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Fox Y-DNA Surname Project

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Updated Nov 2018 and again 9/13/2022


Haplogroup R-U106>L48>Z343>BY19676 & Subclades       (new expanded name)


(Formerly called Descendants of Levi Fox and William Fox of Pennsylvania in 1700s)

This group has expanded recently to ten members and has benefited from extensive BigY testing initiated by Kit 571589, a descendant of George Washington Fox (1798-1856) born April 2, 1798 in Loudon VA, and died in Grandview OH March 21, 1856.  Eight of this group have been BigY700 tested, have 111 STR markers tested, and are shown with another 600 or so STR markers derived from BigY results.  Of the other two members, Kit 48433 has 12, 164677 has 37 markers tested.

This testing has demonstrated rather conclusively that eight of these men are related in a genealogical time frame, within say 250 years, while 236136 (with a different surname) is connected perhaps 1000 years back in time.  Nevertheless,the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for the eight has yet to be identified.   A common ancestral location for all eight appears to be Loudoun County, VA, in the late 1700’s.   Since there was a lot of migration from Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey to Loudoun County in the early 1700’s it might be advantageous to look there for the ultimate MRCA.

Based on BigY testing, FTDNA has labeled 130621, 169178 and 316460 as Haplogroup R-BY19687, while the father son pair of 581117 and 571589 are called R-BY33819.  236136 has five fewer matching SNPs and is called Haplogroup R-BY19676.  130621, 571589 and 236136 were tested before the changeover from hg19 to hg38 in October 2017 and have benefited from a full analysis by Iain MacDonald including an age estimate:

BY19687 was originally given the name FGC64942 and BY19676 was originally named FGC64938.  These are equivalent names for the same SNPs and they are subclades of R-U106/L48/Z343;the order being BY19676(FGC64938)/BY19687(FGC64942)/BY33819.  FGC64938 is one of seven equivalent SNPs while FGC64942 is one of five, the order of occurrence being unknown.   For the five matching Foxes, singleton (private) SNPs range from none to two, indicating a close relationship. (FTDNA’s BigY analysis shows three singletons of very poor quality for 581117and they should be disregarded.)

8/17/2022 Update 

The new Discover More tool gives the following new age estimates:

"Haplogroup R-BY19676 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 1,300 years ago, plus or minus 400years.

That corresponds to about 750 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 332 and 1072 CE."

"Haplogroup R-BY19687 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 300years ago, plus or minus 150 years.

That corresponds to about 1700 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 1576 and 1823 CE."

"Haplogroup R-BY33819represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 200years ago, plus or minus 150 years.

That corresponds to about 1850 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 1696 and 1927 CE."

Haplogroup R-BY19676  The only project member who remains in Haplogroup R-BY19676 is kit number 236136. He is not a Fox but postulates a possible Fuchs ancestry

Haplogroup R-BY33819  Kits 581117, 571589 and MK43294 are called Haplogroup R-BY33819, a subclade of R-BY19687.  The first two are father and  son and all three claim George Washington Fox (1798-1856) born April 2, 1798 in Loudon VA, and died in Grandview OH March 21, 1856 as their MDKA  The prediction was born in 1850 compared to the actual 1798

Haplogroup R-BY19687  Kits 130621, 169178, 316460, and MK41433 are called R-BY19687, the precurser of R-BY33819.  This is where one would look for the ancestry of George Washington Fox (1798-1856) but the situation is not clear at all. The TMRCA prediction is born in 1700

130621 is a descendant of Levi Fox, Sr., (b. 1802 in Washington Co., Western Pennsylvania). He is a 12 marker match with 48443, who is a descendant of Taylor Fox, born October 1846 in Sheffield, Tippecanoe Co., IN.  Further research indicates that Taylor’s father, possibly named Isaac, was the brother of Levi Fox and that their parents may have been Bonham and Temperance Fox, born 1760s in Loudoun Co., Virginia. Then there are three unproven earlier generations going back to George, b. 1662 in Leicester, England and Jane (Palmer) Fox, born ca 1670.

169178 is a descendant of John Fox who was born in Virginia in 1797 and died in Ohio.  His third cousin, descending from another son of John Fox and not BigY tested, is kit 164677.  They are a good match at 37 markers (GD=1).

316460 traces back to a George Washington Fox born ~1806, Virginia, died Apr 1850, in Switzerland Co., Indiana, passing through Boone County, KY, along the way. 

MK41433’s 2nd great grandfather was George Washington Fox, born~1829, Knox Co, KY, died 10 May 1864, Marks Mills, Arkansas.

R-BY19687, along with its subclade R-BY33819, are projected to have a common ancestor born between 1576 and 1823  The genealogical trail is not yet clear, though the repeated name George Washington Fox (different men of course) is a clue

Back to Earlier Write-up

Two third cousin project members, 164677 and 169178, match 130621 on 34 out of 37 markers (GD=3) and 107 out of 111 markers (GD=4) respectively.  They are third cousins, descending from two sons of John Fox, who was born in 1797 in VA and died in Ohio. They are a 36 for 37 match with each other, 164677 being 12 repeats and 169178 being 13 repeats at DYS 442.  There is good evidence from a family bible that the parents of John Fox were born in Pennsylvania.  Their names were William (b 1777) and Sarah (b 1792) Fox and they both died in 1857 in Ohio.

The group then acquired a number of related Foxes who claim descent from 3 different men named George W Fox but again with some connection to Loudoun County, VA.  581117 is the father of 571589, tracing back to 1798 in Loudoun.  316460 traces back to a George Washington Fox born ~1806, Virginia, died Apr 1850, in Switzerland Co., Indiana, passing through Boone County, KY, along the way.  MK41433’s 2ndgreat grandfather was George W Fox, born~1829, Knox Co, KY, died 10 May 1864, Marks Mills, Arkansas.   MK41433 is GD=1 with 130621 and GD=2 with 571589, 581117 and 316460 for 67 markers. 

316460 cites Amos Fox born 1775 in Loudoun County, VA, as a possible ancestor of his George Washington Fox, while 571589 cites Ambrose Fox also born in 1775 as a possible ancestor. This is at odds with 130621, who cites Bonham Fox, born about 1760 in Loudoun County as the possible ancestor of his Levi Fox. 164677 and 169178 have shown the possible ancestor of their John Fox born 1797 in VA as William Fox of Pennsylvania. Obviously they need to go further back in time to find the MRCA of the whole group.

130621 has the modal result of this whole group for some 500+ STR markers.  For 111 markers he is GD=4 with all the others except 236136 where, as expected, the match is poorer (GD=14). The following table shows matching genetic distances for all the group members tested at 111 STR markers:

For the remaining 400+ STR markers resulting from BigY testing there was very little variation within the group from the modal result. 169178 showed one mismatch and 236136 showed three.


 Probable Haplogroup U106/S21 & null at DYS425   updated Nov 2018

871686 lists John Fox(1755-1853) of Northumberland County PA as his most distant known ancestor (MDKA).  Tested at 67 markers, he is 13 repeats at DYS492 and shows a null result at DYS425.  B4181(not a Fox himself) was tested at 37markers and lists Jerome Fawks (1847-1905) as his MDKA.   The two are GD=3 for 37 markers.

