The Andrew Hawk Y-DNA Project - Haplogroup I1
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Summary - Matching results have been found for Y-DNA from eight men surnamed Hawk or Haulk. The results establish that each man's Hawk line is closely related to, and probably descends from, Andrew Haack of Maxatawny Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. All of the Georgia lines are believed to descend from Andrew Hawk, who farmed near Augusta, Georgia, in 1789. This Andrew Hawk is now known to be the son of Andrew Haack of Pennsylvania.
The baseline - Pennsylvania Bill's results (kit 117095.FT) make the most sense as the modal or baseline of the group, first from a standpoint of geography, and secondly from a standpoint of mutations. My results (N39079.FT) differ from his by two markers for a genetic distance of 2 in the 37 marker panel, no additional markers in the 67 marker panel, and 3 additional markers in the 111 marker panel, for a total GD of 5 over 111 markers. California Bill's results (200750.FT) differ by one marker for a genetic distance of 1 in the 67 marker panel. Note how these differences, highlighted in yellow, help to define Pennyslvania Bill as the reference point. The markers on which we are different, DYS 576, DYS 570, and CDYa, are considered "fast" markers; they add or drop repeats readily in a genealogical timeframe. Such results are expected, and in fact can help to establish specific pedigree line. For example, it may be that my mutation values of 18 and 35 are carried by all of Thurmond Hawk's descendants; it may be that California Bill's value of 17 was carried by James M. Hawk. We don't know when these mutations occurred, however, and it would take more participants to determine whether the mutations are in fact significant in that way.
Other results There is only one other mutation in the entire dataset, and it is a surprising one on the Daniel Hawk line at DYS391, which drops from a modal value of 11 to a value of 10 on this line. However, most men have a value of 10 repeats on this marker, so it may well be a back mutation towards the more common value.
The tests - Participants provide DNA by spitting into a small collection vial or rubbing the insides of their cheeks with a cotton swab. The small amount of DNA collected from the buccal cells that line the cheeks is more than adequate for testing. The samples are then sent to a DNA testing company which does the analysis. Funding for the test was provided by each participant. Testing began in 2006 and was split between two companies, Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and DNA Heritage. Family Tree DNA maintains its own labs in Houston and Arizona. DNA Heritage subcontracted its testing to Sorenson Labs in Salt Lake City. Each lab checked an array of fast-moving and slow-moving markers on the Y chromosome. Each lab used a slightly different set of markers. FTDNA participants have a .FT suffix on their kit numbers. DNA Heritage participants have a .DH suffix on their kit numbers. Three participants - Victor 6DJ8K, Pennsylvania Bill J65K4, California Bill NQ8RK - tested at 67 markers with FTDNA. Victor and Bill-Pa have since extended their results to 111 markers. Four participants tested with DNA Heritage under the auspices of the Hawk Surname project I established there. The holes in the data are due to the differences in marker sets between the two companies. One participant has tested at 12 markers at FTDNA.
Haplogroup I1 - Our Y-DNA haplogroup is I1, which today is most concentrated in Scandinavia, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Traditional genealogy strongly suggests a Germanic or at least German-speaking origin. Resources for study of the I1 haplogroup include the ISOGG 2011 Haplogroup I1 Tree, the the Wikipedia I1 entry, and the Rootsweb Y-DNA-I-L archives. Of those, the best resource for the novice is the Wikipedia entry. Ken Nordtvedt's STR clustering methodology is considered the de facto standard for hap I1. Terry Robb's alternate methodology is in some ways more compelling and also a useful tool. Terry breaks the group by SNP then sorts by allele within SNP groups.
Future plans - Not long ago, I sent out an email to my fellow DNA Heritage project members thanking them for their support and suggesting that further testing of their lines would not tell us much. After putting together all the data on this page though, I can see I was wrong. The critical mutations on our lines are occurring in a panel of markers tested by FTDNA in their 37-marker test. These markers were not tested by DNA Heritage. So I would welcome FTDNA testing at the 37-marker level by individuals who have already tested through DNA Heritage, as well as by individuals of Hawk (and variant) surnames who are new to Y-DNA testing and whose lines may or may not be well understood. FTDNA participants may request to join the "Hawks" project and get a project discount. I recommend that any test results be loaded into the public Ysearch database. FTDNA makes this as simple as pushing a button. The 67-marker test is evolving into the de facto standard Y-STR test, and although it has not yet been useful on our lines, it may well become useful to us down the road as our branches become better mapped out with phylogenetic trees. Further, our project can continue to grow when new matching results appear in FTDNA and the public databases at SMGF and Ysearch. I hope that more Hawk/Hawke/Haulk surnamed men with roots in the Andrew Haack/Hawk descendancy will choose to investigate their own genetic surname origins with Y-DNA testing.
Recent developments in testing - As of May 2011 DNA Heritage has ceased operations. Sorenson Molecular Genetic Foundation (SMGF) once offered free Y-STR testing but that has also ceased except for certain targeted regions and ethnicities. I have personally tested with SMGF, DNA Heritage, the National Geographic "Genographica" project, Family Tree DNA, and 23andME. The 23andMe autosomal results occupy the majority of my DNA time and thought these days.
Further background - The following pages once served as my DNA gateway pages, and they will explain the historical context of our project.
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