Results
The Moffat Surname DNA Project now contains six distinct subgroups of members: Anglo-Saxon Frisians, Dalriadic Scots, Norse Vikings, Native Britons (Lines 1-3) and the Ui Neill Irish
Anglo-Saxon Frisians - This haplotype is formally known as R1b1b2a2g and has been known since 2005. Members of this subgroup have the single nucleotide polymorphism U152 (or S28). Populations with this SNP are concentrated in alpine Germany and Switzerland and are thought to be associated with the La Tene Celtic culture. It has not been discovered in Irish or Spanish populations and may have come to Britain between the 5th and 8th centuries A.D. with Anglo-Saxon and Frisian migrants to southeastern England and lowland Scotland. The two members in this subgroup only have a 38.12% chance of sharing a common ancestor in the last 24 generations and are probably only distantly related (by more than several hundred years).
Dalriadic Scots - Members of this subgroup share a common ancestor with the Ui Neill group about 5,000 years ago in northwest Ireland, where this haplotype is most prevalent. By ancient times, they had become a distinctly Celtic tribe of Iron Age farmers. They were known by Ptolemy, in the 2nd Century A.D. as the Voluntii. Modern scholars call them the Ulaid. By the 5th Century A.D., they had merged with surrounding tribes into a group called the Scotti, the people who gave their name to the modern nation of Scotland. Between the 6th and 8th Centuries A.D., this tribe established a kingdom on the west coast of Scotland called Dalriada. They eventually merged with the Picts to form the Kingdom of Alba, the precursor to medieval Scotland. It is very likely that members of this subgroup came to Scotland with their allies, the Ui Neill tribe, between 500 and 700 A.D. from the region of Ulster, Ireland.
Members of this subgroup share a common ancestor in the last few hundred years. Its members also share an extremely rare DYS marker value of 7 at 385a. This rare value probably arose after the 13th Century A.D., when surnames were adopted as it appears to be associated distinctly with “Moffat” males.
This subgroup (Dalriadic Scots) includes descendants of the following families:
1. Robert Moffitt (born abt. 1700, Moffat Wells, Dumfriesshire, Scotland) & Margaret Stewart. This couple are believed to be Plantation Scots who resided in Ulster in the early 18th Century. Several of their sons immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 1750s from Ireland and soon thereafter settled in the areas around Chatham and Randolph Counties, North Carolina. This family was active in the Regulator Movement in the 1760s-1770s, prior to the Revolutionary War. This family includes descendants of James Otis Clark, who is paternally descended from the Robert Moffitt listed above.
2. Benjamin Moffett (born bet. 1794-1796, prob. Virginia) & Elizabeth Daniels. Benjamin’s parents were John Moffett and Elizabeth, probable residents of Virginia. It is known that their descendants later lived in Shelby and Anderson Counties, Kentucky and include the children of John Moffett & Mary Briscoe, Benjamin Moffett & Susan Mary Sutherland, John Warner Moffett & Bessie Lee Brown and Collie Elmo Moffett.
3. Rutherfords. A number of DNA matches are occurring between members of this subgroup (Dalriadic Scots) and males with the surname “Rutherford” or “Retherford”. Currently there are four distinct Rutherford males who should be considered part of this family grouping. Their DNA results include the rare 385a marker value.
All four males can trace their families to colonial Virginia through historic records; though no common ancestor has yet been discovered for them. Based on small changes in the marker values at DYS CDYb and DYS 442, it is believed that this group shares a common ancestor with the descendants of Benjamin Moffett and Elizabeth Daniels (listed above).
Two of the Rutherford males whose DNA matches this subgroup could not have shared an ancestor before the 1740s, based on their pedigrees. As a result, it is probable that descendants of the following Rutherfords can trace their family lines to a “Moffat” male residing in Virginia in or before the 1740s: Reuben Robert Rutherford & Priscilla Staton, Reuben Rutherford & Mary Keesee, Henry Rutherford & Ruth van Meter, Archibald Henry Rutherford & Elizabeth Jane Glaze, John Archibald Rutherford & Mary A. Maddox, Charles Bennett Rutherford & Alfie Angeline Jones, Thomas C. Rutherford & Sarah Johnson, William R. Rutherford & Martha, Elijah R. Rutherford & Catherine Campbell and William Harrison Rutherford & Eliza Viola Wyrick.
American Rutherfords who trace their origins to Adam Rutherford (born abt. 1614 in Roxburghshire, Scotland, d. 1648, Jedburgh, Scotland) should be wary of making a genealogical connection without DNA testing to rule out a non-paternity event which may have occurred in this line in Virginia prior to the 1740s.
4. James Moffat (born abt. 1800, Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, Scotland) & Janet Christie. Descendants of this couple immigrated to Maryborough, Ontario, Canada and include the children of James Moffat & Maria M. Blough, Charles Moffat & Margaret Steanegal, and Carl Emerson Moffat & Velma Isabell Armentrout. Some members of this family left Canada in the 1950s and now reside in Texas.
