News from the Foad Surname DNA Project

Big-Y Test Results!

As a result of a Big-Y test from FamilyTreeDNA that one of our members in haplogroup I1 (family line "A") has taken, we have been able to identify two more increasingly-specific polymorphisms or mutations that characterize the Foad branch of the genetic haplotree.  The first new polymorphism is called Y1843 (besides S2158 and several other labels) which is downstream from the earlier discovered CTS6739.  And beyond that is A1553+.  Now our branch of the Y-chromosome haplotree can be characterized by the following string of successive mutations (leaving out a few for convenience) :

Haplogroup I1a  M253+ → Z58+ → Z59+ → Z60+ → Z140+ → F2642+ → CTS6739+ → Y1843+ → A1553+

These mutations have accumulated over many thousands of years but the more recent ones, especially Y1843, are not that old.  With continued testing of many men and research to compare their polymorphisms, we hope eventually to find a polymorphism that is specific to our haplogroup I1 family line of Foads, and that mutation might be only a few hundred years old.  Then we can connect the genetic haplotree with our family tree.  But we are not there yet. 

Even so, this is amazing progress for our still-small project although, obviously, we must test more Foads and Foats. 

Please see the Results page for more information.