Foad Surname DNA Project - News

We have just found another refinement of the terminal SNP (polymorphism) of our haplogroup I1 Foads.  It is F2642+, downstream from Z140+.  And we have also found refinements for each of our haplogroup R1b members (Z49+, Z381+ and DF13+).

We have tested our first Foat and he doesn't match any of our other members (so far).   Since a sample of one is too small to be conclusive, it is impossible to tell if this test means that the Foats and Foads are not connected. 

We have begun to do special tests, such as 111 STR markers and specific, newly-discovered polymorphisms (SNPs), on selected members of the project in order to discover more about where the Foads fit into haplogroup I1* and hopefully to identify a specific ancient ethnic origin for them.   Already, our branch of the haplotree is defined by the following polymorphisms :  M253+ → Z58+ → Z59+ → Z60+ → Z140+ → F2642+ which will lead to a change of haplogroup designation for our I1* members to I1a3a1a* once the new nomenclature proposed by ISOGG has been accepted by FTDNA.   This small effort by us is part of larger work by other researchers to discover new sub-groups or sub-clades of haplogroup I1.  

We have now tested 9 men.   Six of them match fairly closely and, therefore, share common Foad ancestors within the last several hundred years.   These six all belong to haplogroup I1* and will soon be reclassified as haplogroup I1a3a1a.   The other three men are each unique in the project and belong to different sub-clades of haplogroup R1b (R1b-U106, R1b-U152 and R1b-L21).   One of them knows that there was an adoption in his paternal line so he is a representative of a relatively new genetic line of Foads.  

We still need to test more Foads and Foats.