From Y-STR to Y-SNP

[dbeezley]

I have been admin of the Beasley YDNA Project since 2008. I take great pride in my work and enjoy discussing these matters with other whose eyes don't glaze over when I start talking about DNA. Nevertheless, I have only recently discovered this Forum. Well, that's embarrassing. Anyhow, here I am and I have a lot of questions about SNP testing and when I start to get into it, there isn't enough room in a post.

Here's the general scoop. Beasley is of Old English origin, coming out with about 85,000 at forebears.io. About 70 in the US with the rest in England, Australia, New Zealand, and a few in Canada. The primary spelling and three variants (Beesley, Beazley, and Beezley in order of prevalence) account for all but about 2% of the Beasley population. There is no indication of origin other than England no discernable drift into the surname by evovled spelling or pronunciation. It appears that YDNA variances are likely from NPE. Several of the NPE origins have been discovered.

There are 10 identified Haplotypes based on at least two closely matching Y-67 tests. Most tests within a Haplotype are GD1 or GD2 from the modal profile in the given Haplotype. We have 97 tests and fewer than 20% are unmatched by Y-STR. We do have some non-Beasleys. For some of them we have identified the NPE connection. I use color names for the Haplotypes which makes charting stand out well. The largest and oldest Haplotype is called Yellow Group. Here is a chart showing the relationships as we now know or postulate.

The matter at hand is to move forward, we are beginning to work with SNP testing. The Blue Group has more than 2 dozen Y-STR tests and, now, 4 Big Y with 4 more on order. Here is where the questions get more complicated to ask, but I need to stop here for this post. Anyone up for helping me with more speciic quesitons? See next post.

[dbeezley]

Blue Group, of which I'm a member has an unknown EKA born perhaps about 1650 in England. The next generation consists of two men, probably brothers who were born in the 1680 and lived in the early 1700s in Baltimore, MD. Descendants of one of them (William) went from MD to Northern Viginia to Southern Ohio and from there across the Northern and Western US to the Pacifc Ocean. We call that the Northern Branch. The other one, John, moved to Craven County, NC and his descendants remained in the Southeastern US. We call this "the Southern Branch". We have 3 Y-STR tests of the Northern branch and 2 Big Y. The Northern branch is well documented from the 1770s to the present. John, of the Southern Branch had six sons. Two of them are well documented to the present and we have 8 Y-STR tests, four from each of the two sons. We have 2 Big Y tests on order, one from each of these two sons. There are 5 other lineages with EKAs in the mid to late 1700s and one with an EKA in the early 1800s. All of them began in the SE US states, mostly North Carolina and South Carolina, so they are thought to be descended from John of MD to Craven Co NC, but who knows for sure. Of these six lineages we have two tests on board and two more on order.

The first thing we would like, is a SNP that would distinguish the Northern and Southern branches. The latest SNP we have found is R-Y82704. This is from me and another Northern Branch test. The other known tests have SNPs that are 1-2 steps earlier. I'm attaching these four tests and how they line up. My first question. Is the absence of the most recent SNP the same as a negative? And if NOT, is it possible that that SNP will yet appear? Another question... once test results come in, do new SNPS keep showing up over time? Is it likely among these Blue Group Beasleys that the new SNPs will be found? Another question... what can be reliably said about the time of the SNP? Since we know that all lineages were present after 1700, do we know if any of the SNPs we have found are determinative in that time frame? Another question? Other than the four Big Y tests we have on order, is it of any use to get further Big Y tests where documentation is clear? Of the two oldest lineages and the six other lineage we hope to connect we will soon have results from all that three of the latest lineages. If we get one Big Y test from each of those three, will we have all that can be useful unless more lineages show up?

[dbeezley]

And, that's not all. The next project is the Yellow Group. We have four Yellow Group lineages originating in England. One where the tested descendant lives in England, one where the EKA moved to Nova Scotia where the tested descendant resides, one where the EKA was born in England in about 1650 and settled in Virginia as a young man and one with a history in England and whose descendants migrated to the US in the mid-19th century as Mormons to Utah. My calculation is that the common ancestor for ALL of these lineages could be no later than about 1500 AD

We have 17 Y-STR tests, 14 of them Beasleys of all four spellings. Aside from the lineages in England, Nova Scotia, and Utah, we have 9 separate lineage probably all descended from the one who was born in England and settled in Virginia in the late 17th century. A lot of work to be done here. The only Big Y test we have so far is R-BY60943 which appears to be quite old. Any suggestions of where to start? Or questions that might offer some clarification?

OK, That's it for now... Go...