YDNA Results

 

YDNA

The Y DNA holds the clues of the paternal line of your family. Everyone has 23 chromosomes. 22 are for the passing of distinct family traits: eye color, hair color, the amount of melatonin, a dimpled chin, etc. The 23rd set of chromosomes is designated for the sex of the child. Women carry 2 X chromosomes, and Men carry 

1 X and 1 Y (see the above charts). 

The Y chromosome can take us backward into our families past through the paternal line. It is shared by all common male members of the family and can trace back from son to father to grand father to great grandfather. This would then also include the uncles, brothers, cousins, etc that descend from the same Y DNA ancestor. 

HAPLOGROUPS & THE HAPLOTREE

Also, included in a YDNA match test is the Paternal Haplogroup of the YDNA tester. The haplogroup contains the information about the original progenitor of the YDNA line, thousands of years ago.  The haplogroup is the larger view back and helps us trace our ancestry back to the origin of our male family line and place it on a larger family tree known as the haplotree. Think of it as one large floating tree and there are locations on the tree. The name of the location of your very most distant paternal ancestor is the branch from where your paternal ancestor descended from. It is the name of your haplogroup. 

One other way to describe a haplogroup is by using the analogy of a search engine. 

When you type the name JOHN SMITH into the search engine you only get a few hits. But if you broaden your search to just the letter J you get thousands of hits. Now add JO and your hits are reduced. With regards to haplogroups, J represents the largest of the groups hits, (or the name of the entire branch) and with each letter added you get more specific of a find until you are able to have just one JOHN SMITH.  The haplogroup is the genealogists way of organizing everyone whose alleles are similar and come from similar branches of the haplotree. So men who have a haplogroup R come from a different branch on the haplotree, than say E, or U, or I.  More information can be found on FTDNA.com 

The knowledge of one's haplogroup is imperative to knowing which John Smith to look for. You could have a JOHN SMITH with a haplogroup I, or U, or R. All are named JOHN SMITH but all of their paternal lines come from different branches of the haplotree. Using the haplogroup as a guide keeps you from doing the genealogical research on a line that is not the same as your line and therefore, even though the names are the same, and they may have even lived in the same town, county and state, if the haplogroups are different, they are NOT from the same families and could never be a YDNA match. 

Noah JACOBS haplogroup EM-2

Based on family lore, naming patterns and even some DNA findings, Noah Jacobs father was believed to have been John Jacobs. This name is as difficult to trace as John Smith. I have done extensive genealogical research and am therefore somewhat familiar with many of the John Jacobs that were born in the 1700's and lived somewhere in the southeastern states of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Only when I understood the power of knowing your haplogroup did I understand how these men, though likely candidates could not have been Noah's father because they all had haplogroups different from Noah's. 

From our YDNA JACOBs test, we gained great information about our family line. 

EM-2 

From FTDNA we learn: 

• The E-M2 paternal line was formed when it branched off from the ancestor E-V38 and the rest of humankind around 38,000 BCE.
• The man who is the most recent common ancestor of this line is estimated to have been born around 16,000 BCE.
• He is the ancestor of at least 2 descendant lineages known as E-M4901 & E-FT183172.
• Haplogroup E-M2, also known as E1b1a1-M2, is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. E-M2 is primarily distributed within Africa followed by West Asia.

From YourdNAGuide.com we learn: 

• 35% of African Americans who get YDNA testing, they discover their haplogroup is of European origin. This sadly shows that the sexual exploitation of African American women by those who were of European descent was real. 
• 65% of African American and other Free People of Color find that their haplogroup of origin comes from Africa. 
• The most common haplogroup of the above group is EM-2
• The total amount of E-M2 in the America's varies greatly, but the presence of EM-2 tells a story of a paternal line connected back to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. 

Noah's Family and EM-2 

   There are many different scenarios that could have transpired to give Noah's line a haplogroup of EM-2. One that I am partial and proud of is that his family, his people, were from a group of people known as FPC, or Free people of color. These men and women were not the upper crust of American society, they were not classified as white on the original census of this county, but that does not mean they were not men of integrity, honor, and family values. What they were can only survive in our imaginations for there is little evidence here. But one thing for sure, they fought hard to maintain the freedom of their families and America. They were frontiersmen who worked hard and believed in the hopes and promises that our new nation brought. 

INTERPRETING NOAH'S RESULTS

The two different YDNA test results we have back show that yes, the SURNAME IS JACOBS! We are not dealing with a NPE (non parental experience)! The reason we know this is because of a match that is 2 steps off, or 2 generations removed from Noah. That simply means that the match between the other tester and our YDNA tester was in the late 1600's or more likely the very early 1700's. This 2 step match's surname was ALSO JACOBS. 

With this information we have a gap between Circa 1690 and 1720  to 1803 when Noah was born. In other words, one of the great grandfather's of our 2 step off match was also one of the great grandfather's of Noah!. What we don't know is who the family is in between these two matches. We have a good idea but no real proof.

What this also tells us is that Noah's original immigrant ancestor from the early 1600's was most likely an African American slave who gained his freedom early on. In working with other researchers, we have a good idea who this slave was and when he gained his emancipation but that will be another post. 