The value of 13 at DYS492 is strongly indicative of Haplogroup R-U106/S21 and the null at DYS425 has been the subject of much study and there is a NullDYS425 Project.  DYF371 is usually a four copy marker like DYS464. Its alleles are located on the palindromes P1 and P5 on the Y chromosome. See YChromosome Palindromic Map One of the copies on P5 can carry a mutation in the flanking region from C to T. This T-type allele was discovered as an independent marker and was called DYS425. When the T mutates to C a null result is reported.

871686 also matches with GD=1 for 37 markers a Timothy Fox and several men with the surname Fuss.  These men are not members of the Fox Project but would be welcomed if they wished to join. 



Haplogroup R-S26/L1 - The Null439 Foxes: Updated 1/10/2022 and again 9/13/2022


A recent addition to this group deserves special attention   Kit 835266 claims descent from Sir Walter (Gaulter) de Somerville 1030 Normandy.  He is positive for the SNP A673 and negative for all the other Fox-specific SNPs (A671, A672, A674, A675, A676, A677, A678, A679 and A695)  Formerly, we had only an unknown 1000 Genomes Project member who tested only R-A673 from this Fox Group of SNPs.  An approximate date for the occurrence of A673 would lie close to the time of the Norman Invasion of Britain  This could be a significant finding, indicative of where this Fox family originated. 


9/13/2022 Update:  The new Discover More tool gives the following analysis for Haplogroup R-A673 and its subclades:

Haplogroup R-A673 represents a man who is estimatedto have been born around 1,350 years ago, plus or minus450 years.

That corresponds to about 700 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 216 and 1059 CE.

R-A673's paternal line was formed when it branched off from R-Y168721 and the rest of mankind about 1,700years ago, plus or minus 550 years.

He is the most recent common ancestor of at least 2lineages known as R-A671and R-FT170128.

There are 12 DNA test-confirmed descendants, andthey have specified that their direct paternal origins are from England, Scotland, UnitedKingdom, and 1 other country with 4 from unknown countries.

Kit 835266 matches someone not yet in the Fox project at FT170128 and FT165174 and the two are called Haplogroup R-FT170128.  Then there is the 1000 Genomes test result also called R-A673. The other 8 of these 11 descendants are all members of Haplogroup R-A671 and are named Fox or have good evidence that they are actually from the Fox family.  [The Block Tree for 835266 also shows an unknown result at R-A674 and this would make 12 descendants of R-A673.   Apparently FTDNA have not counted either this member or the match for 835266.]

Haplogroup R-A671 represents a man who is estimatedto have been born around 950 years ago, plus or minus 350 years.

That corresponds to about 1100 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 700 and 1391 CE.

R-A671's paternal line was formed when it branched off from R-A673 and the rest of mankind about 1,350years ago, plus or minus 450 years.

He is the most recent common ancestor of at least 2lineages known as R-A672and 1 yet unnamed lineage.

There are 10 DNA test-confirmed descendants, andthey have specified that their direct paternal origins are from England and United States with 4 fromunknown countries.

Haplogroup R-A672 represents a man who is estimatedto have been born around 600 years ago, plus or minus 350 years.

That corresponds to about 1450 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 1096 and 1663 CE.

R-A672's paternal line was formed when it branched off from R-A671 and the rest of mankind about 950years ago, plus or minus 350 years.

He is the most recent common ancestor of at least 2lineages known as R-A674and 1 yet unnamed lineage.

There are 7 DNA test-confirmed descendants, and theyhave specified that their direct paternal origins are from Englandwith 2 from unknown countries.

Haplogroup R-A674 represents a man who is estimatedto have been born around 500 years ago, plus or minus 300 years.

That corresponds to about 1550 CE with a 95%probability he was born between 1200 and 1771 CE.

R-A674's paternal line was formed when it branched off from R-A672 and the rest of mankind about 600years ago, plus or minus 350 years.

He is the most recent common ancestor of at least 3lineages known as R-A955,R-A14367 and R-FT189309.

There are 6 DNA test-confirmed descendants, and theyhave specified that their direct paternal origins are from Englandwith 1 from unknown countries.

They are called Fox1, Fox2 and Fox3 in the discussion below



205722 has a very deep relationship to this group.  He is also null at DYS 439, has tested as Haplogroup R-L1  and has done the BigY test.  He is a descendant of Johan Caspar Voss, born in Germany in 1677.  205722 is a genetic distance of about 20 with the other Foxes in this grouping at 67 markers.  Tested also by Ancestry.com, he has a total of 76 markers tested.  Based on his BigY results, his connection to the other null439 Foxes goes back almost to the Origin of R-L1/S26 some 2000 to 2500 years ago.  He has yet to get any close BigY700 matches.  On 8/1/2022, 205722 wrote "My research shows that by the 1400s, the Voss v. Lechenich line had spread throughout the Rhineland as their fiefs and property holdings had increased over time and through the generations (The Archbishops of Cologne and the Counts of Cleve and Julich had provided them with land based upon their service and loyalty)."  205722 is currently looking for other Voss van Lechenich descendants who might agree to be tested  205722 is called Haplogroup R-BY36074

Haplogroup R-BY36074 represents a man who isestimated to have been born around 2,600 years ago,plus or minus 800 years.

That corresponds to about 550 BCE with a 95%probability he was born between 1369 BCE and 56 CE.

R-BY36074's paternal line was formed when it branched off from R-A7108 and the rest of mankind about 2,700years ago, plus or minus 750 years.

He is the most recent common ancestor of at least 5lineages known as R-BY144383,R-BY111111and 3 yet unnamed lineages.

There are 8 DNA test-confirmed descendants, and theyhave specified that their direct paternal origins are from Sweden,Germany, Hungary, and 1 othercountry with 3 from unknown countries.


Previous update of May 2018


The null439 Fox group of four family lines has now has established three well-documented distant cousin relationships. The Philadelphia (Fox1) clan has a third cousin, twice removed, relationship (14179 and 37645) with four mutations in 37 markers separated by only 10 transmission events. (A fifth mutation has been observed at DYF406S1 in the last 30 markers of the 67 marker series.) The other two members of this group, 25525 and 25549, are brother and nephew to 14179 and match him exactly at 25 markers. The British (Fox2) clan (16564 and 60400) consists of sixth cousins, once removed, who are separated by 15 transmission events. We added a third member of this family in July 2015, Kit number 413592, who descends from Josiah Fox who came to America in 1793.   A fourth member was tested outside the project at 17 markers who matches both of them at those 17 markers. The South Carolina (Fox3) clan has fourth cousins once removed (25481 and 52944) and second cousins once removed (25481 and 96656) with no mutations in a combined 14 transmission events. 25481 and 96656 are compared at 67 markers while 52944 has been tested at 37 markers. (Note: FTDNA’s 14-14-16-16 result for 25481 at DYS 464 is still listed in this project's Y-Results table but, in reality, should be changed to 14-16-16-16 based on the results of further testing at two other labs.) The three branches have thus exhibited markedly different mutation rates. A common ancestor for the three null439 Fox families, some 10 to 15 generations back, is definitely a possibility."

