Y-DNA Matches on 37 and 67 Markers

I was recently notified by Family Tree DNA that I have a Y-DNA 37-marker match with only 1 mutation. His surname is Ralston and it has been shared with me that this family descends from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland.

Since we match with only 1 mutation, there is a 99% likelihood that we share a common ancestor within the last 12-14 generations, if not earlier. The other person I share 37-markers with at 1 mutation is my 2nd cousin! The Ralston’s of Renfrewshire are noted in Burke’s Genealogical & Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, Volume 2:

“This very ancient family is descended from the MacDuffs, Thanes, or Earls of Fife (rendered illustrious by tradition as having slain MacBeth, and restored the rightful sovereign to the throne of Scotland); one of whom, having had a son named Ralph, who obtained a grant of land in Renfrewshire, he called them after himself, (as was common in those days), Ralphstoune, and this, softened in time to Ralston, became the family name.” This family are named in charters as early as 1272 and 1346.

Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland is located in Western Scotland, only 7 miles from Glasgow, and it’s police force is located in Strathclyde.

In the book "Saxons, Vikings, and Celts" from the best-selling author of The Seven Daughters of Eve, an illuminating guide to the genetic history of the British Isles, one of the world's leading geneticists, Bryan Sykes has helped thousands find their ancestry in the British Isles. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts, which resulted from a systematic ten-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, traces the true genetic makeup of the British Isles and its descendants, taking readers from the Pontnewydd cave in North Wales to the resting place of "The Red Lady" of Paviland and the tomb of King Arthur. Our family Y-DNA results matched 100% with some of these 10,000 volunteers, specifically from those who were residing at the time in the areas of Argyll, Strathclyde, Tayside, Fife, the Hebrides (islands off the coast), and the Border region , although they provided less markers. Also, we have a letter dated about 100 years ago from distant cousins stating that the Gowin side of the family was from Glasgow Scotland.

The current Y-DNA 37-marker results along with the information taken by Bryan Sykes does help provide a bit more clarity on our family origin. It is still uncertain as to when the immigrant arrived within the colonies or who that may have been. Hopefully a breakthrough will occur soon to shed further light on who that may have been.

Autosomal DNA

For anyone that takes a journey through ancestry, you’ll begin to learn things about your family history that makes you want to know more about who they were. This goes far deeper in some cases to questions like what nationality were they, what was their country of origin, and are any of them Native American or another origin. In the early colonial period, the number of women willing to live in the new frontier was very small and the choices for men to choose a spouse were therefore limited. This left many men to choose women that were non-European such as free women of African descent, Native Americans, etc. In our family surnames such as Phelps, Pollard, Conner, McDaniel, etc. provide some clues toward English, Irish, and Scottish surnames but little toward whether they were persons of color that took those surnames.

Although DNA research has been around for some time, using it with genealogy tended to only provide a portion of your family background. For instance, a male son inherits Y-DNA chromosomes from his father and MtDNA chromosomes from his mother. A daughter only receives her mother’s MtDNA and does not receive her father’s Y-DNA. For me that meant that I could learn much about my fathers father, his father’s father, his fathers father, etc. through Y-DNA and the same for my mothers mother, mothers mother, etc. through the MtDNA. However, what it didn’t provide me was all of the DNA carried within me from everyone before me and what their make up was – until today. For instance, a woman marries a European male in your line and her 3rd Great-Grandfather was of African or Native American descent, her mother of European descent. This bi-racial or possibly tri-racial woman and her European husband have children, what would the Y-DNA or MtDNA tell us? The Y-DNA would be of the European father and the MtDNA would be of the mothers mother who was also European. Therefore, you would not receive information on the 3rd Great-Grandfather of the woman and that would remain unknown.

Until now, DNA genealogy tests could only tell you about a small part of your family tree, because they only used the Y chromosome (Y-DNA) and mitochondria (MtDNA). By including autosomal DNA, new products such as “Relative Finder” from laboratories (23andMe and Family Tree DNA) can trace any ancestor, no matter where they are in your family tree!

Your DNA is comprised of 23 pairs of chromosomes - 22 of which are your autosomal chromosomes, and 1 pair of which is your sex chromosomes. Laboratories such as 23andMe now can read half a million locations in your autosomal DNA, giving you the most comprehensive, detailed picture of your ancestry that is commercially available. This means that this new tool provides you with more accurate, reliable data about your genetic similarity to populations across the globe. If you're African-American, they can tell you approximately how many African and European ancestors are in your family tree. If you're of European descent, they can pinpoint what populations your DNA is most similar to. Using a technique called Ancestry Painting, they can determine whether you have any Native American ancestors within the past five generations.

I am a direct and documented (verified) male descendant on my paternal side to William Gowin and Annester ? Gowin (Goin/Going/Gowan/Gowen, etc.), through their son Joseph Gowin and his wife Judith Pollard. My Family Tree DNA results are extensive on my paternal side and are considered rare and very young in terms of Y-DNA. This Y-DNA subclade is indigenous to the British Isles and most significantly Scotland for the past 3,000 years.

