STAPLES & MARSHALL - NO GENETIC CONNECTION

26 SEPTEMBER 2009

Arthur B. Staples, Jr., GA, Staples Surname & DNA Project (SSDP)

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~staplessurname

Y-DNA MATCHES: Tested participants Haplogroup and Haplotype or genetic signature is defined by the DNA testing company.
Y-DNA matches can be easily analyzed by creating a Haplogroup Founder Modal, based on the Haplogroup of the tested participants, which will identify Genetic Family Tree and Family Branch Mutations that are changes from the Haplogroup Founder Modal in tested participants Haplotypes. This process is extremely valuable when analyzing small group's of participants.   

To discover if there is a Genetic Family Tree match it is important that the Genetic Family Tree Mutations match. However, based on past SSDP studies, it is possible that one out of several may have a one-step mutation but no two-step mutations.

Y-DNA results showing a match within a Genetic Family Tree are Biological and therefore cannot tell us who the common ancestor is that the tested participants match. Only pedigrees with family relationships proven at each generation by primary & secondary genealogical recorded information can tell us who, when and where the match took place.

Matches with other surnames may indicate a Genetic Family Tree relationship prior to the surname era of recording births and marriages for common people in England (1538) and thus if one participant has a pedigree back far enough in time it will help identify the ancestral home.   

HAPLOGROUP FOUNDER MODAL TABLE MUTATION HIGHLIGHTS:
YELLOW = Genetic Family Tree Mutations from the founder modal that the vast majority of the family group have;

BLUE = Genetic Family Branch Mutations from the founder group that the vast majority of the family group does not share; 

RED = Rare Genetic Mutations of 10% or less frequency of a population sample.  Rare mutations limit the number of matches in a database as the smaller the population percentage the less people will share the marker value. However if the rare mutation is within a genetic family tree mutation it strengthens the genetic family tree uniqueness.

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TABLE NOTES:
[1] Mutation Frequency Rank & approximate Percentage from  'R1b-U106/S21+Research Group' Individual Allele Statistics (PDF Forma, Chart) R-U106 and R-M269 Allele Percentage Histograms By Clinton Platt, 06 May 2009.
[2]Y-DNA data from the SSDP and the


 

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 GENETIC DISTANCE (GD):
We are primarily interested in the Y67-DNA results within a certain GD of participants that share our surname (or Variant). However, there are many documented reasons why some family surnames changed during the surname era. During this surname time frame our Genetic Family Tree has remained basically the same. When a match is found to our Y67 Haplotype within a satisfactory Genetic Distance and also matches our Haplogroup Founder Modal genetic Family Tree mutations, it proves a biological relationship regardless of surnames.

Currently, our studies using a Haplogroup Founder Modal with pedigreed participants to a common ancestor show that while it possible to have a GD of up to 8 Mutations between participants, there is only a maximum GD of 4 to the head of the Genetic Family Tree. The Genetic Family Tree mutations are shared by the vast majority of members, however an occasional one-step mutation may show up, but no two-step mutations. Almost all of the mutations between participants are Genetic Family Branch mutations.

Rare mutations or mutations that have a Founder Modal Haplogroup sample frequency of 10% or less present in the Genetic Family Tree strengthen the groups' tree and the Genetic Family Branch mutations strengthen the participant's genetic branch because they limit the number of people who have the mutations.

Thus using a Haplogroup Founder Modal with mutation rankings and frequency percent to determine the Genetic Family Tree and its various Family Branch mutations, coupled with pedigrees to the most recent common ancestor results in a proven method of ancestral relationship        

PROVING A PEDIGREE:
Regardless of whether you are just beginning your genealogy research or a experienced family historian I recommend the following book.  GENEALOGICAL PROOF STANDARD, Building a Solid Case, by Christine Rose, CG, CGL, FASG (2005), “Dedicated to every genealogist with an ‘unsolved’ problem. That would include us all. I would think!” ISBN 0-929626-15-X.

SURNAMES & PEDIGREES:
SURNAMES: "The process by which surnames became fixed was prolonged and complicated. The fashion spread in southern England and East Anglia during the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century, but took another century to become widespread in northern England and lowland Scotland. By the 15th century most English people had acquired fixed hereditary surnames. But Welsh names did not take an English form until the 16th Century."
RE: Taken from The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History, received from Lionel West, Exeter, Devon Co., England.

PEDIGREES: Recorded information of children and parents at each generation is required to prove an unbroken lineage within a pedigree. In England the practice of recording surnames for marriages and christenings' for common people was started by the Church of England during the 16th century (1538) and spread very slowly.

