I thought it might be interesting to look at other surnames in my tree and try to find likely relatives in other surname projects at ftDNA. There are also a few basic Y-DNA haplogroups for some of my matches at 23 and Me.
To recap what I have determined or postulate on my dad’s Kelley/Kelly side:
- Kelly (Irish): After testing to big Y700 at FtDNA, My newphew was assigned a new haplogroup branch, R-BY123821. My nephew’s closest matches have also tested further and beed reassigned to R-BY68219. (These matches and most if not all, my nephew’s matches seem to descend from David O’Kellia, and early immigrant to Massachusetts.) All are in the Irish Type III group on the L21 Descendant Tree, some members of which are thought to have descended from Brian Boru.
- Auen: An Auen match at 23 and Me was identified as having the R-L2 yDNA haplogroup. The Auens were from East Friesland in Germany.
- Brocksen: I recently found Brocksen relative at 23andMe. He was assigned the haplogroup: I-Z58. My great-grandmother, Marie Brocksen Reimers, emigrated from Schleswig-Holstein in Germany and descends from the famous German poet, Barthold Heinrich Brockes.
On my Grandpa Clifford’s side:
- Clifford (Norman English- Herefordshire-) also likely belongs to the basic haplogroup R-M269. It is the most common European haplogroup, most frequent in western Europe. It is thought to have arisen in Western Asia or Europe about 4,000- 10,000 years ago near the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution. New research questions the idea that it spread with expansion of agriculture. Current distribution may have been the result of major population movements occurring after the Neolithic agricultural transition. (See R1b Descendant Tree near the end of this page.)
- Irwin (Scotch-Irish) likely belonged to haplogroup R-FGC34569 which is also in R-M269. It is downstream of L555 which is clearly identified with the “Border Irwins” on the L21 Descendent Tree.
- Decker (Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Holstein) likely belonged to haplogroup R-DF98. This is also in R-M269, but in the U106 branch that is more frequent in Friesland. (See R1b Descendant Tree near the end of this page.)
- Holt (Germany) likely belonged to J-M172(J2)/J-PF5456. Although I have not traced this tree back, I have DNA matches who descend from a Hans Michael Holt (b. 30 Dec 1696 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, d. Orange, North Carolina, USA) It gets difficult to tease apart Virginia and North Carolina matches from Grandma’s Cornett side, but I thought this might be a likely ancestor…J-M172 is thought to have originated between the Caucasus Mountains. It is most common in Western Asia. “The PF5456 subclade is barely 2500 years old and would have emerged and propagated after the founding of Rome. Outside Italy, it is now found in such varied places as Portugal, Spain, France, Britain, Belgium, southern Germany [Baden-Württemberg is in southern Germany], Austria, Bulgaria, Tunisia or Lebanon, all regions colonized by the Romans.” Many Ashkenazi Jews also appear to belong to this subclade.
On Grandma Clifford’s Cornett side:
- Cornett/Cornutt (Southhampton?, England) likely belonged to I-FGC21683. Cornett family lore claims descent from the Danish King Cnut, King of Denmark, England and Norway– the North Sea Empire. Cnut won the throne of England in 1016 after centuries of Viking activity in northwestern Europe. Yet after the deaths of his heirs within a decade of his own, his legacy was largely lost. Since he had no legitimate living heirs, claim of descent from him is called into question. However, this haplogroup, mostly found in Norway does suggest descent from Vikings.
- Stamper (Cumberland, England) likely belonged to R-BY152352. This is downstream from R-M269/U106 which suggests descent from Germanic Frisians like the Deckers above. (See R1b Descendant Tree near the end of this page.)
- Baugher/Bager belonged to R1b-BY250 > Y15982 > BY20244 which is considered Northern Germanic. (This haplogroup lies somewhere in the gold oval in the R1b Descendent Tree below.) Our first Bager in the U.S. was born in Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany which is on the western border of Germany between Luxembourg and Alsace. Johannus Georgius Bager studied theology at University of Halle. He came from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1752 and helped to to establish many Lutheran churches in New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
- Higginbotham likely belonged to R-L2. It is also in the R-M269 group but is in the R-U152 group that appears mostly in SE Germany. “According to some family traditions, the family went from Germany to England at an early date and settled at Hayfield or Glossop, in Derbyshire.” “Early in the seventeenth century the cousins Otwell and John Higgenbotham settled in the Barbados, in the West Indies. The will of Otwell, dated 1649 and proved at London about 1651, mentions his cousin, Captain John Higginbotham, in the Barbados, and his children…”