The story of Joe Fox' genetic genealogy investigations has been told in several books http://www.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdetail.aspx?bookid=SKU-0035157049 and https://www.amazon.com/Growing-America-Colonial-Roots-Joseph-Fox/dp/1524548537 and is summarized on his Growing with America Website

The following is an analysis of this group at 37 markers tested as of July 2015:



BigY testing has been used to further define the British/American relationships.  Four were tested: 14179, 25481, 16564 and 60400.  The latter two,representing Fox2, are sixth cousins once removed whose common ancestor was George Fox born in 1693 in Cornwall. England. 14179 represented Fox1 and 25481represented Fox3. When the BigY Results were analyzed, all four matched on 18SNPs that showed up later than L1/S26.  16564 and 60400 matched each other on just one more SNP.  YSEQ has named this A955, a private SNP since these two men are known relatives.  60400 had 3 more private SNPs (singletons)below A955, while 16564 had none.  14179 had 4 singletons, two of which were not found when the BAM file was submitted to Full Genomes for review.  25481 had 7 singleton SNPs. 

16564and 60400 go back 2 more well-defined generations to Francis Fox born in 1606/1607in Devizes, Wiltshire. His father has been identified as Henrie Fox and Francis was the seventh son.   There is just one SNP (A955) separating 14179 and 25481 from 16564 and 60400.  Estimates of average SNP mutation rate range from 100 to 150 years per SNP and Iain MacDonald has found 132 years per SNP as an average mutation rate for Haplogroup R-U106/S21 BigY results.  Subtracting 132 years from 1693 would make 1561 as the as the year the common ancestor of all four was born.  Most likely this would have been Henrie Fox.  He would thus have been 46 when Francis Fox was born, not a bad estimate since Francis was the seventh son.  Assuming that Henrie Fox, father of Francis, is the common ancestor of all four is entirely consistent with the BigY results.
 
A fourth null 439 Fox family (Fox4) has now been identified with the addition of 157124 to the project in October 2009.  The odds are good that he is in the same null 439 Fox line but of a separate branch that may share a common Fox ancestor in England back in the 1500's. He is a descendant of (Thomas) Dudley Fox – who was born in Vermont between 1802 and 1806 and moved to Ontario, Canada.   BigY testing has shown that he matches the other Foxes on seven out of the ten private SNPs that they all have in common. See the write-up in Project Background for further details.

Another addition to the group is 48348, who traces back to a George Clark of Lycoming County, PA, but is a close match to the Fox3 null439 group (a 66 for 67 marker match with 25481.)  It is known that George Clark was adopted by the Clark family. A possible paper trail to the null439 Fox family via a Mathias Fox connection is being investigated. Mathias moved west from Lycoming County to Clearfield County around 1850. Could Mathias have been a descendant of John Fox, another non-Quaker member of the Plymouth Friends who sailed to Philadelphia in 1686?  BigY testing has now confirmed this close connection: 48348 and 25481 are both now Haplogroup R1b-A14367.

BigY testing results can be summarized as follows:



SNPComparison for Fox Groups




Six members of this group (excluding 205722 from the group) have been tested at 67 markers.  Aside from 157124 (the Dudley Fox descendant) there was only one mutation in the last 30 markers; that being for 14179 who has 11 repeats at DYF406S1 rather than 10 repeats for all others.  36645, also in the Fox1 group, has been found to be 10 repeats at DYF406S1 so the ancestral 67 marker haplotype for all three of these null439 Fox groups is well defined.  The Fox1 group has undergone the greatest number of mutations but the overall relationship between Fox1, Fox2 and Fox3 is well established.

The markers which have varied for this group are:

DYS 391 = 11 for all but Fox2b, who is 12:  modal = 11
DYS 458 = 17 for all but Fox1a, 1b and 1c, who are 16 and Clark, who is 18:  modal = 17
DYS 447 = 25 for all but Fox1 group, who are 26: modal = 25
DYS 576 = 18 for Fox1a, all Fox3 and Clark, 19 for Fox1d, and 17 for all Fox2:  modal = 18
DYS 570 = 17 for all but Fox1a, who is 16:  modal = 17
CDYa,b = 38, 38 for all but Fox1d, who is 38, 39:  modal = 38, 38
DYS 406S1 = 10 for all but Fox1a, who is 11: modal = 10
The R-S26/L1 modal equals the null439 Fox modal for all of these markers.

The Fox4 family line is represented by 157124, Fox4a, tested at 67 markers. There are some significant differences from the other null439 Foxes but, all in all, the similarities outweigh the differences, which may be summarized for Fox4a as:

Same as null439 Fox Modal at DYS 391, DYS 458, DYS 447, DYS 570 and DYS 406S1

DYS 464a = 15 where above Fox modal = 14 and R-S26 modal = 15.
576 = 17 where above Foxes are 17, 18 and 19 and  null 439 Fox modal is 18.
CDYa,b = 40, 40 where above Fox modal is 38, 38.
DYS 413a,b = 23, 25  where above Foxes and R1b modal = 23, 23.
DYS  534 = 16  where the above Foxes are 534 = 14 and R1b modal is 534 = 15.
DYS  617 = 13  where the above Foxes and the R1b modal  = 12.

The genetic distance of Fox4a from the other null439 Foxes is 10 or 11 but this is basically only on 6 markers and might represent as few as 6 single event changes, with some being multiple steps.  FTDNA’s TiP analysis indicates that the probability of a common ancestor for Fox4a and Fox2a within 20 generations (roughly 500 years) is roughly 90%.  It thus seems possible that a common ancestor did live in England in the 1400’s or 1500’s but tying this down will be difficult.  Some possibilities for going back in time are indicated in the Project Background section.  Certainly, getting more of Thomas Dudley Fox’s descendants tested will be important.

Project member 14179, one of the original null439 group, was SNP tested by Ethnoancestry and found to be M269+ and S21+ (same snp as U106). The former is indicative of Haplogroup R1b1b2 (very common) and the latter is a more recently identified SNP, which some propose may indicate a North Sea heritage. He was also the first person to be typed S26+ by EthnoAncestry, a brand new SNP indicative of null439 status. Significant progress has been made in identifying null439 haplotypes in other surnames and classifying them into subclusters.  There are two main subclusters separated by mutations at DYS459b, a stable marker on the palindrome section of the Y-chromosome where a repair mechanism is at work during meiosis (a process occurring during conception.) When FTDNA switched Y-DNA testing from its Arizona labs to its Houston labs they now longer got a null result at DYS439, so a positive result at the L1 SNP is now required to define the Haplogroup.  The Haplogroup R-L1/S26 Project Website has a more up-to-date discussion and is currently trying to incorporate BigY testing.

14179 and 25481 were also tested by DNA-Fingerprint at several markers in the palindrome section of the Y-chromosome and the test results tend to confirm an event within the null439 (S26+) subclade where the backup copy overwrites the other copy during meiosis making large changes to such markers in a single event. This is known as gene conversion or a recLOH event (recombination loss of heterozygosity).   [DNA-Fingerprint results for 14179 were: 464X = 14c,16c,16g, 16g; DYF371 = 10c,12t,13c,14c ; DYF399 = 22, 24, 25.1 ; DYS434 = 9.  For 25481, they were: 464X = 14c,16c,16g, 16g; DYF399 = 22, 24, 26.1; DYS434 = 9.]  14179 and 25481 have now both been tested at over 80 some markers with only 6 single step mutations being recorded.




