About us
Our DNA results are presented grouped into lineages where appropriate. The project identifies a lineage when DNA tests on two or more men show a high probability that they have a common ancestor in a genealogical time frame. Currently, we have 13 identified lineages and we show results for a fourteenth that is not connected to the name Carey/Cary (see below).
Haplogroup E - For a general discussion of Haplogroup E click here.
There are currently three project members from Haplogroup E, a haplogroup whose origins are thought to have been in northern Africa. These three men do not have close matches to each other.
Haplogroup G - For a general discussion of Haplogroup G click here.
There is currently one project member from Haplogroup G, a haplogroup believed to have originated on the eastern edge of the middle east. It has been suggested that Haplogroup G might be an important genetic marker for the spread of agriculture in the Neolithic period. Ötzi the Iceman, who lived in the Italian Alps during the Copper Age (3500 to 1700 BC) was a member of a relatively rare subclade of Haplogroup G.
Haplogroup I - For a general discussion of Haplogroup I click here and here.
There are currently eleven project members from Haplogroup I. Four of them are predicted to be I1, a sub-clade that is thought to have arisen in Scandinavia and is very common in northern Europe. It is also found in countries invaded by Germanic tribes and the Vikings. Two of these men have a close enough match to be identified as a lineage. Two other project members in this haplogroup are predicted to be I2a2a, a sub-clade associated with Germanic peoples, the Vikings and other areas of Central Europe.
Haplogroup I Lineage I
Haplogroup I Lineage I currently consists of two project members. Although their connection has not been identified, they have both identified earliest ancestors named Kary from nearby villages very close to the French border in the Rastatt district of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. The Alsace district of France lies just to the west, across the river Rhine. They do not have an identified connection to another branch of Karys from this area who are known to have emigrated to the Ukraine in the 1800s where they gave their name to the villages of Chutor Kary (Ukrainian name Michailovka) and Gut Kary, that were located on the western side of the Bug river not far from the Black Sea. The patriarch of that group was a Michael Kary. During the time that Chutor Kary area was under Russian control, many Karys apparently had their surname transformed from Kary (Кари) to Karij (Карий).
Haplogroup I Lineage II
Haplogroup I Lineage II consists of four project members at this time, three of whom who are linked in a single pedigree that descends from Peter Carey, born in Easton Maudit, Northamptonshire, England in 1698. A noteworthy member of this pedigree is William Carey, the missionary to India who translated the bible into many different eastern languages. One member of this lineage has tested positive for L38, indicating that his haplogroup is I2a2b (formerly I2b2). I2a2b was prominent in the Rhine river valley from alpine Italy to the Low Countries and is believed to have spread to England via Belgium in the Late Iron Age. It is thought to be derived from a single man living during the Bronze Age, probably in Germany. The members of this lineage are closely match the published STR results for several of the L38+ samples from the 3,000-year-old Lichtenstein Cave in central Germany.
Haplogroup R1a - For a general discussion of Haplogroup R1a click here.
Currently there are six project members who have either tested or been predicted to be Haplogroup R1a1a. Three of these men have no close matches in the project. However, two of them have DYS388=10, which Klyosov (click here, pages 217-256) identified as a mutation observed in R1a men from northern and western Europe and absent in R1a men from areas further east and south. The other three men are members of the same lineage. They do not have DYS388=10.
Haplogroup R1a Lineage I
Haplogroup R1a Lineage I consists of three project members at this time. Two have provided pedigrees but their family connection has not been identified.
Haplogroup R1b - For a general discussion of Haplogroup R1b click here.
Most of the men in the Carey/Cary project are members of Haplogroup R1b, which is the most frequently occurring haplogroup in Western Europe. Of the many project members in this haplogroup, 32 do not have a close match within the project. We have identified eleven lineages among the remaining men.
These results clearly indicate multiple origins for both Carey and Cary lines.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage I
Currently, there are thirteen project members confirmed as belonging to this lineage and three more possible members. Four of these individuals are linked in a single pedigree that has as its earliest known ancestor John Cary, who emigrated from Bristol,England, to Massachusetts around 1634. Four other individuals have submitted pedigrees that arise in New York around the same time but their links to each other and their connection to the others in the lineage is not established at this time.
