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Welcome to the web-site of the Clan Irwin Surname DNA Study.  This Study was launched in 2005, with the assistance of Kent Irvin, and its website was re-vamped in 2011 and again in 2021, with the assistance of Rick Byers.  For the Menu to this website click on the 3 parallel lines top left.

The Study, its website and its administrators are fully independent from both FamilyTreeDNA and the Clan Irwin Association, although the Study continues to support the Association and to recognize that the interests and memberships of the two entities have considerable overlap.

This May 2023 Update is the 34th update of our Study.  Highlights include:

• Our Study now has results for 613 Y-DNA testers, of whom 126 (20%) have completed BigY tests.  We have identified 48 branches of our surname, of which our Borders branch is by far the largest.

• FTDNA’s new "Discover" Time Tree tool now gives an approximate date of the Terminal SNP of every tester.

• The section “Interpreting your Y-DNA test results” has been updated and simplified to help those still baffled by this challenge.

• FTDNA now include Washington Irving as our first “Notable Connection” in their “Discover” Haplogroup Reports.

• At their AGM on April 15th the Clan Irwin Association announced their new Genealogy Initiative which includes two initiatives which demonstrate the Association’s confidence in our Study and should help increase membership of both this Study and the Association.

• The first is a plan whereby a member of the Association may be granted a supplement of $50 towards the cost of either a 37 marker Y-DNA test or an upgrade to a BigY700 test, on a first-come, first-served basis, up to a maximum of ten such grants per calendar year. Applications should be made to jamesmirvine@hotmail.co.uk before ordering the proposed test/upgrade.  

• The second is the Irwin Name Study and particularly its Family Tree Project which will fill an important gap that neither this Study nor the Irvine Clan Autosomal DNA Project have tackled: the on-line storage of Irwin Family Trees.  This new Project will use FTDNA’s Irwin Clan Surname DNA Project as a framework on which to categorise these trees.  The Project is to be launched on Wikitree on June 3rd.

As Administrator I am happy at any time to answer e-mail queries members and prospective members, and to forward our Main Results table and/or L555 genetic family tree as e-mail attachments.  

Note:  This year marks the 700th Anniversary of the gift in 1323 of the forest and barony of Drum by Robert the Bruce to William de Irwin.  Preparations are in hand to celebrate this Anniversary at the Aboyne Games on Deeside in Aberdeenshire on August 5th - all welcome.