The Vanfossen Group:  Updated  Nov 2018

The Van Fossen group now has 21 reported results primarily due to efforts of Clay Fox, who died recently. Eleven of these have a common ancestor in Arnold Van Vossen, a Dutch Mennonite immigrant to Germantown, PA, in the 1700s. Their 37 marker results confirm a Fox/Vanfossen relationship predicted from a handwritten note on a will. Four (24049, 24972, 25721 and 27152) trace back to Oxford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, with a Peter Vanfossen as the common ancestor, and another six (38640, 43080, 95996, 95997, 117169 and 171369) trace back to Arnold Van Vossen directly.

There are another five who are not Arnold Van descendants.  Four are residents of the Netherlands, are not a match for the above ten.  Two (35689 and 36279) trace back to Abraham Van Vossen of Bathmen, Netherlands, and are a 25 for 25 match.  116167 and 117168 descend from Jacob Van Vossen 1660 and Willem Van Vossen 1880 of the Netherlands.  Like an American Van Fossen (155575) they do not match the rest of the group.


There are deviations within the group of ten at DYS 459a, DYS 456 and CDYa,b but the ancestral haplotype for Arnold Van Vossen is now pretty well established.  The modal result is DYS 459a = 9, DYS 456 = 18 and CDYa,b = 35,37. The first three of this group (24049, 24972 and 25721) represent father, son and grandson and, interestingly, show the most variation.  They are distinguished from the others by a value of 36 repeats at CDYb. The latest Van Fossen to join the project, 171369, is exactly on the modal.

 A number of this group have not indicated their MDKA and should do so.

These are exciting results The splinter VanFossen Project that was set up at World Families has now been discontinued due to FTDNA's concern for European GDPR .


Updated 4/5/2015

Project results as of the above date can be summarized as follows:

Haplogroup R1b - Southern USA Foxes



Enough Southern US Fox descendants have been identified in the R-M269 Haplogroup that they have been grouped together in the Y-DNA results tabulation as "Southern US R-M269." Many members of this Southern R-M269 Group had suspected a connection to Henry Fox and Anne West of Virginia but we now have a definitive set of seven results that take the common ancestors back all the way to Henry Fox and Anne West.  This has now allowed the project to make the definitive analysis of the early Virginia Fox families that is described in the following report (dated October 2015): Y- DNA Testing of a Paper Trail.

This is a more complete analysis than the following:

Henry Fox/ Anne West Descendants (not yet updated)

Joseph Steadman and others have exhaustively documented the family line of gentleman Henry Fox, who came to Virginia, married Anne West, a grand niece of Lord De La Warr, and left many descendants in the United States.  He was the son of John Fox, a sea captain who also settled in Virginia in 1661, and this line has been traced back to a Henry Fox (1521) who married a Hawes of Missenden and possibly to a William Fox (1497-1559) of Missenden, Buckinghamshire, who lived at Stewkley Manor.  A William Vaux, descended from a Norman Invader named Robert de Vaux, is known to have inherited Stewkley Manor by marriage in 1424. If a Fox/Vaux connection is substantiated, this would carry the line back to 1066.

We now have six well-documented members of this line in the project. For the original three of these, the most recent common ancestor is Henry Fox (1768-1852), who married Sarah Harrell.   Two are fourth cousins (i.e. 10 transmission events separating them) whose common ancestor is Henry Fox (1768-1852) who married Sarah Harrell. These two are 48275 and 85202 and they match exactly at 37 markers. 48275 and 99137 are second cousins and they match at 25 markers.The haplotype of Henry Fox (1768-1852) can thus be inferred to be the same as theirs.

108898 and 117867, second cousins, take the connection back two generations more to Henry Fox, III (1698-1770), grandson of Henry Fox(1650-1714) and Anne West, who married Mary Goodwyn. They differ from 48275 and85202 only at fast moving marker CDYa, where they have 35 rather than 36repeats. So we have a total of 23 transmission events with 1 mutation in 37markers. The two lines back to Henry Fox, III, go back 7 generations through two sons of Henry Fox III; Thomas of Virginia, who married Elizabeth Hancock, and William of South Carolina, who married Sara Carroll.

263208 now takes the connection back two more generations directly to Henry Fox 1st and Anne West.  He descends from their son Thomas who married Mary Tunstall, through their son Joseph who married Mildred Fenton,The others all descend from son Henry Fox 2nd, who married Mary Kendrick, the parents of Henry Fox III. On 37 markers, 263208 differs from 48275and 99137 only at DYS 460 where he has 10 repeats and they have 11.  With nine generations in play, a match on 36out of 37 markers is highly significant. The three match at CDYa, showing that this mutation probably occurred only in the line down from Henry Fox III’s son Thomas and prior to their most distant common ancestor, Felix Fox of Lexington County, SC, who married Annie Elizabeth Evans in 1878.  We now have the haplotype of Henry Fox 1st defined with the exception of DYS 460.

This result is highly significant since some researchers had questioned that Henry Fox, 2nd, was actually the son of Henry Fox, 1st.  The story is that his sons Thomas Fox and John Fox are mentioned in the will of their maternal uncle John West (son of Col. John West, the brother of Lord De La Warr), whereas Henry Fox 2nd is not.  This could well be because Henry was first in line to inherit his own father’s estate; nevertheless doubt remained in the mind of researcher Ellen Cocke and others. This result is pretty strong confirmation in some minds. The project would like very much to get a male descendant of Thomas Fox (b abt 1680, who married Mary Tunstall) and of John Fox, (b abt 1676) into the project. There are other reasons to believe that Henry Fox 2nd was the son of Henry Fox 1st (i.e. they held similar church and public offices about 25 – 30 years apart) but it would be good to have Y-DNA verification.

We know there are more of these descendants around. The father of Henry Fox 1st, John Fox, married about 1699 and left Fox descendants.  Dr. J. Ben Robinson, one of his descendants, states that his wife probably was a daughter of Edmund Bacon of New Kent County.  In addition, there was a genealogical group in Washington, DC, back in the late 1930's called"The Society of the Descendants of the Hon. Henry Fox and Anne West” under the leadership of George H. S. King, a Thomas Fox descendant.  Henry Fox 1st, is also said to have had a brother named John Fox b abt 1652, who married a Lightfoot (either Margaret or Frances) and left descendants in Virginia and Maryland.  Hopefully some member of the Virginia Historical Society will read this and take note.

48275 has been SNP tested by Ethnoancestry and is S21+ andS29-.  He has also been tested L47+ by FTDNA.  This is a brand new SNP dividingL48, which in turn divides S21 (S21 is called U106 by FTDNA.)  He would also be S26-, of course.  (In FTDNA terms, he is U106+, L48+, L47+,U198- and L1-).  FTDNA has now recognizedR-L47 in their Haplotree.   ISOGG calls HaplogroupR-47 by the long name R1b1a2a1a1a3b2a.

These Henry Fox descendants match 35 for 37 and 63 for 67 with 26383, a descendant of George Elder, born a slave in 1831, in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Deviations are 15 vs 16 at DYS 458, 18 vs 17 at DYS 570 and23 vs 21 at DYS 413a.  108898 and 117867also deviate from 26383 at CDYa, having 35 rather than 36 repeats.  These markers are all noted for having a high mutation rate but these four deviations indicate that the common ancestor would probably have preceded Henry Fox, 1st, in the line of succession (i.e. an as-yet-unidentified American Fox line.)  26383 has also tested Haplogroup R-L47. The exact connection is being pursued but has yet to be established.

