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OUR Y-DNA PARTICIPANTS

We are indeed grateful to the folks who bear the surnames included in our project, and who have graciously consented to participate. No other claims or suppositions--unless explicitly stated--are intended or presumed about these family lines. Our sole purpose has been to attempt to show what DNA analysis might reveal about suspected possible relationships between these surnames/families and the ARTERBURN surname/family, some of which also share ambiguous name origins:


Our first ARTERBURN participant (#67603) is a 7th-generation American descendant of Peter Arterburn (ca. 1740-1803) of Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Our second ARTERBURN participant (#105560) is an 8th-generation American descendant of William Arterburn (ca. 1740-1817) of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Our ARTERBERRY participant is an American descendant of John Atterberry (ca.1520-1588) of Great Houghton, England.

Our ARTHABER participant is a contemporary American emigrant from Vienna, Austria.

Our OTTERBEIN participant is an American descendant of the German immigrant, Philip William Otterbein (1726-1813).

Our OTTERBURN participant is a contemporary American emigrant from England, whose family originally inhabited northeast England.

Our EDEBURN participant is an American descendant of Jacob Edeburn (d. before 1804), of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Whether Jacob was an immigrant isn't known, but descendants believe the family ultimately came from either Scotland or Germany. "Edeborn" appears in 17th-century German church records (see IGI), which may be a clue to the ultimate origin of this family/surname.

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DNA MARKER ANALYSIS

The 12-marker DNA test is considered sufficient for initial testing to reveal a common ancestor (with shared Haplotypes). The 25, 37 and 67-marker tests are best for narrowing the scope to more recent generations, or to clarify ambiguous results. Using the 12-marker DNA test, our results show different Haplotypes (Haplogroups) and decisive Genetic Distance between ARTERBURN and all of our other surname participants! Also, none of our participants appear to be related to each other.

Genetic Distance, the measure of mathematical probability of relationship, is indicated by comparing the numbers in each row of each participant, with those of every other participant, for each designated marker, or "allele" (top row of red and black numbers).

A Genetic Distance of "4" or more steps removed, among 12 markers, indicates no relation whatsoever--within a meaningful (era of surnames) time frame. The Genetic Distance from ARTERBURN of these other surnames is as follows:

ARTERBERRY=7
ARTHABER=12
EDEBURN=14
OTTERBEIN=13
OTTERBURN=6

Note that the other surnames tested all have significant Genetic Distance from ARTERBURN occurring among black markers. Black markers have been found to be stable and unchanging across generations. More importantly, the Haplogroup results, or family genetic group, of each of these surnames is different (see explanation of Haplogroups below) when compared to ARTERBURN, which definitively reinforces that these family lines do not share a recent common ancestor.

The results for the two ARTERBURN samples were perfectly matched in the first 12-markers, with a Genetic Distance of "2" among 25-markers. Both samples yielded an identical Haplotype, or Haplogroup, "R1a1." The expanded 37-marker test resulted in an overall match of 34 of 37 markers, with a total Genetic Distance of "3" in markers, #449, #464d, and #576. These have been designated mutating markers (red) by FTDNA, as confirmed by thousands of DNA samples tested thus far. Mutating markers have been found to be comparatively unstable and more likely to change over many generations.

According to FTDNA, these results confirm that both ARTERBURN test participants had a recent common ancestor, and the documentary evidence also clearly supports this. However, the DNA evidence, even if perfectly matched, would not disclose whether that recent common ancestor was father to PETER and WILLIAM, or possibly one or more generations beyond them. In other words, in the absence of other evidence to the contrary, it's equally possible that PETER and WILLIAM could have been cousins. Our best evidence, albeit indirect, seems to indicate that they were brothers, but actual proof of this has never been found.

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HAPLOGROUP ANALYSIS

In human genetics, a Human Y-chromosome DNA Haplogroup is defined by differences in the non-recombining portions of DNA from the Y chromosome, called Y-DNA (Wikipedia). These enduring clusters or patterns of nucleotide markers with their SNPs passed down from generation to generation in human males are used to identify distinct groups or branches, or Haplogroups, of the human genetic family tree:

The ARTERBURN Haplogroup is R1a1 (R-M198).

Six different subclades or branches--each a distinct group--of R1a have been discovered:

R1a1 (Typical of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Southern Asia)

R1a1a (Significant minority of Eastern Europe)

R1a1b (Low frequency in Scotland, Ireland, France)

R1a1c (Low frequency in Scotland, Ireland)

R1a1d

R1a1e

The ARTERBERRY Haplogroup is R1b1b2.

The OTTERBURN Haplogroup is R1b1b2.

The OTTERBEIN Haplogroup is I1.

The EDEBURN Haplogroup is J2.

The ARTHABER Haplogroup is currently undefined.

The ARTERBURN Haplotype will not change, although its nomenclature may change as it becomes more clearly defined with new genetic testing and research. Information about the worldwide distribution of our group will continue to grow and evolve, and may eventually help to clarify the ultimate geographic origin and subsequent migrations of both our remote and more recent ancestors.

