Tag Archives: Big Y-700

Michel Richard dit Sansoucy (c1630 – 1686/1689), Carefree Acadian – 52 Ancestors #465

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Michel Richard was born about 1630, according to the Acadian census. We know he was born in France, because the first French settlers had not arrived in Acadia by 1630.

What we don’t know is where, or the identity of his parents.

Bona Arsenault, in his 1978 edition of HISTOIRE ET GENEALOGIE DES ACADIENS; 1625-1810, quoted on WikiTree and by Karen Theriot Reader, states that:

Michel Richard dit Sansoucy, born in 1639, originally from the Saintonge [an old province in the west part of France, now largely Charente-Inferieure. Its capital was Saintes]. Michel arrived in Acadia with the expedition of Emmanuel Le Borgne and de Guilbault in 1652 or 1651; he was with sieur de Saint-Mas, representative of Le Borgne. (Footnote cites Bona Arsenault’s own Histoire des Acadiens; and Louis Richard, in the Memoires de la Société Généalogique Canadienne-Francoise, vol. VI, no 1 (Jan 1954).)

Unfortunately, no sources were provided, and we know that the 1639 birth year is incorrect. No evidence has surfaced to confirm this location information, so for now, it remains unproven. As more parish records are transcribed and translated, Michel’s family information may come to light, although Richard is not an uncommon surname in France.

Sansoucy

Michel’s dit name or nickname is interesting. Sansoucy, means carefree, or without cares. It does not seem to be a place name, so it would either be a military nickname or indicative of Michel’s personality.

I like to think of him in this light!

A Brother by the Same Name

Michel probably had a younger brother, by the same name, who also settled in Port Royal, marrying Francoise Boudrot about 1663, and having two children with her before passing away, probably about 1667. Francoise remarried to Etienne Robichaud about 1668.

Francoise’s two children by Richard, Madeleine Richard Robichaud, born about 1664, and Charles Richard dit Cadet Robichaud, born about 1667, were known by the surname of their step-father, Etienne Robichaud. However, Charles used the dit name of “Cadet” signifying “the younger” and Y-DNA testing of several descendants has confirmed that indeed, he is genetically descended from the Richard line, not the Robichaud line.

These Big Y-700 tests from the French Heritage DNA Project show that the Richard and Robichaud men from these genealogy lines descend from the same genetic lineage. The common haplogroup, R-FT137222, formed about 1637, with a range that extends in both directions.

Cadet would indicate that both Richard brothers had the same name – a situation not unheard of and found in other Acadian families too, especially if they are half-siblings. We find this same situation occurring in “our” Michel Richard “dit Sansoucy” line, with two sons being named Alexandre. The older Alexander Richard was born about 1668 to Madeleine (Madelaine) Blanchard, and the younger Alexandre Richard was born about 1686 to second wife, Jeanne Babin.

I think the phrase, “It’s complicated,” could sum up the Richard family.

Port Royal

In the 1671 census, Michel is enumerated with Abraham Dugas on one side, and Charles Melanson on the other. Those two men lived directly across the river from each other.

Here, I’m standing on or near the Melanson land, looking across the Riviere du Port Royal at the Dugas land, at left, which is just west of the fort.

Michel Richard was listed as a 41-year-old laborer, or ploughman, wife Madeleine Blanchard, 28, along with seven children, Rene, 14, Pierre, 10, Catherine, 8, Martin, 6, Alexandre, 3, and twins, Anne and Magdeleine, 5 weeks. They have 15 cattle, 14 sheep, and are farming 14 arpents of land.

Twins, especially twins who both lived, are rare.

The census suggests Michel’s birth in 1630, Madeleine’s in 1643, and their marriage about 1656, so after the initial fall of Acadia in 1654.

Taken together, this tells us that Michel Richard was in Acadia prior to the fall and would have been a witness to and participant in those events.

The 1654 Fall of Acadia

In 1654, Michel would have been about 24 years old. He probably arrived in Acadia as a laborer, craftsman, or perhaps even a soldier. If he arrived with his parents or other family members, other than “Cadet” Richard, there was no trace of them by 1671.

Tensions had been escalating in the North Atlantic between the French, English, and Dutch colonies as extensions of their home countries.

In the summer of 1654, Oliver Cromwell in England was outfitting the English colonists in Boston with ships and soldiers to attack the Dutch in New Netherlands, today’s New York.

By the time they were prepared to attack, Major Robert Sedgwick was informed that the war had been settled, and peace was at hand. The trouble was that Sedgwick was prepared for battle, and had been authorized to take other territories belonging to the French after attacking New Netherlands, if time permitted. Given that he could no longer attack New Netherlands, that’s all the encouragement he needed.

He set out to capture all three Acadian forts: Saint John, Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal, NS), and Pentagouet (now Castine, Maine).

On July 14th, after Fort Saint John surrendered, Sedgwick crossed the Baie Française, now the Bay of Fundy, and attacked Port Royal, which was under the control of Emmanuel Le Borgne. Le Borgne had been at Saint John the day before attacking rival Charles La Tour when Sedgwick arrived there. Le Borgne quickly retreated to Port Royal, which gave him a day to prepare for Sedgwick’s arrival. It wasn’t much time, but better than nothing.

Le Borgne’s men lay in wait and ambushed Sedgwick, killing one and wounding six more. The more experienced professional English soldiers quickly returned fire, ambushed the ambushers, giving them no time to reload, and killed five men. We don’t know if those five men were French soldiers or Acadians.

The French soldiers and Acadians retreated into the fort, where the English laid siege to Port Royal. Knowing that the combined forces of about 200 men in Port Royal stood no chance against the 750 English and colonial soldiers, they surrendered on August 8th.

Le Borgne obtained generous surrender terms, meaning that the Acadians were to remain unharmed, keep their homes and belongings, be allowed to continue to worshiping as Catholics, and the French soldiers were to be transported back to France. Nevertheless, the English captured 113 men, more than 23 cannons, 500 weapons, and more than 50 barrels of gunpowder. In violation of the agreement, the Sedgwick had the Acadians’ livestock slaughtered.

It’s unclear whether all 113 captives were French soldiers, or a mixture of soldiers and Acadians. It’s unlikely that Michel was a French soldier, or he would have been sent back to France at this time, so he must have arrived in a different capacity.

Le Borgne’s own ship had been captured too, laden with a valuable cargo of alcohol. The surrender terms allowed him to keep the ship, AND his alcohol. He, as a French administrator, returned to France, but his sons were allowed to remain in Acadian, and he was allowed to keep his property. These suspiciously generous terms for Le Borgne personally fueled accusations of treason. The fact that Le Borgne had somehow escaped on July 13th from Saint John when the English were attacking, instead of fighting to defend Fort Saint John, furthered those accusations.

Regardless, Acadia was now under English control and would remain so until it was returned to the French in 1667 under the Treaty of Ryswick. In 1670, the transfer was completed, and was followed by the 1671 Acadian census, which provides us with a glimpse of what happened in Acadia between 1654 and 1670.

The next census in Acadia took place seven years later, in 1678.

The 1678 Census

The 1678 census was much less specific than the earlier one. We have the name of the head of household, the wife, the number of children by sex, and how much livestock they owned.

