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Project Member Pedigrees
The following pedigrees posted here represent those Y-DNA testers within the project that have given permission to share their kit number and known pedigree up to their Most Distant Known Ancestor (MDKA). Dates next to the "Kit no." represent the date which the kit donor gave permission for sharing their semi-anonymized pedigree. Each Pedigree Group is broken down by HAPLOGROUP - LINEAGE. Lineage grouping simply means that the lineage did not share matches with other lineages within the same haplogroup...i.e., do not match those in other groups within a surname era. These lines may not always represent absolute genealogical certainty; use with caution. All project members interested in participating in this pedigrees section can submit to me via email to zack.potterproject@gmail.com their kit number, pedigrees to most distant known ancestor, and your permission to share the Pedigree.Haplogroup I - Lineage I (9 members)
This group consists of 9 men with the surname Potter. The I haplogroup is typically Scandinavian. When found in Great Britain, it indicates arrival either with the Norse invasions of 800-1,000 A.D or as part of the Norman invasion of 1066 led by William the Conqueror who was of Danish descent. According to Ken Norvick’s classification, Group I originated in Norway.1 The name Potter which is English, was adopted later. Family history recounts that the first American Potter in this lineage was Thomas Potter (abt 1710 England-1782 NC) who lived in Virginia and later North Carolina. He is credited with seven sons - Adam, Benjamin, John, Daniel, William, Stephen, and Thomas Jr. They were all born in England except Thomas Jr., born in Virginia.2 So far, descendants of Benjamin, Daniel, and Thomas Jr., have been identified.
Both DNA findings and documents are available for the descendants of Thomas Potter Jr. The descendants of Thomas Jr. through his son William, share a distinctive marker of 15 on DYS 456, while all other Potters sampled are 14. DNA first identified two descendants of John Potter (1763 VA-1807 TN). Recently, Revolutionary War documents became available, providing strong circumstantial evidence that Daniel Potter was their father.3 The descendants of Benjamin Potter by contrast, have a unique mutation on marker DYS 390. The earliest ancestor listed for Kit # 142449 was William Columbus, no date. Since this name was used for three generations, we cannot be sure of his pedigree beyond the first one. However, this relatively unusual name appears in the lineage of Stephen Potter, son of Benjamin and the descendant of William Columbus matches that of another son of Benjamin, Kit # B2411, Benjamin Potter Jr. The two of them are different from all other Potters on DYS 390. They are 24 for that marker, while all others are 23. This leaves Kits # 185447 and 87401. The latter provided no pedigree and so cannot considered. Kit # 185447, now deceased, provided only his own name to his kit but obituaries and family trees posted by his family elsewhere take his line back to a Richard Potter in Georgia whose father is not known, but whose grandfather must have been Thomas Sr. given his perfect DNA match to other Potters.
1. http://members.bex.net/jtcullen515/HaploTest.htm↩2. “Family Stories and historic events of Grindal Shoals, Union Co., South Carolina”, Part III, Robert A. Ivey, Grindal Shoals Gazette, Reprinted Ancestry.com.
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/61540546/person/42072953688/story/840b7ef7-b47e-4779-b5ec-c35c6a1fb052?usePUBJs=true↩
3. “William Potter, North Carolina” Revolutionary Rolls & Service Records https://www.fold3.com/image/246/27198230
“William Potter, North Carolina”, Revolutionary War Pension Applications, Fold3.com. https://www.fold3.com/image/246/27198216 ↩
Thomas Potter Jr. Descendants
Kits no. 129516 and 143062
Joe Potter [potterj1 AT mac.com]
Kits no. 364866
Jan Sacherer [janice.sacherer AT faculty.umuc.edu]
Daniel Potter Descendants
Kit no. 403239
John Potter [Vanna_Potter2009@yahoo.com]
Kit no. 403239
[ajgallion AT gmail.com]
Benjamin Potter Descendants
Kit no. 142449
Kit no. B2411
[ambsew AT gmail.com]
Kit no. 185447
Kit no. 87401
Not known; pedigree not provided.