MRCA

The Ancestral Haplotype

How do You Relate?

 

 Our Brewer Surname DNA research program makes available for the first time a derived ancestral Y- chromosome haplotype (the male genetic signature of the earliest known ancestor), at a significant 37 marker accuracy, for each of the three men: Elias Brouwer, John Brewer, and the patriarch Johannes (Jan) Brouwer of Flatlands.  

If your genetic signature matches the above set of STRs at 34 (or more) of the 37 markers and your surname is a variant of Brewer/Brower/Brouwer, etc., you are related to the other members of the Johannes Brouwer group and therefore a descendant of Johannes Brouwer of Flatlands, or one of his male relations.

NEW! Sept 8, 2010:  Results from extending the Y-DNA test to 67 markers in some members of the Jan Brouwer descendants has revealed that we have a marker value that is so rare that it is specific to identifying our own family branch within the larger haplogroup I2b1c. A very rare DYS565 Allele value of 7 repeats has been found in the Jan Brouwer descendants. This value defines a unique family branch within the major haplogroup I2b1c; a mutation that likely occurred in an ancestor living in the Belgium / Netherlands / Germany region 400 to 700 years before the present.  If two people share the allele value on this marker and are similar enough across the rest of the markers to share a common ancestor in a genealogical time frame, then they belong to the same family branch represented by Johannes Brouwer and everyone without the rare allele does not. For a more detailed report, click HERE.

 

If you have reason to believe you may be related to this line and haven’t yet been tested, but wish to confirm your researched genealogical ancestry or find out if you are genetically related, go to the Brewer surname project web page www.familytreedna.com/public/BrewerDNA/ and select “Join This Group” on the upper left hand side bar, then follow the instructions provided to obtain the group discount price for a Y-DNA test.

 

Y-DNA STR testing

 

There are only four elements used in constructing any DNA, and they are designated A, C, G, and T. At various locations called Loci (plural of Locus) on the long DNA strand that makes up the male Y chromosome the four elements are arranged in a short pattern (usually two to five elements) called an Allele. For example, the sequence GATCG is a five-element allele pattern. At specific sites, called markers and referred to as a DYS#, there are regions of short repetitive sequences of the allele pattern, called Short Tandem Repeats (STRs). These pattern repeats are counted and the number obtained, called the Allele Value, is reported for each marker site. For example, a typical range for the marker at Locus 3, called DYS19 (or previously known as DYS#394) is 12 to 16 repeats.  The Elias Brouwer descendants have 16 repeats at that location. The John Brouwer descendants have 15. These repeats are handed down, father to son, virtually unchanged from generation to generation with the exception of the occurrence of rare, random mutations that may change the allele value count by one or two either up or down. The total collection of 37 allele values so obtained represents the 37-marker STR haplotype, or genetic signature, of the person tested.

Documented descendants, representing multiple lines from each of the ancestral patriarchs shown on the Pedigree page of this site, were selected for determining the ancestral haplotypes from the FamilyTreeDNA hosted web site for the Brewer Surname DNA project. Their haplotype results, obtained from samples of buccal cells collected by cheek swabs submitted by the participants to FamilyTreeDNA for analysis, were provided to the Brewer surname project group administrators and are reported on the public Y-DNA results page of the Brewer Surname DNA project web site. 

The following chart depicts the signatures  of the Brewer surname project participants that closely match each other and the Johannes (Jan) Brouwer’s ancestral STR signature with a genetic distance of less than 3 (matching on better than 34 of the 37 markers) indicating they are all related and share a common ancestor with a 99% probability. That ancestor, in this case, is very likely Johannes Brouwer. The numbers shaded in blue represent values that are lower than the group’s modal numbers and those shaded in red are values that are higher than the group’s modal value.  Jan Brouwer’s ancestral signature is essentially the modal value. Another aspect to note is the coloration of the DYS marker designators at the top of the chart. Those in black are more stable and change only slowly. Those in red mutate at a faster rate meaning a random mutation in a DYS designator marked Red can be expected to occur more frequently and in fewer generations. The deduction of Johannes Brouwer’s ancestral signature is discussed below.

The Genetic signatures at 37 markers

  

Deducing the Ancestral STR Signatures

 

      The Ancestral signature, i.e. the oldest known or hypothesized haplotype for a particular lineage, is derived from the modal allele values, i.e. the most common result for each marker tested in that specific family line, taking in to account the propensity for mutations to increase the allele repeat values rather than to decrease them.  To demonstrate the process of identifying the ancestral signature, we examine the determination for Elias Brouwer, who had six sons. We selected participants (identified by their DNA test kit numbers: 44994, 46313, and 65025) that have Elias as their Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) as determined by their individual family genealogical documentation shown on the Pedigree page. The selected men descend from two brothers; Elias’s first son, John Brewer (1768-1852), and his sixth son, Peter Brewer (1791-1823). Kit 65025 is a direct descendant of Peter and Kits 44994 and 46313 have John as their MRCA. The Ancestral Haplotype of Elias Brouwer is derived from these three direct line male descendants by identifying the modal value (the single most common value) of each of the allele values in the living descendant’s haplotype.