Michel Richard’s neighbors, in order, are shown as:

  • Jean Labat and Renee Gautrot – Labat was a military engineer who was sent to oversee the reconstruction of the fort. He lived in Port Royal, on the waterfront.
  • Rene Landry and Perrine Bourg
  • E(tienne) Pellerin and Jeanne Savoye – the Pellerin family lived in Port Royal and eventually owned Hogg Island.
  • Francois Brossard and Catherine Richard – Michel Richard’s newly married daughter.
  • Michel Richard and Madeleine Blanchard (their names only)
  • Germain Doucet and Marie Landry – lived in Port Royal
  • Michel Richard (no wife’s name, but the balance of his family and livestock are listed). Four boys, five girls, living on 10 arpents of land with 21 cattle.
  • Michael Boudrot at the brook – Michael Boudrot was the neighbor of Abraham Dugas.

This strongly suggests that the couple lived in Port Royal, and not yet upriver.

Additionally, there’s a very interesting note that indicates that Michel had three separate plots of land:

  • Sans Soucy, 29, 1 arpent of high land, bordering at one end of the river, part the other end on the North wood on one side Anthoine Hebert, Denis Godet.
  • 6 arpents at Port Royal, Lyon Rampat? Bordering on Germain then on the meadow and the petite Riviere then on Renee Landry
  • 3 arpents at gros Cap on Claude Terriot, Barnabe Martin at the road then at the river, 260 frontage

What types of information can we extract from this?

  • Michel’s age is not 29, which would place his birth in 1649, an impossibility given his first child’s birth in 1657. He would have been 48 or maybe 49, not 29. Perhaps this was misread or misrecorded.
  • Anthoine Hebert lives upriver beside Daniel LeBlanc at BelleIsle and so does the Godet (Gaudet) family, on the North side of the river.
  • Gros cap, “large cape,” may be the town of Port Royal itself, or the point of land where it sits, given that the Chemin du Cap is the road leading to the south out of Port Royal.
  • Renee Landry lives beside Jean Labat in Port Royal.
  • Germain Doucet lives on the other side of Michel Richard in the 1678 census in Port Royal.
  • We know, based on Nicole Barrieau’s thesis, that Michel Richard’s land was not among that expropriated in 1705 in Port Royal when the new fort was built, so his land was either further east along the waterfront, on the south side of the main road, along the Cape Path, or had already been settled in another way by 1705.

In 1671 and through 1678, based on the neighbors in the census, and the 1678 census notes, we can determine that Michel lived someplace along the waterfront in Port Royal for most of his life. This makes sense, given that we know that he was in Acadia before it fell in 1654.

Acadians in Gray, authored by Steven Cormier, states, in part, that:

First came Michel Richard dit Sansoucy, a young soldier born in the Saintonge region of France in c1630. He appeared at Port-Royal in the early 1650s in the entourage of Emmanuel Le Borgne. When his term of service ended, he remained in the colony, took up farming, obtained two grants of land from Le Borgne “at some ten to fifteen miles from the fort” on the upper Rivière au Dauphin, now the Annapolis River.

I very much wish Mr. Cormier had provided sources for this information.

Researcher Paul LeBlanc, prior to his death, believed that Michel’s dit name was derived from the location of Saintonge, although a male from Saintonge would be known as a “Saintongese.”

One of the pieces of land referenced by Cormier may be the land where Michel Richard’s son, the younger Alexandre Richard, eventually lived, near Bridgetown. Alexandre married Marie Levron about 1711, whose parents lived directly across the River from Port Royal.

Port Royal in 1686

What was Port Royal like in 1686?

We are fortunate that Labat drew a map in 1686 to encourage investment and settlement in Port Royal.

The church and cemetery are shown in this drawing.

The church is shown with the number #2, and above the church, the cemetery is annotated with #4.

The fort where Michel Richard would have served, assuming he did arrive as a soldier with Le Bourg, is shown in ruins, labeled #3, on the water, by the boats.

If Michel lived upriver in 1686, instead of in Port Royal, they lived in the BelleIsle area where 1500 arpents of prime marshland was awarded by a succession of stakeholders over the years.

Madeleine Blanchard Dies

Based on the 1686 census, Madeleine Blanchard died between 1678 and 1683 when Michel Richard remarried to Jeanne Babin. Jeanne was 15 at the time, so born about 1667, and Michel was 52.

In 1667, Michel had 10 living children, ranging in age from 20 down to 3. He needed a wife, even if his new wife was younger than his four eldest children.

In the 1686 census, we find Michel Richard, age 56, Jeanne Babin, 18, with children: Martin, 19, Alexandre, 17, Marie, 12, Cecile, 10, Marguerite, 7, and Michel, 2. Five other children are married. Marguerite was the last child born to Madeleine Blanchard, and Michel, age 2, is Michel’s first child with Jeanne Babin.

In addition to the blended family, they have two guns, 16 cattle, 30 sheep, and eight hogs on 12 arpents of land.

Based on the neighbors, it appears that Michel is probably living upriver by 1686, but that’s anything but certain. The census taker may not have been recording in the order that people lived. He may also have been paddling back and forth across the river.

The 1693 Census

By the 1693 census, Jeanne Babin has remarried to Laurent Doucet, and they have a three-year-old child, suggesting that they married about 1689.

We know that Michel Richard and Jeanne’s second child, Alexandre Richard, was born about 1686, which places Michel’s death sometime between 1686 and 1689.

Michel’s Funeral

Michel died before the Catholic church, which stood beside the fort in Port Royal, was burned in 1690 during another attack by the English.

His funeral would have been held in the church with the priest saying mass. His coffin would have been carried outside, where he was laid to rest in the cemetery in the churchyard, surrounded by his family and fellow Acadians.

Lost beneath the ramparts of the reconstructed fort today, when Michel was buried, a simple little church and adjacent cemetery behind the ramparts served the Acadian population and the French soldiers, all of whom were Catholic.

Michel was laid to rest within view of the garrison where he may have served, and assuredly defended in 1654. All that’s left of his grave today is mist and memories.

Belle-Ile-en-Mer

After the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755, a decade later, in 1765, a group of 78 refugee Acadian families made their way to the French Island of Belle-Île-en-Mer where each family gave depositions about the origins of their ancestors.

The French were trying to determine how to help settle the refugees and whether they were actually French descendants. Clearly, they were. The French King settled the Acadian families in four regions on the island, providing them with housing and livestock.

The resulting depositions provide a plethora of information about the earliest Acadian ancestors. Of course, a few generations removed, not everything was perfectly accurate.

According to Stephen A. White, Genealogist,Centre d’études acadiennes January 17, 2005:

In four separate depositions, Michel Richard is mentioned by his Sansoucy dit name. He married Madeleine Blanchard at Port Royal, according to Pierre Doucet, the husband of Michel’s great-granddaughter Marie-Blanche Richard. (Doc. inéd., Vol. III, pp. 53-54).

Pierre mistakenly called his wife’s great-grandmother Anne, instead of Madeleine, but the 1671 census shows her true given name (see DGFA-1, pp. 1373-1374).