The genealogy of the John Cary/Elizabeth Godfrey family of Bridgewater MA has received considerable attention over the years. Much information can be found in the family history written by Henry Grosvenor Cary (The Cary family in America) that was published by Rev. Seth Cooley Cary in 1907. Rev. Seth Cary was president of a group called The John Cary Descendants that collected and documented information on this line. In Bulletin No. 4, that the group produced in 1907, several early court records from around 1640 concerning John Cary's land are referenced in which the name is spelled Carew. This is not uncommon. According to Lower “The Carews of the west of England pronounce their name as if written Carey, and hence the surnames have been accounted identical.” (Lower, Mark Anthony. Patronymica Britannica. A Dictionary of the Family Names of the United Kingdom. London : John Russell Smith, 1860 )
Much of what is currently known or suspected about this family can be accessed here.
Haplogroup R1b Lineage II
Haplogroup R1b Lineage II currently consists of 10 men assigned to the lineage and 1 more possible member. The men in this lineage are positive for the SNP M269 which places them in the R1b1a2 haplogroup. Several of them have undergone specific deep clade testing to further refine their haplogroup beyond M269. The results to date indicate that this group is positive for the SNP currently known as L226, which places them in the M269 cluster currently known as Irish Type III. More information on L226 sub-clade is available here.
Five of the men in the lineage are connected in a single tree in which the earliest known ancestor is Thomas Cary,whose family emigrated from England in the 1660s, living first in Virginia and then Maryland. Two other members of this lineage have a suspected but currently unidentified connection to this group. Their tree begins in Maryland and a comparison of their DNA results with the men above suggests a most recent common ancestor not many generations before the start of their tree.
Thomas Cary patented `Carys adventure´ on Great Monye Creek in Somerset Co., Maryland, in 1666. Later, possibly in the 1670s, some of the family moved to Delaware where they are said to have owned lands in the present-day Assateague Island area and in and around Lewes and Rehobeth.
Haplogroup R1b Lineage III
There are currently 6 men identified as members of Haplogroup R1b Lineage II and another possible member. Family connections for four members are identified in a pedigree that begins with a James Cary who was living in Abingdon parish, Gloucester Co. Virginia inthe 1689. Their combined pedigree differs in the early generations from that given by Fairfax Harrisonin his book TheVirginia Carys (DevinePress NY 1919), which mainly focused on descendants of early Virginia immigrant Miles Cary. Harrison could find no evidence for a positive identification of this James but rejected suggestions that James was a descendant of Miles Cary. At this time, that rejection is supported by results from the Carey/Cary DNA project since there is not a close match between the members of this lineage and the DNA results of the single project member who has submitted a pedigree linking himself to Miles. However, before concluding that to be the case, it would be desirable to have a lineage with Miles as the patriarch which requires more project members from his line.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage IV
We have identified six men as members of Haplogroup R1b Lineage IV. Four of these men have indicated earliest ancestors from Tipperary. All the men in this lineage have many matches in common with the values for key markers identified by Nordtvedt as characteristic of a South Irish haplotype that is currently called Irish TypeII or South Irish R1b. One of these men has tested positive for CTS4466, one of the defining SNPs of Irish type II. An introduction to this haplotype is available here and a shortened version of the modal here. All six men in this lineage have mismatches with the modal at the same markers. All the men in this lineage have DYS442=12 (South Irish R1bmodal DYS442=13). Three of the men in this lineage have DYS458=16 and three have DYS458=14 (South Irish modal DYS458=17). These latter three men are the only members of the Carey/Cary DNA project to have DYS458=14. This may be a distinctive marker for their branch of the lineage.
