Y-DNA
The Drax, Dracas(s) & Drakes Y-DNA Project
Please see my ' Contact' page re email address.
Current Membership: 5 - myself 'Drakes': R1b3* [now known as R1b1b2]) - two 'Drake', who are also R1b1b2 - one illegitimate 19th century 'Drakes' male-line, with a different surname (results awaited) - one 'Driggs/Dreggs' (results confirm these are not related to me)
Project started: 7.6.2008, last updated: 29.1.2012.
(Awaits further male volunteers - privacy guaranteed - I will not put your name or results on the Internet)
These are rare surnames and, because of this, so are available tested samples of Y-DNA data for them - your help is desperately needed if we are to prove that the different known trees all come from the same male progenitor. If you know a male Drax, Dracas(s), or Drakes that is willing to participate, please put them in contact with me.
My own Surname DNA Testing (male) - STR (Y-Chromosome Analysis Report) by DNA Worldwide
(46-marker test for comparing with other males with a similar surname, under ISO:17025 certification)
DYS19a (14), DYS19b (-), DYS385a (11), DYS385b (11), DYS388 (12), DYS389I (12), DYS389II (29), DYS390 (24), DYS391 (11), DYS392 (13), DYS393 (13), DYS426 (12), DYS437 (15), DYS438 (12), DYS439 (12), DYS441 (15), DYS442 (17), DYS444 (12), DYS445 (12), DYS446 (13), DYS447 (25), DYS448 (19), DYS449 (30), DYS452 (30), DYS454 (11), DYS455 (11), DYS456 (16), DYS458 (17), DYS459a (9), DYS459b (9), DYS460 (11), DYS461 (13), DYS462 (11), DYS463 (24), DYS464a (17), DYS464b (17), DYS464c (18), DYS464d (18), DYS464e (-), DYS464f (-), DYS635 (23), GGAAT1B07 (10), YCAIIa (19), YCAIIb (23), Y-GATA-A10 (15), Y-GATA-H4.1 (22).
Those in 'bold' above are an exact match with the markers and numbers for the Atlantic modal haplotype: 'Haplo-group R1b'.
Surnames in Project: Drax, Dracas, Dracass, Drakes
These surnames all originate in North Lincolnshire, and a small part of nearby West Yorkshire. They are in ten main trees covering the period 1154 (1126 in Normandy) to the present and an area about 50 miles west to east and about 25 miles north to south immediately below the Humber Estuary.
I have spent many years trying to link these ten main family trees, which cover almost 4,510 pages. Any genetic link between these trees is likely to be before Parish Records began and virtually impossible to prove with paper records; however, using a Y-Chromosome comparison of several males from each tree, it should be possible to prove or disprove a genetic link between these families.
The DNA laboratory website I have used is DNA Worldwide dna-worldwide.com; it is the DNA laboratory used by the TV series 'Who Do You Think You Are'. There are several other laboratories that undertake such work and the costs will vary. There is only one possible problem with using a different laboratory in that some don't check as many markers and some use different numbering systems for the result, which may cause some confusion when comparing them. It would obviously be easier if we all use the same laboratory; however, if you have already used a different laboratory, I should still be able to compare the results and determine whether we are related via our paternal lines.
The particular test required is ' Surname DNA Testing (male) - STR' (Y-Chromosome Analysis Report, under ISO:17025 certification), which is a 43-marker test that provides you with a list of results [I received 46 results] to compare with other males who have a similar surname and proves or disproves any relationship. This is not the Y-Chromosome test that shows your migratory route out of Africa [ see DNA page].
Please note that there have recently been extensive changes to their service options. They now offer several different levels of service, so you would need to check their website for current services and costs. Monies are payable direct to the laboratory; please contact me when you get your results.
The system is that you pay the laboratory when you order a kit by post, phone or online; an envelope with two swabs will arrive by post; you follow the instructions which involve rubbing the swabs vigorously on the inside of your cheeks and nothing more intrusive; you put both swabs in the envelope provided and post it back to the laboratory. They run a 46-marker test and post you a list of numbered results that can be compared with other participants’ results. If the numbers are all the same you are definitely closely related on your male-line, if there are one or two slight differences you are still likely to be related, but in the more distant past; if there are several big differences, then you are not related – certainly not since surnames began.
I am willing to help you to make sense of your results and to gain more information from them, including links that you may have to other trees within this project. I can calculate the genetic group that your male-line ancestors belonged to and possibly where they lived during the peak of the last ice age by using your results.
If you are a female, consider asking a brother or male cousin with one of these surnames to volunteer for you; they don't have to be interested in family history, just willing to help.
The sample kit can be sent for as soon as a volunteer is willing; there is no need to wait for others to join as the project could progress over many months or even years.
I hope to start by emailing or writing to members of all living male lines that I have in my trees. Ideally, I hope to get several distantly-related volunteers in each tree, so as to get a reasonably diverse selection of results for each tree. Confidentiality MUST be assured as it may show up a paternity issue if someone’s DNA is different to a closely-related male with the same surname! This is one of the reasons for wanting to get a good spread of volunteers across each tree and for deliberately not using one of the several big family tree websites that offer DNA-Project facilities, thus offering greater privacy to the participating members.
As soon as each volunteer has their results, and has forwarded a copy to me, I will compare them with the other results and then attempt to link the different trees that prove to be related by having a DNA match. If desired by those volunteers involved, I would be willing to exchange the contact details of people sharing a common ancestor.
If you are interested, or have any thoughts or concerns about this project, please contact me [see ' Contact' page for details].
The 'Drake' Y-DNA Project [NB. 'Drake' is not related to 'Drakes' except where some families have dropped the 's', and these are mainly in north west Lincolnshire. There is a 'Drakes' family in Cornwall that was 'Drake' as they have gained an 's'; they are not related to other the 'Drakes' families.]
There is also a Drake DNA Surname Project; these results show that they are not related to my 'Drakes' family; the majority of 'Drake' families having different origins to Drax, Drakes & Dracas(s), apart from those linked to north Lincolnshire, some of whom have dropped the 's'.
It should be remembered that, in the majority of instances where documentary evidence puts 'Drake' in the same family as 'Drakes', the name has evolved from 'Drax' to 'Drakes' and then, in a few cases, the 's' has then been dropped, which is such a pitty as the 'Drakes' surname is far more rare than 'Drake'.
Please note that I do not receive any sponsorship from any of the suggested website, nor from anyone else; my research and this website are totally self-funded.
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