DNA Projects
ICFA is involved with two DNA testing activities: The Y-DNA Project began in 2015, and the Autosomal DNA activity in 2021. The Y-DNA project with Family Tree DNA was launched for members as a companion to ICFA’s traditional genealogical research archives.
The Y chromosome is a powerful genetic tool. Because only males carry a Y chromosome, the project collects and analyzes the Y-DNA test results of men believed to be Isaac’s direct-line descendants. If they are Isaac’s descendants, each carries a Y that is the same as that carried by Isaac and his ancestors with occasional mutations acquired over the centuries.
More than 55 men now participate in the project. The effort enables participants and their families to prove their biological connection to Isaac and one another using a distinctive genetic signature that is carried only by Isaac’s male descendants. The data collected also allows researchers to explore the origins of Isaac’s English ancestors deep into the past.
In 2018, the Y-DNA project moved into its second phase using a more comprehensive test known as the Big Y that is offered by FTDNA as an upgrade to its basic Y-DNA tests. We encourage men and families who believe they have direct unbroken Isaac line descent to be tested and join this unique project!
The ICFA Autosomal DNA Project, launched in 2021, is a less formal service focused on advising people who wish to take an autosomal DNA test that analyzes the 22 pairs of numbered chromosomes of both parents instead of only the Y sex chromosome of the father. Autosomal tests are the most common inexpensive tests used today and are provided by several companies. They provide testers with many matches, usually in the thousands, from close and distant relatives and genetic “cousins” and infer a person’s geographical origins based on that individual's genetic ancestry.
Using both types of DNA research, it is possible to identify and even verify Isaac Cummings ancestry and ancestral lines, broaden our understanding of ethnicity and migration patterns within the family lines, and identify new Cummings relatives and ancestors.
DNA Projects
The Y-chromosome DNA project, begun in 2015, includes over 50 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.
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 of them have surnames other than Cummings. The 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.
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2. Can some/most/all of the tested 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.
