DNA computers, except for the Most Distant Ancestor information which you update under MY MAPS/PLOT ANCESTRAL LOCATIONS on your personal webpage, or you can e-mail the Group Administrator with this information. FAILURE TO PROVIDE YOUR MOST DISTANT ANCESTOR INFORMATION WILL RESULT IN REMOVAL FROM THE PROJECT.
Since the Results Chart has limited room for Most Distant Ancestor information, project members are encouraged to invest in software to create a GEDCOM file which is uploaded on your personal webpage. Software such as Personal Ancestor File can be obtained for free at www.familysearch.org or commercially with products such as Family Tree Maker.
The Results Chart is large and may take a few minutes to load. Please be patient.
Please note the website http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~davisdna/ is no longer up to date as we do not have a webmaster to support it.
SUBGROUPS:
The Results Chart has the capability to offer member subgrouping by color. If you are interested in this, please send the Group Administrator an e-mail. Include in your e-mail which kit numbers you would like to be part of your subgroup.
Subgroup K87577 - The William Davis DNA Project
The William Davis DNA Project is a non-profit, volunteer-run group created to connect living descendants of William Davis using DNA testing and to research their Davis ancestors. Members of the WDDP know they are all descendants of their immigrant ancestor, William Davis, born 1663 Wales, because they all have closely matching DNA, haplotype I2a, proven by 67-marker Y-DNA tests.
The WDDP mission is to use DNA testing to prove as many major lines as possible of the William Davis family tree, using the Davis paper family tree as a guide and comparing DNA patterns from living descendants as proof. Because William Davis and several of his sons were ministers in the Seventh Day Baptist Church, much of his family tree has been researched in detail, published both in books and online, resulting in a strong paper history for comparison.
As descendants of the same ancestor, members of the WDDP collaborate in research to clarify their genealogical histories. They share their findings with each other and inspire each other to do better research. WDDP's website, William Davis DNA Project.org [http://williamdavisdnaproject.wordpress.com], posts news about current research and hosts their public online family tree, William Davis DNA Project Family Tree.
RECOMMENDED READING:
Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland (2007) by Bryan Sykes
The Seven Daughters of Eve (2001) by Bryan Sykes
Adam's Curse (2004) by Bryan Sykes
Deep Ancestry: Inside The Genographic Project (2007) by Spencer Wells
The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (2004) by Spencer Wells
Trace Your Roots with DNA (2004) by Megan Smolenyak and Ann Turner
Genealogy and Genetics: A theme issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly - Volume 93, No. 4, December 2005.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING:
African American Lives (2006) DVD
A compelling combination of storytelling and science AFRICAN-AMERICAN LIVES is an unprecedented four-hour series on PBS that takes Alex Haley's Roots saga to a whole new level. The series will profile some of the most accomplished African-Americans of our time using genealogy and DNA to trace their roots down through American history and back to Africa. Hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. W.E.B. Du Bois professor of the Humanities and chair of African and African-American Studies at Harvard UniversityDr. Gates will provide access to the day-to-day lives of several prominent African-Americans drawing on photographs film clips music and early personal records while a team of researchers genealogists and forensic DNA analysts will conduct investigations into their family histories. By spotlighting African-American role models the series hopes to inspire millions to consider their own heritage and underscore for all Americans the importance of knowing their past in order to unlock the
future.
African American Lives 2 (2008) DVD
In February 2006 the PBS series African American Lives narrated by acclaimed Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates showed the results of extensive genealogical searches of prominent African Americans including composer and producer Quincy Jones talk show host Oprah Winfrey and comedian Chris Tucker. Reaction to the show spurred thousands of black Americans to begin or renew the search especially with the help of DNA testing to find their origins. Gates and PBS have teamed up for a sequel that will air in February 2008 but this version will have a twist: A member of the general public will be selected to have his or her genealogical roots traced. The winner s story will be told along with those of several celebrities including Chris Rock Morgan Freeman Tom Joyner Maya Angelou Don Cheadle and others.
Journey of Man (2003) DVD
How did the human race populate the world? A group of geneticists have worked on the question for a decade, arriving at a startling conclusion: the "global family tree" can be traced to one African man who lived 60,000 years ago. Dr. Spencer Wells hosts this innovative series, featuring commentary by expert scientists, historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists.
The Human Family Tree (2009) DVD
Join geneticist Spencer Wells and a team of technicians from National Geographic's Genographic Project as they trace the human journey through time and space, from our origins in the heart of Africa to the ends of the world. Cutting edge science, coupled with a cast of New Yorkers—each with their own unique genetic history—will help paint a picture of these amazing journeys.
