The project will:

• Develop a table of genetic patterns of all Dresse Families so that Dresse researchers can determine whether their families have a common ancestor with other Dresse families

• Encourage Dresse researchers to submit DNA samples.

• Share the results with all participants in the project and make the results publicly available on the internet with appropriate considerations for privacy of participants

The project uses high technology DNA analysis to determine whether families share a common ancestor. The male chromosome is passed down virtually unchanged from father to son. So, two male Dresse 7th cousins would have virtually the same male DNA pattern. This scientific fact is useful in genealogy when one does not have documentary records to show a family connection despite circumstantial evidence that suggest a family connection. If the DNA of the descendants of the branches one is trying to connect do not have the same DNA pattern, then one knows they are not closely related. If the pattern does match, then there is a common ancestor at some point in the past lineage. The technology can’t pinpoint how many generations back the ancestor is, but it can tell us if there is a common ancestor.

Participants joining the project are sent a lab kit in the mail. The kit includes a “Q” tip or toothbrush type instrument that one rubs along the inside of one’s cheek for 30 to 60 seconds. Then the swab is placed in a small tube and an envelope and mailed to the lab. That’s all it takes. 

Within 6 to 8 weeks, results are available for the sample submitted.  When enough samples are collected to make comparisons between branches of the family, a summary sheet will be produced indicating which branches were shown to have a common ancestor.

A fellow researcher sent the following page that contains a list of good resources for genealogists. If you have a good website for that we should list here, let me know.

MYFACTS PAGE - GENEALOGY RESOURCES

To help the pay the costs of donations FTDNA has funds set up for each project. If you would like to help defray the cost of tests for other people go to http://www.familytreedna.com/contribution.html. Be sure to specify the donation is to be given to the “Dresse” project. Thank you for your generosity!

ORDERING DNA SAMPLE KITS

The Dresse Family DNA project seeks to include data from the various Dresse DNA projects and incorporate their data. Family Tree DNA’s (FTDNA) laboratory is recommended. It is affiliated with Dr. Michael Hammer and the University of Arizona and tests the Y-chromosome for genetic matches between males. Results are placed in FTDNA's Y-DNA database and when 2 people show matching results, the lab will inform both parties (provided both signed the FTDNA Release Form). Please visit the FTDNAwebsite for moreinformation and an explanation of Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA).

Other projects use other labs, but the results cannot be loaded into the FTDNA database. However, if you send us the results we will match them with the members data in this project and we will add the results to our display.

By ordering through FTDNA you receive project group rates, which are less expensive than standard rates. The following Y-chromosome DNA tests are available.  Please see the FTDNAwebsite for availability of other types of DNA testing.

BigY700 tests are recommended. 

By ordering the kit through our project you are agreeing to have your results incorporated with other tests and displayed on this site.

DNA EXPLAINED

John Blair has an excellent explanation of the DNA process on his Blair Surname Project.Basically there are DNA Markers which are passed from father to son and remain the same generation to generation with an occasional mutation. This is why only males can do this test. All Y-DNA tests allow you to identify your ethnic and geographic origins (Haplogroup), both recent and far distant on your direct male descending line. Among others, you will be able to check your Native-American or African Ancestry, as well as, for the Cohanim Ancestry.  A description of Haplogroups follows this section.

A wonderful set of videos describing DNA testing and how it can help you in your genealogy research is provided on the Family Tree DNA website at http://www.familytreedna.com/videoaudio.html.

WHATS A HAPLOGROUP?

FTDNA Y-DNA tests allow you to identify your ethnic and geographic origins(Haplogroups), both recent and far distant.  Among other features, this test will also be able to indicate your Native-American Ancestry and which of the 5 major groups that settled in the Americans you are most likely to be descended from. It can also describe African Ancestry, as well as other ethnic origins.

Y-DNA Haplogroup Descriptions:

The following Haplogroup Descriptions are from the FamilyTreeDNA.com website which was the testing company used to determine the nearest Haplogroup assigment based on the individual's haplotype results from the Y-DNA test. These verbatim Haplogroup Descriptions and/or excerpts are copyrighted by FamilyTreeDNA.com and all rights to these descriptions are claimed by FamilyTreeDNA.com. These descriptions have been printed here with the permission of FamilyTreeDNA.com. These descriptions cannot be used elsewhere without the written permission of FamilyTreeDNA.com.