A number of new SNPs are now being offered, which divide L47.  L44 and Z159divide L47 and L46, L45 and L164 further divide L44.  The project will monitor progress as these SNPs are tested and, if they appear useful, further testing will be recommended.  Meanwhile, several of these Foxes have joined the L48 Project at FTDNA. Neal Fox is also advocating 67 or 111 marker tests in the future to help him define subclusters and he reports that a 13 at DYS492 (in the 67marker last panel) points toward a possible S21+ status.

Interestingly enough, both thenull439 and the Henry Fox/ Anne West groups have been found belonging to Founder haplotype clusters that include names such as Callaway and Smith.  This leads us to believe they may have both once belonged to a clan, containing both Haplogroups, that may be of Norman origin – Callaway being a Norman name. All this may eventually help to confirm the Vaux/Fox Norman connection, though it is much too soon to draw conclusions.

One attempt to confirm a Vaux/Fox connection (as predicted by Anthropologist John William Fox) was unsuccessful. It is known that there was a name change from de Vaux to de Strickland in about the year 1200.   Project member 40501, a representative Strickland, was tested by FTDNA for the Fox Project.  Already tested by Relative Genetics, he is not a null 439 and is a genetic distance of 12 from the 37 marker null439 modal. He is also a genetic distance of 15 from the Henry Fox/Anne West descendants, the main candidates for the Vaux/Fox connection.


Andrew Fox Descendants

It is known that descendants of Andrew Fox (1750-1819) of Virginia and Tennessee, lived in close proximity to the Elder family in Rutherford County, TN, in 1831 but this possible Fox/Elder connection has now been denied with the acquisition by the project of two known descendants of Andrew Fox.  They are a genetic distance of 23 to 24 from 26383 in 37 markers.

131451 and 131454 are fourth cousins once removed, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) being Jacob Fox (1785-1830) of Tennessee, who married Elizabeth Ann Broyles. Jacob Fox was the son of Andrew Fox.  There are 11 transmission events separating them and they have a genetic distance of 5 in 37 markers, though only three markers are involved – all fast mutating markers in FTDNA’s 26 through 37 Marker panel. They are estimated by FTDNA to be M-269+ or Haplogroup R1b1b2.

There is also a very close match with 9DW26 in Ysearch, surname Hughes, who indicates a Scottish ancestry and has tested P312+ and M222-.  The comparison is as follows:

     131451 is 20 at DYS 576, 19 at DYS 570 and 38 at CDYb
     131454 is 18 at DYS 576, 18 at DYS 570 and 40 at CDYb
     9DW26 is 19 at DYS 576, 18 at DYS 570 and 37 at CDYb

Their closest match in the Fox Project (GD=16 or 17 at 37 markers) is 58674, who has been tested P312+ and L21+ (Haplogroup R1b1b2a1b4c). Our guess is that they would all test L21+. Their ancestry is thus projected to be ancient Scots-Irish.



 William Fox (1710-1764) who Married Sarah Avent
 
Perhaps the most interesting of these erroneous matches, because it had been soabundantly documented,is that of two descendants of William Fox (b  1710) of Virginia whomarried Sarah Avent.  In Shirley Faucette’s comparison of the twogenealogists[i],both Steadman and Robinson have this William Fox as the son of Henry Fox2nd.  Steadman[ii]actually comments as follows,
 
"The said William Fox doubtless was that one who settled in BrunswickCounty (Virginia), being named as the son of Henry Fox, 2nd, and MaryClaiborne.  He married Sarah Avent who was a granddaughter of WilliamGooch and his wife Ursula Claiborne. - See Joseph Emery Avent's ‘The Avents andTheir Kin of Avent Ferry, Chatham County, North Carolina’.”
 
We now have conclusive Y-DNA evidence that William was not the son of HenryFox, 2nd.   Descendants of two sons of William Fox and Sarah Aventhave been tested on 37 markers and they differ only on three markers: 
 
                     Marker     Descendant of sonJohn            Descendantof son Thomas
                 DYS 385 a,b          11-13                                              11-14
                   CDY a,b               37-37                                              37-39
                   DYS442                 16                                                   14
 
This large a difference is a bit unusual but not unexpected for two men whosecommon ancestor is 7 generations removed.  A first cousin of the ThomasFox descendant has been tested on 12 markers and they are an exact match on thefirst 12, which include DYS 385a,b. 
 
They differ, however, on 17 or more out of 37 markers from our Henry Fox/AnneWest descendants.  The John Fox descendant has been tested on 67 markersand differs from them on 24 markers.  In addition he has 12 repeats atstable marker DYS 492 in the last 30 and the Henry Fox/Anne West descendantshave 13 repeats.  This result points to Haplogroup R-P312, whereas theHenry Fox/Anne West descendants are in the R-L47 subclade of R-U106.  Thiswould put their common ancestor back some 6,000 years.  No question aboutit, the published information is wrong.
 
We are not even certain who Henry Fox, 2nd, actually married.  Shirley Faucette states that, "Somesources list both wives, others show only one but vary as to whether it wasMary Kendrick or Mary Claiborne."  It is quite possible that theHenry Fox who married Mary Claiborne was a different person than Henry Fox,2nd, son of Henry Fox, 1st, and Anne West.
 
Interestingly enough, William Fox and Sarah Avent the grandparentsof Sarah Harrell, mentioned above as the spouse of Henry Fox (1768-1852) ofWebster County, Mississippi, ancestor of three of our Henry Fox/Anne Westdescendants. One of Henry Fox/Sarah Harrell descendants, Frances Cooke Chan,writes that,
 
“I don't think anyone in our family ever felt that they (Sarah Harrell’sgrandparents) necessarily were in this Fox family, just that they had the samename and might have been relatives”[iii].
 
Researcher Donald F. Fletcher has been researching the William Fox/Sarah Aventfamily tree and has supplied invaluable assistance in locating and testingdescendants.


[i]Faucette, Shirley, Steadman vs. Robinson, Included as part ofSteadman’s book.

[ii]Steadman, Part III, Chapter3, Section 1.

[iii]Personal Communication from the author of Ancestors of Anselm Cooke.  


Choctaw County, Mississippi, Foxes

In 80721, 56980 and 62766 we have three members of a Fox group living in Choctaw County, Mississippi, in the late 1800s.  In the case of 80721, the great grandfather was Thomas J. Fox b 1820 Walton Co GA.  In the case of 56980 and 62766, first cousins, the great grandfather was James Davis Fox, born 1824 in Alabama. A later addition to this family grouping is 121692, a descendant of Henry Fox, born ~1750 in Gloucestershire, England.  In 37 markers, there are only three one-step mutations within the group, at DYS 448, CDYa and GATA H4:

      56980: DYS448 = 18 CDYa = 38 GATA H4 = 12
      62766: DYS448 = 19 CDYa = 38 GATA H4 = 12
      80721: DYS448 = 19 CDYa = 37 GATA H4 = 12
    121692: DYS448 = 19 CDYa = 38 GATA H4 = 11

The haplotype of the MRCA can be inferred by triangulation to be the same as 62766. 

