Results
The project began July, 2007, with one participant. Currently, there are seven participants. These members represent three different haplogroups: J1, J2 and R1b. R1b is the most common haplogroup in Europe. J1 and J2 are seen in Europe around the Mediterranean. Haplogroups are clusters of haplotypes(your set of individual markers is your haplotype) which have 12 or 25 near or exact matches. People belonging to different haplogroups cannot be related within many thousands of years. Based on the haplogroups, our members represent at least three distinct families.
Those members who know their immigrant ancestor's country of origin have listed a German speaking region(Austria, Germany or Switzerland.) One translation of the surname is that it refers to a person who lives near a place where reeds or rushes grow. Thus, the name does not reference a unique location. Many families in numerous localities could have adopted the name based on living near reeds and rushes.