#10 (Vol 3, No 3) - August 2022

Hello Rowland Genealogists,

In this issue, we delve into the importance of Y-DNA testing, constructing cladograms, discuss a significant Rolland line in France, and provide our usual updates on articles and publications.

Y-DNA Testing

Until recently, my knowledge of Y-DNA was very superficial. I took a Y-DNA test a few years ago and joined the Rowland Project at FamilyTreeDNA. When my results came back, I was grouped with other testers in what was to become Rowland DNA Group B. I didn’t learn a whole lot, so I upgraded to Y111 and eventually to Big Y. Even then, it just seemed like a bunch of numbers in columns I didn’t fully appreciate.

That all changed last month when I took the “YDNA For Genealogy” class, taught by Diahan Southard of Your DNA Guide. I knew Y-DNA was important, but this class really opened my eyes to its power. One of the things I learned was that the default Y37 testing is typically not enough unless you are just trying to exclude some relationships. If you are truly interested in learning about your paternal genealogy, then you need to go further. Personally, I recommend the Big Y test.

Advances in Y-DNA science are currently multiplying at an exponential rate. With each new Big Y tester, the giant Big Y Block Tree adds another data point, and the understanding of our genealogical history improves. In the past few months, my terminal SNP (haplogroup) went from R-FT65023 to R-BY190889. This may sound like pure gobbledygook, but it puts me hundreds of years closer to the answers I seek.

In my opinion, this is the forefront of DNA technology, and Big Y is the reason. The largest obstacle facing the science today is the lack of Big Y DNA samples. Big Y testers are few and far between. In my specific case, I only have two Big Y matches, and the Block Tree predicts our common ancestor lived about 1,000 years, just as surnames were starting to come into use. In fact, my two matches have surnames of Griffith and Williams. If all the other Group B members upgraded to Big Y, it would help close the gap of the most recent 1,000 years. I am a part of the larger R-M269 haplogroup, as are many of you. However, if you have not done additional testing, then all we can say is we have a common ancestor estimated to have lived 4,000 to 10,000 years ago.

The “YDNA For Genealogy” class I took provided me with a much better appreciation for the importance of Y-DNA testing. However, trying to convince you to take the class is not my goal here, but if you do, I recommend having your Y-DNA test results and project grouping in hand before starting the class. Instead, my goal is to convince you to take or a Big Y test or upgrade to Big Y if you already have Y-DNA results. Most upgrades will not require you to submit a new DNA sample.

The only place for Big Y-DNA testing is FamilyTreeDNA, and now through August 31, they are having a sale. See more at the FamilyTreeDNA sale page. (Note: RowlandGenealogy is not affiliated with FamilyTreeDNA and it receives no compensation for this recommendation).

Cladograms

One of the new skills I learned in the class was how to construct Y-DNA cladograms. A cladogram is a diagram showing the connections (relations) among various organisms. In this case, the organisms are individual Y-DNA test results, and the connectors are mutations at designated STR markers. Each branch represents a hypothetical ancestor. However, since it is possible to create many evolutionary tree variations from the same cladogram, they do not provide definitive proof of the genealogical sequence of the relationships. They can, however, provide new and worthwhile clues into our ancestry and suggest areas for additional research.

Cladograms are probably best understood with actual data, and for this purpose, I have chosen Rowland Y-DNA Group A as an example. The raw data is found on the FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) Rowland Project page on the DNA Results Colorized Chart. If you are not a logged-in member of the Rowland Project, then you will see only four DNA samples for Group A. The cladogram below includes three additional samples marked “Private” that are visible to logged-in project members. This cladogram is based on 37 STR markers as all group members have tested to at least that level.

The row in the Colorized Chart labeled “Mode” represents the most common value at each STR marker for members of the group. For example, the first marker is DYS393, and all members of Group A have a value of 13 at that location. In the cladogram below, each number within a green circle represents a unique Y-DNA sample. The numbers correspond to the DNA kit number assigned to that person’s sample. Various locations on the cladogram are labeled ..1.. through ..6.. and are discussed below:

The larger green circle in the middle contains the three kits that are an identical match to the Mode values at all 37 markers. This is also called the Ancestral Profile. As more and more kits are added to Group A, the most common value at a given marker may change, which in turn may alter the Mode and the kits contained in this center circle.
This medium-sized circle (kit #371492) toward the upper left is different from the Ancestral Profile by a single mutation (FTDNA calls this a 1 step difference). This mutation is in the CDY marker, where its value of 35-37 is indicated on the red connecting line.
The small circle containing a question mark indicates a node that is different from the Ancestral Profile by a single mutation. None of the current Group A testers have this mutation as their only mutation, and therefore it is labeled with a question mark.
The medium-sized circle near the upper right label “Private” is different from the Ancestral Profile by two mutations. It is shown further away from the Ancestral Profile with the small green circle (described in item 3 above) serving as the intermediary branch. Until there are more Group A test takers, it is not known whether the DYS437 (blue line) or CDY (red line) mutation occurred first.
This small green circle represents a shared mutation. Two of the Group A test takers have this DYS442 mutation, and therefore it is assumed to have occurred before the unique mutations of the two individual test takers (described in 6 below).
These two medium-sized circles are two mutations away from the Ancestral Profile. They have a shared mutation at DYS442. Kit #1597780 also has a mutation at DYS464, while the kit marked “Private” has a mutation at DYS468. Since they have a shared mutation, it is assumed these two test takers are more closely related to each other than to any of the others in Group A.

