- Details
- Written by: Eric Burgess
Project Newsletter #5
12 Dec 2004
Dear Burgess Cousins,
We now have 35 participants in the Burgess DNA project, with test results from 25 members. Here's what we've learned so far:
The families of William Burgess of Richmond (later King George) Co., VA, and of William Burgess of Bedford Co., VA, have a common ancestor who probably dates from at least the mid-1600s--but perhaps not much earlier than that.
The families of Edward Burgess of Prince George's Co., MD, and of William Burgess of Montgomery Co., MD, also have a common ancestor. These two men, both born in the 1730s, may be descended from Charles Burgess, youngest son of Col. William Burgess of Anne Arundel Co., MD; we'll know for certain when the test result from a descendant in the latter family arrives in mid-January.
The families of William Burgess of Surry Co., VA, and of Thomas Burgess of Orange Co., VA, may have a common Burgess ancestor; further testing is being done to validate the possible connection.
The families of Dean Burgess, a possible descendant of Thomas Burgess of Sandwich, MA, and of George Henry Burgess of Lancashire, England, may have a common ancestor; further testing is being done to validate the possible connection. If the results are correct, this will be the first firm link established between an ancient (pre-1800) American family and a British Burgess line.
Test results from descendants of two of the sons of Keziah Burgess do not match; these lines have separate progenitors. We're currently testing a representative from the line of her third son to see if he matches either of the others.
The test results from a descendant of James Burgess of Fayette Co., WV, show that this James is not the same person as the James Burgess son of Thomas Burgess out of the William of Bedford Co., VA, line, as had previously been supposed. Further research is being conducted, but already it appears that the father of this James may be another William Burgess, hitherto unrecorded.
Test results from two descendants of different branches of the Thomas Burgess family of Sandwich, MA, do not match; further testing and research will need to be done in order to determine which result is the "true" result for the Thomas line, and where the break occurred. Thus far, nothing obvious has shown itself. Because this family is quite old (almost 400 years), finding the discrepancy may take some time. We do have a test pending from another possible descendant out of this line living in Canada.
All of the five predicted matches in the family of William Burgess of King George Co., VA, have in fact occurred, as has the one predicted match in the family of Edward Burgess of Prince George's Co., MD.
The remaining families in the project thus far have unique number markers, indicating separate creations of the Burgess name.
I want to thank all of you for agreeing to participate in the project, and for your continuing wise counsel and enthusiastic support. Mildred Guernsey and Dr. Scott Burgess each donated $100 to the project, enabling us to get a matching grant of $200 from FT DNA during the short window it was available to us. Thanks also to Bennett Greenspan and all the good people at FT DNA for enabling both our DNA project and the hundreds of others that they've sponsored, and for suggesting the grant program in the first place.
We've made an excellent start this year. Every test that we receive from this point on just adds additional information to our growing database of numbers. We'll see more random matches between major Burgess lines, and, alas, a few more predicted matches that fail. All are helpful in delineating the real connections between Burgess families throughout the world. We'll find more links between families in North America and Burgesses still living in the British Isles.
My website (www.millefleurs.tv) will be updated later this week with more detailed information on the DNA results we've received thus far. Please feel free to visit there. I'm also editing down a portion of my own Burgess genealogy from the line of William Burgess of King George Co., VA, in order to add the first few generations of that family as an adjunct page to the website.
A few of you still have test kits outstanding. Please send these in. Remember that we don't get results back from the lab until the materials are submitted by FT DNA.
I wish you all a blessed Christmas and holiday season. Mary and I plan to spend a quiet two weeks doing more genealogical research and working on our book projects. When I return to the University on January 3rd, I'll start the process which will ultimately lead to my retirement in September of '05.
All best wishes:
Michael Burgess
- Details
- Written by: Eric Burgess
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
- Details
- Written by: Eric Burgess
Project News Letter #3
09 November 2004
Dear Cousins,
Just a quick update on the status of the Burgess Surname Project. Family Tree DNA is running at least two weeks late on the current batch of tests; that delay may be extended even further as the holidays approach. I received notice today that two of our 12-marker tests, including the one out of the Thomas Burgess line of Sandwick, Mass., the largest and earliest Burgess family in the Americas, were botched completely and will have to be rerun; this will extend their delivery time until, supposedly, the end of November (in reality, it'll probably be sometime in December).
I'm not happy about any of this, but there's absolutely nothing I can do to speed things along. The last time I complained about something to FT DNA, several weeks ago, the representative who responded was unnecessarily rude and quite abrupt. I think they're tired of hearing from me.
I won't update the website or post any further notices to the Burgess genealogy newsgroups until we actually get more results in hand. I do appreciate the efforts of all of you who have contributed both time and knowledge and money to the project. Thanks particularly to Dr. Scott Burgess and Mildred Guernsey, who donated $100 each to subsidize future testing. FT DNA did match these gifts with a grant of $200, but we have to expend the matching funds before the end of the year.
