Membership and Join Details
Anyone can join the IHDP, the only requirement is a suspected Irish ancestry and a set of yDNA markers. Most members are from FTDNA, but we do have a membership which includes many from DNA Heritage. We will accept membership from any test lab. Please be aware IHDP is not just about DNA we actively believe in promoting Irish Heritage and Genealogy, there are other services available on this website as well.
There is more than 2.034 members, most are from FTDNA but there is a large and growing percentage from other test labs, all are most welcome.
This page will address the following:
- How to join if I am an existing FTDNA member
- How to join if I am a member of an existing surname project
- How to join if I am not a member of nor have I tested with FTDNA
Important: FTDNA allows everyone to join the following: One surname project, One Geographical Project (such as Ireland Heritage DNA) and One mtDNA project (such as the new Ireland mtDNA).
To Join - If you are an existing FTDNA member
If you are an existing member of FTDNA or the National Geographic Genographic, you can join multiple surname projects.
To join you use the features and options available on your personal FTDNA "My FTDNA" setup page which can be used to join this project.
| Go to your "My FTDNA" page, this the page where you access your matches. The new header options area should look something like this: |
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| Note the Blue JOIN Icon, select the the Join Button: |
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| When you click on the blue "Join" Icon, you will be brought to the JOIN GROUP Page: |
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Listed on the JOIN GROUP page are various surname projects and y-DNA Geographic projects (like IHDP). Select the one you want to join. |
When you select Ireland Heritage Y-DNA simply scroll to the bottom of the Join Page and select the JOIN icon/buttom
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You will receive automatic notification via email from FTDNA and an adminsitrator will be in contact shortly afterwards.
To Join - If you are a member of an existing FTDNA Surname Project
The object of the IHDP Project is not to STEAL members, quite the contary, one of our stated aims is to encourage members to setup a surname project if none exists and to JOIN an existing one if one exists. FTDNA allows members to join more than one project. IHDP aims to maintain a global macro view view on Irish DNA Heritage and believes an individual member is best served by people in the same surname project.
As already stated FTDNA allows membership of more than one Surname project as can be seen from the following screen:
To Join - If you are not a member of FTDNA
If you are with a different DNA test Lab, email one of the following:
Emily Aulicino - Margaret Jordan - Austin Rock - Barra McCain
If you have a set of markers from a different test lab than FTDNA, IHDP suggests you join and open a free account with ysearch.org, this is a public database open to all with a set of DNA markers. When you have an account opened and your markers entered, send the password (you can change it) to any of the administrators, they will extract your results and incorporate these into the DNA results.
To summarise, this is what you should do:
- Join the public DNA database called www.ysearch.org
- Contact one of the IHDP administrators with either the extracted results or the ysearch password
- The last known ancestor and date
- Your Kit number is optional, it can be useful to help you identify yourself in the DNA results.
- That is all you need do.
Some Helpful Advice
If you wish to have your DNA Tested, you can avail of the IHDP group discount rate by joining this project. To find out Test details and rates contact one of the Administrators or simply click here: Test and Join IHDP
For those of you with BOTH Y and mtDNA results you should remain at IHDP, you can also move your mtDNA results to the new Irish mtDNA project but it is important that you opt to remain. FTDNA will be separating the results of your Y-DNA from your mtDNA, so matter will not arise in future.
Note: If you do not have your test results back as yet, you cannot add or remove yourself to or from groups. Wait until your test is back...at least part of it.
Managing your FTDNA Personal Pages
To Setup Your Personal Page
With your personal "My FTDNA" page open, select Setup Preferences>Displaying the Most Distant Known Ancestor:
IHDP Recommends making the following selections in Setup Preferences:
The two critical options for IHDP, is to set matches against the entire database and to enter a last known paternal ancestor.
If you have a lot of matches to other surnames you should consider deselecting the 12 Marker Matches option.
The Paternal Origin Co-ordinates relate to the Google Map on the iHDP FTDNA website. For Paternal Origin: you need to enter the Latitude/Longitude co-ordinates. For example: Dublin is Latitude: 53.2 Longitude: -6, Cork is 51.8 and -8.3, Armagh 54 -7, Clare is 53 -9.1. When you are satisfied Click Update. You can examine the latest DNA results either on the DNA Results page on this site or go to the FTDNA Irish Heritage DNA Project's public webpage: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/IrelandHeritage/
If you wish to have a discussion, in relation to this or any Irish DNA related topic you can participate here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Irish-DNA/
GEDCOM Files
IHDP would encourage the use of GEDCOM files, if you are not familar with one, it is software used to build up your family tree. You can obtain free Gedcom creation software here: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/default.asp
Please remember to keep your Gedcom files updated and correct. Gedcom can be very helpful the more accurate it is.
Joining ysearch
FTDNA members can automatically join ysearch.org from there MyFTDNA page. It is the yellow icon beside the join button. You need only follow the instructions. Contact any adminsistrator who will help you in this regard.
Existing Surname Projects
Frequent the FTDNA search engine to see if a surname project has been established for you. You can copy your data to a surname project as well as to a geographical one. As stated above FTDNA members can join TWO projects, one geographical and the other surname based.