B1-B5 Sussex Line

Introduction:

This line is the oldest genetically identified group in the project.  The most recent haplogroup where these Burgess families intersect would be R-BY61048 which spans a vast expanse of time from about 650 CE to 1300 CE. The most recent common ancestor (MRCA) to these family lines would have been born on the later estimate for them to carry the same surname. Surnames only came into use in the late 13th century. If the haplogroup arose earlier we would expect different surnames associated to it. 

Three of the families in this group trace their ancestry to towns in Sussex that are relatively close to the town of Burgess Hill. Burgess Hill in Sussex corresponds to the ancient parishes of Keymer and Clayton which were Saxon settlements appearing in the Domesday. Local historians attribute the name of the town to John Burgeys who is mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of 1296, 1327 and 1332. It will be interesting to see if any Burgesses from the old parishes in other counties in England will match.

The descendants of John Burgess of Sussex Co., England,  Joseph Burgess of Bergen Co., New Jersey, and those of John Burgess of New Haven Co., Connecticut have a common ancestor that was most probably one of the first men to carry the Burgess surname. The geographic origin of this group is in Sussex, England and given the age of the haplogroup and the corresponding presence of a John Burgess in Burgess Hill within that timeframe, it is reasonable to conclude that this is the ancestral home. Additionally one descendant matching this group descended from John Baulkham Pettit also traces back to Sussex, but in the town of Falmer which is only 11 miles from Burgess Hill.

Haplogroups:

The head icons in the image above represent the MRCAs. The blue icons are estimated by Family Tree DNA based on genetic statistics only. The orange icons were adjusted to reflect genealogical data gathered in this project.  These adjusted values are used to determine future testing objectives.

As an example, Family Tree DNA has the MRCA for haplogroup  R-BY61048 estimated between 652 CE and 1296 CE represented by the bounded dashed lines in blue. The blue head icon is placed at 1016 CE as the most likely estimate. As stated above, we know from records that a John Burgeys living in the late 13th century is a genetic match to 3 groups in our Sussex Burgesses. That suggests a later date and so we placed an orange head icon in the late 1200s.

Additional subdivisions of this haplogroup will all be related to this Burgess line and many are expected to have Burgess as a surname. There are currently 2 child haplogroups R-BY122170 and R-M8407. The first haplogroup is broken down into several sub-haplogroups that include the family in Sussex,  and the family from Bergen County New Jersey. The second haplogroup R-M8407 has only been found in the USA.

The large American haplogroup R-M8407 has a MRCA James Burgess born in 1715 CE. Three of the four testers have done a Big Y. A large 410 year gap exists between the MRCAs of R-M8407 and its parent haplogroup R-B61048.  The potential exists to break the parent haplogroup into sub-groupings but we would need a test subject descended from a parent of James.

The haplogroup  R-BY122170 having arisen between 1300 CE and 1550 CE contains the Sussex family and the Bergen County family. They are linked in an as yet unknown manner and before colonial times.  All the descendants of haplogroup R-BY79427 have a MRCA born in 1717 CE. All are documented cousins of the Sussex line. R-BY126024  dated to around 1800 CE is a sub-branch at the 3-5th cousin level. The newly discovered R-FT180237 is shared by 1st cousins. Interestingly even these first cousins are not exact matches with BigY, demonstrating the high precision of this test.

This is what makes this line the most compelling as it has matches that are not only extremely old but also matches at intermediate points in time, 1900s, 1800s, 1700s, 1300s. When looking at the MRCAs We have results that break down the last 3 centuries of the 7 centuries for the English line. However, we have over a 400 year gap between the large American haplogroup R-M8407 (MRCA 1717 CE) and its parent R-BY61048 (MRCA 1290 CE).

Project members: 9
Terminal Haplogroups: R-BY126024, R-BY79427, R-BY122170, R-M8407, R-FT180237

Ancestral Families:

Research objectives:

1. Determine how D. A. Petit links up to the tree. For now he is placed under haplogroup R-BY122170 but it is unclear if he is closer to G.B. Burgess of the New Jersey line or to the UK line of Sussex. He is equidistant from both on STR test results. A Big Y test would answer this question and potentially result in new sub-haplogroups. Further testing of this old Petit line in Sussex would be important for both Burgess and Petit researchers.

2. The R-M8407 haplogroup and its parent R-BY61048 contain a large number of variants. Additional Big Y testing of American branches should yield further divisions with this wide block. The R-M8407 haplogroup MRCA is James Burgess (1716) who married  Sarah Tyler Dunk. The ideal target for further testing would be descendants of his brothers, Comfort, John Jr. and/or Benjamin. 

3. Discover new branches of the Sussex line of Petworth to test.

4. Test Additional Burgess families in Sussex.

5. Test additional Petit lines in Sussex.

6. Additional testing of the New Jersey  line through distant cousins of this family.