Look for an article in the next few months with cladograms of all Rowland DNA groups.

Pierre Rolland of La Tremblade, France

Pierre Rolland was born about 1650 in La Tremblade, France. The story goes that three brothers, sons of Pierre Rolland, all made their way to America. The brothers themselves were Huguenots, and it’s likely the entire family was Protestant since La Tremblade was long a Huguenot stronghold.

The three migrated in the early eighteenth century with Jean and Abraham settling in New York, and Pierre (the younger) obtaining land in New Jersey. They were a part of the last major exodus of French Protestants which began in 1685 with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and continued more or less unabated for 100 years until the French Revolution and the passage of the Edict of Toleration in that country in 1787.

The brothers found refuge for a time in England, but the ongoing troubles between Protestants and Catholics in that country during the reign of James II (which also began in 1685) likely spurred their further migration to North America.

The Ruland family of France and Suffolk County, New York has long been one of our largest Rowland lines without a known Y-DNA tester. The earliest known ancestor, Jean (de la Vigne) Rolland, has more than 1,200 descendants on WikiTree). I was about to create a new profile for his father Pierre when I discovered the WikiTree profile of Pierre Rolland already existed. It had 6,295 descendants, many in Schoharie County, New York. Abraham, brother of Jean and son of Pierre, was already attached. I used this existing profile as the father and connected Jean as another son of Pierre.

The new combined grouping has been added to the DNA Untested page as the La Tremblade, France group. The quantity of Pierre Rolland’s descendants on WikiTree now exceeds 7,500. I would normally say we need a Y-DNA tester to step up, but in this particular case, we are going to need multiple testers to define and verify this very large and important lineage.

New DNA Untested Groups

In addition to the La Tremblade group, I have recently added the following to the DNA Group Untested page. If you descend from any of these, then please take a Y-DNA test and join the Rowland Project.

Cornwall to Victoria, Australia: William Rowland (1807-1855) was born in Cornwall, England. He married Frances Budge in 1835 and five years later they emigrated to South Australia and finally settled in Victoria. He is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery of Avoca, Victoria, Australia. Most of his 166 currently defined descendants in WikiTree remained in Victoria.

Yancey County North Carolina: Henry “Halle” Roland (1777-1876), was born in North Carolina (probably Buncombe County) and married Sarah Robertson. He died in Yancey County, North Carolina, and is buried there in the cemetery named after him. The locations of his 166 WikiTree descendants include Yancey, Buncombe, Burke, Forsyth, and McDowell counties of North Carolina as well as Greene and Washington counties of Tennessee.

Recent Articles

Rowland DNA Group M Update by guest author Nick Rowland (published June 23, 2022). Nick has traced his Rowland line back more than 500 years in Essex, and he takes a deeper dive into his Y-DNA with this article. Recent advancements in Y-DNA research, including the Big Y Block Tree (mentioned above), have allowed Nick to explore the time before surnames. In doing so, he’s discovered a genetic link to four other Big Y testers, all with the surname of Sedgwick, who have ancestral roots in the Cumbria area. Their common ancestor appears to have lived about 900AD, and Nick takes us on an adventure through 9th-century history to show how this line potentially split into the Rowland and Sedgwick families.

Rowland Family of Newport, Ohio (published July 8, 2022). The History of Newport Ohio, from a genealogical perspective, was once well-documented at NewportOhioHistory.com. However, that website ceased to exist in 2018, causing the multitude of genealogical source links to it on WikiTree and other tree-building sites to go cold. This article explains how I was able to rescue the Rowland information by using the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Y-DNA Summer Sale (published August 2, 2022). The Y-DNA knowledge database is entering its exponential growth phase, and the Y-DNA summer sale can help you get onboard. Your Y-DNA test results can make an immediate contribution to and impact on Y-DNA science. Yes, you can be a citizen scientist. With a Big Y-700 test, your terminal SNP will be identified and you will be placed on the Big Y Block Tree.

Publications Added to Free Library

“Newport Ohio History – Rowland Family.” Published 2022 by RowlandGenealogy, 14-page PDF. William Rowland (c1733-1784) and Sarah Latham were the founders of Rowlandsville, Cecil County, Maryland. Their son, John Rowland (1761-1850), moved to Newport Township, Washington County, Ohio, in 1805. The book details many generations of the Rowland family that lived in and around Newport, where many descendants still live today. This line is part of Rowland Y-DNA Group B. The contents of this publication formerly comprised page 267 of an obsolete website known as NewportOhioHistory.com. The page, as it existed on February 02, 2017, was titled “Rowland Family: Descendants of William Rowland” and was extracted via the Internet WayBack Machine in June 2022.

Free WikiTree Help

I am convinced that WikiTree’s vast richness of tools, its policy of a single profile per ancestor, and its pledge to remain free, make it the best choice for documented tree building. I’m also aware that WikiTree can be somewhat daunting to newcomers, especially those without prior experience with document markup language techniques.

Therefore, I will help you get started by connecting you (or your recent Rowland/Roland ancestors) to the global tree. Please note that I will not add living people to the tree. That is something you will need to do so that you can control the privacy level. If this is of interest to you, then please email rowlandgenealogy@gmail.com with your ancestral information. Note: if you already have a public tree documented on another site, then I can work with that.

Share and Share a Like

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Ron Rowland
Editor & Publisher

PS – I welcome your suggestions for improvements, features, topics, and website restructuring. Please let me know of any errors, inconsistencies, or additional Rowland/Roland lines.