Note: Since we need a proven pedigree at each generation to identify our ancestral lineage, most of us who descend from the common people of England will be extremely fortunate if we can prove our ancestral lineage back into to the 1500's.

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STUDY:
FTDNA Y67-DNA is the only biological information provider for discovering and proving our Family History, however, it cannot tell us who our common ancestors are. Only genealogy records can tell us who, when and where our ancestors came from. This study takes into account both of these family history information providers.

Y-DNA DATA:
The method of using the matching participants Haplogroup to generate a Founder Modal that is used to determine genetic family tree and branch mutations, as shown in this study, is an important analytical tool that leads to an accurate picture of genetic distance and thus - biological relationships.

In this study we have a FTDNA Y-DNA determined match between three SSDP Members (Three Y37 & one at Y67) and two members of the Marshall DNA Project at Y37 & Y67.

FTDNA Y37 MATCH: Staples members #89106 & 117949 and Marshall Members #47685 & 127249 show only Family Tree mutations and no Family Branch mutations. Staples member #136959 has the same Staples Family Tree mutations to the other Staples Family members, with two Family Branch mutations.

The Y-DNA Table, markers 1-37, shows an Y37 Genetic Distance of 4 between these Genetic Family Tree's.

According to FTDNA these individuals are "probably related" at Y37, However, The Haplogroup R-M269 (FTDNA R1b1b2) Founder Modal shows these Genetic Family Trees are not related, at least during the surname era in western Europe, because they do not share the vast majority of the same Family Tree mutations.   

FTDNA Y67 MATCH: The Y-DNA Table, markers 38-67, shows a total Y67 Genetic Distance of 7 between these Genetic Family Tree's.

According to FTDNA these two family groups with a Y67 Genetic Distance of 7 are probably related, however the Y67 results add to prove that they do not share the same Haplogroup family Tree mutations and therefore cannot be related during the surname era.

RARE MUTATIONS: Rare mutations at 10% or less of haplogroup population Frequency percentages limit the number of matches a group and/or member can expect. These Staples & Marshall families share a rare mutation at Marker #6, DYS385b, with an R-M269 population sample frequency of ~2%. Staples member 89106 has a rare frequency mutation at Marker #60, DYS446 of ~8%. Staples member 136959 has a rare frequency Family Branch mutation at Marker #3, DYS19 of ~8%.

GENEALOGY RECORDS:
STAPLES; The Most Recent Common Ancestor of Staples members 89106 & 117949 is Lucian Mack Staples b 1884, VA, descending from Samuel Staples, b c172x, d 1776 Adm.), Amherst Co., VA .

Staples member 136959 descends from William S. Staples b 1816 Shelby Co., KT, d 1889 Keytesville, MO., probable descendant of Samuel Staples, d 1776 Adm.), Amherst Co., VA.
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For more information on this Staples Family see 'Staple/s Surname & DNA Project (SSDP)' SSDP Family Group "D", on-line at- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~staplessurname

 

MARSHALL; According to the public website for the Marshall DNA Project, Marshall Members 47685 & 127249 pedigrees are listed in the Marshall Family Group 38. Their Most Recent Common Ancestor is John Marshall, b c1767 in Ireland, immigrated to the United States about 1792 and settled in PA, moved to Sevier Co., TN about 1823 with his wife. John d 1845, Moniteau Co., TN. He was the son of William Marshall of Ireland.

For more information on the Marshall Families go on-line to - 
'The Marshall Family DNA Project' http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~marshalldna/MarshallDNA1/
Andrew W. Marshall Sr., Group Administrator.



CONCLUSION:
There are many documented reasons why surnames of families have been changed during the surname era both within and outside of the court systems of various countries.

There are many YDNA companies that provide their members with charts indicating Time to the Most Common Ancestor (TMRCA) and Genetic Distance (GD) between tested participants of their program.

My experience with compiling data published by genetic scientists and of the DNA testing laboratories to use in the SSDP studies of genetic family history I found that TMRCA statistical data proves to be inaccurate and pedigrees are the only true method of determining TMRCA, and in some studies GD numbers and their published meaning can be misleading as this study shows.

The SSDP Y-DNA studies using the Haplogroup Founder Modal method is simple, gives a visual table to help the DNA participant prove his genetic relationship and locate his own Genetic Family Branch mutations. As our Y-DNA is biological we can find that our genetic Family Tree mutations have remained, for the vast majority of our Family History the same and most of us will find that we have some random Family Branch Mutations in our Y67 DNA.

The fact that these Staples and Marshall Families share a relatively close Y67 genetic distance of 7 is accidental and the study shows the two families have not been related during the surname era of Western Europe.

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