Results
Click on the "Y Results" tab (above, right) to see the actual test results.
To recap, listed below are all participants to date in all families. Within each family, the participants have closely matched DNA results, predicting a high probability that they share a common ancestor. Please remember not to get too hung up on the different spellings of the surname. What I have found in written family histories, is that whatever incarnation of the name the modern researcher has, that is the name that he/she attributes to the earlier ancestors. The important thing to keep in mind is that within each family, it is all the same original surname. (I was once working with a professional researcher in Virginia who said, “I must say I’ve rarely seen so many variations of a surname. You win some sort of prize!”)
Family 1 Participants: (Original surname is Stutchbury or Stuchbury)
1. A descendant of Robert STOKESBERRY (b. ca 1780, prob. VA; d. 1839 Ross Co, OH). Descendants of this line also use the STOKESBURY spelling. This participant is my father, Elwood Stokesbury, Sr., Michigan, USA; contact me, Linda Stokesbury Brennan, Linda@stokesbury.org. I believe it is almost certain that Robert’s father is John Strichbury/Stretchberry from Shenandoah Co., VA. Given the DNA evidence, my thoughts are that John is the same John who is earlier in Loudoun Co., VA. Further, it’s my theory that John is the son of Robert Stukesbury/Stutchbury, Sr. and his second wife, Elizabeth Heuitt/Hewitt.
2. A descendant of John STOKESBERRY (b. 9 Jul 1772, VA; d. 22 Nov 1839, IN). This participant is Teri William’s brother, Robert Stokesberry, California, USA; contact Teri Williams, calteri AT mac.com. Our working theory is that John is a brother of Robert STOKESBERRY (b. ca 1780).
5. A second descendant of Robert STOKESBERRY (b. ca 1780, prob. VA; d. 1839 Ross Co, OH—see participant 1). This participant’s name is Jack Stokesberry, USA; JSTOKESBER AT mchsi.com. He is a descendant of Harvey Stokesberry, son of Robert (b. ca 1780).
7. A descendant of Joshua Stokesbary, Sr. (b. ca 1780-1790, prob. VA, d. bef. 1840). This participant is Jerome Stokesbary, USA; jkstokes AT mchsi.com. Joshua, Sr. and Robert (b. ca 1780) are probably brothers. Descendants of this branch continue to spell the name with a bary ending.
8. A descendant of Jacob Stooksbury (b. 10 May 1753, Loudoun Co., VA, d. aft. 1839). This participant’s name is Michael Stooksberry, USA; mstooksberry AT utk.edu. Jacob is the only proven (by primary records) son of Robert Stukesbury/Stutchbury, Sr. and his first wife whose name is unknown.
10. A descendant of James Stutchbury (b. 1645, England). This participant is Geoffrey James Stutchbury, Australia; geofstutch AT optusnet.com.au. He has produced a cd of extensive data on the Stutchbury name; it includes complete copies of several books by Hugh Stuchbery (assisted by Robin Stutchbury), and histories of the town of Stuchbury, England.
11. A descendant of William Stokesberry, Sr. (bc 1710). His name is Donald Stokesberry, and he lives in Arizona; the sponsor of this test, and contact is Liz Stookesberry Myers, stookesberry AT gmail.com
Family 2 Participants: (Original name is Stotesbury)
3. A descendant of John STOKESBURY (Freshford Parish, Kilkenny, Ireland, ca. early 1800s). JTStokesbury; jtstokesbury AT aol.com. This descendant is John T. Stokesbury, Connecticut, USA, from a branch that immigrated via Ireland in the early- to mid-1800s.
4. A descendant of Robert STOTESBURY (Lambeth, England, b. ca. 1750). This participant lives in Finland now and his name is John A. Stotesbury; jstotesb AT joyx.joensuu.fi. His ancestors go back to England.
6. A descendant of John STOTESBURY (Deptford, Kent, England, d. 1834). This participant is Richard Stotesbury, England; richard.stotesbury AT virgin.net. He has written a book on his English Stotesburys.
9. A descendant of William STOKESBERRY (b. 1816 d. 05 08 1885; Farmer/butcher in Belfast, Ireland). This participant is Brian Stokesberry, Ireland; stoaksberry AT utvinternet.com. (Note: I’ve been unable to contact Brian recently. The e-mail listed here is outdated. Please let me know if you have a new e-mail for him.)
Family 3 Participant:
12. A descendant of Thomas STUCHBURY (Stutchbury) (b. 1691 d. 1760, England.) This participant is Les Howard Stuchbree from Australia. This is known as the Hillesden, Buckinghamshire, England, line.
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If you’d like to look at the actual test results, go to the project web site at:
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/stokesburyDNAproject
and click on the “Y Results” tab located in the menu on the left side of the page.
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Discussion of Results for Family 1:
Participants 1 and 2:
The results for the first two participants show a very close match, with a high probability that they shared a common ancestor between 200-300 years ago. We had long speculated that the earliest proven ancestor in each of those two lines—John Stokesbury (b. 9 Jul 1772, VA; d. 22 Nov 1839, IN), and Robert Stokesberry (b. ca 1780, prob. VA; d. 1839 Ross Co, OH)—were possibly brothers. That seems more probable now.
