Y-DNA Results

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Persons who have been Tested

Three persons in the extended Leigh family have had their Y-DNA tested by familytreedna.com

A great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh had his Y-DNA tested for 67 markers (later updated to 111 markers). The markers have been placed in the FamilyTree website, ysearch.org, and his ID is 66XXS (ysearch.org is a web site that allows comparisons to be made on the database maintained by FamilyTree). This great grandson had the Deep Clade test performed, and his Haplogroup is I1. The descendant also had his Y-DNA tested by dna-ancestry.com for 46 markers, and the markers have been imported to ysearch.org and given the ID of QQHTY. His testing by Ancestry identified his Haplogroup as I1a. There are several people who have had their Y-DNA tested by Ancestry that have a close match with this descendant. These comparisons are discussed in the Y-DNA Relatives page.

A great grandson of Rector Daniel Leigh had his Y-DNA tested for 67 markers. The markers have been placed in ysearch.org, and his ID is H8G3U. His Haplogroup is I1.

A great grandson of William Leigh had his Y-DNA tested by for 67 markers. The markers have been placed in ysearch.org, and his ID is KGYRY. His Haplogroup is I1.

The following diagram, created from data in the Leigh Descendancy Chart, shows the position in the Leigh family tree of the three persons who were tested.

The earliest known Leigh ancestor in Wales is 2 Ralph Leigh. The number "2" is the number assigned to Ralph Leigh in the Descendancy Chart, and that number, along with the appropriate numbers for the other names in the diagram, is given to provide correlation of our DNA testing with the paper trail given in the Descendancy Chart. The diagram given above shows the descendants of Ralph Leigh down to the three persons who voluntarily had their DNA tested. The actual names of the three persons and of their immediate ancestors are not given to preserve the privacy of those persons. Each of the three persons is the great grandson (ggson) of the last name given in the line of that person. The three persons are 7th cousins. 

Analysis of the Test Results

Common Ancestors

In discussions of DNA testing, the important person in a discussion is the common ancestor. Ralph Leigh is the common ancestor of all the Leighs in Wales who are known at this time (Ralph Leigh was born approximately 1560 and died after May 1614). We would like to know the Y-DNA markers (DNA markers are short segments of DNA, and they have values) of Ralph Leigh so we can compare them with Y-DNA markers of persons living in England. However, since Ralph Leigh isn't living, we don't know his Y-DNA markers. Our first goal in doing Y-DNA testing, then, is to obtain an approximation of the Y-DNA markers of Ralph Leigh. This goal has been reached, and our review of the Y-DNA testing results and our conclusion are discussed in this page. Our second goal is to locate other families who are related to us. Even though we will always be working towards this goal, we have had some success, and this is discussed in detail in Y-DNA Relatives.

The Genetic Distances of the Three Leigh Descendants 

 According to the paper trails given in the Leigh Descendancy Chart, the three persons are distant cousins, and their Y-DNA markers should be relatively closely matched. The Y-DNA testing confirms that their markers are closely matched. The following table gives the Genetic Distance of the three persons (Genetic Distance is a numerical way of expressing the DNA "closeness" of two people).

Names	67-Marker Genetic Distance
ggson of 103 Samuel Leigh ggson of 153 William Leigh	1
ggson of 122 Daniel Leigh ggson of 153 William Leigh	4
ggson of 103 Samuel Leigh ggson of 122 Daniel Leigh	4

Notice that the Genetic Distance of the great grandson of Rector Daniel Leigh to both of the other two great grandsons is greater than the Genetic Distance of the other two great grandsons to each other. This implies there were mutations occurring in the descendants of Rector 122 Daniel Leigh that didn't occur in the descendants of 103 Samuel Leigh or 153 William Leigh. Because of this, our focus will be on the Y-DNA markers of the descendants of 103 Samuel Leigh and 153 William Leigh.

The Markers of the Three Leigh Descendants

The markers of the three great grandsons are given in the following spreadsheet. To read the numbers, you will need to click the spreadsheet to get a larger image. The values of markers that are different than the corresponding values for the descendant of Samuel Leigh are shaded in green. The spreadsheet also contains the markers of several other people who have been tested, and the Y-DNA of these people is discussed below.

