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FTDNA is offering tests at a sale price until the end of the year. Y-37 for $119 (regularly $169) and Y-67 at $199 (regularly $268). If you or anyone you know is male and has a surname similar to Bacharach, please join our project by clicking this link. If you’ve already been tested for the National Geographic project, we can transfer your results.

Several of our Bacharach participants are in the process of being added to a larger DNA project, called the WIRTH project after the first initials of the first five members’ surnames. The reason we’ve joined forces is that the men in the WIRTH project share two anomalies with the Bacharach participants that are statistically highly unlikely to happen by chance. The hypothesis is that these Bacharach participants share a common ancestor, perhaps in the 1400s or earlier, with the WIRTH project participants. We will be comparing the shared data to try to determine how long ago this common ancestor lived.

For more on the WIRTH project, take a look at this TV interview with Herb. It was three years ago, so the numbers are old, but it will help you understand more about how these two projects fit together.

Herb Huebscher on the WIRTH Project

I just got a notification from FTDNA–from June 5-June 25, the prices for Y-DNA tests ordered through a project are Y-DNA67 for $199 (Regular price would be $239) or Y-DNA37 for $119 (Regular price would be $149), so now’s the time to do it if you’ve been thinking about it. If you want to do the test but can’t afford it, get in touch with us. We’ll try to get others to chip in for the cost. And if you don’t have the right DNA for the test, but want to sponsor someone else’s test (especially if you have a close relative who can be your “surrogate”) you can make a contribution to the testing fund. Don’t wait. The prices will go back up at the end of June.

While we’re still waiting for a couple of groups markers to come back from a 67-marker test (we have 50/67 completed now), we have some surprising results. We had expected the two participants from Fellheim to be a closer match to each other than to the participants from other towns. That’s not how it appears, at least from what we have now. This last participant from Fellheim has a whopping six differences from the other participant from Fellheim. He has a total of seven differences from the mode, which makes him the outlier of the entire group. He does share the extra copies at DYS464, which is an important connection. This is a surprising set of results. Now we really need more participants from the Fellheim/Osterberg area to see if this is an anomaly or the norm for that area.

BacharachDNAValues

We’re still waiting for additional testing results, but in the meantime I’ve created a chart to show a simplified version of the matches.

The colored squares show the markers that don’t match. The computer looks at all the samples, and for each marker it figures out what the most common value is. If most of the samples have a 12 in the first spot (which all the Bacharachs do), then that is the most common value or “Modal” value. The “Mode” is listed across the top. Any place where an individual differs from the mode will show up as a color. This is the easiest way to see where participants vary from each other. If one individual has all white squares, he matches the mode 100%. If another has one colored square, he has a genetic difference of one from both the mode and the individual who matches the mode. By looking at where the colored squares are, it’s possible to see how closely the individuals within the group match each other. The chart below shows ONLY the markers where all Bacharach participants don’t match. The additional columns have been stripped away to simplify the chart.

Download the chart as a PDF

Observations:

1. Kestrich and Hattenbach, which are geographically close to each other, share a value of 34 on CDYa. The others have 33 in that location.

2. Slonim and Rhuzany, in Belarus, match 100%. They are also close to each other geographically.

If we can get more data, there will be more patterns showing the geographical relationships and how the family migrated across Europe.

We’re waiting on the family tree information for the latest test results, but the general geographic origin is Belarus/Poland. This individual is a 25/25 match with several others in the project and 24/25 with everybody else. We’re still waiting on the rest of the 37 markers. The most important result: the extra copies of DYS464 (see the DNA Results page above for an explanation). So far we are 100% matching, every participant. Far beyond our expectations.

We still need more family tree information to tie all these branches together, so if you have any part of a Bacharach/Bachrach family tree going back to anywhere in Europe, please contact me.

We just got back partial results from another participant, and he matches 12/12 with all other participants, 24/25 or 23/25 with all the other participants who have tested at least 25 markers. This participant also has the two extra copies of DYS 464, which is a rare mutation. More about that in a previous post…

This participant’s family emigrated to the US most recently from Brest, which is now in Belarus. We’re anxiously awaiting the rest of the 67 markers.

I’ve added a map of the earliest known ancestors of the matching DNA, as well as a map of all the known locations of Bacharach/Bachrach families in the Hesse/Thuringen area in the 1700s and 1800s.

I’ve also created family trees of some of the Bacharach families, beginning with the oldest known and including 3-4 generations, depending upon the size of the family. The charts are grouped geographically and can be accessed by pulling down the “Family Trees” tab at the top of the page. Most of these trees end in the mid-to-late 1800s in order to protect privacy and also keep the charts from being too large. It should be enough information to locate a family. If you’re related to one of these families and want more information, contact me and I can put you in touch with researchers from that branch.

I will continue to add data as it comes in.

I have a plug-in that is supposed to automagically update the Facebook page, so this is a test. If you would like to follow this project on Facebook, just sign up as a fan. Not working so far.

The data are beginning to take shape. We now have 37 marker results for our participant from Slonim, Belarus. He matches 36/37 with Bacharachs from Kestrich and 36/37 (a mutation at a different marker) with Fellheim. This puts the probability of a common ancestor between the Bachrachs of Slonim and the Bachrachs of Kestrich at about 87% in the last 8 generations and a slightly higher probability (89%) of a common ancestor with Fellheim in the last 8 generations.

We also have the rest of the 67 markers for Fellheim, which show either 3 or 4 one-step mutations with the others in the project who have also tested 67 markers. This shows more distance between Fellheim and Kestrich–only about 48% probability of a common ancestor within 8 generations.

We have two more participants who have not yet sent in their tests, so more results to come.