What is important here is that we understand that Noah's great or great great grandfather was freed early on and lived as a FPC.  It would have meant that he would have worked to free other members of his family. The life of FPC in colonial America was not easy and some of the hardships they endured might have been: 

• Double Taxes - for no other reason than they were not 100% white
• Living on the edge of society- they were not allowed to be part of the English Colonial America other than to provide the wealthy with needed labor skills. 
• Being dependent on the mercantile system for work and compassionate souls that would offer protection from the ever changing slavery laws.
• Never receiving the same rights of freedom guaranteed to the more English Americans. 
• Hiding their children of mixed relations from the powers that would a. either seek to enslave them or b. seek to give them the privileges of a white America forever separating them from their family of birth.  It all depended on how their DNA fell out as to the life they would be forced to live. 
• Living in a society that valued people based on the amount of melatonin and esteemed family pedigree. 
• After the American Revolution - always being afraid of being captured and sold into slavery
• The condemnation and execution of the laws that prevented the intermarriage of race. 
• The ever-changing laws against FPC such as ones that prevented them from the carrying of arms. These arms were mandatory for their hunting and obtaining food. 

Many of the FPC intermarried with Native Americans, run away Irish, English or Scottish indentured servants, emancipated or run away slaves of all races, and African Americans that may be current slaves of families they worked for. I am certain that the scenarios were many and the circumstances heart breaking. 

The Free People of Color welcomed all of the whiter societies outcasts and did not love a person based on the amount of melatonin in their skin, but the amount of compassion in their hearts and souls. 

NOAH's FATHER

Because we have the 2 step YDNA match to Noah's YDNA paternal line, we know that ALL of Noah's father's in his paternal line were FPC all the way back to the early 1700's. So there were no men of a different haplogroup ( I, R, U)  having families with the women of his family, HOWEVER, it is very possible and probable that Noah's paternal line chose to have families with women who were not FPC. By doing this they could ensure their children's place in a society that valued the lighter melatonin levels. And their EM-2 haplogroup would not be interrupted. 

These women may have been:

•  the daughters of men who DID NOT HAVE EM-2 haplogroup
• the daughters of Cherokee chiefs - a good way to obtain land to hunt on
• the daughters of men with mixed heritage but with less melatonin than the African or Native American race. 
• the daughters of other FPC with whom they lived and worked and socialized. 

What I believe is of most importance here is that we understand that Noah Jacobs, nor his father nor his father's father ever consider themselves as Free People of Color. This is a 20th century term that has been used to differentiate the class of American's that were neither slave or owners of slaves. They were outside of the realm of societal standards and they knew this, but they never classified themselves in such a manner. They knew they had freedom from slavery, AND they knew they would always have to fight for that freedom; it would never be free to them. 

Freedom is more than a term used to classify a group of people, its a sense of pride in what you have done and who you have become because of the challenges you have overcome. I am proud to be a descendant of the JACOBS family of southeastern NC. I am proud because of all they have overcome and the sacrifices they have made for me, their next generation. When I consider how they loved and existed and cared for one another as a community, I know they had something special. 

I wonder sometimes what I am searching for in the search for Noah's father's identity. I believe I am searching for an understanding of not just their names, but who they were and why they were families that understood what it means to live in a nation that values freedom enough to fight for it. Look around the world and you will see that there are many countries where Freedom is not free for everyone. 

EXACT MATCH 

I saved this paragraph for the last on purpose. I wanted you to understand that living in a marginalized society meant that you interacted with others who too were marginalized by society. 

Noah's one exact match was an NPE. (Non Parental Experience) with a woman of color who was a slave to Thomas Nicholson when he lived in Brunswick County NC and before he moved to Tennessee. This slave woman gave birth in 1812 in Tennessee to her son Sam Nicholson, (the surname comes from the slave owner). I have tried to research this line but it is worse than a needle in the haystack. 

The descendant of this exact match is a product of slavery and her ancestors suffered greatly and paid with their lives for the sins of slavery in America. 

I have met, visited and enjoyed a delightful afternoon with this wonderful genealogist and historian. Sharon Morgan is the author of many books. Look her up. It will change your life. Especially when you realize she is the Jacobs family  DNA cousin. 

The above paragraph is just one scenario and is unconfirmed. What is does tell us is that because Noah was too young at the age of nine to father a child,  a member of his paternal line, his father, gfather, uncle, brother, cousin with the same haplogroup and allele sequence fathered Sam Nicholson. Because the Jacobs family and the Nicholson families lived next door to one another in 1800 in Brunswick County, North Carolina and because Thomas Nicholson later moves (dates unknown) to Tennessee, it is most likely that Sam was conceived in NC and then birthed in Tenn. However, we are not sure that the Jacobs did not go to Tenn, so another scenario would be that the ? Jacobs lived near Thomas Nicholson or even worked for him in Tennessee where Sam Nicholson was born. Thomas Nicholson dies young in Tenn. and it is assumed that all of his wealth and slaves went to his relative Judge Isaac Whitehead Nicholson of Noxubee Mississippi. This would explain how Sam who was born in Tennessee, ends up in Noxubee Mississippi where he is emancipated in 1865. 

There is a third scenario involving Felix Winston of Nashville Tenn. and his family as he purchased a 16 year old slave in 1828 ish in Tenn. from Wilson McClellan. He later removes to New Orleans where he dies from Malaria. His slaves are put on the selling block back in Virginia where his family originated from. I have not followed the trail from there, but that too could have been ... 

All this makes me really grateful to the slave owner who granted our ancestor emancipation in 1696 back in Virginia. If Noah's ancestor had not been granted emancipation at such an early time in the history of slavery in our country, it is probable he would have never obtained it. And we would have never known the story of the JACOBS family and their fight to remain free in a politically unstable environment.