Project Newsletter #4
20 November 2004
Dear Burgess Cousins,
We've now received a few more test results for the Burgess Surname DNA Project, including one for the Thomas Burgess line of Sandwich, Mass., representing the oldest and largest group of Burgess descendants in North America. Alas, these numbers don't match anyone else's, at least not yet.
We do have quite a few test results due by the end of November, and one in the first week of December, so I'll wait until then to post any public report on the three Burgess genealogy newsgroups, and to update my website (www.millefleurs.tv) with the new data. But I thought you might like to see the actual numbers for the existing 12-marker tests, broken out by the ancestral families covered in the project. The general rule of thumb is that you must match at least 10 of 12 of the numbers in these basic tests to indicate a potential relationship; sometimes an enhanced test to 25 markers is necessary to prove or disprove a relationship with a non-predicted match.
THOMAS BURGESS of Sandwich, Mass. (Haplotype R1b):
12-24-14-12-11-14-12-12-14-13-13-29
JOHN BURGESS of Derbyshire, England (Haplotype R1b):
13-23-14-10-11-15-12-12-12-13-13-29
GEORGE BURGESS of Cheshire, England (Haplotype E3b):
13-24-13-10-14-17-11-12-12-13-11-30
EDWARD BURGESS of Prince George's Co., Maryland (Haplotype R1b):
13-24-14-10-11-16-12-12-12-13-13-29
Two tests with identical results are represented by these numbers, both known to be out of branches of this line; the tentative match with the John Burgess line above has been discounted by doing enhanced, 25-marker tests for both participants.
WILLIAM BURGESS of King George Co., Virginia (Haplotype R1b):
13-24-14-11-11-13-12-12-11-13-14-29
13-24-14-11-11-13-12-12-12-13-14-29
13-24-14-11-11-13-12-12-12-13-15-29
Five individuals are represented by these three tests, all with predicted matches. However, see below.
WILLIAM BURGESS of Bedford Co., Virginia (Haplotype R1b):
13-24-14-11-11-13-12-12-12-13-14-29
This test matches with the median test values of the family of William Burgess of King George Co., Virginia. An enhanced test showing 25 markers has been ordered to see how closely these two families are related.
THE BURGARS and BURGESSES of the Shetland Islands, Scotland (Haplotype R1b):
13-24-14-11-12-14-12-12-14-13-13-28
13-24-14-11-12-14-12-12-13-13-13-29
13-24-14-11-12-14-12-12-14-13-13-29
13-24-14-11-12-15-12-12-13-13-13-29
Four individuals are represented by these tests; 25-marker enhancements have confirmed that all share a common ancestor named Burgar or Burgess.
WILLIAM BURGESS of Surry Co., Virginia (Haplotype R1b):
13-24-14-11-12-14-12-12-12-13-13-29
This test would seem to indicate a relationship to the second test of the Burgar group (above), matching 11 out of 12 numbers; however, an enhancement to 25 markers has been ordered to determine whether these families are actually affiliated.
KEZIAH BURGESS of Bedford Co., Virginia (various haplotypes):
13-25-16-11-12-16-11-13-11-13-12-30
14-22-14-10-13-16-11-14-11-12-11-30
These tests derive from descendants of two of Keziah's three sons, and indicate that two fathers were involved. The first test falls in Haplogroup I1b, the second in Group G, both fairly unusual.
JOHN BURGESS of Rutherford Co., North Carolina (Haplotype I):
15-24-15-10-15-16-11-13-11-13-12-28
Altogether, ten separate Burgess lines are covered by these tests. Two of families have affiliated, two others may be affiliated, and one has split into two segments. The other families represent unique creations of the Burgess name, with no possible genetic relationship between them.
We still have many test results yet to come, and five individuals have yet to return their test kits to FT DNA.
Haplogroups and haplotypes: what are they? This is a just a convenient way for scientists to divide Y-chromosome DNA markers into very broad but distinct genetic groupings. They're arbitrarily labeled from A-R, with various subgroups under each category. The oldest known groups are those listed earliest in the alphabet; these derive from Africa. The commonest haplogroup for the Burgess project is R1b, one of the latest to be developed, indicating a probable origin in the underlying Celtic populations of Spain, France, and the British Isles. Several of the haplotypes recorded in the project are fairly rare in the West, and may indicate descent from an interloper, or possibly a change in the family name at some distant point in the past.
Anyone participating in the project is invited to update his data into www.ysearch.org, a free, public, easily searchable database showing Y-chromosome values from around the world. There are links from the Family Tree DNA site to this valuable site. If you want to do this and don't know how, just drop me an e-mail, and I'll be happy to act on your behalf. You do NOT have to display your e-mail address.
Thus far, all of the predicted affiliations between different branches of the same Burgess family have in fact occurred. This indicates that the system does work. The absence of agreement among the numbers of the descendants of Keziah Burgess was suspected, but couldn't be proved until now. We have yet to find a participant from the third branch of that family.
We eagerly await the test result from the descendant of the Col. William Burgess line, which may be affiliated with that of the Burgess family of Prince George's Co., Maryland; and from the descendant of Thomas Burgess of Orange Co., Virginia, another possible branch of either or both of these lines.
If you have any questions about any of this, please don't hesitate to ask.
All best:
Prof. Michael Burgess