The Iowa DNA Project was formed at the end of November 2014 and for its first birthday has now reached 361 members.  The project is ‘geographical’ in nature, and designed for those who have direct ancestors who lived in Iowa, or those researching collateral lines that lived in Iowa. Our focus is on autosomal, aka Family Finder results, but we also have members who have had or are in the process of having their mtDNA and YDNA tested.  Those new to DNA testing are especially welcome and their research aims are supported within the project.

The previous (August 2015) Quarterly Report can be viewed here.

Key Figures

• Total Iowa DNA Project Members: 361
• Family Finder Tests Completed: 305
• Total Donations: $105  Current Balance $6
• Highest number of database wide matches per member: 3000
• Lowest number of database wide matches per member: 1
• Average number of database wide matches per member: 858
• Inter-Project Matches: 233
• Highest number of Inter-Project matches per member: 11
• Weekly Match Updates
• 96 of 99 Iowa Counties Represented

Nuts and Bolts

The Iowa DNA Project Surname Index can be found here.  Surnames associated with specific counties can be found in our FAQ here.

• Total Iowa Surnames: 667
• Members with Family Trees:276
• Members with listed Surnames: 317
• Members with listed Most Distant Ancestors: 292

Iowan Family Groups

The Iowa DNA Project has many pioneers who were the first to test within their immediate family.  However, the backbone of the project is the inclusion of multiple generations and extended family members who have also tested.  These family groups assist in helping inter-project matches determine how they may be connected and which branch of their family trees to examine further.  In October, we teamed up with Göran Runfeld of dnagen.net  to trial his ICW Tool to map out the interconnectedness of the entire Iowa DNA project.   Below is a depiction of the connections between our current members.

Using the ICW Tool gives Iowa DNA Project members easy access to a variety of additional information and charts including a tabulation of our members’ Suggested Relationships.  As you can see, our members are actively recruiting close family members to test.

Suggested Relationships

• Parent/Child: 64
• Full Siblings: 38
• Grandparent/Grandchild/Half Siblings: 22
• Aunt/Uncle/Niece/Nephew: 22
• 1st Cousin: 22
• 2nd Cousin: 30
• 3rd Cousin: 62
• 4th Cousin: 114

More can be learned about the process and results here*.

*Additional detailed information is available to Iowa DNA Project members

Haplogroups

Project YDNA: As expected, the most common Y haplogroup is R and its subclades, with I and its subclades the second most common.  23 project members have completed the Big Y test.

• R-M269: 48
• R (excluding R-M269): 44
• I: 28
• G: 3
• E: 3
• J: 2
• N: 3

More information on the project’s patriarchs and YDNA results can be found here.

Project mtDNA:  The most common mtDNA continues to be H and its subclades with a variety of other haplogroups also represented. 105 project members have completed Full Mitochondrial Sequencing.

Member Haplogroups:

• H: 68
• K: 17
• T: 16
• U: 14
• J: 12
• I: 5
• W: 3
• V: 2
• B: 2
• C:1
• X: 1

Complete information on our project’s mtDNA matriarchs, statistics and mutations can be found here.

Declared Countries of YDNA and mtDNA Origin

MyOrigins Leaderboard

Based on percentage points per member, the Iowa DNA Project populations are listed below in order of frequency.  Descriptions of each population cluster can be foundhere.  Additional admixture tools can be found at Gedmatch.

• British Isles 12,333
• Scandinavia 6931
• Western and Central Europe 6558
• Southern Europe 1710
• Eastern Europe 1403
• Finland and Northern Siberia 345
• Asia Minor 296
• West Africa 158
• Ashkenazi Diaspora 120
• Eastern Middle East 106
• (Blended Population Cluster) Eastern, Western and Central European 100
• Native American 87
• Northeast Asia 78
• Central Asia 75
• North Africa 35
• East Central Africa 5
• South-Central Africa 4
• (Blended Population Cluster) British Isles and Western and Central Europe 1

As a matter of interest:

• 100% British Isles 3 members
• 100% Western and Central Europe 2 members
• 100% Scandinavian 1 member
• 100% Eastern, Western and Central European 1 member

Coming Results:

Currently, we are waiting for 3 kits to be returned to the lab for testing: 1 Factoid, 1 YDNA 67 Marker and 1 mtFull Sequence.  We have 13 members who have kits that have been transferred but not yet unlocked. Current members, please keep in mind

From the FTDNA lab, we are waiting for:

• 2 mtFull Sequence (1 delayed)
• 1 YDNA 37 marker
• 7 Factoids (same project member)
• 1 Y Haplogroup Backbone (delayed)
• 1 R1b-CTS4466 SNP Pack
• 1 R1b-L21 SNP Pack
• 1 Big Y
• 5 individual SNPS (same project member, 4 delayed)

Do You have Iowan Roots?

I would like to thank the project members for their patience and many efforts over the last year.  In October, I attended the Irish Genetic Genealogy Conference in Dublin, Ireland and had the pleasure of attending lectures, meeting cousins, members of ISOGG and other project administrators.  Lots of great information came out of the conference as well as ideas to make the project better. I look forward to making and sharing our discoveries in the months to come.

You can read more about the benefits of joining a project at FTDNA here.  If you would like to join the Iowa DNA Project, please visit our homepage here.  The project has converted to MyGroups and has activated its Activity Feed to encourage collaboration. The Feed may be accessed after joining and of course our links section is available to all.