For more information about the origin and migration of these human genetic populations, as represented by Haplogroups, visit National Geographic Society's Genographic Project.

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CAVEATS and CONCLUSIONS

According to FTDNA, these test results essentially prove that our ARTERBURN participants are not related to either the ARTERBERRY, ARTHABER, EDEBURN, OTTERBEIN, or OTTERBURN individuals represented here--at least, not within the past several thousand years.

Are these test results conclusive, then? The answer has to be a qualified: "Yes, but...." Ideally, we should have at least two different samples, or participants, to represent each surname/family line to statistically establish that line. The possibility remains that one of our tested surnames could represent one family among two or more unrelated family lines with the same or very similar surname. Some surnames appear to have undergone transformation since the time they were first used as the English and Germanic languages and cultures changed, and were misspelled and respelled with changing times and as migration across continents occurred. Some surnames may have been adopted or simply borrowed (e.g., servants or retainers). Also, similar sounding but different names, representing different families, may have been conflated into one or more similar names of more or less uniform spelling over time--especially in America. What appear to be early variant spellings of one and the same name may, in some cases, actually conceal different original names or families. Further complicating the picture is the factor of shared or similar occupational (e.g., Smith) and place (e.g., Born, Bourne, Burn) names across different families with different homelands of origin. In the absence of clear paper trails, it may be virtually impossible to sort them all out.

There is also the paternity factor that can skew results, if there was a (possibly unknown or suppressed) father from a different family line responsible for any male link in the chain of the family line tested. Our OTTERBURN and ARTHABER participants are both immigrants themselves, having come directly from their native homelands to America. Our ARTERBERRY, EDEBURN, and OTTERBEIN participants have researched their family lines. As far as can be known, we have no reason to suspect paternity issues.

The ARTERBURN Haplotype seems to be in agreement with other historical and genealogical evidence that our first ARTERBURN ancestor(s) in America was most probably a late 17th-century or early 18th-century emigrant of Continental origin, probably German-speaking, and possibly with an intervening period of migration to or through the British Isles. The prevalence of the R1a Haplogroup in Eastern Europe and Western Asia and its relatively low frequency in Western Europe and the British Isles generally support this hypothesis, as does the lack of documentary evidence for an ARTERBURN ancestry in the British Isles or Western Europe.

Also worth noting here is that the two subclades of R1a that have been most commonly found in low frequency in Western Europe and the British Isles are R1a1b and R1a1c, not R1a1. This seems to point to the greater likelihood of later migrations of R1a1 to the British Isles or America, especially during the 17th-18th centuries. Such likelihood seems increased, in cases of descendants attempting to trace the origin of a family line, when an ancestor cannot be documented beyond one or two generations in the British Isles, or when other clues of an ultimate Continental origin are present.

If we are fortunate to have a DNA match occur in the future, we may or may not discover an Old World common ancestor with a different surname. Unless we are equally fortunate to find a corresponding paper trail, though, we may never be able to pinpoint that earlier ancestor, or know exactly when or how our immigrant ancestor(s) made his/their transit to the New World, or when our name may have been changed.

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RELATED DNA PROJECTS

The following projects at FTDNA represent efforts to compare and study DNA distributions to achieve a better understanding of ancestral migration patterns in specific countries or regions. The ARTERBURN test results have been included in three of these projects, as indicated below:


1. The goal of the R1a Y-Chromosome Haplogroup Project is to study the geographical distribution of members of this particular Haplogroup. The ARTERBURN test results have been included in this project. Search/find "Arterburn" to view our profile on the chart.


2. The Pennsylvania Deutsch/Colonial USA German DNA Project aims to explore possible reasons for the appearance of Asian and Eurasian Haplotypes among German immigrants to America before the 19th century. Participants must either have documented Pennsylvania Deutsch immigrant ancestors, or German immigrant ancestors in other American Colonies, or have strong suspicion of ancestors of German origin, in either their YDNA (paternal) or mtDNA (maternal) line.

This chart displays YDNA test results of all participants with pre-1800 German ancestors in those American Colonies other than Pennsylvania, and includes the ARTERBURN test results. Search/find "Arterburn" to view our profile on the chart.


3. The Germany DNA Project compares and studies the test results of American descendants of documented German immigrants, in either their YDNA (paternal) or mtDNA (maternal) line.

This chart displays those YDNA participants with R1a Haplotypes.

This chart displays Haplotype results for all mtDNA participants who have tested their maternal line.


4. The British Isles DNA Project compares and studies the YDNA and mtDNA test results of those participants with documented ancestors who lived in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands, or Isle of Man. The ARTERBURN test results have been included. Search/find "Arterburn" to view our profile on the chart.

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Copyright 2007-2009, Charles R. Arterburn. All rights reserved. Commercial use is not allowed without specific written permission. The above information is free for personal users and family researchers. Attribution is expected in derivative works and a share-alike license applies. All works cited and/or hyperlinked as reference sources are also under copyright protection.

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{Last Updated: September 18, 2009}