Crow DNA Project

 To date, there are 58 Crow testers that fall under haplogroup I-F22033. FTDNA estimates this man was born around 1750, but we know based on the paper trail for all the Crows the more likely birth of this man was before 1720CE. It's possible this man was born in Europe or was the son of our immigrant ancestor.  https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/I-F22033/story There were several Crow men living in Spartanburg, SC in the mid to late 1700s. The paper trail is near impossible to determine how each are connected. The goal was to Y-DNA test direct male descendants of each man to try to find genetic mutations called SNPs to build a genetic family tree. Some testers would confirm to be a Gold Crow and test I-F22033+, but their lines would not show any more elaborate genetic branching we would hope for to decipher relationships between individuals. We know that  most of these individuals were closely related, but I  cannot say what the relationship was exactly. The good news is that

 My work in the Crow Project has focused on the use of Y-DNA. This specialized test is different than the at home commercial DNA test you have surely heard of. Both tests are extremely useful. Y-DNA is wonderful for matching just the male Y chromosome to others in terms of thousands of years. The autosomal DNA test looks at the 22 autosomes and is great for family matching going back six or so generations. This test is the one where you receive an ethnicity reading of all your family lines.  Many have tested their Y chromosome with our Crow Y-DNA Project at Family Tree DNA. The issue many of you have is that you do not have a male relative that carries the the surname Crow for Y-DNA testing. Or that the cost of the more expensive Y-DNA test is out of your financial reach. This is where the autosomal test can help our study. On sale, the autosomal test typical runs between 59.00 and 79.00 US dollars. The next big sale runs in November. Even if a family member has already tested, it is s

We recently hit a giant milestone in our Y-DNA Project. We have 40 completed BigY700 DNA kits out of 110 testers. That is nearing 40 percent of all testers!  The BigY reads 40 million areas of the Y chromosome and is the best DNA kit to determine genetic distance between family members. The 40 kits have resulted in several families being branched off from one another in the last 270 years. Our extensive testing has revealed that our Y chromosome is mutating slower than the average family, resulting in less defined family branches. This has been frustrating as the genetic family tree has not given some of us the answers we were looking for. This has been furthered aggravated by a paper trail that does not exist between 1700-1750, the crucial years we are looking to piece back together. But we have made many discoveries and the effort has been rewarding. There are two kinds of Y tests. STR (short tandem repeats) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) are genetic mutations found along

 Using top level Y DNA testing on Crow/Crowe descendants, we are able to follow genetic variations along the male Y Chromosome, otherwise known as "SNP''s. (single nucleotide polymorphisms) These SNP's happen at random among men. This top level test allows us to recreate the modern family tree. My fascination with using Y DNA is partly because the paper genealogy is near minimal for any branch of the family prior to 1800. The other reason is the amount of incorrect information attached to thousands of trees on all the genealogical sites. It is just too easy to assume that James is the father of John, when hundreds of trees say so. This is where we apply Y DNA, by finding out exactly which Crows are related to who. For instance, in early Spartanburgh, there are three unrelated Crow families living side by side. The Gold, Red and Teal families identified by color in our Y DNA Project. Some of these families could have been the result of adoption or some other event that

 2020 has been a year of recruiting new testers and building out the Crow Genetic Tree. A lot of behind the scenes work went into this. Countless emails, messages on the DNA sites, and loads of investigative work on family trees. We've talked with a lot of folks all across this nation  and made some friends along the way. This Project is fun and a worthwhile adventure.  The Gold Crow family now has 110 testers, with 30  at the BigY700 level. Those are incredible numbers, I have not seen any other surname project with  these kinds of numbers in one family grouping. There are two reasons for this, 1. Participation by all of you, recognizing the value of purchasing a Y DNA kit and even going all in on the expensive BigY test. This is the most advanced test that FTDNA offers and brings the best clarity on dating estimates. 2. Phil and I have worked well together, we live on the opposite coasts, but we have a shared goal on finding out how we all connect and where our ancestors came fro

The Crow surname project on FTDNA has been around  for about 20 years. With 600+ members,  that puts the project into the top 100 of the 50,000 surname projects on FTDNA. There are 20 unique Crow lines identified that are unrelated in the surname era. The largest identified group is the Gold colored group. There are 106 testers. Of whom 10  have tested all the way to to the BigY700. This test reads STR and SNP markers along the y-chromosome. 60 men have tested at 37 STR markers and above , while the rest sit at 12 and 25 STR markers. All the BigY testers tested positive for the SNP, I-F22033. This SNP was formed approximately around the year 426AD/CE. The only testers in FTDNA that have this SNP are Gold Colored Crows.  Of the 106 testers, only 3 have a surname other than Crow. These 3 men had an NPE (non paternal event) occur somewhere in their lines and are all likely related to the others within the last 250-500 years. We can decipher genetic distance between testers by using the TI