Project News:
02/23/2010
Who Do You Think You Are?
begins Friday, March 5, 2010 at 8/7c on NBC.
Share a heartwarming journey through
family history with Sarah Jessica Parker,
Emmitt Smith, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew
Broderick, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon
and Spike Lee as they discover the stories
of their ancestors. Who Do You Think You Are? will also
help people everywhere better understand
how to discover their own family stories.
The new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
premieres nationally Wednesdays, February 10 - March 3, 2010 from 8-9 p.m. ET on PBS.
What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Building on the success of his series African American Lives (called by the New York Times "the most exciting and stirring documentary on any subject to appear on television in a long time,") and African American Lives 2, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. again turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans.
The compelling family stories of 12 celebrities, including poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, writer Junot Diaz, writer Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Dr. Mehmet Oz, former monarch of Jordan Queen Noor, actress Meryl Streep and Olympic gold medalist and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, will demonstrate the richness of family history.
08/23/2009
Watch The Human Family Tree on National Geographic Channel Sunday, August 30th 9 pm et/pt
On a single day on a single street, with the DNA of just a couple of hundred random people, National Geographic Channel sets out to trace the ancestral footsteps of all humanity. Narrated by Kevin Bacon, The Human Family Tree travels to one of the most diverse corners of the world -- Queens, N.Y. -- to demonstrate how we all share common ancestors who embarked on very different journeys. Regardless of race, nationality or religion, all of us can trace our ancient origin back to the cradle of humanity, East Africa. What did our collective journey look like, and where did it take your specific ancestors? At what point in our past did we first cross paths with the supposed strangers living in our neighborhood? Now, in The Human Family Tree, the people of this quintessential American melting pot find out that their connections go much deeper than a common ZIP code.
04/18/2009
On March 14 &15, 2009, I attended the Family Tree DNA 5th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy for Group Administrators in Houston, Texas. The conference was limited to about 200 group administrators, who paid their own way to get there. The conference had been rescheduled from September 2008 because of hurricane Ike.
Bennett Greenspan and Max Blankfeld of FTDNA recently traveled to England to participate in the 2009 Who Do You Think You Are? conference. Who Do You Think You Are? is a British genealogy documentary series that has aired on the BBC since 2004. In each episode, a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Bennett and Max announced they will be aggresively going after the U.K. DNA testing market. That would be great if we can start getting some more matches from across the pond. Also, there may be an American version of the show that will start airing at a date to be determined on NBC. Check you local listings.
Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Genographic Project Director gave a quick review of the Genographic Project. He expects they will actually end DNA sampling of indigenous peoples in 2010, as the project reaches its conclusion. Dr. Wells felt that climate change was the main determination for the ancient migration out of Africa. At times in the past, the Saharan region of Africa has had enough moisture to support humans and support the migration out of Africa. Be on the lookout in August, 2009 for a major ‘tentpole’ presentation special on the National Geographic channel by Dr. Wells.
Ricki Wells spoke on the impact of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act passed in May 2008. This doesn’t impact FTDNA per se, as Y chromosome testing does not have medical implications, but there are a number of products on the market such as 23andMe, Navigenics, and deCODEme that will tell you if you carry the markers for certain medical conditions. Katherine Hope Borges, director of the ISOGG – International Society of Genetic Genealogy said that this should concern us, as legislators are under increasing pressure to regulate the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market which may limit our freedom to obtain DNA for genealogy purposes in the future.
FTDNA will be changing the way it counts short tandem repeats (STRs) in three cases. Your current value for DYS441 will increase by +1, DYS442 will increase by +5, and Y-GATA-H4 will increase by +1. The reason for this change is the application of standards by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) which differ from when the markers were first discovered and published. This will reduce some of the differences in existence between FTDNA and other testing companies. No date has been set for when this will happen. If you’ve copied your test results elsewhere please note to make the change when it happens.
Dr. Michael Hammer of the University of Arizona presented the latest phylogenic tree of Y-chromosome haplogroups. An ever larger number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are being discovered and placed on the tree, allowing deeper subclade analysis of the haplogroups.
11/24/2008
FTDNA lowered Group discount price for Y-DNA37 - 37 marker test from $189 to $149, and the Y-DNA67 - 67 marker test from $269 to $248.
5/05/2008
2008 Y-Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree released. FTDNA may have updated your haplogroup with current standard nomenclature.