Three other depositions confirm the French origin of Michel Richard dit Sansoucy, although two of these attribute the given names of René to him and Marie to his wife, one from his great-grandson Pierre Richard (Doc. inéd., Vol. II, p. 191) and the other from Joseph LeBlanc dit Le Maigre, on behalf of his son Joseph, whose wife Angélique Daigre was another great-grandchild of the ancestor (ibid., p. 178).

The last deposition, from Pierre Trahan, whose father-in-law’s first wife was Michel Richard’s daughter, provides no given name for the ancestor and does not mention his spouse at all (ibid., Vol. III, p. 111).

Michel Richard’s Land in Acadia

Alexander Richard, the youngest son of Michel Richard, lived on land upriver, near present-day Bridgetown in 1710, according to the Labat map. This is probably the land granted to his father, Michel, assuming that Steven Cormier is right about Michel being granted land about 15 miles, or so, upriver. It fits that description exactly.

Michel Richard had two sons named Alexandre, the older one by Madeleine Blanchard, and the younger one by Jeanne Babin.

For a long time, I mistakenly assumed that the Alexandre Richard who lived on this land was Michel’s eldest son, Alexandre (c1668-1709), not his youngest, born about 1686. His eldest died in 1709, so it clearly cannot be him living on that land in 1710.

On this reconstructed Acadian map from MapAnnapolis, Alexandre Richard is shown living near present-day Bridgetown. The Gaudet, Petitpas, and Bastarche familes also owned land nearby, settling near Bridgetown and intermarrying.

There’s another possibility to be considered, too.

Based on the 1671 census location of Antoine Babin, this could have been his land before his grandson, the younger Alexandre Richard, farmed it. Antoine died about 1687, leaving 11 children. It’s a stretch to think that his middle daughter, Jeanne, inherited his land, then passed it to her son nearly a quarter century later.

The proximity of the Richard and Babin land to each other is probably more a function of the fact that Michel Richard and Antoine Babin were both granted land, probably by Le Borgne, anout the same time, and may have selected it together. After all, Michel Richard married Antoine’s daughter not long before both men died. Antoine and Michel were about the same age.

Alexandre Richard would have inherited the land from someone. His mother, Jeanne Babin, would have held it after Michel’s death. Her older son, Michel Richard Jr., settled in Beaubassin, so it makes perfect sense for this land to descend to Jeanne Babin, then on to Alexandre, her other son by Michel Richard Sr.. Michel Sr. and Jeanne Babin only had two children.

Perhaps Alexandre’s father, Michel Richard Sr., died before he was able to develop the land, but he was trying to leave something to one of his sons. Maybe specifically the youngest son, whom he knew he would never be able to raise. Michel was 56 when Alexandre was born. For all we know, Michel may have been ill and it’s possible that he died even before Alexandre’s birth.

Of course, the land needed to be dyked and drained for at least three years before it could be farmed, but that could wait until Alexandre was old enough.

I like to think of Michel walking here, selecting the land, imagining his grandchildren playing in the sunshine decades in the future.

This map may be slightly skewed. I used the 1710 original map and landmarks to attempt to locate Alexander’s property more precisely in preparation for a 2024 visit, so let’s see what we have.

Of course, it doesn’t help that some of the geography has been changed in the intervening three centuries. Roads have been laid, rivers have flooded, changing their courses, and, of course, those original maps weren’t 100% accurate.

It was easy to match up both the east bend in the river and the Bridgetown bend, although the Bridgetown bend has changed a bit. I should probably have turned one of these maps upsidedown.

Alexander Richard’s property was probably someplace near or between the two red stars.

Unfortunately, the view from the Harvest Highway and also from 201 is very obscured by trees.

Perhaps the best view of both sides is from the bridge itself.

This is looking south, but keeping in mind that the Acadians specialized in farming reclaimed marshland. The view looking north probably overlooks Alexandre’s fields.

Click to enlarge any image

You can see the river running beneath the bridge on the highway, where that first car is located, just before the sign. The fields between this bridge and the river would have been Alexandre’s.

Alexandre, and possibly Michel before him, would have worked these fields, as seen from the bridge over the Annapolis River.

The fields visible on both the left and right sides of the bridge, on the south side of the river, would probably have been his.

The location of the house and barn today, above the fields, is probably near the same place as it was then.

On the northeast side of the intersection of 101 and 201, there’s a small dirt road that serves one farm and also provides utility road access.

I drove up this road until I reached a fence with a warning sign, and the road began to deteriorate substantially.

This well-manicured field is still farmed.

I can see Alexandre tending the crops and farm animals, remembering his father fondly.

The father he never knew, who died when he was just a toddler.

The father who provided for him, even from the other side of death.

I returned to Highway 201, the road along the south side of the river, and turned towards the east bend.

Based on the river bends and the distance between easily identified landmarks, the Richard land may have been as far east as the red arrow.

These fields are hundreds of years old – drained by Alexander Richard and his neighbors and possibly begun by Michel.

Acadian men worked together on these tasks. Everyone helped everyone.

This model shows Acadian farmland. It takes at least three years after a salt marsh is dyked for the salt to wash out so it can be cultivated, and the dykes must be maintained to keep the fields salt-free.

Notice the stream, which is one of the cornerstone anchor landmarks I used to align this Google map with the 1710 map when searching for Alexandre’s land.

Michel Richard’s Legacy

I drove by, looking towards the river over the reclaimed marshland, thinking about Michel.

Did he ever dream that his descendant would return to find him, some three and a half centuries later? WikiTree, which doesn’t include all of his descendants, shows nearly 200,000. That’s ten times the size of the entire county where Annapolis Royal is located today, half the size of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, metropolitan region and one quarter of the population of all of Nova Scotia. That’s incredible for a humble Acadian farmer.

Everyone wants to leave a legacy. Sansoucy, carefree, is what pops into my mind when I soak in this sun-drenched summertime landscape, picturing Michel walking here.

Indeed, perhaps Michel Richard’s legacy of land enabled his son, Alexandre, to be Sansoucy too.

Perhaps a little of his Sansoucy has been passed down to all of us.

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Lineages Versus Ancestors – How to Find and Leverage Yours

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Today, we’ll explore how a single direct test can uncover insights into an entire ancestral lineage, shifting our focus from individual ancestors to the broader concept of lineages.

When we work with either Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA, we’re using a type of DNA that is specific to one ancestral line – or lineage. However, it’s not limited to just one ancestor. In fact, it applies to many.

Autosomal DNA, on the other hand, can be and is inherited from multiple ancestral lines. Of course, autosomal DNA is a bit like a jigsaw puzzle because YOU have to figure out WHICH line is the source of your match to someone.

You don’t have to do that with Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, plus, there’s a LOT more information available about both of those types of DNA.

Inheritance – How Parts of Your Ancestors Descend to You

I’ve put together a chart to explain the difference in the amount of autosomal DNA that you inherit from your ancestors versus the amount of either Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that you inherit from specific lineages of ancestors.