The origin of this lineage might have been the ÓCarráin/Ó Corráin, an Eoghanacht sept who held lands round Mobernan, near Fethard in South Tipperary. Ó Carráin/Ó Corráin was anglicised early as Carrane, Carrone, Curran(e), Carew, and Carey.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage V
Currently, there are five project members confirmed as belonging to this lineage. Three of these individuals are linked in a single pedigree that has as its earliest known ancestor Johnathon Cary, of Somerset Co. MD.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage VI - ANon-Carey Lineage in the Carey/Cary y-DNA Project
We have grouped three men in this lineage in the Carey/Cary DNA Project although they are named Gordy. Testing of their DNA was conducted to investigate whether their common ancestor was a Cary from our Haplogroup R1b - Lineage I and the results do not support that hypothesis. The hypothesis was based on court transcripts from Sussex County, DE in 1698 and 1699, where a woman named Rose Crouch Taylor appeared before the courts charged with having two illegitimate children by John Cary, the son of Thomas Cary. In her trial, Rose Taylor denied that the children were John Cary’s and claimed that they were fathered by her husband John Taylor, who may have been deceased at the time. Rose Taylor was found not guilty for want of evidence. Rose Taylor subsequently married an Adrian Gardee (Gordy) and the children assumed that name. In 2007, three male Gordy descendants joined the Carey DNA project hoping to use modern science to resolve whether John Cary was their ancestor. Although the results indicated that John Cary was not their ancestor, the members of the Gordy family involved in this investigation requested that this lineage remain as part of the Carey DNA Project as an aid to others considering a similar investigation. A more complete description of this interesting story, including transcripts of the trial, can be found here.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage VII
Currently, there are two project members confirmed as belonging to this lineage. They are linked in a single pedigree that has as its earliest known ancestor John Carey, who was born in Buckinghamshire, England, in 1680. His son John, who was born in Buckinghamshire in 1707, emigrated to America around 1725, spending the rest of his life in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania. Much information can be found in the family history written by Dorothy Carey Toennies (Branches of the John Carey family to Virginia, N. Carolina, Ohio and on west) that was published in 1977.
Haplogroup R1b Lineage VIII
There are three members of this lineage at this time. Pedigrees have been submitted by all three of these members that show earliest identified ancestors from the Bahamas. Two members are linked in one pedigree. The pedigree of the third project member of this lineage goes back as far as the early 1800s but a family connection to the others has not been identified. Deep clade testing for one of these men indicates that he is a member of the P312 subclade of R1b.
There were Careys connected to the Bahamas from its earliest days as an English colony. Eleuthera is the oldest settled island in the group. The first enumeration of the inhabitants of Eleuthera, which likely dates from 1650-1700, includes: William and Mary Carey, whose family included a son William; John Carey, whose family included Richard, Mark and Abraham; and, a single man named John Carey. One of these may have been the John Carey was a representative for the island of Eleuthera at the colonial Assembly of 1728. A Mark Carey, his wife and three children and an Elizabeth Carey with her three children were among a group of people who returned to the Bahamas from Florida after the American Revolution, landing in New Providence in 1784. (Bethell, A. Talbot. The Early Settlers of the Bahamas and Colonists of North America. Clearfield Co., Norfolk England, 1937.)
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage IX
Haplogroup R1b Lineage X
Haplogroup R1b Lineage X consists of six identified members and two additional possible members. Three members of this lineage have submitted pedigrees with earliest identified ancestors from Ireland but a family connection has not been identified. A probabilistic comparison of their results suggests a common ancestor well before the start of their pedigrees. Four of them have undergone deep clade testing and been found positive for the M222 SNP, a mutation associated with many individuals whose roots lie in the counties of Northwest Ireland, Ulster and Lowland Scotland. More information on M222 is available here. Several of these men have undertaken more advanced SNP testing that suggests that this identified lineage is actually at least two lineages that likely separated well before surnames were common in Ireland.
We have identified two men as members of Haplogroup R1b Lineage XI. Both have identified earliest known ancestors from Ireland,but their family connection has not been established.
Haplogroup R1b - Lineage XII
We have identified two men as members of Haplogroup R1b Lineage XII. Neither has submitted a pedigree and their family connection has not been established.