The original hypothesis was that Thomas J and James D. Fox were brothers, sons of Johan Fuchs an immigrant from Perish, Germany.  If brothers, there would have been two mutations in 37 markers in 10 transmission events for a mutation rate of 2/(37*10) = 0.0054. This is higher than normal but still well within the expected range.  The addition of 121692 throws an entirely new light on this group.  Interestingly enough, they are also a GD of 5 in 30 markers with a Fox in the SMGF database, whose ancestor was John Fox, 1827, from Monroe, NY.

80721 and 121692 have both been tested at 67 markers and there are another two mutations at DYS413a and at DYS 534.  They are both 13 at DYS 492, indicative of Haplogroup R-U106/S21.  Neal Fox feels they might also test L47+.
 
It is known that the above Johan Fuchs had two other sons, Jesse and Daniel, and project member 114418 was recruited by this group to join the project because he is a known Jesse Fox descendant. His Y-DNA test results show that 114418 is from a different family entirely (see below under Haplogroup I.)


William Fox of Loudoun Co., VA, Descendants

8/17/2022 Update


Haplogroup R-L21>DF13>BY10454 and Subclades

Includes Descendants of William Fox b 1710 Loudoun County,VA, and Hugh Fox of Virginia with Connections back to Ireland

We now have 19 members of this group, formerly labeled 'Haplogroup R-L21subclade DF13 William Fox, Loudoun, VA, Descendants’ and 11 of these have taken the BigY700 test.  These 11 results all belong to Haplogroup R-BY10454 and the new Discover More tool says that “Haplogroup R-BY10454 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 1,000 years ago, plus or minus 400 years.”

Only one member, Kit IN72708, whose MDKA is James Fox (1700-1778) born in Ireland, is still classified as Haplogroup R-BY10454, the other nine are in the subclade called Haplogroup R-FGC41762.  The new Discover tool says that “Haplogroup R-FGC41762represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 950years ago, plus or minus 350 years.”

Only one member, Kit 919983, whose MDKA is William Joseph Fox, born somewhere in the USA, is still classified Haplogroup FGC41762. “Haplogroup R-FGC41762 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 950 years ago, plus or minus 350 years. “

The eight others are in one of two subclades called Haplogroup R-BY140542 (3 members) and Haplogroup R-FGC41754 (5 members).

Only one member, Kit B2043, whose MDKA is William Fox born 1710 in Loudoun County Virginia, is still classified as Haplogroup R-BY140542.  “Haplogroup R-BY140542represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 900years ago, plus or minus 500 years.”  This is the only William Fox of Loudoun County descendant to have taken the BigY700 test

The other 2 members of R-BY140542 are in subclade R-BY73226.  They are a father-son pair, Kit Numbers 534705 and 824828.  James Fox born 1828 in Ireland is their MDKA.  “Haplogroup R-BY73226 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 50 years ago, plus or minus 100 years.”

Five members of R-FGC41762 are classified as R-FGC41754, but the only one with no further subclades is Kit Number 381368, Surname McAvoy, origin Ireland.  “Haplogroup R-FGC41754 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 350years ago, plus or minus 150 years.” 

The other four members of Haplogroup R-FGC41754 are in Haplogroup R-FT349052.  Our one member still classified as Haplogroup R-FT349052 is Kit Number 952749, whose MDKA is James Fox born 1852 North Carolina.  “Haplogroup R-FT349052 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 200 years ago, plus or minus 100 years.”

There are four more members of Haplogroup R-FGC41754 who belong to the subclade R-FT446755.  Our four members classified as R-FT446755 are Kit Numbers 210491 and 880298 who both claim Hugh Fox (1745-1847)born in Virginia as their MDKA,  Kit Number 960109 who claims William Isaac Fox (1801- 1853) as his MDKA and Kit Number 931828 whose surname is Andrews.  “Haplogroup R-FT446755 represents a man who is estimated to have been born around 150 years ago, plus or minus 100 years.” 

It is becoming apparent that this group can be divided into four main sections by Haplogroup assignment and that the William Fox and Hugh Fox of Virginia descendants are only remotely related to each other, perhaps nine hundred years back in time.

Original Analysis

58674 had originally proposed a connection to Henry Fox and Anne West through their son Thomas Fox.  The genetic distance of 24 at 67 markers was too great to support this contention.  Like 80721 and 48275, he has that 13 at DYS492 that indicates Haplogroup R1b1c9* (S21+) but was tested by Ethnoancestry and found to be S21-.  Actually, this result was not entirely unexpected as he belongs to a cluster Neal Fox has identified within R-M269 that has this characteristic. He has now been tested by FTDNA and found to be P312+ and L21+, putting him in Neal’s Scots-Irish cluster of Haplogroup R-L21.  He is also in the SMGF database and has a total of 78 markers tested.

A match for project member 58674 was then found in the Relative Genetics database (who now has joined the project as Kit B2043) and the most distant known ancestor has now been identified as William Fox, b. ~1710, who lived in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, VA. Based on research by Kevin Daniel, it appears that 58674 is descended from William’s son James Fox (~1740 VA ~1820 KY) through James’ son John Fox (~1780, VA)who married Elizabeth Hoffman and the Relative Genetics Fox is descended from William’s son, William Fox, Jr., (~1742, VA) and William, Jr.’s son James Fox (~1789, VA) who married Margaret Franklin. Both are 7th generation descendants of William Fox, Sr., and they match exactly on 39 markers.  Based on the proposed paper trail they would be 5th cousins.

112106, whose most distant known ancestor is Enos Fox, b 1814 in Kentucky, is GD=1 from 58674 at 37 markers and GD=2 from 58674 at 67 markers. There is obviously a family connection here that needs a paper trail and Kevin Daniels has posited that Enos was the grandson of the above James Fox (~1780, VA) and possibly the son of James’ son Jesse  (bet. 1781-1784, VA.)  He bases this largely on the feeling that the descendants of William Fox, Jr., are too well established to include Enos.

164558, a sixth generation descendant, traces back through William’s son, William Fox, Jr., who married Mary (Polly) Brown in 1774 – as does our Fox tested by Relative Genetics and SMGF. It was hoped that both their results at DYS 448 would match, making this a distinctive marker for identifying descendants of the two sons of William Fox, Sr.  Instead, his result was 20 repeats vs 19 for the other. This must have occurred within the last three or four generations (i.e., since 1818), since the two descendants of William Fox, Jr. are third cousins once removed. A mutation from 19 to 20 repeats also occurred in the Enos Fox line.  Since Enos Fox was born in 1814, it would appear that these were separate parallel mutations.

67 markers have now been posted for 184502, who is descended from James Fox and his first wife, Mary Bartleson. Also 19 at DYS 448, he matches and helps define the modal haplotype for this group – a total of 75 markers tested including the results at Relative Genetics and SMGF. No question but that this is a related family group. The maximum deviation from the modal is only 1 mutation.

58674, 112106 and 184502 have been tested at 67 markers by FTDNA and the only deviation in the last 30 is at DYS 577, where 184502 and 112106 are 16 repeats and 58674 is 15 repeats. Probably, 16 was the ancestral value and 58674 has the mutation.
 