    The haplotypes of the descendants of Elias Brouwer and those of John Brewer are found tomatch on all 37 markers with the exception of the eight loci shown shaded gray in Table 2 and Table 3 below, representing random single step mutations occurring in the individual lines.  The choice of allele value used to represent the original, or ancestral, value for each patriarch at each locus is that value found in the majority of participants.  For example, at locus 15, since all other participants have a repeat value of 9, it is assumed that a single step mutation occurred in the line represented by Kit 44994, changing the allele value from 9 to 10 at some time after Elias. Hence, the original ancestral allele value for Elias at that locus is taken to be the common, or modal, value of 9. The ancestral haplotypes (Modal values) of Elias Brouwer and John Brewer in the charts below show only two single step differences (at Loci 3 and 31) out of 37 markers and strongly imply a close relationship and a branching from a common ancestor, something previously unsuspected.

 

The John Brewer ancestral haplotype was obtained from examination of four participants (DNA Kits 35070, 60686, 14813 and N7689). Two participants show John to be their MRCA with a direct descent from two brothers; John’s second son Charles (Kit 35070), and his fourth son Richard (Kit 60686). Together, they are sufficient to unambiguously determine the ancestral haplotype of John at 37 markers.  We included in the chart Kits N7689 with the adopted Rose surname (see information on Rose and Embody surnames at bottom of this page) and 14813 with unknown lineage to strengthen the derivation of the ancestral signature as well as to show as an example that although neither has yet provided adequate documentation to demonstrate exactly where in John’s line they connect, they match both Richard’s descendant (Kit 60686) and Charles’ descendant (Kit 35070) exceptionally closely at both the 25 and 37 marker levels. They both match Kits 60686 and 35070 and each other exactly in 25 of 25 markers, indicating they all definitely share a recent common ancestor. Further, Kit N7689 matches Kit 35070 in 36 of the 37 markers, indicating they are tightly related --- very few people achieve this close level of a match. Kit 14813 matches Kit 35070 in 35 of 37 markers also indicating a close relationship. When all are combined, they suggest the ancestral haplotype of John Brewer is best represented by the haplotype of Kit 35070, descendant of John’s son Charles, with the exception of an allele value of 20 at locus 33 rather than 21.  The use of a modal value of 20 also takes into account the very close relationship observed between the haplotypes of the descendants of Elias Brouwer and those of John Brewer and the prevalence of an allele value of 20 at locus 33 in those participants.

 

Though it is not yet conclusive, and will not be until we establish the paper trail for John Brewer indicating whom the Most Recent Common Ancestor between he and Elias is, we nevertheless conjecture that the common ancestor is Johannes Brouwer, who, from genealogical research, is the known patriarch of the Elias Brouwer line (see NYG&B RECORD Vol 138 referenced in the resources).  The  branching of the two families are indicated by the allele value at locus 3 (15 occurring in all descendants of John vs. 16 occurring in all descendants of Elias),

 

Because it is more than twice as likely that an allele value increases rather than decreases, we assume the mutation at locus 3 (15 -> 16) occurred in the Elias line and that the mutation at locus 31 (15 ->16) occurred in John’s line, and by comparing the two family Ancestral (Modal) values in the Tables above we believe the ancestral signature of Johannes Brouwer is very likely the same as that of Elias Brouwer’s Ancestral (Modal) haplotype with the exception of a 15 at locus 3.

 

Lines of descent and identification of Most Recent Common Ancestors (link from John/Elsie to Pieter is conjectured - undocumented)

 

 

Abbreviated Lineage of the Key participants used in the derivation of the Ancestral Haplotype.

 

A.  Elias Brouwer bp. 25 Dec 1740, d. 5 Apr 1812   [MRCA of Kits 44994, 46313, and 65025]

     m. Phebe Lucas (b. Sep 1748, m. 3 Jan 1766, d. ca. 1826

Following from (1) Elias Brouwer, two lines tested descend from Elias’ first and sixth sons.

