Home
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 November 2023 Update is the 35th update of our Study. Highlights include:
Membership of our Study now stands at 620. It continues to grow, albeit more slowly, and has identified 48 branches of our surname, of which our Borders branch is by far the largest.
139 members, i.e. 22%, have completed BigY tests, of which 127 are BigY700, and upgrades are continuing steadily.
$50 supplements for 37-marker STR tests and BigY700 upgrades are still available to Clan Irwin Association members.
8 members of our Study participated in the celebrations on August 2nd-5th of the 700th anniversary of the Barony of Drum. For details see the Clan Irwin Association's Holly Leaf Chronicle, 3rd qtr 2023.
I was joined by our Co-administrators Brian Irwin and David Stumpf at FamilyTreeDNA's successful 15th International Genetic Genealogy Conference in Houston on November 3rd-5th. My presentation "Lessons Learned from a Large Surname Project" was well received. Please e-mail me for a copy of my slides.
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.
I recently published three books on Irwin genealogy. These incorporate several decades of diligent research in many libraries and archives around the world, public and private. They update previous books about the Irvings of Bonshaw and the Irvines of Drum and introduce new research, hitherto unpublished.
All three books can be ordered on-line from Amazon or www.waterstones.com, each for less than US$20. Proceeds go to the Bonshaw Preservation Trust.
In particular The Irwin Surname: its Origins, Diaspora and Early Branches provides a comprehensive background and context to our DNA Study. The Lairds of Bonshaw and Drum and the Chairman of the Clan Irwin Association recommend it to all members of our Study, and to others bearing our Surname.
For more details see FURTHER READING.
James Irvine,
Ashtead, Surrey, UK
Kit 29479 ("Orkney 1")
Study Administrator
Trustee, Bonshaw Preservation Trust
Seneschal to the Chief of Irvine of Drum
Member, International Society of Genetic Genealogy
jamesmirvine@hotmail.co.uk
10 November 2023