The autosomal DNA results stated that my complete ancestral family origin is 100% Northern European (this is an expansive area including the British Isles, Western Russia, France, and the Orkney Islands north of mainland Scotland). This is certainly consistent to what I understood of my paternal side and along with that, my maternal side is of English and French origin according to written and verbal records. The Autosomal DNA results also stated that I am 0% Native American, 0% Asian, and 0% African. This meant that both my mother and fathers large families geographic/ethnic ancestry was identified.

Just so you understand how test results vary, a self-identified African American male in the database had results of 64% Europe, 33% Africa, and 4% Asia which meant that more than likely one of his parents were European due to one genome being fully European.

So, what this also tells us is the origin of Judith Pollard, Anester ?, Susan Elizabeth McDaniel, etc. ancestry because I carry their genomes and the results were conclusive of one geographic region.

This is an exciting time for science and genealogical research. New studies and information will continue to expand our horizons and will hopefully allow us to enhance existing written records and fill in the many gaps that currently exist due to the disasters (fires, war, etc.) of the period which destroyed some of the records.

Great Wagon Road

Most of the Scots and Irish entered the colonies through the port of Philadelphia between 1717 - 1775 and from there settled in those Pennsylvania counties lying west of that city, Lancaster County having one of the largest populations. From Pennsylvania, many of the immigrants took the "Great Wagon Road" south into the great Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (see map).

After the 1707 Union of the Parliaments, trade between Scotland and America dramatically increased. Merchants began to take advantage of the huge opportunities available in the New World, especially in the tobacco trade. Emigration by this group was mostly to Virginia where the tobacco trade was strongest.

The Scottish emigrants of the 18th Century were an educated group due to the Scottish Reformation, which had stressed the need for education, allowing every Scot the ability to read the bible.

Scottish emigration to America came in two streams—one direct from the motherland and the other through the province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. Throughout their residence in Ireland the Scots settlers preserved their distinctive Scottish characteristics, and generally described themselves as "the Scottish nation in the north of Ireland."

They, of course, like the early pioneers in this country, experienced certain changes through the influence of their new surroundings, but, as one writer has remarked, they "remained as distinct from the native population as if they had never crossed the Channel. They were among the Irish but not of them." Their sons, too, when they attended the classes in the University of Glasgow, signed the matriculation register as "A Scot of Ireland." They did not intermarry with the native Irish, though they did intermarry to some extent with the English Puritans and with the French Huguenots. (These Huguenots were colonies driven out of France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and induced to settle in the north of Ireland by William III. To this people Ireland is indebted for its lace industry, which they introduced into that country.)

William Gooch, the Royal Governor of Virginia from 1728-1749, had encouraged them to settle in this valley hoping that they would make a valuable buffer between the Indian Tribes who lived west of the Allegheny Mountains and the English planters who resided in the Virginia Tidewater region.

The term "Scotch-Irish" was applied to a group of these early settlers to distinguish them from the Irish that had already settled in this area. This term was not particularly appreciated by the Ulster Scots who immigrated from Northern Ireland, or for the Scots that immigrated from Scotland and happened to be lumped into this category through association. It was not a term of endearment when the English in the colonies established it.

Initially, the Scotch-Irish immigrants were not particularly admired by the other Virginia colonists. The great Virginia planter and man of letters, William Byrd II, compared this Scotch-Irish immigration as being like unto the fourth century invasion of the Goths and Vandals into the Roman Empire! Back in Britain, Edmund Burke, the noted Protestant Irish political philosopher and essayist, wrote in 1757 that: "The number of white people in Virginia is between sixty and seventy thousand; and they are growing every day more numerous, by the migration of the Irish, who not succeeding so well in Pennsylvania as the more frugal and industrious Germans, sell their lands in that province to the latter, and take up new ground in the remote counties in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. These are chiefly Presbyterians from the Northern part of Ireland, who in America are generally called Scotch-Irish."

The Scots and Irish preferred to live near the mountains in rugged country that was primarily occupied by the Native Americans. Most of the time, fatal battles broke out between the Indians and the colonists where homes and property were burnt to the ground. This constant fighting didn't deter these early pioneers. For the most part, they were content with being able to practice their religion and live their lives as far away as they could from the English crown and rule. Religious freedom played a major part in their migration not only from their country of origin, but also within the American colonies.

Many of them also headed west by using the rugged wilderness trail established by Daniel Boone or even further south into North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They also assimilated with French-Huguenots and Germans who were also seeking religious freedom.

One of the families that came to America from Ireland was William Irvine, b.1690 in Scotland (Aberdeen?) and married Annie Craig in Larne, Ulster, Ireland. Mr. Irvine settled in Bedford County, VA around 1725 and sent for his two sons, Christopher and David, in 1729. Christopher traveled on to Georgia, while David settled in Madison County, KY. On August 29, 1754, the following was recorded in Lunenburg/Bedford County VA tax:

To Wm Irvine, Assignee of Wm Goings, August 29, 1754, Zach’s Isbel, 100(lbs. tobacco)

We believe this is OUR William Gowin/Goin and the same of Lunenburg/Bedford County that was listed as a tithable of Wm. Callaway in 1752 as recorded by John Phelps. John Phelps granddaughter was Judith Pollard, wife of Joseph Gowin, son of William Gowin.