Based on results for 58674, we know that this group of Foxes are members of Haplogroup R-L21, a subclade of Haplogroup R that, in Great Britain, has a very high representation in very old Scots and Irish ancestry. One subclade of this Haplogroup is R-M222, the group of descendants of the Irish king Ui Neill. 58674 is, however, negative for M222 and other known downstream SNPs so we can call him Haplogroup R1b1b2a1b5* or R-L21*.  “Haplogroup R-L21* - Descendants of William Fox of Loudoun Co., VA”, is now a separate grouping in the Y-DNA Results tables on this Website.

Three more recent additions to this family group are 204318, 210491 and N32693.  They are all descendants of Hugh Fox (1745-1820) either of Virginia or North Carolina.  They are a genetic distance of 3 or 4 on 37 markers from the others, which may point to a more distant relationship, but definitely belong to this group.
 

John B. Fox of Orange Co., VA, Descendants

Another of our Southern Fox group, 93795 is a match for 26653 at 12 markers.  Both trace back to John B. Fox, b: 1745 in Orange County, VA, who married Ann Barber. The MRCA is their son Henry Fox, b. 1801, and the two are third cousins, once removed.  A typical R-M269 haplotype, 93975 has no other close matches in the project.  Tested at 37 markers, his closest 37-marker match in the Fox Project is 65065 at a GD of 13.

Francis Fox, 1785, Wilkes Co.,NC

59807 and 159919 are descendants of Francis Fox,Jr., born: ~1785 in NC or SC  and died: between 1830-1840 in Wilkes County, NC.  The MRCA is William Moses Fox who married Morning Ayers, thus making them fourth cousins.  William Moses Fox was born: 15 Sep 1804, Wilkes Cty, NC, and died: 25 Apr 1882, Yancey Cty, NC.  The two men match exactly on 37 markers.  Theirs is another typical R-M269 haplotype.  They have now been joined by 236252 who differs from them at 439, 447 and CDYb.  236252 is a descendant of William Fox b 1784, PA, d 1853, OH and the connection back to Pennsylvania appears worth exploring.

Francis Fox, Sr., is believed to have been born in England in 1749.  He died ~1821 in Wilkes Co., NC.



Other Southern USA R1b Foxes



We have yet to find a match for a large group of these Southern R1b Foxes:

24011, tested at 12 markers, is a descendant of William Eires Fox, born 1758 in Virginia.  His results have recently been augmented to 38 markers based on SMGF testing but he still has no close matches within the project.

30540, a descendant of David Fox of SC and TN, has been tested at 67 markers but has no close matches within the project.  His closest match is 93372 with a GD = 18 at 67 markers.  He was originally referred to the project by 24011 because of common geographical location of ancestors.  He is a 13 at DYS 492 indicating possibly Haplogroup R-S21/U106.

38215, by virtue of close geographical proximity, had thought that his ancestor, John Fox (1678-1748), of Essex Co., VA, was the son of John Fox (1652-1703) who married Mary Tunstall, the grandson of Henry Fox and Anne West.  At 67 markers he is GD = 31 from 48275, so this connection is disproven.  His closest match at 67 markers is 28579 (GD=21.)

An ardent genealogist, he now writes, ”My line of descent comes from small intrusive Forz (Fortibus) family of Cockermouth, Cumbria (outside of Whitehaven) and Yorkshire, whose first ancestor was a French Count of Aumale who arrived in 1189 from Brittany. His son, William de Forz, became the Earl of Albemarle and was given lands in England in Norfolk, Cumberland and Lincolnshire.”  He has established that his line became goldsmiths and merchants in London, helping to finance the Virginia Company.

He is 12 at DYS 492 and has been deep clade R SNP tested as Haplogroup R1b1b2a1 (L1- L21- L23+ L48- L49+ M269+ P107- P310+ P311+ P312- U106- U198) and he has joined the ht35 project run by Vincent Vizachero, which covers his subclade. This result is indicative of an Eastern Mediterranean origin and is consistent with research indicating that the Forz family may have come from Milan or nearby Genoa, migrated to France where they appear in the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine, if not before. They held manors as far north as Normandy, France and were the admirals of Aquitaine/Poitou.

Conservatively, we have listed John Fox, b1602, London, England, as his most distant known ancestor.  John Fox, an apprentice goldsmith of London, emigrated to Jamestown, VA, in 1635.

45680, a descendant of Gatus Fox of Tennessee, has been tested at 37 markers with no project matches. FTDNA predicts Haplogroup R-M269.  His closest project member is 50481 with a GD of 15 at 37 markers.

59573, tested at 12 markers is descended from George C. Fox of Amarillo, TX, born before 1898.  He is a typical R-M269 but his closest matches in the project are a GD of 2 at 12 markers.  He has also tested mtDNA and is estimated to be mtDNA Haplogroup T*.

88154, a descendant of William Fox, b 1836 in Warwick Co., VA, is another predicted Haplogroup R-M269. His closest matches (31 for 37) are named Tucker (English) and Pridgeon (French) and Neal Fox reports that they form a distinctive cluster with an ancient founder. Within the Fox Project his closest match (only 23 for 37) is 28579. He has some very distinctive results in the first 12 markers but is close to modal for the rest.

107545, tested at 37 markers, is another of our R-M269 Foxes with Southern US ancestry who has yet to find a match.  His most distant known ancestor was William D. Fox, 1887, Alabama.  He might have had ancestors in the Bahamas.

125352 had a great grandfather named Fuchs who came from Alsace, France, to America in the late 1800s. His 12 marker haplotype indicates Haplogroup R-M269 or one of its subclades.  He has no close matches in the Fox Project.  His mtDNA result (HVR1) indicates Haplogroup HV*.

123131 is the great grandson of Hyram Fox of Hart, Michigan.  Hyram came down to Michigan from Canada and is thought possibly to have had Jewish ancestry.  His is an unusual R1b haplotype – close to the modal for R-M269 but with multi-step mutations at DYS 389i and at DYS 438 – both rather stable markers.  He is also 13 at DYS 492, indicative of U106/S21 positive status.  There are some similar haplotypes originating in Belarus/ Lithuania but he matches closely (GD = 1 in 33 markers) a Webb in the SMGF database whose MDA is given as Robert Webb, b 1755 in Crewkerne, Somerset ENGLAND.  123131 has been tested Haplogroup R-U106*.  

121692 is descended from Henry Fox, b ~1750 in Gloucestershire, England.  He is a close match to 56980, 62776 and 80721 who have traced back to Alabama and Georgia around 1820.  At 37 markers he is GD=1 vs 62776 and GD=2 vs 56980 and 80721.  Several more mutations have shown up in the last 30 markers of the 67 marker set against 80721 and it is more probable that the most distant common ancestor (MRCA) of the combined clan is before rather than after Henry Fox.  This group appears to be Haplogroup R-U106, based on the result of 13 repeats at DYS 492.

Two other Southern US Haplogroup R1b1c Foxes have been identified in the SMGF database and partial results are available.  Ancestors are: Benjamin Fox, VA, 1839 and John Fox, Jr., VA, 1780. As yet, no close matches are found for them in the Fox Project.



Haplogroup R1b - Other R1b



This group includes those in Haplogroup R1b (probably all R1b1c) with Northern US, British or German ancestry plus one from Romania and several who have provided no ancestry.


