Croatian Genealogy Newsletter
Current issue No. 12 July 2005
Step-by-Step Guide to Croatian Genealogy
Differences in Croatian and European DNA?
Step-by-Step Guide to Croatian Genealogy
For those seeking family data this is a quick guide to tracing the steps needed to find documents
for births, marriages, and deaths.
Family Inside Croatia . . . . . Go to Step 2
Location Unknown . . . . . Go to Step 3
FHC Film Not Found . . . . . Go to Step 4
Write to Croatian archives or Church office. Samples records found in sources such as Searching for
your Croatian Roots: a Handbook and A Guide to Croatian Genealogy. The latter also has
addresses for archives.
No Parish Found . . . . . Go to Step 5
Differences in Croatian and European DNA?
The use of genetic features to answer genealogical questions is a relatively
new phenomenon. Genetic markers can anwser two type of questions for genealogical
research. One type of genetic marker can indicate to what population does a certain group
belong. This type of research can look at comparision of Croatian populations to other
groups. A previous, issue (
Issue 9, January 2004) discussed the question of Croatian relationship to Iranian
populations. Another type of question can determine if an individual is genetically close
or identical to other individuals from a particular family. This genetic research is useful
when comparing identical or related surnames for which no genealogical data is avaialable
to determine relatedness. In this discussion, the different genetics groups are described
from the studies of mitochondrial DNA. Technically, the groups are often referred to as
haplogroups.
The January 2004 issue of the newsletter described how the population on the large Croatian islands
of Krk, Brac, and Vis have distinct genetic markers on the mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is
passed on only from the maternal line to all children. Father's do not pass on any mitochondrial DNA.
The Adriatic island populations have probably been more isolated than the rest of the Croatian mainland
populations. Recent studies (1) show that Croatian coastal people and Croatian
mainland people, in general, have very similar mitochondrial DNA markers.
However, the small differences in the frequencies of group or haplogroup J and K between the coastal
and mainland populations of Croatia may substantiate the claim that the Adriatic island people, at
least for some of them, have some rare mitochondrial DNA that though found in other parts of the world
is rare in Europe (see Table 1). This does not necessarily mean that the Adriatic populations with the
rare markers came from outside Europe. It is more likely that the rare types developed naturally over
time because they were isolated for a longer time than mainland or coastal Croatian populations.
In fact, when Croatian mainland populations are compared with other former-Yugoslav populations there
is little difference. Mitochondrial DNA markers for Euorpeans, including Croatians fall into one of
nine groups, or haplogroups. These groups are labeled by letters of the Roman
alphabet. The nine groups are H,I,J,K,T,U,V,W,X and together they account for 99% of all European
mitochondrial DNA. The proportions of the nine groups are very similar between Croatians, Herzegovianins,
Bosnians, Servians, Macedonians, and Slovenians. The following table shows the percentage of each of
the nine markers in these populations.
Most European populations have slightly varying percentages of the same nine markers. Expections to this
are found in groups like Gypsies and the Saami of Scandinavia. Groups or halplogroups H,I,J,K,T,and W are
found almost exclusively in Europe, of these halpogroup H usually accounts for approximately half of
all markers in European populations. Haplogroup H in a population decreases from west to east, so that
Portugal and Spain have one of the highest concentrations of haplogroup H and Bulgaria and Turkey has one
of the lowest concentrations. Russian and Pole mitochondrial DNA groups are somewhere in between these
European extremes. Croatian mitochondrial DNA groups fall into this intermediate group (See Table 2).
The overall picture painted by the mitochondrial DNA demonstrates that Croatians have basically similar
proportions of the various European haplogroups as other populations on the continent. Other DNA
markers, such as those for certain short tandem repeats (STR) show that the Croatian population show
no differences from other European populations (4) and adds further evidence of the
European ancestry of Croatian populations, both on the coast and on the mainland.
