Discover!

Some of you will already know that all those who tested BigY will have been assigned their specific branch on the tree of mankind. Which branch is automatically updated as more tests are done and new branches created.  BigY is the test that keeps on giving.

The recent Discover tool introduced by FamilyTreeDNA gives you information on your individual branch, along with a Time tree.

More recently FTDNA have also now provided the time tree information for a whole project, here's the Fairbairn project group time tree, a selection from which, for the Scottish Borders Fairbairn families is shown below.

yDNA branch snapshots over time can be found on the Guild of One Name Studies Fairbairn project webpages here.
The December 2022 snapshot of the different branches now tested, has been annotated with both the Discover timeframes at both the 95 and 68% certainty levels, and with the earliest known genealogy within the group (ie not necessarily the common ancestor for all in the branch).

You can select which branches to display by the project subgrouping assigned by the project admin.

The bulk of the Fairbairn BigY testers can be found under haplogroup I-BY21384 

The earliest known ancestor shown on each branch here, is that the tester has entered on their test under their profile > Account Settings > Genealogy > Earliest Known Ancestors
Please check that you have completed this section - DO NOT GUESS. The key word here is known.
This information is also that shown on your public results on the y DNA results page.

If a padlock appears on the Discover group tree, the tester has chosen not to make their results public.
Check your settings under profile > Account Settings > Privacy and Sharing. 
The recommended settings are Y-DNA match level > All Levels and 
Match Preference summary to select all to be shared.
You can chose NOT to be notified of the smaller matches under Notification preferences.

There may be subsidised yDNA testing available for selected Fairbairn lines.
Contact the Fairbairn Surname DNA project administrator with the details of the direct male line concerned to enquire.
We recommend starting at y37 to test the water first and if results are as expected, do recommend saving the pennies, pooling funds with family members, and testing BigY to both contribute to your and science's knowledge of connections.

Wanted: Cockburnspath Fairbairn line tester(s)

Most of the links below take you to WikiTree - all help in documenting descendants welcome.

It is a free, collaborative tree, great privacy controls for the living, and very DNA friendly.
Whatever test you have taken, IF you are comfortable being in an online tree, connected to your ancestors, then join WikiTree, input enough of your family to connect up to any already there, and show what DNA tests you have taken. 
Regardless of any DNA tests, why not help the Fairbairn project by expanding your line down at least a little bit towards present day?

One of the goals for the Fairbairn DNA project for this year  (2023) is to further clarify the DNA groups for the Cockburnspath line down from George Fairbairn (married Christian Bookles).

Our sole yDNA tested representative for this line is a descendant of James Fairbairn b. 1793 (married Jean Anderson) and son of John (married Grizel Johnston).
Here's the list of yDNA descendants for John currently on WikiTree - quite a gap down to present day and a mere drop in the ocean of the actual descendants!

The Fairbairn Surname DNA project is currently looking for direct male line descendants down from any of James' brothers to validate the DNA signature back as far as John for starters. 

- David b. 1787 (married Alison Anderson) 

- Walter b. 1802

are currently the only two descendants connected to John on WikiTree.

You can help.
The project has a y37 DNA test available for a suitable candidate, with the possibility of an upgrade should the results be as hoped.
Contact the Fairbairn Surname DNA project administrator with the details of the direct male line concerned to enquire. 

Look forward to hearing from you.

BigY result updates

Do keep an eye on the Guild of One Name Studies Histories section where snapshots of revisions to the yDNA BigY DNA grouping results are posted every so often, the latest being as at Dec 2022.

We are gradually increasing our knowledge of which lines are more closely related.

Any Fairbairn who has DNA tested is welcome to join the FamilyTreeDNA Fairbairn Surname Project.
You can upload your test from Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andme into FamilyTreeDNA for free. There is a small one-off free to unlock the additional tools beyond the match lists and contact info, such as FamilyMatching to split your matches by "side", the chromosome browser ++.

If you are a direct male line descendant, please use the contact details for the project to ask the admin (me, Lorna) whether or not your line is already represented with a yDNA test, or needs another to confirm the DNA signature. Subsidies may exist, depending on the answer to this!

Start at y37 to get a toe in the water and see who all pops up as matches.

Enjoy the journey

Looking like we are Fairbairns, not Elliotts after all????

The Fairbairn Surname DNA project is gradually plugging away at upgrading different lines of the Haplogroup I1 Fairbairns and their matches to BigY.
One of the benefits of this, especially when the resulting files are added to yFull.com, is that  timescale estimates are added to the branches being created on the yDNA tree of mankind.