From his first son, John Brewer  there are two third-generation lines of descent, Philip and Peter

 

2. John Brewer b. 4 April 1768, d, 3 October 1852           [MRCA of Kits 44994 & 46313]

         m. Mary Hays (m. ca. 1794)

          3. Philip Brewer b. 17 January 1799, d. 3 March 1847    [direct ancestor of Kit 44994]

              m. Mary Wright (b.25 May 1809, m. 10 June 1830, d. 01 October 1860)

               4. David Brewer b. 11 December 1846, d. 7 June 1915

                m. Arabelle Walker (b. 18 January 1862, m. 8 June 1883, d. 2 March 1905)

          3. Peter Brewer b. 27 January 1795, d. 21 May 1880     [direct ancestor of Kit 46313]

              m. 1st Dorcas West (b 27 December 1803, m. 10 May 1821, d. 25 February 1863)

               4. Ebenezer Brewer b. 7 August 1824, d. 2 March 1900

                    m. 1st Charlotte Thomas ( b. 8 December 1827, m. 8 February 1846, d. 24 November 1857)

 

The second line follows from Elias’ sixth son, Peter Brewer:

 

2. Peter Brewer b. 21 January 1791, d. 08 October 1823          [direct ancestor of Kit 65025]

         m. Emma (Anna) Marble

          3. Chauncey Marble Brewer b. 11 October 1814, d. 20 August 1889

              m. Emily Lusk Butler (b. 05 February 1819  m. 15 October 1840, d. 29 October 1887)

              4. Edgar Gregory Brewer b. 01 July 1852

                  m. Donna C. Hulett (b. June 1854 m. 15 October 1873)

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B.  John Brewer b. 26 March 1733, d. 1809      [MRCA of Kits 35070 and 60686]

     m. 1st  Elsie LEWIS  (sometimes mistakenly called Dunbar or Barnet)

Following (1) John Brewer, the first line descends from John’s second son, Charles Brewer:

 

2. Charles Brewer b. 17 August 1779, d. 11 August 1856       [direct ancestor of Kit#35070]

    m. Elizabeth Keating (b 2 July 1784, m. ??  d. 7 March 1869)

    3. John Brewer b. 1805

        m. Rebecca Cox

       4. William W. Brewer b. 1829/31

             m. Mary J, (b. 1834)

              5. William Alvy Brewer b. July 18, 1857

                  m. Katerina Kohl

 

The second line follows from his fourth son, Richard Brewer:

2. Richard Brewer b.23 March 1790, d. 21 November 1872        [direct ancestor of Kit# 60686]

    m. Christina Roderick (m. 28 October 1813)

    3. David Brewer b. 19 October 1826, d 20 February 1896

        m. Maria Lynch (m. 24 August 1844)

        4. Isaac Brewer b. 5 October 1857, d. 24 January 1938

            m. Anna Florence Derrough (b 19 February 1861, m. 1 December 1880)

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Information regarding the ROSE and EMBODY surname participants who match genetically to the John Brewer/Elsie Lewis (Dunbar) branch of descendants of Jan Brouwer.

 

The contact person for all these lines is Marg (Rose) Bond (margbond@aol.com). The earliest known ancestor of the Rose line is John Rose (Sr.), the MRCA of all the Y-DNA test participants with the ROSE family surname who are well documented descendants of John (Sr.) and Dorothy Rose (identified as J&D below).   John Rose (Sr) was born ca. 1760-65, possibly in PA, He may have been in Northampton Co., Lehigh Twp, PA in 1800. He is first found in Rockingham Co., VA (1800-1811), then Fairfield Co. OH (1811-1828), and finally in Pickaway Co., OH (1828-1830) - where, in 1830, John (Sr) died.  David Embody, on the other hand, traces his Embody line back to NY state, but he matches exactly, at 37 markers, Richard Olson (Rose) of the John Rose (Sr) line and Glen Brewer of the John Brewer/Elsie Lewis (Dunbar) line. It is thought that they descend from Brewer children, related to John/Elsie Brewer, that were taken in by the Rose and Embody families and subsequently took those surnames as their own.  The paper trail connection to the Brewer branch has not been established and research is on-going.  

 

There is an exact 37/37 marker match with Kit 60686 Glen Brewer in the JOHN BREWER branch for

          * Kit 9135 Richard Olson (Rose) -- surname is Rose (descends from J&D’s son Anthony) but he took on his mother’s maiden name Olson)

          Kit 11677 David R. Embody

These participant’s genetic signature best matches the derived ancestral (modal allele value) signature of both John (Sr) Rose, and John Brewer who married Elsie Lewis (often mistakenly identified as Dunbar).

 

There is a 36/37 marker match for

         * Kit 8068  Robert Rose ( Descends from J&D’s son Solomon

           * Kit 67034 Michael J. Rose (Descends from J&D’s son John Rose Jr.)

            Kit 80836, Charles Brewer brewerlee@aol.com  Earliest known ancestor is Stephen BREWER b.1772-VA, m. Mary Melinda "Polly" Whitsett.

 

There is a 35/37 marker match for

           *Kit 64319, Fred Rose (Descends from J&D’s son John Rose Jr.), e-mail:MLomb56565@aol.com

           *Kit 7689  A. Rose  margbond@aol.com  (Descends from J&D’s son Anthony)