Generation Autosomal Ancestors % DNA # Ancestors Y (males) & mtDNA Ancestors – %
7 GGGG-grandparents 1.5625 64 1 – 100%
6 GGG-grandparents 3.125 32 1 – 100%
5 GG-grandparents 6.25 16 1 – 100%
4 Great-grandparents 12.5 8 1 – 100%
3 Grandparents 25 4 1 – 100%
2 Parents 50 2 1 – 100%
1 You 100 1 – 100%

If you look at the amount of autosomal DNA inherited from each ancestor back seven generations, with you as the first generation, you’ll see that, on average, each of your GGGG-grandparents contributes 1.5625% of their DNA to you. In some cases, you might receive none at all, and in other cases, you might receive more – thanks to the uncertainty of recombination in each generation which I explained, here.

That’s not the case, though, for either Y-DNA (for males) or mitochondrial DNA for everyone. You always inherit 100% of the mitochondrial DNA carried by the entire lineage of your direct maternal line ancestors. Males always inherit 100% of the Y chromosome of their direct paternal line ancestors. Neither type of DNA is divided, recombined, or washed out over the generations. With the exception of an occasional mutation, the Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA that your most distant ancestor in that line inherited is exactly what you receive.

Everyone can test their mitochondrial DNA, and males can take the Y-DNA test. Women give their mitochondrial DNA to both sexes of their children, but only females pass it on.

While you can only test for your own direct lines, you can test other people for their lineages which are also your ancestors.

Test Family Members

By testing family members who descend appropriately, you can obtain that same information for any ancestor.

For example, your father can test his mitochondrial DNA to receive the mitochondrial DNA information for his mother’s direct matrilineal line, or lineage. If you’re a female, having your father test both his Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA provides you with valuable information about two ancestral lines that you can’t obtain from your own DNA.

Your mother’s brothers (or paternal uncles) can test their Y-DNA for your mother’s father’s line, and so forth.

Y-DNA is always the direct patrilineal line for males, and mitochondrial DNA is always the direct matrilineal line for everyone, so males can provide the DNA for both types of DNA for their ancestors. Men carry both types of DNA, the Y-DNA of their father and the mitochondrial DNA of their mother.

Lineages

The great news is that once you obtain that information by locating an appropriate tester, it’s conclusive in the sense that you typically don’t need to find someone else in that line to test – especially if they match someone else who descends from an ancestor in that same line. I say typically because, especially with Y-DNA, you may well want to test multiple men in different generations to track mutations that identify twigs and even leaves on their haplotree branch.

Essentially, both Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA represent entire lineages, not just individual ancestors.

Once you obtain that information, you can:

  • Identify ancestors further back in time
  • Confirm lineages
  • Disprove lineages
  • Learn when your common ancestors with other testers lived
  • Learn where your ancestors and their ancestors lived
  • Discover which ancient and notable people you’re related to
  • Utilize match maps
  • And more

Click on any image to enlarge

There’s an entire world of information just waiting to be revealed – beyond matching for both Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA and the half dozen great tools provided on your dashboard at FamilyTreeDNA.

The free Discover tool (currently for Y-DNA but very soon for mitochondrial too) provides a dozen extra reports. Between your dashboard reports and the Discover reports, there are about 20 chapters to your lineage story waiting for you.

There’s even a customized Discover experience for Big Y-DNA testers and full sequence mitochondrial DNA testers.

If you take the Big Y-700 test or the full sequence mitochondrial DNA test, your Discover experience includes:

  • Globetrekker
  • More Ancient Connections
  • More Notable Connections
  • The Match Time Tree
  • If you join projects, the Project Time Tree

For my Estes research, the Match Time Tree and Project Time Trees have been critically important.

Time Trees provide a genetic structure for how you and your matches are related over time. In the Match Time Tree above, you can see how my cousin is related to his matches, and when important branching of the tree that defines lineages occurred. The earliest known ancestors (EKA), provided by testers, are shown as well. This branching information correlated within 25 years of the births of the ancestors whose DNA split those branches.

For example, the mutation, R-ZS3700 was formed when Moses Estes was born in 1711 and was then passed to his descendants. If you test as a member of haplogroup R-ZS3700, we know you descend from Moses Estes. Some of his descendants have downstream haplogroups too, such as R-BY154184.

The Group Time Tree shows the same type of things but for members within Group Projects.

It’s truly exciting what lineage tests can reveal and how they can demolish brick walls.

Finding Testers

After you’ve exhausted your supply of close family members, then known aunts, uncles and cousins, how do you find testers to represent your lineages?

Most of us don’t know our third or fourth cousins, but they may carry that golden DNA that represents that entire lineage.

I’ve written about using both Relatives at RootsTech and WikiTree to find people who descend appropriately from the line you seek, but you’ll be most productive if you get organized first.

Let’s begin with organizing your lineages. Since this type of DNA is passed through that entire line of ancestors, you want to have those ancestors gathered together so it’s easy to find someone who has descended from any of those ancestors in that lineage appropriately.

For Y-DNA, that means each direct male line, and for mitochondrial DNA, that means every matrilineal line.

Lineage Spreadsheet

In my Ancestor Birthday Spreadsheet, where I track pertinent information about each of my ancestors individually, one row per ancestor, I created a lineage sheet for mitochondrial DNA and another one for Y-DNA. If you don’t want to create a spreadsheet, you can always make a chart or list.

It’s easier to recognize Y-DNA testing candidates because the surname (generally or often) doesn’t change.

Surnames generally do change in each generation in mitochondrial lineages.

Everyone can test their own mitochondrial DNA, so let me start with the tester (me) as an example. If I test my mitochondrial DNA, the results automatically apply to my ancestors in my direct matrilineal line – or lineage.

So, one test represents a dozen of my direct-line maternal ancestors. Your test represents however many ancestors you have on your direct matrilineal lineage.

Beginning with my mother, I’ve been able to track my matrilineal line beyond the six generations shown in my desktop genealogy software.

For purposes of clarity, while only six generations are displayed here, the entire lineage continues with Anna Elisabetha Mehlheimer on the next page. That line includes each female, mother-to-mother, as far back as I can go, consisting of all 12 generations.

I’ve entered all of those ancestors into their generational position in the first row on the Lineage Spreadsheet that begins with me.

Click any image to enlarge

The entire spreadsheet looks like these first few rows. I don’t expect you to read the small print. I just want you to get the idea so that you can follow the process.

The entire mitochondrial lineage of each “first of line” ancestor is shown in the “Upstream” generation columns at right. In other words, the person closest to current in the lineage is listed by last and first name (me), and all of their mitochondrial lineage ancestors are shown to their right.

My mother, Barbara Jean Ferverda is shown in the column “Upstream 1”, because she is one generation upstream from me, or the ancestor listed at far left. “Upstream 2” is her mother, Edith Barbara Lore, and so forth.

The haplogroup, once discovered, applies to ALL of those people – the entire lineage. Those ancestors don’t need to be shown on the spreadsheet again because you’ve checked them off the list when you find someone to represent all of them. Of course, in this case, that person is me.

My mitochondrial DNA represents 12 known generations, and countless unknown ones, some of which may yet be discovered. But there are other lineages that I need to discover that I can’t personally test for.

Identifying Lineages That You Need

I created this fan chart in my genealogy software and placed a red star for each pink mitochondrial DNA line that I need – beginning with the “first of line” ancestor. For example, Ollie Bolton is my “first of line” ancestor whose mitochondrial DNA represents all of her direct-line matrilineal ancestors.