A snapshot of the resulting tree as at Nov 2018 is on the Guild of One Name Study Histories pages
copied here:

Our Fairbairn (& matching Elliott) sub branch of I-Y7277 is
I-Y32666/ which as of Nov 2018 yFull estimated was formed 3800-2300 years before present, average 3000 (where "present" is 1950). The Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) is estimated as 600 ybp (average of 900-325 ybp).
Underneath that branch we now have one branch without close matches on the known sub branches.

Then come two main sub branches:

• one estimated to have formed 600 ybp (average of 900-325 ybp), with a MRCA of 225 ybp 
• one estimated to have formed 550 ybp (average of 900-225 ybp), also with a MRCA of 225 ybp

The former has two of our matching Elliot kits in it
The latter has two separate branches of our Fairbairns, namely the Cockburnspath, Berwickshire branch and that of John Fairbairn/Bessie Flint who married abt 1725 in Melrose, Roxburghshire

So, with the earlier generic branch being a Fairbairn, it does look like these Elliotts sprang from a Fairbairn around 1400, or 1725, depending on whether you use the branch formation or the MRCA date.

It's sale time again at FamilyTreeDNA until the end of December, so an excellent time to get more branches represented by BigY testing (hint hint)
 
Some background reading from Roberta Estes DNA-explained blog as to Why the Big Y
 

Those dratted 404 Page Notfound messages

Apologies for an increased number of 404 page not found messages both from links on this blog and any lying around the web pointing to what used to be the Lineages sub-section of my One Name Study pages.
The latter site has been rationalised to move the old Analysis section into the Histories section of the Guild of One Name Studies Fairbairn pages and shift the old Lineages sub-section up a level in the site hierarchy of my ONS pages.
To find the current page, remove the /lineages
 portion of the URL to jump to where it is now.
Any I can influence will gradually be corrected.

Are we Fairbairn or Elliott?

Donations are currently being called for to add to our knowledge of when the matching set of Fairbairn and Elliott results diverged on the yDNA tree of mankind - somewhere down from I-Z140 which branch formed about 4,100 years before present (ybp - present being 1950)
https://yfull.com/tree/I-Z140/

Summary:
We now know that a sub group of the I1 haplogroup matching Fairbairns (lineage 1e) form their own little sub branch at I-Y32666, Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) estimated to be about 225 ybp
https://yfull.com/tree/I-Y32666/
and that at least one of the group of matches between all the Fairbairn and Elliotts has confirmed as I-Y7277 - MRCA 3,100 ybp
https://yfull.com/tree/I-Y7277/

Donations for the BigY test are most welcome.
We have a willing participant from the Elliotts once the money is raised -  $525 US is called for.
If sufficient is raised we can extend that to either, or both, she says optimistically, of another ELLIOTT or the FAIRBAIRN waiting in the wings who also likely fits somewhere between I-Z140 and I-Y32666.

We anticipate awaiting another BigY sale before ordering, so please contribute to the General Fund for the Fairbairn/Fairburn project at
https://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=Fairburn
marking in the note any specific focus for your donation if desired.

Update for I1 Haplogroup FAIRBAIRNs

With one of the recent BigY sales at FamilyTreeDNA, the opportunity was taken to test four of the Lineage 1e FAIRBAIRNs, and analyse their results at yFull.com.

The latest version (5.04) of the yFull tree now shows that this has resulted in the creation of a new branch of the tree underneath I-Y7277 (which was estimated by yFull as having been formed 3400 ybp TMRCA 3100 ybp) which is where they are currently shown on FTDNA.

The new branch is I-Y32666, with an estimated formation date of 3100 ybp but a TMRCA (time to most recent common ancestor) of 225 ybp, ie 1725.

The DNASurnames Haplogroup tree which shows yDNA tree branches, along with line patriarchs and tested participants (if approved to do so, has been updated (http://dnasurnames.info/dchaplogroupi.htm#a20)

We believe, from papertrails, ySTR testing and a bit of "a miracle happens here" for one or two of the links, that all four tested descend from John FAIRBAIRN and Bessie FLINT whose children were baptized at Melrose, Roxburghshire from  1729 to 1740, and one at Smailholm in 1741.

So how much earlier were all the branches for the matching I1 Fairbairns formed?

That will take an interested party, or two, from any of other groups at
to also test BigY and analyse the results at yFull.
Any takers?