BIG Y: My First Genealogically Relevant Find.

The first thing I learned from the BIG Y test is that the Virginia Group 1 Dowells in our surname DNA project can finally be moved out of the logjam at SNP M222. What? You didn't know that they were jammed up there? Read on.

One of the first things we learned in 2004 in our surname project was that my Maryland Dowells were not recently related to the Virginia Group 1 Dowells. Previously we had assumed that we were closely related. We had our own variation of the multiple brothers myth. I'm sure you have heard a similar tale about one or more of the lines you have researched. 

It goes something like this. Two (or four) brothers came across the Atlantic. When they disembarked one went north and one went west. Which ever branch you descend from never heard from the other branch again. Of course there is enough truth in some such stories that they need to be investigated. However, most of them have remained impossible to verify. One of the Dowell versions I heard decades ago was that four brothers came over from Wales. I still don't know exactly where my Dowells came from before they revealed themselves in Maryland.

Prior to 2004 the working hypothesis among Dowell surname researchers was a variation of the migration myth that claimed upon arrival in Hampton Roads one Dowell turned right and sailed up the Chesapeake Bay and the other continued up the James River. Waterways were the interstate highways of the time so this story had a ring of truth. Based on this story many of us assumed that if either group would be able to extend its paper trail just one or two generations further back, we would find our common male Dowell ancestor.

Then came yDNA testing. It soon became apparent that the two groups of Dowells shared the surname only by historical coincidence. Biologically, we were no more related that we would be if we each had different surnames. Our closest shared male ancestor lived at least three thousand years ago -- long before surnames were adopted. These two groups remain the two biggest clusters in our project. 

SNPs (pronounced "snips") are permanent changes in a person's DNA that are passed down to all descendants. yDNA SNPs are permanent changes that are passed down by fathers to all their sons. As we have learned more about yDNA SNPs, we been able to sketch in more and more of our ancient ancestral lines. The BIG Y test has offered many of us an unprecedented chance to explore our SNP history in much more detail than had previously been available. This is not a test for novices. Even most of us who have considerable experience with genetic genealogy are overwhelmed by the results that are coming back.

Both groups of Dowells descend from a large haplogroup (ancient clan). Membership in this clan is distinguished by a mutation located at position called R-L21. The heat map below is from my results from the Geno 2.0 test at National Geographic which focuses on deep ancestry. The more intense the yellow and finally the red become, the larger percentage of the population carry this SNP. You will note that men who carry it are very prevalent along the Atlantic Coast of Europe and have particularly heavy concentrations in the British Isles.

The chart below shows what we thought we knew about where the two groups of Dowells had traveled down the SNP highway of history before BIG Y. The top of the chart has been truncated for simplicity. It begins as our ancestors migrated out of Central and Western Asia. You will note that L21 is represented by a green box in the upper middle of the chart below. We are very fortunate that a group of dedicated and knowledgeable citizen scientists also belong to the group and have done an immense amount of work to sort all this out. You may click on the chart to open a larger version in your browser. 
   

Before BIG Y we knew that the SNP flow of the Maryland Dowells had continued down to DF13 -- the green box just below L21 above. Then we could find no more recent SNPs. On the other hand the Virginia Group 1 Dowells could be traced through more recent SNP mutations down the left side of the chart to SNP M222. 

This chart was recently expanded to better represent newly discovered SNPs but still does not incorporate the bounty of BIG Y. Note that M222 is now shown among the blue boxes in the center right of the chart below:

The lower right part of this chart (area enclosed by the red rectangle) is blown up below for easier viewing:

Can you trace the path of SNPs from M222 in the fifth row of the family tree down to DF97 in the lower right corner of this last chart? It is sort of a connect-the-dots exercise for genetic genealogists. The Virginia Group 1 Dowells followed that genetic trail. That is what I have learned so far from BIG Y. 

How do I know that? The one Virginia Dowell who participated in BIG Y tested positive for SNPs DF85 and DF97. That means he also would be positive for the intervening SNPs along the connecting line from M222 down to DF97.

I hope we will be able to learn more from the massive amount of raw data that came back from this one test, but this is quite an advancement of our knowledge of the migration of the paternal ancestors of the Virginia Group 1 Dowells. Now we have to put it all into historical context -- a daunting task.

Priscilla Dowell's Family--Part 1

Priscilla Dowell was part of the Maryland Dowell family who migrated to North Carolina right after the Revolutionary War. Priscilla’s grandfather, Peter Dowell, Sr., and five sons settled in what was then Rowan County in the 1780s. Prior to 1770 Rowan County included what today are 20 counties in the northwest part of North Carolina as well as a big part of present day Tennessee. Wilkes County was formed in 1777.

Priscilla’s great-grandfather, Philip Dowell, “appeared” in Southern Maryland in the 1690s as a fully functioning tobacco planter. Although several researchers who have published pedigree charts of the Internet claim to know who Philip’s father is, they don’t agree and I have yet to see proof that support any of their claims. In 1702 Philip married Mary Tydings, the daughter of Richard Tydings—a former indentured servant who had come to Maryland from England in the middle of the 17^th century and subsequently had acquired substantial land holdings. Although Philip, or his father, is assumed to have come from the British Isles, the exact origin of the Maryland Dowells is unknown.

Through analysis of the Y-chromosomes of living descendants of three of Philip’s sons, we have established exactly what the results of a 111 marker DNA test would be if Philip himself could be tested. These results have established that the Dowells who appeared in Virginia in the first half of the 18^th century have not shared a common paternal ancestor with the Maryland Dowells for at least 3,000 years—long before surnames were introduced in Europe. Neither of these groups have DNA results that come close to matching the handful of Dowells currently living on the other side of the Atlantic who have been tested to date.

Priscilla’s grandparents, Peter, Sr., and Elizabeth (Owens) Dowell moved from Southern Maryland to Frederick County Maryland about a decade before the Revolutionary War. That area is now part of present day Montgomery County in the western suburbs of the District of Columbia. Her father, Philip, Sr., and four of his brothers played various roles in the Revolution. Whether it was because of war related travel to Carolina or the land bounties offered to veterans after the war, Peter, Sr., and five of his sons moved to Rowan County in the 1780s. My 4^th great-grandfather Richard Dowell was one of these sons and Priscilla’s father Philip was another.

What little we know about Priscilla’s early life suggests she was probably the youngest of nine or ten children of Philip, Sr., and Priscilla “Nacky” (Owen) Dowell. Her age in 1860 according to the census was 70 and her birthplace was Maryland. One of these is probably incorrect. Priscilla’s family was probably getting established in North Carolina by 1790. Clearly many of her older siblings were born in Maryland but it is unlikely that Priscilla was born there. As I reported in an earlier post, Priscilla could not sign her own name to her 1859 will. Was this because she was illiterate? Were the Philip Dowell’s daughters not given even the most basic education although they came from a family of property? One cousin of mine has speculated about whether Priscilla could have suffered a stroke or other infirmity that prevented her from signing her name more elaborately that simply making “her mark”.

I have yet to discover additional circumstances of Priscilla’s life prior to 1859 with the exception of a bequest made to her by her father in his 1823 will. In that document Philip gave her “a Negro Girl by the name of Juda, and the Heirs of her Body.” Other enslaved persons transferred by this will to various of Priscilla’s immediate family carried the names that appear to be Siney, Lydia, Ginny, Catey, Timssey, Jacob, Joe, David, Richman, and Henderson. Is it mere coincidence that some of these names reappear a generation later?

To be continued.