Of course, each generation back in time provides more ancestors whose DNA we need – including each male who carries the mitochondrial DNA of his mother.

By the way, if I only have a partial haplogroup from either an autosomal test that provides base haplogroups, or a predicted haplogroup from an older HVR1 or HVR1/2 test, I leave them in the “need” category. In other words, I’m still seeking a full-sequence tester.

I started with each female in my tree and created their lineage backward in my spreadsheet.

More Distant Ancestors in Your Tree

My genealogy software shows a maximum of 6 generations on one page.

When I reached the point in my tree where I needed to go to the “next page,” other lineages began there. I began losing my place, so I color-coded the lineages in my spreadsheet so I could identify them at a glance. Additionally, the red-colored text indicates that the line begins with a female, and the black text means that the line “bookmark” begins with that man’s mother. Remember, every man had a mother whose mitochondrial DNA we need as part of that family’s story.

The “bookmark” ancestor is the person where I was when I advanced to the next “page” in my genealogy software, so I don’t lose my place.

You can see that Johanna Fredericka Ruhle is the bookmark ancestor for Maria Margaretha Krafft. Johanna Ruhle’s direct line is listed in the Upstream columns for her, and Maria Margaretha Krafft’s direct line is listed in the upstream columns for her. Please note that Maria Margaretha Krafft is NOT in the direct matrilineal line for Johanna Ruhle, but a different lineage that I need.

In my desktop genealogy software, Johanna Fredericka Ruhle is the last person in her line on page one. She’s the bookmark that leads to the next page, so I need to begin with her on page 2.

Now Johanna is the first person on the next page, with her pedigree chart showing. You can see that Johanna’s OWN mitochondrial lineage continues through Margaretha Kurtz (red arrow), but this page also includes 11 NEW mitochondrial lineages that begin with a female in each line.

Maria Margaretha Krafft’s lineage is labeled as #11 here.

If your bookmark or “page turn” individual is a male, then he goes in your bookmark field so you can figure out how to get that lineage in the first place. Bookmarks are kind of like breadcrumbs.

You don’t need to worry about “page 2” and more distant if you are just beginning.

However, this process will encourage you to check each end-of-line individual. As you search, you’ll know that when you find descendants of any one of these people, their mitochondrial DNA test will represent all of the ancestors in that entire lineage.

Find One, Get the Entire Dozen! BOG12

BOGO might be an American saying, and it means Buy One Get One, so essentially two for the price of one. In my case, it was buy one test, get information for 12 ancestors, or BOG12.

So, find one tester/haplogroup and get that information for the entire lineage! In my case, I got 12 for the price of one.

In Johanna Fredericka Ruhle’s case, she is the grandmother of Evaline Miller, my mother’s grandmother. Evaline Miller’s line includes 8 generations, so when I found someone who carried Evaline’s mitochondrial DNA, it applied to all 8 generations of her direct matrilineal ancestors – BOG8. The great news is that it doesn’t have to come from a descendant of Evaline herself, it can come from a direct female descendant of, say, Margaret Elisabeth Lentz, or her mother, Johanna Fredericka Ruhle – or more distant in the tree.

More distant ancestors may have more descendants that carry their Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA.

You can see that in my desktop software (and only there,) I’ve added Evaline’s mitochondrial haplogroup as a middle name. I don’t ever do this in a public tree because it confuses the search algorithm. Besides that, haplogroup names evolve and change over time as the phylogenetic trees become more specific.

Follow That Line

For purposes of this exercise, let’s use one of my lineages to see if I can find someone who descends appropriately from either that ancestor, through all females to the current generation, or from any of her matrilineal ancestors upstream.

Let’s use Curtis Benjamin Lore’s mother as an example. His mother was Rachel Levina Hill, so that lineage begins with her since only females pass mitochondrial DNA to their offspring.

I’m going to search for someone who carries the mitochondrial DNA of Rachel.

Rachel is the fourth generation back from me, and according to my lineage spreadsheet, there are a total of 11 generations from me to the last person in her direct mitochondrial lineage.

  • Rachel Levina Hill – (born 1815 Addison Co., VT, died after 1870 Warren Co., PA, married Antoine “Anthony” Lore)
  • Abigail “Nabby” Hall – (born 1792 Mansfield City, Tolland Co., CT, died 1874 Waukegan, Lake Co., IL, married Joseph Hill)
  • Dorcas Richardson – (born 1769 Willington, Tolland Co., CT, died c 1840 Addison Co., VT, married Gershom Hall)
  • Dorcas Eldredge – (born 1739 Mansfield City, Tolland Co., CT, died 1772 Willington, Tolland Co., CT, married James Richardson)
  • Abigail Smith – (born 1718 Massachusetts, died 1793 Willington, Tolland Co., CT, married Jesse Eldredge)
  • Abigail Freeman – (born 1693 Eastham, Barnstable Co., MA, died 1737 Wellfleet, Barnstable Co., MA, married Samuel Smith)
  • Mary Howland – (born 1665 Dartmouth, RI, died 1743 Eastham, Barnstable Co., MA, married Nathaniel Freeman)
  • Abigail (surname unknown) – (born about 1635, married October 1656 to Zoeth Howland)

In order to obtain Rachel Levina Hill’s mitochondrial DNA, I need to find someone who descends from either her or her matrilineal lineage ancestors through all females to the current generation, which can be male. Women give their mitochondrial DNA to both sexes of their children, but only females pass it on.

In order to be “safe,” meaning less likelihood of a genealogical error, I prefer to find two descendants through different children who match each other. However, to begin, I’m always happy to locate any one descendant. They may match someone from this line who has already tested.

This is a good place to insert a cautionary note about the accuracy of other people’s genealogy. Always verify as best you can that the person you’re relying on for a critical test actually descends appropriately from the ancestor whose DNA you seek.

Autosomal Match List

When searching for testers, I always check my own autosomal match list first to be sure someone with that surname or who descends from that ancestor isn’t already lurking there. That includes both ThruLines at Ancestry and Theories of Family Relativity at MyHeritage.

It’s not always easy to tell because, at most vendors, you can’t search for (mitochondrial or other) matches by ancestor.

However, I enter the various surnames, beginning with the closest first, to see if maybe the right person is already there. The further back in time, the less likely you’ll have an autosomal match from any ancestor.

After you view one of your matches’ trees and determine that they are NOT an appropriate tester for what you seek, be sure to make a note on that match so you don’t check over and over again. You can make notes at every vendor on your matches.

FamilyTreeDNA Projects

If you’re searching for a particular surname, especially a Y-DNA lineage, checking the surname Group Projects at FamilyTreeDNA is always a wonderful first step to see if someone has already tested.

You can check group projects for surnames here.

Unfortunately, due to generational surname changes, surname projects often aren’t relevant to mitochondrial DNA lineages, although there are some lineage projects. If your ancestor is connected to a particular group of people, like the Acadians, for example, you can search or browse that group. The Acadian project and some others have both mitochondrial DNA and Y-DNA pages.

The Group Project search results will show any project where the administrators have entered that surname as potentially of interest to that specific project, so always check that resource.

WikiTree

Next, I go to WikiTree. If someone enters their mitochondrial DNA information, WikiTree propagates it through the tree to the appropriate descendants and ancestors. I love this feature.