4/24/2008
GENOGRAPHIC NEWS: EARLY HUMAN POPULATIONS EVOLVED SEPARATELY FOR 100,000 YEARS
WASHINGTON, DC (April 24, 2008) —A team of Genographic researchers and their collaborators have published the most extensive survey to date of African mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Over 600 complete mtDNA genomes from indigenous populations across the continent were analyzed by the scientists, led by Doron Behar, Genographic Associate Researcher, based at Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, and Saharon Rosset of IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, NY and Tel Aviv University. Analyses of the extensive data presented in this study provide surprising insights into the early demographic history of human populations before they moved out of Africa, illustrating that these early human populations were small and isolated from each other for many tens of thousands of years.
MtDNA, inherited down the maternal line, was used to discover the age of the famous 'mitochondrial Eve' in 1987. This work has since been extended to show unequivocally that the most recent common female ancestor of everyone alive today was an African woman who lived in the past 200,000 years. Paleontology provides corroborating evidence that our species originated on this continent approximately 200,000 years ago.
The migrations after 60,000 years ago that led modern humans on their epic journeys to populate the world have been the primary focus of anthropological genetic research, but relatively little is known about the demographic history of our species over the previous 140,000 years in Africa. The current study returns the focus to Africa and in doing so refines our understanding of early modern Homo sapiens history.
Doron Behar, Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, said: "We see strong evidence of ancient population splits beginning as early as 150,000 years ago, probably giving rise to separate populations localized to Eastern and Southern Africa. It was only around 40,000 years ago that they became part of a single pan-African population, reunited after as much as 100,000 years apart."
Recent paleoclimatological data suggests that Eastern Africa went through a series of massive droughts between 135,000-90,000 years ago. It is possible that this climatological shift contributed to the population splits. What is surprising is the length of time the populations were separate - as much as half of our entire history as a species.
Saharon Rosset, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, NY and Tel Aviv University, said: "The analysis of such a massive dataset presents statistical and computational challenges as well as great opportunities for discovery of the events that shaped our history and genetic landscape. For example, we can see evidence of a population expansion period starting around 70,000 years ago, perhaps leading to the out of Africa dispersal shortly afterward."
The timing of these events coincides with the onset of the Late Stone Age in Africa, a change in material culture that many archaeologists believe heralds the beginning of fully modern human behavior, including abstract thought and complex spoken language.
Previous studies have shown that while human populations had been quite small prior to the Late Stone Age, perhaps numbering fewer than 2,000 around 70,000 years ago, the expansion after this time led to the occupation of many previously uninhabited areas, including the world beyond Africa.
Dr. Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and Director of the Genographic Project, said: “This new study released today illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history. Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.”
Paleontologist Meave Leakey, Genographic Advisory Board member, National Geographic Explorer in Residence and Research Professor, Stony Brook University, added: "Who would have thought that as recently as 70,000 years ago, extremes of climate had reduced our population to such small numbers that we were on the very edge of extinction."
To see the entire article go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com/genographic
11/04/2007
A couple of important announcements:
First, Pat Griffith is retiring from active stewardship of the Davis/Davies/David surname project. Pat has been the Project Group Administrator since its inception 5 years ago. It will be hard to replace her experience, leadership and dedication. I hope you will join me in thanking Pat for all she has done. I will be taking her place. Pat will stay on temporarily as co-administrator until I find a backup for when I am on vacation or ill. If you are interested, please let me know.
Secondly, FTDNA has given the project Group Administrators the capability to offer member subgrouping by color. If you are interested in this, please send me an e-mail. Include in your e-mail which kit numbers you would like to be part of your subgroup
On October 20th and 21st, I attended FTDNA's 4th conference on Genetic Genealogy in Houston, Texas. Among the topics presented were:
Roberta Estes gave a presentation on the lost colony of Roanoke Island, NC. One hundred fifteen settlers were left on Roanoke Island in 1587 while the ship returned to England for supplies. In 1590, when the ship returned, the settlement was gone. Roberta's project is to solve the mystery of the missing colony. She will be looking for DNA traces of the Europeans among the Native Americans of the area.
David Soria, a research fellow with the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project, showed some slides from a recent trip to gather DNA from indigenous people in Peru.
John Butler, from the DNA measurements group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), said that standards exist for only a handful of the markers that FTDNA offers. So when the government catches up on issuing standards, be aware that FTDNA may be making some adjustments to existing counts. Also take note that competing testing labs may not be using the same standard, so please take this into account when comparing results from tests outside FTDNA.
Elby Davis
Group Administrator volunteer
Davis/Davies/David DNA project