Native Britons - Members placed in this subgroup are descendants of the original band of hunter-gatherers who crossed into Britain and Ireland around 8,000 years ago as the last ice age receded. Populations in the UK and Ireland today are comprised of 70-90% R1b males who share a single nucleotide polymorphism called M343. It may be possible in the near future to further distinguish members of this subgroup through deep clade testing. All of the other subgroups in the project, with the exception of the Norse Vikings group, share the R1b haplotype. The Oxford geneticist, Bryan Sykes, refers to this group as Oisin and it is generally recognised as part of the indigenous genetic bedrock of Ireland and Britain, a people later referred to variously as the Celts, Britons and Picts. Many members of this group can trace their families to Scotland through historical records.
Members of this subgroup have been assigned to lineages based on a recent common ancestry. These are as follows:
Native Britons Line 1 - Members of this subgroup share the M343 SNP that defines all R1b groups. Most members of this group trace their origins to Dumfriesshire, Scotland and have between a 68% and 90% chance of sharing a common ancestor in the last 24 generations (500-750 years). Kit 99016 is the outlier, with only a 36% chance of sharing a common ancestor with its closest match, Kit 148575, in the last 24 generations. This difference may indicate that Kit 99016 is either more distantly related to the group than the others or that its marker values have not deviated broadly from the modal R1b haplotype. This subgroup includes descendants of William Moffett (d. 1776, Scotland); Robert Moffitt (b. 1823/24 Scotland, d. 1913); George Moffat of Berwickshire (b. 1792); John Jordan Moffitt (b. 23 July 1811) and Gabriel Moffett (b. 1708-1714, Virginia).
Native Britons Line 2 –
Members of this subgroup share the M343 SNP that defines all R1b groups. Most members of this subgroup trace their origins to Plantation Scots who settled in Ireland after the 17th Century. Members of the subgroup are related. Kit 67266 has a 39% chance of sharing a common ancestor with Kit N8865 and a 67% of sharing a common ancestor with Kit 154036 within the last 24 generations (500-750 years). This subgroup includes descendants of Ephraim Moffitt (b. 1821, resident of New Carlisle Indiana, d. 1863, Galatin, Tennessee) & Caroline Bennett, John Maffitt (b. 1767, County Cork, Ireland, d. 1854, Old Fort, McDowell County, North Carolina), James Maffitt (b. 1748, Ireland, d. 1775, Rowan County, North Carolina) & Mary Donahue and John Maffitt (b. Ireland) & Miss Westlake.
Native Britons Line 3 –
At this time there is only one member of this subgroup (Kit 130439). This member shares the M343 SNP that defines all R1b groups. The closest match to Kit 130439 is Kit 96143. These two males have a 15% chance of sharing a common ancestor in the last 24 generations (500-750 years). The member of this subgroup has a haplotype with a similar DYS structure to the two haplotypes assigned to the Anglo-Saxon Frisian subgroup (including Kit 96143). It is possible that Kit 130439 will later be reassigned to that group pending a deep clade or SNP test that identifies the U152 (or S28) polymorphism.
The member of this group shares a number of close DNA matches with males having the surname “Barnum”. It is possible that this member may trace his paternal line to a male of the Barnum family within the last few hundred years.
Norse Vikings - Members of this subgroup have the R1a haplotype found predominantly among Scandinavian populations. This haplogroup (R1a) emerged around 15,000 years ago in the Ukraine and is common among Eastern European populations. They are thought to be associated with the expansion of the Indo-European languages. A study by the geneticist, Capelli (2003) determined that the Vikings are the likely source of R1a populations in the UK and Ireland. Viking raids began in Britain in the 790s and continued into the 11th century. The Normans, being of Viking descent, are also a possible contributor to R1a populations in the British Isles, arriving in England in 1066 A.D. The two members of this Viking subgroup are descended from the same Norseman and share a recent common ancestor (within the last 500 years). Based on the genetic difference between their markers, the two members of this subgroup have a 91.39% chance of sharing a common ancestor within 12 generations; a 97.65% chance of sharing a common ancestor within 16 generations and a 99.42% chance of sharing a common ancestor within 20 generations. The Oxford geneticist, Bryan Sykes, refers to this group as Sigurd in his book The Blood of the Isles (2006).
Ui Neill Irish - Members of this subgroup are descendants of the semi-mythical Irish King, Niall of the Nine Hostages or one of his male relatives. Niall is thought to have lived in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. His prolific descendants ruled Ulster and Leinster between the 6th and 10th centuries A.D and were at times both enemies and allies of the Dalriadic Scots listed above. This subgroup shares a common ancestor with the Dalriadic Scots subgroup around 5,000 years ago. Members of this subgroup share a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker at M222. The subclade is formally known as R1b1b2a2e and is especially associated with Scottish and Irish populations. It is likely to have entered Scotland through the Dalriadic migrations of the 6th to 8th Centuries A.D. (see Dalriadic Scots above).