Approximating the Markers for Ralph Leigh

Now that we have the values of the markers, let's compare the markers of the great grandsons of Samuel and William Leigh. There are only two markers that are different, 464b and 464d. This is significant, because it means that the markers that are not different have the same values as Oakley Leigh, the common ancestor of the two men. Initially, we don't know which line had the mutations that we see in the Y-DNA of the two men. However, if we bring in the marker-values of other persons, we can possibly get a more accurate comparison for those two markers. The following table gives values for 464b and 464d for four persons, the three great grandsons who were tested and a fourth person who has a close Y-DNA match with our Leigh lines but is not in our paper trail.

Name	464b	464d
ggson of 103 Samuel Leigh	14	15
ggson of 153 William Leigh	12	14
ggson of 122 Daniel Leigh	14	14
SR-1 of the Brookings website	14	15

The entry for SR-1 is significant. That person lives in England, and his Y-DNA markers have a close match with the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh. His surname, however, is not Leigh; it is Brookings. He has a strong paper trail of his Brookings line that goes back to the 16th century, just as we have a strong paper trail of our Leigh line that goes back to the 16th century. This means it is likely that the common ancestor of the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh and SR-1 lived before 2 Ralph Leigh and that the markers of this common ancestor were passed to 2 Ralph Leigh and from him through two different paths to the great grandsons of 103 Samuel Leigh and 153 William Leigh. The markers were also passed by the common ancestor through a different path to SR-1. Notice that SR-1 has the same values as the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh for the two markers in question, even though the two markers reached SR-1 and the great grandson via different paths.

This allows us to conclude that those two markers in the Y-DNA of SR-1 and in the Y-DNA of the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh have with a high likelihood the correct values. The rest of the markers in the Y-DNA of the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh are the same as the markers passed through a different path to the great grandson of 153 William Leigh. Thus, it is likely there is a perfect match between 2 Ralph Leigh and the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh. To strengthen this conclusion, the Y-Markers of six other people who have been tested by FamilyTree and have a reasonable match with the great grandson of Samuel Leigh are given in the spreadsheet. Five of the six people have the same values as SR-1 and the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh for the two markers. In addition, there are 14 people who have been tested by Ancestry.com with good matches to the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh, and all 14 persons have the same values for the 464 markers as the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh and SR-1. The conclusion mentioned above is described as "likely" because there is a possibility of mutations that compensate for each other and for random matches between the great grandsons of 103 Samuel Leigh and 153 William Leigh.

Technical Analysis of the Y-DNA Markers

For those interested in the technical details, the following analysis was given by a person at FTDNA of the changes in the markers for the great grandson of Rector 122 Daniel Leigh.

[This person] experienced a recombinational-loss-of-heterozygosity (recloh) event, meaning one segment of his Y chromosome containing 2 copies of the DYS464, 1 copy of DYS459, and 1 copy of CDY duplicated itself and replaced the matching segment that contained the remaining copies of these three markers. The 8-9 for DYS459 became 9-9; the 12-14-14-15 (or 12-12-14-14) for DYS464 became 14-14-14-14, and the 34-35 for CDY became 34-34.

The person also gave the following analysis of the markers for the great grandson of 153 William Leigh.

[This person] experienced the same type of mutation, but on a smaller scale. This time it only affected DYS464; he went from 12-14-14-15 to 12-12-14-14. In both cases you should consider the above listed changes as 1 mutation per lineage. Their genetic distance is of course higher because the mutation affected multiple loci.

The person giving the analysis concluded that "The simplest explanation then is that all the mutations moved lineages away from the 12-14-14-15 or a similar set of ancestral values."

Important for Future Research

From our viewpoint, having the Y-DNA markers for the great grandson of 103 Samuel Leigh is important, because those markers are likely an exact match with the markers of 2 Ralph Leigh and will hopefully help us identify the family in England of Ralph Leigh. Having the Y-DNA markers for the other two great grandsons is important, because if the same patterns of values in the 464 markers of the other two great grandsons appear in the Y-DNA of some of our Y-DNA Relatives, those values may be a clue as to when and from which lines the immigration took place that brought our DNA relatives to the United States.

By Allen Leigh