For years I had intended to create a family tree in order to be able to classify the people who appeared in the stories of my grandparents. I also wanted to enlighten some family and village legends from northern Greece, where my parents came from. Unfortunately there are records for this region only after 1930. Parallel to the paper research I did a DNA test at the beginning of 2017. This included the analysis of autosomal DNA (atDNA), mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-DNA on the basis of 37 Y-STR markers (STR = Short Tandem Repeat). I paid special attention to the Y-DNA of the paternal line, as most of the questions and legends arose there.
The identified Y-Haplogroup I-L38 caused confusion for me at first, because according to my initial level of information it only occurred north of the Alps, mainly along the Rhine and at the North Sea. Later, through the I-L38 haplogroup project at FTDNA, I learned that there was a Southeast European subgroup with a handful of testers to which I should belong, but the first Greek with this rather rare haplogroup.
From the initial confusion a hobby developed very soon, which fascinates me since then. I am especially enthusiastic about the exploration of the Y-Haplogroups of Greece, especially my region of origin and the progress within my Y-Haplogroup, I-L38. In the meantime, I have extended my Y-DNA test to an NGS test (Next Generation Sequencing) and also had some family members tested.
I would like to share this fascination with my family, my home village and country, and the Y-cousins of my haplogroup.
I am the co-admin of the Greek DNA Project at FTDNA and have also founded a surname project for Gerakaris.
In addition, I administer the information and discussion groups on Facebook:
DNA Haplogroup I-L38
Gerakaris Genealogy Group
YFull:
Since the beginning of my research I have been fascinated by the Y-trees, especially the Y-tree at YFull.com, which offers me the most beautiful representation and the possibility to better understand the topic. As co-admin of the I-L38 group at Yfull, I’m particularly interested in the tree growing and thriving, as people with NGS results upload them there.