Let’s see what we find for Rachel Levina Hill.

Look here!!!

Tim Prince has entered his mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, which was automatically associated with Rachel. It’s my lucky day. She is haplogroup H2a2a1e.

I can click through to Tim and view his tree.

Sure enough, Tim’s ancestor is Bathshua Smith, the sister to my Abigail Smith, four generations upstream from Rachel Levina Hill.

How cool is this?!!!

If no one is listed for Rachel’s mitochondrial DNA, I can click on the Descendants link on any ancestor, then click on DNA Descendants.

Next, click on which type of DNA you’re looking for.

At this point, I’d suggest contacting the profile owner or checking your autosomal matches for people with these surnames—in this case, Wickwire or Chain. You can also view the entire descendants list, which I’ve truncated here for brevity.

Relatives at RootsTech

While you can check WikiTree anytime, you can only access Relatives at RootsTech for a short time, typically about a month before and after RootsTech  – which means right now. Signing up for free virtual attendance works just fine as your key to accessing Relatives at RootsTech.

I wrote about Relatives at RootsTech here. Once you’re set up, you can access your list of cousins attending RootsTech by:

  • Location
  • Ancestor
  • Family Line

By selecting “Ancestor,” I can see who is attending that descends from Rachel Hill, according to the FamilySearch tree. Scanning further down the list, I see her mother, Abigail “Nabby” Hall. Two people descend from Rachel, while 3 descend from Abigail.

By clicking on “Relationship,” you can see how you and that person are related. In this case, what I’m really interested in is how they descend from Rachel Lavina Hill.

Rachel contributed her mitochondrial DNA to her son, William, but he didn’t pass it on, so that mitochondrial DNA line stops right there. If it hadn’t stopped there, it would have stopped a few generations later with another male – Gladys’s son.

Any male in the line is a blocker for mitochondrial DNA, unless it’s a current generation tester who descends from all females.

Sometimes, when the line is interrupted by a male in the last couple of generations, it’s worth reaching out to that cousin to see if they know of anyone who descends appropriately. Ask if the last female in the line has daughters or sons who are still living and might be willing to test – or if their daughters had children and so forth.

Each Relatives at RootsTech selection shows a maximum of 300 people, but you can choose the applicable grandparent’s family line to see 300 people in that line. You’ll need to click through each person to see how they descend, but that’s fine because you have 300 opportunities for success!!

Check back, too, because more people register up to and even during RootsTech.

Create Those Lineage Spreadsheets

Now, we’re back to why creating those lineage spreadsheets is essential. I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember exactly how family members descend from each other beyond 3 or 4 generations.

I actually need a tester from my paternal grandmother’s line, so I’m focusing on that line for this next example.

When I look at the list of who is related to me through my paternal grandmother’s line, I want that spreadsheet readily available, so I know precisely which lineages I need to find cousins to test for both Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA.

I have a partial haplogroup for Ollie Bolton based on a very old HVR1 test. There is no DNA left to upgrade, and the tester is deceased, so I need to find someone else.

I’ve made a list of all of the women in that lineage. Unfortunately, it’s pretty short.

  1. Ollie Florence Bolton – (1874 born Hancock Co., TN, died 1955 in Chicago, married William George Estes)
  2. Margaret N. Claxton or Clarkson – (1851-1920 Hancock Co., TN, married Joseph Bolton)
  3. Elizabeth “Bettie Ann” Speaks – (1832 Lee County Va, died 1907 Hancock Co., TN, married Samuel Claxton/Clarkson)
  4. Ann McKee – (1804/5 Washington Co., VA, died 1840/1850 Lee Co., VA, married Charles Speak)
  5. Elizabeth (surname unknown) – (born about 1768, died 1839 Washington Co., VA, married Andrew McKee)

I’m brick-walled, so if I can obtain Ollie’s mitochondrial DNA, through matching, I may be able to identify Elizabeth, Ollie’s great-great-grandmother. This line is one of my most frustrating, and mitochondrial DNA testing and matching hold a lot of promise for giving Elizabeth a surname and parents.

I’ve already checked my matches and WikiTree, so I’m going to see if any of the “Family Line” Relatives at RootsTech descend through all females.

I have 300 opportunities to find a tester.

As more people sign up, the most distant cousins will roll off the list, so start at the bottom.

Cross your fingers for me!

DNA Testing Scholarships

If I find someone, the first thing I’ll ask is if they have taken any kind of DNA test. If so, where? Then, I’ll ask if they have taken a mitochondrial DNA test at FamilyTreeDNA and explain why that’s important and what it can potentially do for us.

If yes, I’m golden because the next question will be about their haplogroup, and I’ll invite them to join a project that I manage so I can view the results.

If the answer is no, but they’ve tested their autosomal DNA elsewhere, I’ll invite them to upload for free and join the project. You can also establish a private family project for this purpose, if you wish.

I tell them I have a DNA testing scholarship for someone who carries that DNA lineage. I explain that with the scholarship, the test is entirely free, including postage, and that they’re in complete control of their kit and results. All I ask is some level of access.

I always explain the results when they arrive. I’ve never had anyone object to this arrangement, and often we research collaboratively. I’ve met wonderful cousins this way.

Get Started!

Whose Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA do you need to find?

Make your lineage spreadsheet or chart, and take this opportunity to find a testing candidate and learn more about your ancestors! Not just one at a time, but entire lineages.

They are waiting for you!

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FamilyTreeDNA Summer Sale Ends Soon

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Rarely does FamilyTreeDNA put all of their products on sale at the same time, but this Summer Sale is a notable exception.

Not only are all new tests on sale, but so are upgrades, including mitochondrial and Y-DNA STR to Big Y-700 upgrades. So, if you’ve tested at the Y-DNA 37, 67, or 111 marker level, this is the perfect opportunity to discover more.

Plus, there are GREAT prices on bundles of multiple tests. If you aren’t sure which tests are beneficial for what, the article, 4 Kinds of DNA for Genetic Genealogy will help you sort things out.

If you’ve been considering a test or an upgrade for yourself or another family member, now’s a great time. I asked permission to upgrade a cousin’s Y-DNA just this morning, and he gladly agreed. I added a Family Finder test, too, because knowing who else in our study group he matches will help determine how closely people are related.

This sale ends in 5 days, August 31st at 1:59 am CDT, so don’t miss this opportunity.

Just the Facts, Please

Here’s the non-marketing “just the facts” list of regular and sale prices for comparison.

Are you seeing someone over the upcoming holiday weekend that would be a good testing candidate? What brick walls might be broken down?

