We’re waiting on the family tree information for the latest test results, but the general geographic origin is Belarus/Poland. This individual is a 25/25 match with several others in the project and 24/25 with everybody else. We’re still waiting on the rest of the 37 markers. The most important result: the extra copies of DYS464 (see the DNA Results page above for an explanation). So far we are 100% matching, every participant. Far beyond our expectations.

We still need more family tree information to tie all these branches together, so if you have any part of a Bacharach/Bachrach family tree going back to anywhere in Europe, please contact me.

We just got back partial results from another participant, and he matches 12/12 with all other participants, 24/25 or 23/25 with all the other participants who have tested at least 25 markers. This participant also has the two extra copies of DYS 464, which is a rare mutation. More about that in a previous post…

This participant’s family emigrated to the US most recently from Brest, which is now in Belarus. We’re anxiously awaiting the rest of the 67 markers.

I’ve added a map of the earliest known ancestors of the matching DNA, as well as a map of all the known locations of Bacharach/Bachrach families in the Hesse/Thuringen area in the 1700s and 1800s.

I’ve also created family trees of some of the Bacharach families, beginning with the oldest known and including 3-4 generations, depending upon the size of the family. The charts are grouped geographically and can be accessed by pulling down the “Family Trees” tab at the top of the page. Most of these trees end in the mid-to-late 1800s in order to protect privacy and also keep the charts from being too large. It should be enough information to locate a family. If you’re related to one of these families and want more information, contact me and I can put you in touch with researchers from that branch.

I will continue to add data as it comes in.

I have a plug-in that is supposed to automagically update the Facebook page, so this is a test. If you would like to follow this project on Facebook, just sign up as a fan. Not working so far.

The data are beginning to take shape. We now have 37 marker results for our participant from Slonim, Belarus. He matches 36/37 with Bacharachs from Kestrich and 36/37 (a mutation at a different marker) with Fellheim. This puts the probability of a common ancestor between the Bachrachs of Slonim and the Bachrachs of Kestrich at about 87% in the last 8 generations and a slightly higher probability (89%) of a common ancestor with Fellheim in the last 8 generations.

We also have the rest of the 67 markers for Fellheim, which show either 3 or 4 one-step mutations with the others in the project who have also tested 67 markers. This shows more distance between Fellheim and Kestrich–only about 48% probability of a common ancestor within 8 generations.

We have two more participants who have not yet sent in their tests, so more results to come.

The latest results from a participant whose family came from Belarus show a strong likelihood of sharing a common ancestor with the Bachrachs of Germany. I think this may be the beginning of a thread that will link into the rabbinic Bachrach families of Lithuania and Poland with the Bachrachs of Hesse-Darmstadt. We need to do more genealogical research before we can be sure, but my hunch is that there will turn out to be a connection.

One very notable detail in this 25/25 match: this participant has three extra copies of DYS-464, just like all the other Bachrachs so far. This is not a common mutation, so the likelihood of a connection is very high.

We have some new results from a participant whose ancestors were from Slonim, Belarus in the 19th century. We are still waiting for the rest of the 37 markers, but he matches 12/12 on the first set of markers with all the other Bacharach/Bachrachs in the study. This is our first indication that the Bachrachs from Poland/Belarus/Lithuania area share a common ancestor with the Bacharachs from various parts of Germany. When we get more markers back we’ll have a better idea of how far back the common ancestor is likely to be. Stay tuned for more results!

The company that does the testing for this project has lowered its prices for the holidays. If you order a 37-Marker test, it’s only $119, which is about the same as the regular price of a 12-Marker test (without the project discount). If you are thinking of joining the project, this is a great time to do it, and we’d recommend at least 37 markers, since the Bacharachs already match 100% on 12 markers. We need additional markers to estimate how far back the genetic divergence occurred. Use this link to order your test.

Matches

As of a couple of weeks ago, we’ve been getting test results in and have been very excited to learn that, so far, all the men with the Bacharach/Bachrach surname are matches. You can see the actual results by clicking on the “DNA Results” tab above, but I will give a summary here. As of today, we have the following participants:

• 2 men who trace their ancestry to Kestrich, Hesse
• 1 man who traces his ancestry to Frielendorf, Hesse
• 1 man who traces his ancestry to Fellheim, Bavaria (Bavarian Swabia)

The summary of the matches is as follows:

• All four participants match 12/12 (100%) on the first 12 markers of the Y-DNA
• Kestrich and Frielendorf match 25/25 with each other when looking at the first 25 markers (with the exception of extra copies of DYS464, which we will get to later
• Kestrich and Frielendorf match 24/25 with Fellheim

These are all very close matches, and a fairly clear indication that these men all share a common ancestor, possibly somewhere in the range of 400-600 years ago. Some of the participants have had more markers tested, which will help to refine the data and begin to show where the genetic divergence occurred.

We know that there were Bacharachs in Fellheim in the 1600s and in Kestrich at least as early as the 1700s. These locations are about 250 miles apart, which is not so far today, but represents a long distance back then. Click on the map tab above to see where these places are.

While we are still waiting on the remainder of the 37-marker test for one individual and the remainder of 67-marker tests for two individuals, the results so far are continuing to match. Of the 37-marker tests we have back now:

• Fellheim matches 35/37 with Kestrich (again with the caveat about the extra copies of DYS464)

We will keep you up-to-date as more results come in.

DYS 464 Anomaly

Now the explanation about the DYS464 marker. Normally there will be four copies of this, labeled 464a-464d. There is, however, a small percentage of Y-DNA samples which contain more than four. Of the Bacharachs, three out of four have two additional copies: 464e and 464f. The fourth person’s results from the lab do not show these two extra copies. Family Tree DNA is rechecking this result, since everyone else in this group has the extra copies and there are 24/25 or 25/25 matches on everything else. If it turns out this was a clerical error and the individual does indeed have these two extra copies, which is what I expect to happen, then these Bacharachs are all related. Remember, this is an extremely rare occurrence, which increases the likelihood of a common ancestor for these men.

Other Surnames

While looking at the matches for the men in the project, we stumbled upon a few others whose markers matched exactly or extremely closely, but whose surname was not Bacharach or Bachrach or who had no knowledge of any connection to that surname. We asked them to join our project since they were such close matches, including the rare DYS464 situation. They both trace their oldest patrilineal ancestors to somewhere in eastern Europe, to the generic “Russia” which so many of us are familiar with. We don’t know what the connection is to the Bacharachs, but we suspect there is one and perhaps we can unearth it. We may add other individuals who come up as matches for the Bacharachs in general as time goes on, even if they don’t share the surname.

Click on the tab marked “Photo Gallery” above to see the photos I’ve just uploaded. Send me your family photos for the site–use the “Contact” page.