Friday, May 20, 2011

Another "Jim Manley", Haplotypes, and Roman Heritage 1


Early in my exploration of web resources for genealogy, I found that there were an intimidating number of "Jim Manley's". In fact, I already knew of one Jim Manley who has been a kind of Doppleganger of mine since I taught in Hawaii. He taught in a private school in Manoa. When I moved to Claremont, there he was again. He was the charming Jim Manley who played the guitar. Today he lives only a few blocks away and share the same GP physician. His father, now deceased, was Felix Manley, who was a congregationalist minister. This must go back to Ira Manley, but that is another story.

Among the Jim Manley's I found on the internet was one who posed this question: "I've just had my DNA tested and it's coming up as a J2 Haplogroup, which probably means my ancient relation was most likely a Roman Legionaire garrisoned to the UK. Any other J2 Manley's out there?" It was a great question because all Manleys tended come through England, in particular, Southern England, near Dorset, or even Manley village. But the "J2" indicated a different migration patterns from the R1b's. The J2's took a more southern route, one that took them through Italy. That is easy to see on the graphic above. You can see the R1b's moving into Europe. They would continue into England. Below that black line, you see the turqoise line moving into southern France through very southern Italy, just above Sicily. The J2's are associated with the Levant and include a spectrum of ethnic, including Jewish, groups.

I immediately wrote to this Jim Manley and asked him about the J2 ancestry. He replied, "I was one of the first J2 Manleys with my results online. When I first found out my results, they triggered a difficult discussion with my mom." Indeed! But the results of that conversation were reassuring. So where did the J2 haplotype come from? He continues, "Somewhere along the way I discovered that Chester rivaled Londonium for the largest settlement in the UK. Looking closer at the geo-distribution for J2, I saw that it extended westward into southern Italy. So, putting the two pieces together, I think it quite reasonable to conject that my ancestors were legionnaires, who intermarried with the local Manleys. I cannot think of any other explanation which makes sense." And I agree. One of those J2's was in the Roman army sent off to Britannia. This would of course be in modern times about 2,000 years ago. The liason with an indigenous woman would have explained both the Manley descendancy from England and the anomalous J2 haplotype.

He concluded his note to me, "
'We've made contact with other J2 Manleys and we conject but have not proven that our common ancestor dates back into the 1600s here in Virginia."


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Into a Conversation: The Manly / Manley Website


This is an extremely helpful website to search Manley connections. It is also integrated with the Family Tree DNA project, but is open access. There is a page for each of the DNA kits members have had analyzed at Family Tree. On this page are the genetic markers AND a family tree AND a place to post comments. This link takes you to a conversation I am having with the moderator of the Manly / Manley site (Cathy Manly Sockol) and hopefully wth Jim Maule, who is the owner of #14125 which links haplotypes from our two branches. I am posing a question about the closeness of our haplotypes.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Close up of R Haplotype Migration Pattern


This a blow-up of the R haplotype migration given by Family Tree DNA. Our haplotype can be seen entering France (the lower black line). This is the R1b or R1b1 (even) line, dating back to at least 8,000 years ago.

R1 Migration into Europe and England 8-10 Thousand Years Ago


Between the time of Chauvet and the most recent (8,000 - 10,000 years ago), a mini-ice-age wiped out a majority of tribes that had migrated north of a certain latitude. But with the relaxation of this colder period, the last major migration into Europe and England occurred. This was the R1 migration. As tribes settled in particular places for longer periods of time, mutations occurred. Hence you find R1b1's, the R1b1a's and so on until, R1b1a2a1a1b3c. This is the haplotype of the family of Georgius Maule or Buckinghamshire. Georgius himself was born around 1580 and so is not likely to be the father of George Manly who was born around 1624. But his son, Thomas Maule, is the more likely, though there is no paper trail at all. My haplotype is R1b1a2a1a1b3c1, (differing by the "1") which means a direct line of descent from the Georgius Maule.

Migration 32,000 Years Ago: Chauvet


I just saw "Cave of Forgotten Dreams" about the Cave Paintings of Chauvet, which were done by people essentially like us. You can see how they migrated into France with the favorable climate change. The film shows us flutes that used the pentatonic scale. They would have sounded familiar. See the full slideshow.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Ancestral Migration

Graphic presentations are really necessary to appreciate how ancestral migrations occurred over time. This one by the Bradshaw Foundation is one of the best. (But you'll need to be patient while it sets itself up.)

Family Tree DNA tailors the migration pattern of your family, but this is a "members only" feature.

Once you have a sense of how these patterns work, it's time for the next installment on whether we are descendents of a garrisoned Roman soldier and a tribal British woman.

Haplotypes and Ancestral Migration

Our ancestors were on the move but not all of the time. There were periods, often long periods, when family groupings lived and multiplied in specific geographical areas. They stayed in these places long enough that certain traceable genetic mutations occured in their DNA. The result is that it is possible to trace family groups when they made their big moves.

This graphic shows (in black) the" R" Y-DNA immigration. This is relatively recent. The graphic, however, shows the migration from the single male proginator "Adam" from Africa. (There were others, but their DNA didn't make it.) The R1b sub-group made it into Europe. You can see that our (Manley) sub-group (sub-clade) is R1b1a2a1a1b3c1. This pretty much locates us in England with other family members who have very similar deep clades.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Some Starting Thoughts & a GEDCOM

It's been fun to trace back the Manley line to George Manley who was born about 1624 in Talaton, Devonshire, England. That's nearly 400 years ago! You can see the family tree in GEDCOM form here. (Input an "M', then choose "Manly (2)", look for George, click "Descendency" or "Pedigree".)

I'm one of the "living" Manleys, whose identify is kept private on the web, but you can see my father, Lewis N. Manley, Jr., and his father, and his father, and so on, through eight generations to George of Talaton (whose name is most often spelled without the last "e").

I'm also interested in what DNA evidence can add to the search (especially for the father of George, to this point unknown). There is a Manly/Manley site which is really great. Check it out. Another good site is the Family DNA site where I had my Y-DNA tested. You can get a lot of good information here for free, but if you buy a DNA test (not expensive), then you can trace your ancestors migration over the past 10,000 years. You can also find matches with others who have had their DNA tested.

A really excellent free site is Family Search which uses the Mormon format for genealogical records. You can find George Manly there pretty easily. But start with Lazarus Manley (a memorable name) and put George in as his father. You'll be surprised.

An interesting branch line back about the time of George, is the Maule line. There is a Georgius Maule in Buckinghamshire who was born in the late 1500's. Certainly a different spelling of "Manley", but this branch is closely related to me. The haplotype is extremely close and would indicate direct descent. But how? That is the question.

Look for future posts on DNA, migrations, Charlemagne, possible Roman ancestors, and more.