H11 haplogroup

Apologies to everyone waiting for this post, it has taken me longer than expected to get myself looking at H11 haplogroup.

There was a rebuild of the Phylogenetic Tree 18th of February 2016 but the effect on H11 was quite minor within the group itself.

H11 continues to be defined as a subgroup of 195C meaning that everyone within H11 must have 195C mutation and indeed there are no exceptions to this in our group at FT DNA thus far. There are 170 members of this haplogroup subclade. H11 members are lucky in that they are only a very small portion of the mother haplogroup H. H11 is thought to be at least 48,000 years old and so predates many of the other H subclades. Of the 170 members, 145 have completed their Full Genome and I am able to subgroup all but five of these members. It is not always possible to subgroup when the full coding is not available. About 75% of members have completed their ancestral region.

Family Finder has been completed by 115 members. For a number of people there are matches within our study. However, I will not comment on these matches as they do not pertain to mitochondrial DNA but rather to autosomal DNA. In this project the benefit of Family Finder is a purely personal one.

Seven members of the study are H11 and their ancestry is principally NW Europe (Sweden and Ireland). Three members carry 152C and two are from Sweden. I had expected there would be a new subgroup within H11 for this group and perhaps that will come with the next rewrite of the phylogenetic tree. It is possible that they could be considered to have back-mutated a defining mutation for H11a but there is also the consideration that they represent a higher level and that there should be a further subdivision below this group. They could become H11c or preferably to control heavy branching H11a. Interesting to see that within this group the northern areas are represented. The second subgroup within H11, two of the three members also appear to be a subgroup but time will tell on that. The third member likely belongs in this first branch H11.

There are 42 members of the group in H11a subgroup. The ancestral locations include Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, NorthWestern Europe but NorthWest Europe predominates. A few of these members do have exact matches and you have probably contacted each other so would have more information than I do concerning any relationships. Given the variety of mutations it is likely that more subgrouping will arise out of this group.

H11a1 subgroup has 30 members. The ancestral locations include Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, NorthWestern Europe and Eastern Europe/NorthWestern Europe are found about equally with few Southern Europe. If I included Finland in Eastern Europe rather than NorthWestern Europe then the Eastern Europe group would predominate. There is an enormous variety of mutations within this group. It is not likely that much further division will occur presently.

H11a2 subgroup has a great deal of variety within it. There are thus far four subclades of this group with the distinct mutations 16092C, 16140C, 14587G. In a number of cases members have back-mutated 16092C and/or 16140C. Again NorthWestern Europe and Eastern Europe predominate in this group but the occasional Southern European member is also present. H11a2 itself has three members. H11a2a has two members. H11a2a1 has 12 members. H11a2a2 has 7 members with H11a2a2-T16092C having three members. H11a2a2 does tend to show an Eastern European nature. H11a2a3 has two members.

H11a3 has two members.

H11a4 has 4 members of which two are NW Europe.

No members in H11a5.

H11a6 has only one member.

H11a7 has only one member.

H11a8 has four members and not enough information on ancestry to discuss.

H11b has one member.

H11b1 has 11 members. The members of this subgroup list NorthWestern Europe (3 members), Eastern Europe (4 members) as their ancestral locations.

Perhaps the biggest change I see since the last update is increasing variety within subgroups. That of course does not assist anyone in looking at their ancestral location unfortunately. It is within the personal mutations that the greatest opportunity arises and for that it is necessary to write to any perfect matches that you may have. You may not share an ancestor within many many generations but being able to pinpoint a likely location for your emigrant ancestor is so very helpful.

For myself, I would share once again that I am brickwalled in Birmingham, England with my great grandmother. She is likely the daughter of a particular couple but still looking for elusive pieces of paper to help me with that. However, the mutations which I carry with my mtDNA point to ArgyllShire/Ayrshire Scotland for the resting spot of my ancestral line. This particular set of mutations is known to be ancient to the British Isles. That is helpful in itself and the trek from Argyllshire to Warwickshire is not a long one but could have come through Ireland in times past. That is yet to be determined. I am H11a2a1.