Single Products
Product Regular Price Sale Price
Family Finder $79 $49
Autosomal Transfer Unlock  $19 $10
Mitochondrial mtFull Sequence  $159 $129
Y-37 $119 $99
Y-111 $249 $209
Big Y-700 $449 $399
Bundles
Bundle Regular Price Sale Price
Family Finder + mtFull Sequence  $238 $169
Family Finder + Y-37 $198 $139
Family Finder + Y-111 $328 $249
Family Finder + Big Y-700 $528 $439
mtFull Sequence + Y-37 $278 $219
mtFull Sequence + Y-111 $408 $329
mtFull Sequence + Big Y-700 $608 $499
Family Finder + mtFull Sequence + Y-37 $357 $259
Family Finder + mtFull Sequence + Y-111 $487 $369
Family Finder + mtFull Sequence + Big Y-700 $687 $507
Upgrades
Upgrade Regular Price Sale Price
Y-12 to Y-37 $79 $59
Y-12 to Y-67 $149 $139
Y-12 to Y-111 $199 $159
Y-12 to Big Y-700 $399 $339
Y-25 to Y-37 $49 $39
Y-25 to Y-67 $119 $109
Y-25 to Y-111 $189 $139
Y-25 to Big Y-700 $389 $339
Y-37 to Y-67 $89 $69
Y-37 to Y-111 $139 $119
Y-37 to Big Y-700 $339 $299
Y-67 to Y-111 $89 $79
Y-67 to Big Y-700 $279 $229
Y-111 to Big Y-700 $239 $189
Big Y-500 to Big Y-700 $209 $189
Mitochondrial mtDNA to mtFull Sequence $119 $79
Mitochondrial mtDNA+ to mtFull Sequence $119 $79

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Y-DNA Highways of History: Fleshing Out Your Ancestors Using Discover Case Studies – Webinar Free for 7 Days!!

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I’m so very pleased to announce with Legacy Family Tree Webinars, that we are offering a special midsummer surprise webinar – and it’s FREE through August 1st, here.

Thank you, Legacy Family Tree Webinars, for making this webinar free!

We are using FamilyTreeDNA’s free Discover tool to reveal our ancestors’ past and their path through history.

This webinar features fun ”how-to” case studies. Who doesn’t love a good story – especially ones that you can put to use in your own genealogy right away?

We begin with an overview.

  • What are reasonable testing goals for Y-DNA?
  • Why do we want to take Y-DNA tests anyway?
  • What can we discover when we test, and when we encourage our cousins to test?
  • Where and how do we find those cousins?

If you ladies are thinking, I WISH I had a Y chromosome to test, cheer up, because one of the topics I cover is how to find relevant family members, even distant members, who can test for your male ancestral lines.

History Revealed

Genealogists always want every piece of available information. Y-DNA testing does just that and reaches beyond the barrier of surnames. In fact, it reaches beyond the possibility of genealogical research with only one test.

There’s so much to learn.

Who were my ancestors, and where did they come from? How are they related to other people, including ancient burials and notable people who lived more recently?

I’m sharing several case studies from my own genealogy. Come join me on my journey.

  • I discovered that my ancestor is related to a burial along the old Roman Road in France. He lived there before the Romans arrived. What does that mean to me today, and how can I find out?
  • I’ll also share with you how I solved an adoption case within a generation with JUST Y-DNA, and then how I used autosomal DNA matches to augment and refine that information.
  • In another case, we learned something VERY interesting and quite unexpected, revealing either a secret or information that was never passed to contemporary family researchers. Y-DNA testing is the only way this would EVER have been revealed.
  • Another ancestor appears to have been a retired Roman soldier in England. How did I figure this out? I’ll show you.
  • My Jewish friend famously said “My ancestors are in my soul. I can’t get them out of my mind.” Can you relate? The Big Y-700 test proved that his ancestors settled in Spain and exactly when they migrated to Eastern Europe using a very unconventional approach that you can utilize too.
  • Another tester discovered that he and a famous lineage match. You’ll probably recognize this historical person and you might even be related yourself. Their ancestors are found in the baptismal records of the same church in England, but their common ancestor reaches back to the people buried beneath the Saxon tombstones outside.

How did we discover all of this???

Big Y-700 testing at FamilyTreeDNA, combined with the Discover tool, sprinkled from time to time with some old-fashioned genealogy.

Once you engage in Y-DNA testing, you’ll have fascinating success stories of your own to share too.

Collect the Full Set

There’s so much to be learned about our ancestors.

I “collect” Y-DNA haplogroups from testers in each of my ancestral lines to reveal their history that has been obscured by time – and to assure my recent genealogy is accurate.

Every one of these haplogroups on my family tree, such as R-ZS3700, looks like just letters and numbers, but they aren’t. They are the keys that easily unlock that ancestor’s paternal family story, previously hidden behind history’s misty curtains. Now, they’ve been revealed! You can do exactly the same thing!

All you need to do is enter your Y-DNA haplogroup into Discover or just click through directly from your results page at FamilyTreeDNA.

Which ancestors are waiting for you?

Please enjoy this webinar. Don’t forget it’s only free for a week, so check it out now.

There’s More

Take a look at the other webinars I’ve recorded for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. (Hint – there are more coming very soon!!)

You can always access this and any of more than 2200 webinars in the library by subscribing to Legacy Family Tree Webinars, here.

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You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

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The Big Y-700 Test Marries Science to Genealogy

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Recently, one of my long-time friends and project co-administrators asked me a simple question.

  • What do the FamilyTreeDNA Big Y-700 test and the Time Tree tell us when we have genealogy trees provided by testers?
  • What does the Discover Time Tree tell us that’s different, and how do we reconcile the Time Tree and genealogy?

Those are great questions.

Sometimes, I get so buried in the details of genetic genealogy that I neglect the obvious, so I’m writing this article for my co-admin and anyone else with the same questions.

Time Tree Versus Genealogy Question

Of course, as a genealogist, my first answer would be that we always need to be cautious about user-provided trees. Even when the genealogy is accurate, that’s no guarantee there wasn’t a biological disruption that caused the genetic line not to be the same as the surname line.

Almost every lineage has examples of people whose genealogy was “off” or misattributed paternity occurred someplace upstream, meaning that someone carries the surname but does not descend from that biological lineage.

However, relative to DNA projects, the Big Y-700 tests provide one very important feature that STR testing does not and cannot do.

The Big Y-700 test creates a genetic tree, in conjunction with other testers, which provides scientifically calculated dates when branches of the genetic tree were formed.

The genetic tree should align, at least closely, with testers’ genealogical trees.

In other words, if their genealogy is accurate, testers “should” fit in (or at least near) the appropriate places on the branches of the genetic tree.

Furthermore, for people trying to sort out their actual branch in the tree, the Big Y-700 test is MUCH MORE reliable than the earlier STR (short tandem repeat) tests that are prone to random and back mutations. At one time, STR tests were all that was available, but now,  SNPs have been added to our arsenal. SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) are extremely stable and reliable mutations.

I’m getting ready to record a new Y-DNA webinar, and I’m giving you a sneak peek of a couple of my slides here. I’ll publish an announcement when the webinar is available.

STRs Versus SNPs

Historic Y-DNA testing tested only a limited number of STR locations. That test reported the number of repeats at a specific genetic location on the Y chromosome. Today, the 37, 67, and 111 marker STR tests are still available to purchase.

What are the major differences between the two types of tests, and why would someone purchase one over the other?

If you purchase one of the STR tests, you purchase testing at a specific number of locations, such as 37, 67, and 111. The Big Y-700 test includes at least 700 STR locations, but the specificity of the Big Y-700 SNP testing replaces most of the STR test results in terms of lineage definition.

SNP mutations, when discovered in more than one man in a particular haplogroup lineage, are then named as haplogroups. That mutation is then found in each directly descended male in that line.