Please note that people in different Haplogroups cannot be related within many thousands of years, and that each male test result provides a prediction of the Haplogroup currently about 90% of the time. If your Y-DNA matches suggest that you belong, for example,to Haplogroup R1b, you may confirm that by ordering a Y-DNA SNP test for the R1b clade.

In general the following rule of thumb may be used: R1b= Western Europe, R1a = Eastern Europe, I = Nordic, J2 = Semitic, E3b= Semitic, Q3 = Native American.

Haplogroup B is one of the oldest Y-chromosome lineages in humans and is found exclusively in Africa. This lineage was the first to disperse around Africa. There is current archaeological evidence supporting a major population expansion in Africa approximately 90-130 thousand years ago. It has been proposed that this event may have spread Haplogroup B throughout Africa. Haplogroup B appears at low frequency all around Africa, but is at its highest frequency in Pygmy populations.

Haplogroup C is found throughout mainland Asia, the south Pacific, and at low frequency in Native American populations.  Haplogroup C originated in southern Asia and spread in all directions. This lineage colonized New Guinea, Australia, and northAsia, and currently is found with its highest diversity in populations of India.

Haplogroup C3 is believed to have originated in southeast or central Asia. This lineage then spread into northern Asia, and then into the Americas.

Haplogroup D2 most likely derived from the D lineage in Japan. It is completely restricted to Japan, and is a very diverse lineage within the aboriginal Japanese and in the Japanese population around Okinawa.

Haplogroup E3a is an Africa lineage. It is currently hypothesized that this haplogroup dispersed south from northern Africa within the last 3,000 years, by the Bantu agricultural expansion. E3a is also the most common lineage among African Americans. 

Haplogroup E3b is believed to have evolved in the Middle East. It expanded into the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene Neolithic expansion. It is currently distributed around the Mediterranean, southern Europe, and in north and east Africa.

Haplogroup G may have originated in India or Pakistan, and has dispersed into central Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. The G2 branch of this lineage (containing the P15 mutation) is found most often in Europe and the Middle East.

Haplogroup H is nearly completely restricted to India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.  

Haplogroups I, I1, and I1a are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe. These would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe.

Haplogroup I1b was derived within Viking/Scandinavianpopulations in northwest Europe and has since spread down into southern Europe where it is present at low frequencies.

Haplogroup J is found at highest frequencies in Middle Eastern and north African populations where it most likely evolved.  This marker has been carried by Middle Eastern traders into Europe, central Asia, India, and Pakistan.

Haplogroup J2 originated in the northern portion of the Fertile Crescent where it later spread throughout central Asia, the Mediterranean, and south into India. As with other populations with Mediterranean ancestry this lineage is found within Jewish populations. The Cohen modal lineage is found in Haplogroup J2.

Haplogroup Q is the lineage that links Asia and the Americas. This lineage is found in North and Central Asian populations, as well as native Americans. This lineage is believed to have originated in Central Asia and migrated through the Altai/Baikal region of northern Eurasia into the Americas.

Haplogroup Q3 is the only lineage strictly associated with native American populations. This haplogroup is defined by the presence of the M3 mutation (also known as SY103). This mutation occurred on the Q lineage 8-12 thousand years ago as the migration into the Americas was underway. There is some debate as to on which side of the Bering Strait this mutation occurred, but it definitely happened in the ancestors of the Native American peoples.

Haplogroup R1a is believed to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black and Caspian Seas. This lineage is believed to have originated in a population of the Kurgan culture, known for the domestication of the horse (approximately 3000 B.C.E.).  These people were also believed to be the first speakers of the Indo-European language group. This lineage is currently found in central and western Asia, India, and in Slavic populations of Eastern Europe.

Haplogroup R1b is the most common Haplogroup in European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last glacial maximum 10-12 thousand years ago. This lineage is also the haplogroup containing the Atlantic modal haplotype (HG1).

WHERE WE ARE TODAY

1. This is a new project.  We are looking for any tests to begin plotting different trees and branches of the Dresse families.