STAPLES & STAPLETON GENETIC CONNECTION

10 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 - FTDNA-STAPLETON DNA PROJECT; [This project is a non-public project. Information with participant number is a co-member of the SSDP. Participants listed as Private DNA data is given by the Stapleton Project Group Administrator]

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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.  

Genetic Distance to the head of this DNA group who matches all the Family Tree mutations and has no Family Branch mutations varies from a minimum of 66/67, a distance of 1, to a maximum of 63/67; a distance of 4. This shows a genetic relationship of all participants within this family group. Interestingly the study also shows that there can be a Y67 Genetic Distance of up to 8 between pairs of members.

The test results show 4 rare Family Tree Mutations varying from a frequency percentage of 1% to 10% of the 3,000 R-M269 population study sample (see Table Notes), showing a close genetic bond of the group.

Of importance is the 3 Family Branch Mutations of the participating Stapleton's at Marker # 26, DYS460 with a value of 12 which has a R-M269 frequency Rank of 3rd and a Frequency Percent of 5%. Currently, I believe that when this mutation took place will determine the splitting off between the Staples and the Stapleton family groups. Since the R-M269 Founder Modal value is 11 with a Frequency of 77% and this value applies to the Staples family group, one may assume that the Staples family Group is the older genetic group.


GENEALOGY RECORDS:
STAPLES: SSDP participants # N27910; 5045; N47254; 5607; 5536; have the oldest pedigrees of the group going back to Robert Staple, b. abt 1550, d. 1601, probably at Halton, Buckinghamshire, England. Robert was the father of Jeffrey Staple, b. abt 1576, m. Margery Chrismas.  Jeffrey, d. early 1647, probably at Weymouth, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts; Margery, b. abt 1585, d. aft 14 Dec 1663, probably at Weymouth, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts when she was last mentioned as "Widow Staples".  Jeffrey and Margery had settled at Weymouth by 17 Feb 1639/40 when their dau Martha was buried there ^[1].

Jeffrey and Margery (Chrismas) Staple had 7 known children, 4 sons and 3 daughters. The Staples participants ^[2] descend from John Staple, bp Aug 1608: d Dorchester, Mass., 4 July 1683. Thomas Staple, bp 5 April 1612 or his first cousin, Thomas Staple bp 1 Jan 1614/5. Samuel Staple, bp 6 April 1628, all baptized at Wendover, Buckinghamshire, England and immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with their parents. ^[1]

SSDP participants #111939 & 120700 are researching their family pedigrees to locate a common ancestor to the group.
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Staples Participant 120700 has an interesting and unusual Haplotype when compared to the rest of the group. He has no family Branch Mutations to the R-M269 Founder Modal at Y12, Y25 & markers # 38 through 67; however his four Family Branch Mutations are at all within the Y37 markers # 26-37. At his FTDNA Y37 Genetic Distance of 4 he is "Probably Related" but at his Y67 Genetic Distance of 4 he is considered "Related".

STAPLETON: Information has been provided by a number or researchers to the Stapleton family of Marlboro Co., SC. For more information please contact Family Historian Ann (Stapleton) Austin at - annaustin@verizon.net. Ann Austin has authored a 900 plus page book "The Stapleton's and Related Families", which is being prepared to be published.

SSDP participant #84983 descends from Lodowick Stapleton, b abt 1800 in Marlboro Co., SC; d aft 1880, prob. Coffee Co. AL; m 1st abt 1823, Lucy Pouncey, b 1804, d abt 1844/46. 5 Children by 1st wife Lucy and 5 children by 2nd wife Sarah Ann Powell.

The two Stapleton DNA Project 'Private' participants descend from one of the brothers of Lodowick, William Michael Stapleton, b 1802 in Marlboro  Co., SC; d 1874, Colorado Co., TX; m. abt 1824 Malinda Thomas Shannon in Alabama, b 1805 Marlboro Co., SC., d 1871, Colorado Co., TX.

The Stapleton's  participants most recent common ancestor (MRCA) is the father of Lodowick and William Michael Stapleton, William Maurice or Morris Stapleton, b abt 1770, Marlboro Co., SC; m. Mary Townsend, b 1774, Marlborough Co., SC, d in AL. 10 Children.

CONCLUSION:
1) GENETIC DISTANCE (GD): The participating Stapleton family group has a FTDNA Y67 GD of 3-4 to the head of the Staples family group, proving that the two family groups are biologically related. This study shows that there can be as much as a Y67 Genetic Distance of 8 between participating members of the Genetic Family Tree.

2) MUTATION AT MARKER # 26: The allele change of marker # 26, DYS460 repeat value of 11 with a frequency of 77% for the Staples and a value of 12 with a frequency of 5% for the Stapleton family Group. Based on the presented pedigree information this mutation had to happen prior to the c1770 birth of William Maurice Stapleton.       

3) MRCA: The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for the Y-DNA of the pedigreed Staples descendants of Robert Staple (c1550-1601) is his son Jeffrey Staple (c1576-1647).
MRCA for the Y-DNA of the pedigreed Stapleton descendants is William Maurice Stapleton (b. c1770- d. aft 1816).

The common ancestor of these Staples - Stapleton's family groups is currently unknown, however if we are able to prove the groups common ancestor by pedigree it will most probably be within the time frame of 1538 and c1770.

 

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REFERENCES: Note; For the DNA table references see Table Notes, listed under the table.

[1] THE ENGLISH ORIGINS OF JEFFREY STAPLE OF WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS by Gail Staples, wife of SSDP participant, Gary O. Staples. Published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR), Volume 161, April 2007, p95-100.

DESCENDANTS OF JEFFREY AND JOHN STAPLE OF WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1638, by James Courtenay Staples (1978). James Courtenay Staples, past president of the Staples Family History Association and editor of the STAPLES FAMILY HISTORY NEWSLETTER for the period 1977 through 1987 is a member of the SSDP DNA Family Group B. His book, newsletters and research notes are located at the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), Boston, MA, in the ‘The Staples Collection’, for more information see the publication New England Ancestors, Winter 2007, Vol. 8, No. 1, p53.

[2] STAPLES SURNAME & DNA PROJECT (SSDP), DNA FAMILY GROUP B, members Allen L., Gary O., James C., Laurance S., Robert S., William C., William L. Staples and Daniel V. Stapleton. On-line at- http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~staplessurname

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