It is time to review our year-end 2023 statistics and discuss the 30 DNA kits that disappeared. Before we get into details, please remember that Rowland Genealogy consists of many moving parts, including but not limited to:
- Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA): performs Y-DNA testing, grouping, and analysis
- Rowland Name Study at WikiTree: contains the Rowland descendant trees as part of the global single-family tree (with free access for all)
- Rowland Surname Study at the Guild of One-Name Studies: the worldwide center of excellence in one-name studies
- Rowland Genealogy Website: Where we tie everything together with the Xref Project and so much more
- Rowland Genealogists: That’s you! Your insights, contributions, and ideas are vital.
30 DNA Kits Are No Longer Visible
In mid-December, FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) updated its software regarding how information is shared on its website. As a result of this action, 30 Y-DNA kits in the Rowland Project at FTDNA are no longer visible. In fact, even the kit owners themselves cannot see their own kits within the DNA Groups. In FTDNA’s own words: “Due to this update, members who have chosen not to share their results publicly will no longer see their results on public pages, even when signed into their kits.”
First of all, when FTDNA refers to “public pages” and “publicly” they do not mean pages accessible by anyone. In the statement above, FTDNA is referring to the pages members of the Rowland Project can access only when logged in. That is not my definition of “public” and I believe these should be called “members only” pages. However, that is the wording they chose to use. To help protect everyone’s privacy, these “public” pages only contain kit numbers, not the kit owner’s name or personal information.
Seeing our own kits in our assigned Group and learning about matches that can help us define our paternal lineage are the primary reasons most of us joined the Rowland Project. If one of the 30 kits that disappeared belongs to you, here are the three things you need to do (or verify) to once again have your kit number included in the groupings:
- Opt in to Matching – on the Privacy & Sharing page of Account Settings, you need to turn on “Opt in to Matching”
- Change Admin Access from Minimum to Limited – on the Project Preferences page of Account Settings, you need to select the edit function (pencil icon) for the Rowland Project. Toward the bottom of that page, you will see Name=Jamie Fish and Role=Admin. The “Access” level is a dropdown menu and it needs to be changed from Minimum to Limited.
- Opt in to Sharing – on the Project Preferences page of Account Settings, you need to scroll down past the Group Project Administrator Access until you get to the Project Sharing section. For the Group Project Profile, you need to select “Opt in to Sharing”
Any changes made may take up to 24 hours to take effect. Once again, these recommended changes will not reveal any personal identifying information. Additionally, unlike autosomal DNA, Y-DNA cannot be linked to a specific person and all results are listed by randomly assigned kit numbers.
Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA)
The Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA is the starting point for many of us. It’s where we get our Y-DNA testing and genetic grouping. The site also has great tools for further analysis. Key statistics and accomplishments for 2023 include:
- The Rowland Project had 8 new kits joining and now has 167 Y-DNA test-taker kits. Unfortunately, only 137 of these kits are now visible, which is a significant setback from where we were a year ago with all 159 kits being visible.
- There are 15 DNA groups (labeled “A” through “O”).
- 30 kits are currently not visible due to the privacy setting discussed above.
- The project has 264 members.
FamilyTreeDNA made significant strides in updating its Y-DNA analysis tools including:
- Globetrekker feature added and discussed in the article First Look At Globetrekker.
- Group Time Tree was added as a feature on the Rowland Project DNA Results page. It only includes the 31 Big Y test-takers who have opted in to sharing.
- The Big Y Block Tree continues to grow
Rowland Name Study at WikiTree 2023 Statistics
WikiTree is our default destination for documenting the various Rowland lines and branches. Its policy of one profile per ancestor helps to avoid the proliferation of duplicate and error-prone trees that are common on other websites. The Rowland surname database continued to grow in 2023 and now contains 20,816 unique profiles of our ancestors with the surnames of Rowland, Roland, Rowlands, Ruland, Rolland, and other variant spellings.
The Rowland database grew by 2,089 ancestor profiles over the past year. The graph below shows that ‘Rowland’ is the most popular spelling, while ‘Roland’ comes in a distant second place.
Xref Project Trees 2023 Statistics
Each Rowland Y-DNA group has one or more descendant trees. Each identified Earliest Known Ancestor is currently a genealogical brick wall — a profile where the parents have not been identified. Many groups contain multiple descendant trees. The DNA evidence tells us they are related, although the paper trail or other logical connection has not been made. Each Rowland DNA Group has a page on the website, which can be accessed by clicking on the Group Name in the table below:
Notes
- Conflict: The WikiTree profile for Robert Rowland (1716-1782) has both DNA Group F and DNA Group J descendants. DNA Group J is assumed to be correct, and the error resides in the branch containing Richardson Rowland (1791-1872).
- Conflict: The WikiTree profile for Gasper Roland (1721-1809) has both DNA Group D and DNA Group I descendants. It is assumed that the DNA is correct and that WikiTree is in error. At this time, DNA Group I is believed to be correct.
Descendant Trees of Ungrouped Test Takers — DNA Ungrouped
These are the trees for a defined “group of 1” which are DNA test-takers without any matches
| Group | Description | Earliest Known Ancestor(s) | # Descendants | # Kits |
| Ungrouped | Macon County, Missouri | Younger W Rowland (c1770-bf1850) John Younger Rowland (1776-1839) | 139 208 | 1 |
| Ungrouped | Manchester to Yonkers | John Rowland Sr (1827-1891) | 42 | 1 |
Descendant Trees without Test Takers — DNA Untested
These are fairly large documented descendant trees where none of the descendants have taken a Y-DNA test and joined the Rowland Projects. The following groups are sorted by the largest number of descendants with WikiTree profiles.
Rowland Genealogy
Key Accomplishments for 2023
- Conflict between DNA Groups A and J resolved
- 15 Articles published in 2023 including 5 guest articles
- Xref Project: The Group DNA pages have been updated with year-end 2023 data and cladograms
- The website had 6,494 visitors and 14,422 page views in 2023
Rowland Genealogy Website Status
- 29 Rowland genealogy documents are now available as free downloads (2 added in 2023)
- 41 people are identified on the Famous Rowlands page
- 75 listings (an increase of 14) in Untimely and Unnatural Deaths, including:
- 18 Murders
- 2 Speared/Killed by Natives
- 19 Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Boats
- 5 Tornadoes and Storms
- 8 Drownings
- 23 by other means
- 70 families with 12 or more children on the Be Fruitful and Multiply page
- 40 Rowland men who participated in the American Revolution
- 28 Places Named Rowland
- 18 Rowland Homes and Buildings
- 130 Rowland Cemeteries
2024 Has Now Begun — Happy New Year!
What would you like to see from Rowland Genealogy in 2024? Don’t be shy, let us know.
If you haven’t already joined us, here are the steps you can take to participate in the Rowland Xref Project.
Facebook Page: My Facebook account was disabled, and as the Admin for the Rowland Genealogy page on Facebook, I currently cannot access or update that page. I am working with Facebook to get this resolved, but I’m not holding my breath.
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Those missing kits are crazy Ron, I agree. If a member has joined a project it is implicit they want their results shared at the very least with other members and admins of that project. It’s all part of the continuing fall-out from the 23&ME security breach.