Mr. Arthur Staples has made some good analysis of VIA and STAPLES DNA that VIA family members may find interesting, therefore I am republishing comments that he posted to the VIA Message Board. See his first comment of the VIA-STAPLES Connection here: VIA - STAPLES Family DNA. See the VIA DNA website for the details: www.familytreedna.com/public/ViaSurnameProject/.

VIA PROJECT MATCHES (21 Aug 09):
1) VIA HAPLOGROUPS (Hg): Hg age is taken from the book “Deep Ancestry” (2006) by Dr. Spencer Wells, head of the NGS - Genographic Project. ISBN: 9780792262152 There are four Hg’s listed for the FTDNA - Via Project.

  • a) Hg I12, b. about 20,000 yrs ago;
  • b) Hg J2, offshoot of Hg J, b. about 15,000 yrs ago;
  • c) Hg R1a1, b. about 10-15,000 yrs ago,
  • d) Hg R1b1b2, descending from R1b, b. about 30,000 years ago.

All of these Hg’s are thousands of years old and considered Pre- History.

Genetic scientists state that it is impossible for any ancestor to belong to more than one major Hg (i.e.; I, J, R1a, R1b), thus if a participant’s pedigree shows any surname ancestor belonging to more than one haplogroup there is a problem.
Examples:

  • a) John Via, 1710/1723-1785, is listed three times in Hg R1b1b2 (42087, 156939 & 157289 and twice in Hg J2 (50048 & 45239).
  • b) Gideon Via Sr., William Via Sr., is listed by 46438 in Hg R1b12 and 58163 in Hg J2.

2) VIA & STAPLES MATCHES WITHIN VIA HAPLOGROUP R1b1b2: Three members match John Via Sr. 1759-1834, #109129, 12-markers; 43438, 37-Markers; #56051, 67-markers.

There are three more Hg R1b1b2 participants that are descended from John Via 1710/1723-1785, however a genetic distance of 4 in 25- markers from the above participants plus the one participant 37 markers giving a genetic distance of 15 means that these two Hg R1b1b2 groups, of three participants each, have not been genetically related for over 500 years.

This leaves participants 109129, 46438 & 56051 as a unique group not genetically related to any of the other current (20 Aug 09) participants within the Via DNA Project.

3) COMMENT:
Y-DNA is passed from father to son and is personal and unique to each one of us, however it is only one important tool that is used in determining ones Ancestral Family History.

To answer the question “Who are my surname ancestors?” - The next step starts with ourselves and is to prove our pedigree at each generation by locating documentation that proves the birth and parents of each generation. Primary information which can be considered as legal documentation held at court house archives usually needs only one such document to prove what is written. However secondary information such as census reports, family bible, etc., will need at least two documents to prove what is written, such as a combination of census report and family bible.

Regards, Art Staples, Jr.