William Gowen From Grassy Creek, Granville Co., VA is Genetically Related to William Gowin of Bedford Co., VA [Ancestral Scotland]

Recently, two descendants of William Gowen who was born about 1710 and married Sarah Allen, received their y-chromosome (Y-DNA) results from the BIGY-700 test at Family Tree DNA. These results confirmed that William Gowen who bought land on Grassy Creek, Greenville Co., VA is related to William Gowin of Bedford Co., VA as either a cousin or an Uncle.

His BigY-700 results are I-FTB27145 and are parallel with I-FTA52914. They are both downstream of I-FTA52805. 

For generations, family historians relied solely on paper records like wills, deeds, and tax lists. These records inevitably hit a "brick wall" in the early colonial era. By utilizing the BigY700 test, your family has unlocked an unbroken, mathematical record of your paternal lineage stretching back 1,000 years.

 

What is a BigY700 Test?

The BigY700 is the gold-standard Y-chromosome DNA test provided exclusively by FamilyTreeDNA.

 

• The Y-Chromosome: This chromosome is passed down strictly from father to son, unchanged, generation after generation. Only biological males carry it, making it a perfect genetic tracer for a surname lineage.
• The "700" STR Markers: The test scans 700 specific locations on the Y-chromosome. These markers mutate relatively quickly over generations, allowing geneticists to calculate a precise TMRCA(Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor).
• SNP Scanning: Beyond the 700 markers, the BigY scans millions of individual letters of DNA code to find SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). SNPs are rare, permanent genetic mutations that act like historical timestamps. Once a SNP occurs in a father, it is passed to all his male descendants forever, creating a new, distinct "branch" on the global human family tree (such as your lineage's identifier, I-FT342728 that dates back to 1050 CE).

 The mutations your family carries tell a precise story of adaptation, survival, and reinvention: transitioning from Norse-Gaelic maritime elites, to high-status medieval armorers (Gobha), to political allies using a clan alias on the Isle of Lismore, before scattering across the globe into America, Australia, and Canada.

It is currently believed that William Gowen of Grassy Creek is the son of the immigrant or the immigrant from Scotland who may have traveled to colonial America with the father of William Gowin of Bedford Co., VA. These two men match three MacDonald/McDonald men and one SMITH who descend from an area of Oban/Lismore/Argyll Scotland and share a common ancestor at 1350 CE. 

This line of McDonald/Gowen/Gowin/Smith goes back to a shared ancestor in 1250 CE who was still in Argyll Scotland on the isle of Morvern. Along with that individual, the line goes back to a man whose ancestors were on the isle of Lewis. All of these results are part of the BigY-700 test results. 

What this also means is that it's genetically impossible for these men to be anything other than Scottish and that any connection to other families who carry this name are factually incorrect and should be thrown out.