Upgrade for Participants #1 & #2:
The results are in for an upgrade to the 67-marker test for participant #1 and participant #2. We wanted to further refine the probabilities and timeframes, since we had a 2-step difference in the results at the 37-marker level. While significant, the results at that level weren’t as conclusive as we would have liked. The results of the upgrade, however, predict the greatest probability for the most recent common ancestor at 6 generations ago. This result is consistent with the theory that John Stokesbury (b. 9 Jul 1772, VA; d. 22 Nov 1839, IN), and Robert Stokesberry (b. ca 1780, prob. VA; d. 1839 Ross Co, OH) were, in fact, brothers.
Participant #5:
This is another known descendant of Robert Stokesberry, and shows an exact match with participant #1, validating the DNA for that family. This is a critical piece of data for this family, proving a relationship that had been circumstantially shown, but no proof had been found to date.
Participant 7:
The test results show a perfect match with participants #1 & #5, descendants of Robert Stokesberry (also in Licking Co., OH in 1820). The families are definitely related, and the results support the theory that Joshua and Robert were brothers.
We have now identified three individuals that we suspect were brothers, and the DNA evidence tends to support this theory. The three brothers are:
1. Robert STOKESBERRY (b. ca 1780-90, prob. VA; d. 1839 Fayette Co, OH)
(Many descendants spell the name Stokesbury)
md. Anna Baughman, 1812 VA
2. John Stokesberry (b. 9 Jul 1772, VA; d. 22 Nov 1839, IN)
md. Jane Moore, 1793 OH
3. Joshua Stokesbury (b. ca 1780-90; d. ?)
(Many descendants spell the name Stokesbary)
md. Elizabeth Sennit, 1818 OH
We have also speculated that their father was John Strichberry (Stokesberry) from Shenandoah Co., VA. To help further substantiate that supposition, it would be most helpful to find a descendant of the Stretchberry line to participate in the study. If you know of any contacts in those lines, please let them know about the project.
Participant #8:
The testing on participant #8, the Stooksbury/berry line, resulted in a major breakthrough and showed that they are definitely a part of Family 1. A very close match with participants 1 & 2 predicted the greatest probability that they shared a common ancestor 200-300 years ago. The most probable scenario is that the father of Jacob Stukesbury is Robert Stukesbury, Jr. who would have been the half brother of John Strichberry (Stokesberry), the ancestor of participants 1, 2, 5 & 7. John is most probably the son of Robert Stukesbury, Sr., and his second wife, Elizabeth Hewitt. This adds to the probability that Jacob is not a descendant of "Sir" William Stokesbury, as one family legend outlines.
Participant #10:
Results from this participant’s test constitute another breakthrough for the members of family #1. At the 12-marker level, we have a perfect match with four of the participants from this family. At this point we can say there is a very high probability that we share a common ancestor between 9-12 generations ago, or roughly 300+ years. Armed with this knowledge, we can see that certain historical records make more sense. Such as, the name of the earliest common ancestor of family 1 was recorded in Bucks County, PA, USA as Robert Stuchbury/Stutchbury. And when you see the name Stutchbury written in the old style cursive, you see that it could easily be misinterpreted as Stretchberry, which is the spelling that one branch of descendants adopted. It’s possible that the ancestors of family 1 originally came from the long-gone village of Stuchbury, which was located in the southern part of Northamptonshire in England about 20 miles southwest of Northampton and about 60 miles northwest of London. We anxiously await the results of the 25- and 37-marker levels, which will help further refine the probabilities.
Participant #12:
This participant is a descendant of the USA family that descends from the gentleman who, according to some family histories is known as “Sir” William Stookesberry/ Stokesberry (bc 1710). I refer to him as the infamous “Sir” William because there has never been any proof produced to support this claim, and serious researchers consider it simply family legend with no basis in fact. This participant’s name is Donald Stokesberry, Arizona; the sponsor of this test, and contact is Liz Stookesberry Myers, stookesberry AT gmail.com.
Results from this participant’s test constitute another breakthrough; we can now say with certainty that this participant is a part of Family 1.
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Discussion of Results for Family 2:
Participant 3, 4 & 6:
The results for participant 3 show no correlation to the first two participants. There is probably no recent relationship between these two families. Chances are that they adopted a similar surname far back in time, but were not related.
4th participant:
Resuls show a probability of a common ancestor with the 3rd participant. The two of them probably shared a common ancestor between 200-300 years ago, possibly as long as 300 to 400 years ago.
6th participant:
Results match exactly with participant #4, showing that these three participants are part of the same family.
Participant #9:
Test results put this participant firmly in Family #2. Comparing his results with participants #3 & #4 predict that the greatest probability for their most recent common ancestors would be between 6-10 generations ago. In comparing the results with participant #6, their most recent common ancestor is probably 12-16 generations ago
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Discussion of Results for Family 2:
Participant #11:
A descendant of Thomas STUCHBURY (Stutchbury) (b. 1691 d. 1760; This is the Hillesden line from Buckinghamshire, England.) This participant is Les Howard Stuchbree from Australia; the sponsor of this test, and contact is Robin Stutchbury, aips AT tpg.com.au. Test results on this participant do not match with either of the two family lines we have identified so far. At this time, until we have another descendant from this line to test, we don’t know if this is an anomaly or not. For the time being, we are placing him in a new family, Family 3. If you want more information regarding the possible explanations of this result, please contact the project administrator (linda@stokesbury.org).
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We are currently actively seeking more participants, especially those with variant spellings of the name.
If you are interested in joining our DNA study, please click on the "Join this group" link at the top of the blue column to the left. Or contact the project administrator (linda@stokesbury.org) for additional information.
To contribute to the project, click on the “Contribute to the Surname Project General Fund" link at the top left.
Contact the project administrator for further information or if you have any questions: linda@stokesbury.org