The mitochondrial DNA data also shows the differences between Croatian and Iranian populations. Even though Iranians
have the same nine haplogroups as Croatians and other Europeans, their frequencies are different, and
even some haplogroups, such as U7, which show up in Iranians up to 9 percent, are rare in European
populations. Therefore, we can use genetic data, mitochondrial DNA in this case, to refute the idea
that Croatian populations have an Iranian connections, and to show, instead, that Croatians are
much more genetically similar to other Europeans.
References
For data on other countries follow the genealogical sources for those countries.
They are too numerous to list here. One source is found in
Croatian genealogical books.
Check surname indexes. Examples are Leksik Prezimena Socijalisticke Republike Hrvatske
and Prezimena i nas u Istri.
Search on Family History Center (FHC) site for available microfilm at
www.familysearch.org and then conact the nearest FHC near you to order the microfilm at
www.familysearch.org.
Check for dates of parish's existence in church indexes such as, Vodic Crkve u Hrvatsoj.
Croatian & Ex-Yugoslav MtDNA (Table 1)
Region
H
I
J
K
T
U
V
W
X
Croatian mainland
45.1
1.4
11.9
3.6
0.7
0.7
4.0
2.2
2.2
Croatian coast
45.8
3.1
3.1
6.3
1.0
2.1
5.2
4.2
.00
Herzegovinans
43.1
0.8
8.5
9.2
0.8
.00
3.8
2.3
0.8
Bosnians
47.0
2.4
7.3
5.3
2.4
3.2
2.4
3.6
2.0
Serbians
41.0
3.4
6.8
4.3
.00
1.7
3.4
3.4
.00
Macedonian
41.1
1.4
7.5
3.4
.00
0.7
1.4
2.7
6.2
Slovanians
47.12
1.9
9.6
3.8
4.8
.00
.00
4.8
.96
Croatian & European MtDNA (Table 2)
(3)
Region
H
I
J
K
T
U
V
W
X
Spain & Portugal
58.52
.57
5.9
4.5
5.9
10.5
5.9
1.99
1.7
France & Italy
53.6
.81
6.04
6.05
14.5
10.0
2.8
.81
2.02
UK & US
52.0
3.2
7.6
10.8
10.6
9.7
1.8
1.8
2.5
Croatian mainland
45.1
1.4
11.9
3.6
0.7
0.7
4.0
2.2
2.2
Poles
45.1
1.8
7.8
3.4
9.4
0.2
.00
3.6
1.8
Russians
42.2
2.4
7.9
2.9
8.9
.00
.00
1.9
3.4
Bulgaria & Turkey
38.2
1.9
14.7
5.8
9.8
11.7
.00
3.9
3.9
Iran
17.1
2.0
13.5
7.5
8.4
21.5
-
2.0
2.9
Saami (Finland)
5.68
0
0
0
0
45.45
39.77
0.57
0.62
1.
S, Tolk H, Lauc LB, Colak I, Dordevic D, Efremovska L, Janicijevic B, Kvesic A, Klaric I, Metspalu E,
Pericic M, Parik J, Popovic D, Sijacki A, Terzic R, Villems R, Rudan P. (2003) Coll Antropol. 28(1):193-98.
Frequencies of mtDNA Haplogroups in Southeastern Europe: Croatians, Bosnians and Herzegovinians, Serbians,
Macedonians and Macedonian Romani.
2.
Hernstadi C, Elson J, Fahy E, Preston G, Turnbull D, Andersen C, Ghost S, Olefsky J, Feal M, Davis R, Howell N.
(2002) Am. J. Hum. Genet. 70: 1152-71. Reduced-Medium-Network analysis of complete mitochondrial DNA colding-region
sequences for the major African, Asian, and European Haplogroups.
3.
Mitochondrial DNA frequencies for France/ Italy, Germany, Spain/Portugal, Bulgaria/Turkey, Saami from:
GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives, January 15, 2004.
4.
Grubic, Z, Stigl K, and Kastelan A (2003) International Congress Series 1239: 171-173. Genetic analysis of the short
tandem repreat loci D1S1656, D12S391, D18S535 and D22S683 in the Croatian population.