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July 2008: So far, eleven of our fifteen members fall into three family groups. Two of the three groups are from major Withers families from whom many of the Withers in early America will have descended. We have also learned that the Weathers and Withers are distinctly different families--Haplogroup I (as in the capital of the letter "i") for the Weathers and Haplogroup R1b for the Withers. Among our members, we have one example of a Weathers using the Withers spelling and in other research Weathers using the Withers spelling have been identified.
The four groupings:
(1) Thomas Weathers of Surry County, Virginia (five matches)
(2) Samuel Withers of Henrico County, Virginia (four matches)
(3) William Withers of Stafford County, Virginia (two matches)
(4) Unassigned members (four non-matches).
It is said of the Thomas Weathers’ Haplogroup I :
"These lineage's are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe and would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe. The earliest settlements of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in England, beginning about 390 AD, were believed at least in part to be the result of the invitation by the native Britons (Celts) to help protect their coastal areas from pillaging by the Norsemen/Vikings, yet we commonly think of the Viking incursions or invasions into England "The Viking Era” as beginning about 787 AD and continuing on into the 11th century. The earliest Viking Era incursions into England came from the Vikings in what we would now call Norway, but by the ninth century the Vikings of Denmark had become so dominant that the term Dane substituted for Norsemen or Viking. By the ninth century the Danes were in control of pretty much all of England except a small part of southwest England where King Alfred was holed up. He later got other Britons organized and drove the Danes out of England, thus becoming Alfred the Great. However, other Viking/Dane incursions into England continued periodically until shortly before the Norman invasion in 1066."
It is said of Haplogroup R1b of the Withers descendants of Samuel and William:
Haplogroup R1b is the most common Haplogroup in European populations having expanded throughout Europe. The ethnic group represented by R1b spread out from the Iberian peninsula as humans re-colonized into Europe and Britain after the last glacial maximum (Ice Age) 10-12 thousand years ago. This Haplogroup is now identified as Celtic at least in Britain and Ireland, where it made up the indigenous population of Britain when the Romans invaded. Although it is possible that some of the native Celts had been assimilated by the Normans of France prior to the Norman invasion in 1066, having an R1b Haplogroup suggests that ones unbroken direct line male ancestry is likely derived from the ancient settlers of the British Isles.
Proving that the Weathers and Withers are distinctly different families is a very important because many researchers of Thomas and his descendants have wondered if he might have descended from the Withers’ families of northern Virginia, a notion that can now be dismissed. From the standpoint of this history of Thomas Weathers family of Surry County, Virginia, the most important results from the Weathers/Withers Y-DNA project are that tests of five male to male to male descendants of three of Thomas Weathers’ sons are statistically perfect matches. Of these five, two descend from William Weathers, two from Michael Weathers, and one from Isaac Weathers. Isaac's decendants adopted the Withers spelling about 200 years ago.
The four groupings:
(1) Thomas Weathers of Surry County, Virginia (five matches)
(2) Samuel Withers of Henrico County, Virginia (four matches)
(3) William Withers of Stafford County, Virginia (two matches)
(4) Unassigned members (four non-matches).
It is said of the Thomas Weathers’ Haplogroup I :
"These lineage's are nearly completely restricted to northwestern Europe and would most likely have been common within Viking populations. One lineage of this group extends down into central Europe. The earliest settlements of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in England, beginning about 390 AD, were believed at least in part to be the result of the invitation by the native Britons (Celts) to help protect their coastal areas from pillaging by the Norsemen/Vikings, yet we commonly think of the Viking incursions or invasions into England "The Viking Era” as beginning about 787 AD and continuing on into the 11th century. The earliest Viking Era incursions into England came from the Vikings in what we would now call Norway, but by the ninth century the Vikings of Denmark had become so dominant that the term Dane substituted for Norsemen or Viking. By the ninth century the Danes were in control of pretty much all of England except a small part of southwest England where King Alfred was holed up. He later got other Britons organized and drove the Danes out of England, thus becoming Alfred the Great. However, other Viking/Dane incursions into England continued periodically until shortly before the Norman invasion in 1066."
It is said of Haplogroup R1b of the Withers descendants of Samuel and William:
Haplogroup R1b is the most common Haplogroup in European populations having expanded throughout Europe. The ethnic group represented by R1b spread out from the Iberian peninsula as humans re-colonized into Europe and Britain after the last glacial maximum (Ice Age) 10-12 thousand years ago. This Haplogroup is now identified as Celtic at least in Britain and Ireland, where it made up the indigenous population of Britain when the Romans invaded. Although it is possible that some of the native Celts had been assimilated by the Normans of France prior to the Norman invasion in 1066, having an R1b Haplogroup suggests that ones unbroken direct line male ancestry is likely derived from the ancient settlers of the British Isles.
Proving that the Weathers and Withers are distinctly different families is a very important because many researchers of Thomas and his descendants have wondered if he might have descended from the Withers’ families of northern Virginia, a notion that can now be dismissed. From the standpoint of this history of Thomas Weathers family of Surry County, Virginia, the most important results from the Weathers/Withers Y-DNA project are that tests of five male to male to male descendants of three of Thomas Weathers’ sons are statistically perfect matches. Of these five, two descend from William Weathers, two from Michael Weathers, and one from Isaac Weathers. Isaac's decendants adopted the Withers spelling about 200 years ago.