The Benges and similar surnames - Family Project Website

The Benges and similar surnames

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Group Administrator: Don Chesnut donchesnut@hotmail.com

Project Surnames:

Bange	Belinger	Bellenger	Bellinger
Bench	Benge	Bengen	Benger
Benges	Bengesson	Bengey	Bengs
Bengsch	Beninger	Benjey	Beringer
Binch	Bing	Binge	Byng
Bynge

Project Background:

This project will test whether people with the following surnames are related, and, if so, how distantly related they are. The surnames to be tested are: Benge, Bange, Binge, Bench, Bynge, Benjey, Bengey, Bing, Bunch and others.

See our BENGE Surname Home Page

Join the Benge e-mail group.

Although this is not a Ballinger DNA study (one exists), we would like to test or compare several Ballinger/Ballenger participants to see if there is any connection among the Ballinger, Beninger, Benger and Benge lines. If you are a Ballenger/Ballinger, please consider also joining this study as well as the Ballenger study.

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Project Results:

This project includes all spelling variations including Bange, Bench, Benge, Beninger, Binge, Bynge, Bing, Bengey, Benjey and Binch. Currently we have 8 participants falling into four group (see Y Results at this webpage. All current participants are from the USA. Of the four groups, there are two main haplotypes (deep root divisions): I and R1b. These different haplotypes mean that the two male lines represented by the haplotypes are totally unrelated even though they both carry the Benge surname. This could be because the two groups adopted the Benge surname independently of each other. It could also mean that one of Benge groups derived their surname from their distant mother's side and that the distant father was not a Benge. Or a Benge father may have adopted a non-Benge child. An illegitimacy may have also occurred in the distant past to introduce a non-Benge into the Benge family.

The I haplotype is commonly referred to as the Nordic or Northern European haplogroup. Our Benge Group C and Benge Group D have the haplotype I. Benge Group C has five participants who descend from King David Benge (b.ca 1762) or one of his siblings. Their 12 markers are identical, indicating a likely common ancestor within the last 300 years as we suspected. Benge Group D has one participant, but six out of 12 markers do not match those of Benge Group C. This indicates that Benge Groups C and D do not have a common Benge male ancestor within a genealogical time frame. The reasons for this mismatch could be the same as those listed above.

The R1b haplotype is commonly referred to as the Western European haplogroup, one of the most common in western Europe and in the Anglo-American colonies. Our Benge Group E (or James Benge Group) and the outgroup Carpenter both have the R1b haplotype. The James Benge Group has two members, both descending from James Almon Benge whose father was James Henry Benge (b.ca 1798). Their twelve markers are identical to each other. The sole participant of the Carpenter outgroup doesn't match any of the Benge groups. His Y chromosome matches the Carpenter group. This individual has a Benge ancestor, but not on his patrilineal line. This would be expected. He is a Benge enthusiast however.

We did not find any Native American Y-chromosome haplotypes on any of the Benge lines tested so far. This result supports our genealogical studies for these lines. Any Native American genes would have been introduced along one or more of the many maternal lines, especially for the Trader John Benge descendants.

We now need new participants from Benge (and similar) families around the world to answer new questions about the Benge family. You can join from this webpage. Thanks, Don

DNA Test Results (mtDNA) for Project Members