DNA Projects
DNA Projects
ICFA launched its Y-chromosome DNA project in 2015. The effort now includes 43 men, most from member families with genealogical data stored in the ICFA database. Two very experienced DNA testing and analysis volunteers, John Cleary and Tim Cummings, help administer the initiative along with Association member David Roland. John and Tim prepared the following summary of results to date.
Isaac Cummings emigrated to colonial North America in the mid-1630s. Members of his family remained in the home villages in Essex and Suffolk, England. While it is possible that collateral descendants could still live in England today, ICFA’s current DNA project principally focuses on Isaac’s descendants from his two sons, four grandsons, and other males in subsequent generations. Y-DNA is particularly useful to study the spread of a surname or a male-line descent lineage. The first phase of the project tested invited Association members (and several other related men who had been previously tested, some with surnames other than Cummings). The invited testers were selected to ensure a representative spread across all of the known branches of the lineage. The initial testing was done at Family Tree DNA (familytreedna.com) on 67 short tandem repeat (STR) markers. A few men have progressed to 111 markers. Three participants have been tested at 500 markers.
Phase 1 of the project which ran from 2015 to 2018 hoped to gain answers to a number of initial questions such as:
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1. Can a distinctive genetic signature for Isaac Cummings be identified?
A distinctive 67-marker haplotype (genetic signature) that is very likely to have been Isaac’s has been identified. It is noticeable that at the 37- and 67-marker levels our testers have no other close matches other than the project members. -
2. Can some/most/all of the tester members of the Association be shown to be descended from Isaac?
All of the tested men with a genealogical (historical) profile of descent from Isaac have a form of the Isaac Cummings haplotype, and so are members of one genetic family, which can be confidently linked to Isaac Cummings. -
3. Can this be used to identify other DNA testers as descendants of Isaac?
In principle, yes it can. The project has identified some matching testers named Cummings who are not members of the Association but who do match the Isaac haplotype. They are without doubt descended either from Isaac or his relatives who remained in England. There have also been matches to a small number of people with different surnames. Because of the haplotype’s distinctive nature, the likelihood is very high that they are also descendants of this Cummings family. -
4. Can distinctive genetic markers be identified for different branches of the Isaac Cummings lineage, such as descendants of Isaac’s sons and grandsons?
To some extent this has happened, but the first phase of testing has not yet managed to identify shared genetic markers for the particular branches of Isaac’s sons or grandsons. -
5. If genetic branches of the lineage can be identified, do they agree with and confirm the branches described through genealogical research up to the present?
Phase 1 of the Association’s Y-DNA study has now transitioned to Phase 2, which will look in more detail at how ICFA’s Y genetic results fit with or contradict ICFA’s extensive traditional genealogical data from its extensive member database and archives. Phase 2 is also exploring the ancient genetic pre-history origins of Isaac’s family thousands of years in the past.
The Isaac Cummings Family Association is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Copyright © Isaac Cummings Family Association
A 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.