To date, we have received yDNA test results from eleven volunteers from seven different Adamthwaite lines:

 

                               You can view the latest yDNA results here

 

 

yDNA results have confirmed that our two testers from the GREY line are certainly very closely related, and we have a further match to the GREY line results who does NOT carry the surname ADAMTHWAITE - research is ongoing to discover if there could be a genetic connection; and the two OLIVE line testers are also an excellent match to each other (confirming the family trees which we had produced from written evidence).  

 

 

Unexpected DNA  results

Back in 2013 we received a second set of results from the BLUE line, which has thrown up something of a puzzle.  The first set of results received (from a tester descended from Alexander Adamthwaite and Clara Courtney, fell into the comparatively rare E1b1b1 haplogroup and confirmed that this line shares a common ancestor with that of the YELLOW line.  This is something that we had suspected for some time.  However, the second set of results, from a descendant of John William Adamthwaite and Esther Fletcher did NOT match either the first BLUE line tester, nor any other Adamthwaite line tested to date.  I believe I have now resolved this puzzle (see Newsletter mentioned below), but if there is a third volunteer out there from the BLUE line who would be willing to take a DNA test, please get in touch.

 

The results received in 2013 from a second (supposed) OLIVE line tester also caused a re-examination of the OLIVE tree because the results matched NOT the OLIVE line results we already held, but the BLUE and YELLOW lines!  Whilst this is excellent news, it has meant a rethink about the OLIVE line structure ... resulting in the need to split the line into two separate lines.  There is more about this in the October 2013 Newsletter, along with a detailed explanation of WHY the BLUE and OLIVE pairs of results do not match! We have subsequently received another set of results from a known OLIVE line tester, which do match the original R Haplogroup results, demonstrating that this part of the line is also correctly reconstructed.

 

After a very long search, we have now been able to test a male descendant of the ORANGE line.  We had thought that this line was a branch of the very old VIOLET line (which has its roots in the Sedbergh Adamthwaites).  But the ORANGE line results are not closely matched  at all - so we now need to re-examine our early charts once again!

 

Evidence from the DNA results received to date now suggests that there are at least five different genetic origins for the seven Adamthwaite lines we have been able to test.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We still need more volunteers from nearly every Adamthwaite line!

read the How you can help page to discover if you qualify for one of our FREE or subsidised test kits.

 

Our VIOLET, OLIVE and GREY volunteers' results show them to belong to the R-M269 haplogroup which is most common around the north-western fringes of Britain and Ireland. The YELLOW, BLUE and TEAL line volunteers' results (which are a good match, indicating that they definitely share a common male line ancestor who lived between 12 and 24 generations ago) belong to the E-M35 haplogroup which is a much rarer group in the UK, but does occur in Cumberland and Westmorland.

 

 

Migration patterns

You can view migration maps showing how each of these haplogroups spread from modern Man's first origins in East Africa 60,000 years ago, and see detailed results of all tests as soon as they arrive on the Adamthwaite Project page of the Family Tree DNA website.

 

If you are interested in learning more about the main DNA sources for each of the counties in the British Isles, ISOGG* have produced this chart.  The chart covers the period from the time of the Early Britons (before 43AD) right through to 1290.  You will see that Westmorland and Cumberland were the only counties to hold out against the Norman invasions for a century after the Battle of Hastings.

 

We have submitted our results to ySearch.org, in the hope that we find some close matches with other families.  And of course, we are still very anxious to find volunteers from other branches of the lines already tested, and more especially from the TURQUOISE, Lt GREEN and ORANGE lines, to see if they link up in any way.

 

* ISOGG is the International Society for Genetic Genealogy - I have  joined the Society, in the hope that I will learn more about this subject, but if any member of the Adamthwaite Mailing List would be interested in volunteering to assist me in analysing our results I should be most grateful!