Y-DNA testing has enabled us to group together Renshaw and Rencher cousins. When you click on the DNA Results link onthe left side of the page, you will see that there are blocks of test results.These are grouped according to DNA results and also according to their known migration and family relationships.

Ancestral Haplotype. The results for the men in the top yellow block with ancestors from Leicestershire and from an area near the old Cheshire / Lancashire border are thought to represent the "ancestral haplotype" – the oldest Y-DNA values for the related Renshaws and Renchers from England based on current knowledge. If we create a phylogram of the results from these obviously-related Renshaws, the result looks like a modified starburst with the ancestral haplotype in the middle and the other subgroups radiating out from the center. We can also describe this effect as, "The ancestral haplotype has the greatest number of close matches."

The ancestors of the men in the first groups, lived in England, mostly in several adjacent counties in the Midlands.The Renshaws in these first sections are all related, although some of the relationships are at a distance of 400 years to the most recent common ancestor. For instance, one of the descendants of John Grant Rencher or "JGR" is a perfect DNA match on 67 markers with two other known Renshaw lines. John Grant Rencher's family lived in Ireland for 100 years or so after arriving there from England by way of Scotland sometime around 1680. JGR himself migrated to the American continent from Ireland just in time to fight in the Revolutionary War. A descendant of John Renshaw, b. 1753, arrived in Delaware from Cheshire, England in about 1850. He is a perfect match with JGR's line. A third perfect DNA match is with a line which immigrated from Lancashire, England to Rhode Island in 1899. The DNA values of these three men form the"ancestral haplotype" for the following related family groups of Renshaws:

Groups 1A: These are Renshaws who are known or suspected descendants of Thomas Renshaw, the immigrant to Baltimore, Maryland by 1710. They match the ancestral haplotype at 65 of 67 points or markers.

Group 1C: This is the branch from Burlington, New Jersey and John Renshaw, b. 1686 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.This branch is also 65 of 67 with the ancestral haplotype, although some of the mutations are again on different markers. 

Note marker #511, the last one in the fourth panel of markers. Only the men who have upgraded to 67 markers have results in this column.  It is useful because it shows that the Baltimore, Maryland in Groups 1A and 1B and the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Renshaws in Group 1C probably shared an ancestor after there was a split with the ancestral haplotype. The Baltimore and Philadelphia men have the value of 11 at #511; all the others have 10 at this marker.

Group 1D: This branch settled in Somerset Co., MD by about 1655 and also matches the ancestral haplotype at 65 of 67 markers. The differences, called "mutations", are not the same as those of the Baltimore branch, so the two branches probably split off separately from ancestral line.

Group 2: These are representatives of lines in Lancashire Co., England. One line descends from John Renshaw, b. 1713 in Lancashire, died in 1785 in Kent. Another has James Renshaw, b. 1802 in Lancashire as the furthest back ancestor.

Group 3: The Scots-Irish Renshawsinclude the following families:
A.  Descendants of William Renshaw or Runshaw who emigrated to North America from NorthernIreland about 1850.
B.  A Renshaw family in Luzerne Co., PA who came from Scotland in the 1880's.
C.  The Runcheys of Canada who immigrated from Ireland in about1843.
D.  The Irish Renshaws of Philadelphiawho arrived in the 1880s

Group C: Two Renshaw / Olorenshaw fromWarwickshire, UK have tested. They match each other but no one else.

Group S: These subgroups contain many Renshaw cousins with different surnames.

There are also a number of men who do not yet have DNA matches or have a different haplotype. Their earliest known ancestor/line is listed next to their Kit number/name. Some of these men may have had an adoption or other unrecorded paternal event in their line. Some of the men may come from Renshaw lines which do not have any living representatives or whose other representatives have not yet tested. We continue to test Renshaws in the hopes of finding family groups for as many as possible.

We are pleased that there are project members from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand as well as men from the UK and the US in this group, and we would like to find more who are interested inY-DNA testing. If you know of anyone, please suggest that they join the project and take at least a Y-DNA 67 test. Also, don't forget that the Family Finder test is available so we can connect both male and female testers to their lines and each other. If you or a family member have previously tested your autosomal DNA at 23andMe© or AncestryDNA™, you may transfer your results to Family Tree DNA by uploading your raw data file. For more information, check this link.

If you would like to learn more about the results, please contact the current project administrator by clicking the link in the left column.