I have a lead on another representative of the Col. William Burgess line, so I'm still hopeful that someone out of that very important family will step forward. Given the antiquity of this line, one would think that locating male descendants would be quite easy, but just the opposite has been true. One entire branch of this family, numbering in the many hundreds, has now shrunk in terms of male representation to just two brothers and their offspring.
But we have many important families with test results yet to appear. Let's hope they all show up by Christmas, and that we see additional random matches between seemingly unrelated Burgess lines!
All best to everyone:
Prof. Michael Burgess
- Details
- Written by: Eric Burgess
Project Newsletter #2
21 September 2004
Hello everyone.
We've just received the first few tests from the latest batch of Y-chromosome DNA numbers, and the result has been astonishing. We now have our first unexpected match between two ancient (pre-1800) Burgess lines.
The families of William Burgess (b. ca. 1735) of Bedford Co., VA, and of William Burgess (d. 1712) of Richmond (later King George) Co., VA, have a common Burgess ancestor, probably not too far removed from the time these lines first appear in the American colonies. There is no possible way that we could have demonstrated this connection from any surviving civil or legal records.
Both of these Burgess lines have significant numbers of descendants. I'm quite sure that we will see more affiliations as additional results arrive in October and November.
As of today, we have sixteen participants in the project, with four more likely to appear in the next few weeks. These represent twelve ancient Burgess lines, accounting for about 18% of all the Burgess individuals living in the United States today.
We expect to receive test numbers by October 17th for five individuals doing 12-marker tests, plus results from two enhancements from 12 markers to 25 markers by October 21st. Two kits have been received by Family Tree DNA, but have not yet been scheduled or sent to the lab. Three kits have not yet been received by FT DNA from the participants. We won't get results on these latter five tests until sometime in November.
We now have a representative from the largest Burgess family in America, the line of Thomas and Dorothy Burgess of Sandwich, Mass., dating back into the early 1600s. This is a very important Burgess family, with a huge number of offshoots.
I wanted to mention once more that I'm willing to pay for the first test from any major Burgess line currently unrepresented in the project, with me making that determination. Specifically, I am looking for a male volunteer from the family of Col. William Burgess of Anne Arundel Co., MD. This is another important early family, and it's one that is likely to affiliate with several other lines.
I'll be updating the DNA test results section of the Burgess Genealogy page by the first weekend in October. It's on my personal website, www.millefleurs.tv.
In non-genealogy news, I submitted my 100th book recently, 36 years to the month after starting the first one. Those of you interested in such things will find more details on my website.
I'll be in touch again soon.
All best:
Prof. Michael Burgess
- Details
- Written by: Eric Burgess
Project Newsletter #1
09 September 2004
Dear Folks,
I've just revised those portions of my website, www.millefleurs.tv, dealing with the Burgess Surname DNA Project, to reflect the new members that we've added in the last month, plus the addition of information on each individual's earliest known Burgess ancestor.
Please go to the main page of the site, and click on the "Burgess Genealogy" link on the left-hand side of the page. The DNA section is broken into two pages, with test results being linked to the bottom of the first page. Those of you who are direct participants in the project should review what I've said about your ancestry, to make certain that it's correct and complete, at least for the first generation or two. If you do not want your name listed there, please inform me immediately, and I'll remove it.
We now have eleven members, with test results due back sometime in October and November from seven individuals. Two of the latter affiliated when I did background research on their lines, and discovered that both were distant cousins out of the Prince George's Co., Maryland Burgess family. Their numbers should match very closely when received.
We have one participant from the Keziah Burgess line of Bedford Co., Virginia, and the possibility of a second volunteer from another descendant of her three sons. This should establish 1) whether the same father sired at least two of her sons; and 2) whether this line is affiliated with the major Bedford Co. Burgess line, for which we already have another test in progress. No matter what the results, we will know more about this family than we did before. This is a dead-end line which has frustrated researchers for decades.
I'm still looking for volunteers from the Col. William family of Anne Arundel Co., Maryland, and from the Thomas Burgess family of Massachusetts. These are very large lines with a great many current-day descendants. I'm willing pay for one test from each of these groups, if someone will just step forward.
Finally, we have one conclusive result thus far: the Prince George's County/ Pittsylvania Co. Burgess line is unrelated to the family of William Burgess of Richmond (later King George) Co., VA. Also, the three tests that we have in hand from the latter family match each other closely enough that those three branches are conclusively linked to a common ancestor.
I welcome any suggestions for improvements to the website. Please encourage other Burgesses to join the project. We already have represented in the project enough families to account for perhaps 8-10% of all the Burgesses currently living in the U.S., plus a significant line in the U.K. I'm expecting some exciting results as the numbers begin to arrive this fall.
All best:
Prof. Michael Burgess
San Bernardino, California