STR – 37, 67, 111 Big Y-700 (STRs & SNPs)
Tests A limited number of repeat STR markers – Big Y guarantees 700+ NGS scan targets ~ 25 million locations
Focus Comparatively short genealogy timeframe All-inclusive – recent genealogy plus older to ancient
Includes Can upgrade to Big Y-700 Includes STR tests, separate matching, Globetrekker, Discover, and more
Tree Genealogy, customer provided Genetic Tree – Group Time Tree coordinates with genealogy if provided
Tools STR tools STR tools plus SNP tools & robust Discover
Haplogroup Estimated based on STR values Confirmed to the most granular level possible – evergreen
Useful When Exclusion testing, less costly, entry-level Discover provides lineage, ancient DNA, TMRCA, and more
Matching STRs only STR plus Big Y – both can be useful
Trees Customer provided genealogy Time Tree, Group Time Tree, Block Tree, Classic Tree + 1 more soon

Put simply, the STR tests are now entry-level. Once you see what the Big Y-700 provides, you’ll absolutely want to upgrade to that test. Most of the time, if I know I’m testing someone from the correct line, I just purchase the Big Y-700 out the gate. If I’m not sure I’m testing the correct lineage, I’ll purchase the STR test first to make sure they match the correct lineage before upgrading to the Big Y-700.

Discover

The Discover tool was introduced to provide additional information to Big Y testers and others seeking haplogroup information. STR results can only predict a relatively high-level haplogroup, usually a few thousand years ago, while the Big Y-700 provides testers with an extremely granular haplogroup – usually decades to a few hundred years ago. Often, living men that span 2 or 3 descendant generations (grandfather, father, sons) discover that they have their own haplogroup branch on the tree of mankind!

However, if no one else from your line has tested in hundreds of years, Discover can only work with available information.

Let’s take a quick look at the Estes Group Time Tree.

Estes Project Group Time Trees

Group projects have Group Time Trees. You can view the Estes surname project, here. You can find a project for any surname by either googling “<surname> DNA Project” or scrolling to the VERY bottom of the FamilyTreeDNA main page.

If you’re signed into FamilyTreeDNA, you can also find projects in the top banner.

Once you’re on the project page, you’ll see an option for DNA Results (assuming the administrators have not made the project entirely private.)

Click on the DNA Results link and select Y-DNA.

Next, you’ll see “Group Time Tree.”

Group Time Tree Display

What appears next depends on how the project administrators have grouped the project participants.

I’ve grouped the Estes project by genealogical line, with the exception of a couple of people who carry the Estes surname but have experienced an adoption or other unknown parental event in their Estes lineage.

In some cases, there are simply two same-name lineages that were never from the same biological line. Unfortunately, occasionally they settle in the same place, making the genealogy difficult. Even worse, until Y-DNA testing came along, there was often no way to know they were two different families.

This situation is actually where the Big Y-700 test shines.

 

The Group Time Tree shows the genetic tree scientifically constructed from the SNP results of the Big Y-test results of the testers, at left. At right you’ll see the surnames of the testers along with their Earliest Known Ancestor (EKA) if they have entered that information.

Initially, you don’t even realize you’re actually looking at two types of information merged together. This display allows testers to see the genetic branching tree structure, at left, which is reflective of their actual genealogy, at right.

You can see that the birth year of Sylvester Estes, entered by a tester with haplogroup R-BY482, is 1622. Please note, there’s a typo. Sylvester was born in 1522, NOT 1622. This is a perfect example of what I meant by tree information sometimes being inaccurate and it’s very important when trying to correlate the genetic tree and the user-provided genealogy.

We discovered that R-BY482 (red profile above, at left) is an Estes “signature” haplogroup for the Estes line originating in Deal, England, with three other haplogroups that formed in descendant generations. We know this because every descendant from this line has this mutation.

R-BY490 was formed between Sylvester’s son Robert Estes, born about 1555, and his son, born about 1600, also named Sylvester. We know this because all of the descendants of Sylvester (born circa 1600) carry this mutation, but Robert’s son, Robert, born in 1603, does not.

The genealogy portion of the Group Time Tree, above, doesn’t reveal that information because testers either don’t know their genealogy that far back or perhaps listed an earlier known ancestor, such as Nicholas, born in 1495.

Click to enlarge

I created a spreadsheet tracking the Big Y-700 testers of the descendants of Nicholas Estes, along with their descendant haplogroups.

We know that Robert, born in 1555, carries R-BY490 because both of his sons, Abraham and Richard, inherited that mutation, seen with green arrows.

However, this calls into question the associated genealogy because if Robert, born in 1603, descended from Robert, born in 1555, he too would have the mutation R-BY490 since Robert’s other two sons do. Note that the user-provided birth year typo of 1622 which should be 1522 is a century off – enough to be within the genetic band haplogroup birth band – but impossible for the genealogy table.

There is one other possibility: kit 166011, the descendant of Robert born in 1603, could have taken the earlier Big Y-500 test and never upgraded to the more powerful Big Y-700. That’s too much detail for this article, but the discrepancy between the genetic tree and the genealogy tree alerts us that additional research is warranted. The genealogy submitted for tester 166011 confirms that, indeed, 1622 is a typo.

There are no other descendants of known sons of Nicholas or Sylvester born in 1522 to test, but perhaps another will surface one day.

You can see that the more testers in any particular line, the more granularity we can achieve.

The Genetic Tree

How close is the genetic tree to the genealogical tree that has been confirmed?

We know that Sylvester was born in 1522, and his father Nicholas in about 1496. The scientifically calculated creation date of R-BY482 is 1493, just 3 years before the birth of Nicholas. Based on this, there’s a good chance that this mutation occurred between Nicholas’s unknown father and him, or perhaps between Nicholas and Sylvester.

You can view the scientific details of any haplogroup in Discover.

Discover’s BY-482 scientific details page shows its creation date range.

Marriage

You can see that the scientifically created tree and the genealogy information are both important.

In fact, the combination of both allowed us to identify the correct branch of a Wilbur man who matches Estes men but doesn’t know where he fits in the tree.

His haplogroup placed him definitively on the more recent R-BY154784 branch, and his autosomal results then confirmed his specific path of descent because he matches descendants of three generations of Estes men’s wives, showing that his branch descends from Joseph Estes and his wife Ritty Lee, through son Chism, on down to our tester. In this case, autosomal DNA results provided a boost-assist to the genealogy, which helped identify the generation that the Y-DNA haplogroup R-BY154784 actually formed.

This also informs us that Joseph Estes, born in 1780, carried haplogroup R-BY154784 because both of his sons have it. If Joseph hadn’t had that mutation, then both of his sons couldn’t have inherited it.

Therefore, the mutation that formed haplogroup R-BY154784 had to occur between Moses, born in 1711, and John, born in 1732. We know that because Moses’s other son’s descendants do not have that haplogroup.

The more descendants of any ancestor that test, the more specific and accurate the descendant haplogroup formation dates will be.

The marriage of genetic trees and genealogy is powerful indeed.

More Information

For those seeking more information, 70 pages of my new book, The Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA – Y-DNA, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X-DNA is devoted to Y-DNA results.

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