Haplogroup R1b - Other R1b No Matches in the Fox Project


28579 had originally thought his ancestry traced back to Wiltshire (and a brother of Sir Stephen Fox) but more definitive evidence points to Thomas Fox born about 1608 in Melton Magnum, near Norfolk, England, as the most distant known ancestor. 28579 has now been tested at 67 markers by FTDNA and is a genetic distance of 20 or more with the null439 Foxes. He was originally tested on 17 markers in 2002 by Jobling and King and also has partial results in the SMGF database, giving a total of 72 markers in all.

He had been found by EthnoAncestry to be S28/U152+, as predicted, and has now been deep clade tested by FTDNA and is Haplogroup R1b1b2a1b4c1 or R-L20 (L20+ L21- L4- M126- M153- M160- M269+ M65- P312+ SRY2627- U152+.)  He is a member of a STR haplotype cluster identified by Neal Fox that includes an L20+ named Faux but the connection would probably be before the adoption of surnames.

38430, ancestry Chorley, Lancashire, England, has become the most tested project member: Tested at 67 markers by FTDNA and at 74 STR markers by Relative Genetics, he has also done mtDNAPlus testing (Haplogroup T2) and has also done Autosomal Testing - Panel 1, which may eventually lead to a better understanding of his overall family heritage.  He has also ordered the full mtDNA genome. He is Y-Haplogroup R-P312 (R1b1b2a1b*) according to FTDNA and ISOGG (M173+ M207+ M269+ M343+ P25+ P312+ M126- M153- M160- M18- M222- M37- M65- M73- P107- P66- SRY2627- U106- U152- U198.) He should also test for the L21 SNP.

48088, tested at 12 markers, has also supplied results from Oxford Ancestors on a fourth cousin, once removed, both tracing back to William Fox born 1597 in Nottinghamshire, England. They match at the 10 markers in common.
 
50481 provides a striking case of what can be done by a combination of DNA testing with resource to original records.  Originally listed as a descendant of Valentine Fox, born 1535 in Fordwich, Kent, England, his DNA results led him to believe otherwise.  At 67 markers, he matches closely a number of Stewarts and Stuarts, including a known illegitimate descendant of Charles II.  Peter Beauclerk-Dewar collected a series of DNA samples from his kinsmen who were direct male line descendents of Charles II as part of the research for his book “ Right Royal Bastards”. Comparisons show that 50481 has a virtually identical profile on 67 markers to Murray de Vere Beauclerk, the current (14th) Duke of St Albans.

After exhaustive research, 50481 has concluded that he is descended from Sarah Fox, born 1778 in Margate, and that Sarah’s ancestry went back to Valentine Fox, born 1535 in Canterbury, and possibly back to as early as 1320 in Canterbury. At the age of 22, in late 1801, she gave birth to an illegitimate son, Robert.  The father apparently was Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford, and soon afterwards 6th Duke of St Albans. He can be placed in Margate at the time when Robert was conceived, in around September 1800.  This Robert was our Project Member’s Fox ancestor but, on the basis of his research and the DNA match, 50481 has listed as his most distant known ancestor: Hato - Knight of Dol c 990 - c 1055, Le Mans, France.

Interestingly enough, he has also found that Sarah was later legitimately married to Edward Longley of Sandwich, a mariner and customs officer.  They had four children of their own and brought up Robert who kept the Fox surname.  In 1833 and 1834 the family emigrated to Fort Edward, New York, and later to Erie County, PA.  Robert married a woman named Charlotte and had four children, living in Sandwich, but he disappeared in 1834 and is thought to have died at sea. 

At a genetic distance (GD) of 15 in 67 markers, 50481 is the closest Fox yet tested to the null439 Fox group, though not a null result himself.  His haplotype is also reasonably close to that of two Fox descendants of John Fox (b 1827 in Monroe, NY), found in the SMGF database, where he is a GD of 5 with 28 markers in common. He is a GD of 7 from the R1b1 Atlantic Modal Haplotype (37 markers.)  He also has results in the SMGF database, giving him a total of 77 markers tested.  He has now tested L2+ and L20-, putting him in Haplogroup R1b1b2a1b4c*.

65065 is of Irish origin. He has been tested at 37 markers and has clearly a typical R1b1c haplotype but is unrelated to other project members or the NW Irish modal. Within the Fox Project his closest match (GD=9 at 37 markers) is 28579.  He is a member of the following projects in addition to the Fox Project:  Ireland-Heritage, Ireland mtDNA, R1b and mtDNA T FGS (full genome sequence.) 
 
70235, ancestry Clermont Co. OH, has tested at 67 markers and his closest project matches are 28579 (GD = 22) and some of the R1b Southern Fox group.  He is 12 at DYS 492, so is estimated to be Haplogroup R1b1c* (S21-.)

92311, surname Bonham, was admitted to the Fox Project on the basis of a suspected relationship with Peter Fox, 1756, of New Jersey.  Close to the modal for R-M269, he has no close matches in the project.  He has been tested as Haplogroup R-L21.

93372 is a descendant of Matthias Fox who died in 1690 in Borg, Saarland, Germany.  He has been tested at 67 markers and is 13 at DYS 492, indicating probable R1b1c9* status (S21+.)  Tradition says that his ancestors were originally British and moved to Germany in the mid 1600s when the depopulated Saar was trying to attract residents.  He fits a Frisian cluster with ancestors located in England and Wales as well as Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.  The family tradition is not denied and, in fact, is given some support by Y-DNA testing.

146610 is a descendant of William Fox born 1760 in Cape May, NJ 1760.  He has a typical R1b1b2 haplotype but with no close matches in the Fox Project.

156993 is an Australian descendant of John Fox, born in Staffordshire, England and married in 1831 in Lancaster, England.  His great grandfather William Henry Fox, b 1854 in Staffordshire, was the immigrant to Australia. The Australian deep ancestor is Percy August Fox dob: 1886 place: Bundaburg, Queensland Australia.  While a typical R-M269 haplotype, he has a very distinctive value of 21 repeats at DYS390.  Tested at 37 markers his closest matches within the project are at a GD of 14.  He has been SNP tested M269+. Other descendants of this family are invited to join the project.

A Genebase result has been obtained from a Fox whose ancestry goes back to York, England, and may include name variations such as Faux.  He is typical R1b1c but has no close matches in the project.

Other 12 marker results in Haplogroup R1b include two Y-DNA transfers from the National Geographic’s Genographic Project. N28347 was SNP tested as Haplogroup R1b1c and his ancestry is German. N32673 has chosen not to disclose his ancestry, as has member 48443.  Member 62724 is also in Haplogroup R-M269 and his ancestry is Romanian.  59573 traces back to George C. Fox of Amarillo, TX, before 1898.

Taken as a group, these results continue to demonstrate the wide divergence in Fox Family DNA haplotypes within the R1b Haplogroup.



Haplogroup I


Interestingly, some significant Fox family connections have been found in Haplogroup I. Haplogroup I results have been segregated into Haplogroups I-M253, I-M223, I-M39 and Other Haplogroup I, on the basis of differences in their haplotypes, using the Athey Haplogroup predictor and the tables of Ken Nordtvedt, an expert on Haplogroup I. Enough SNP testing has been done (and is continuing) that we have reasonable backup for these categories.

Haplogroup I-M253 or I1:


This very common Haplogroup is defined by a number of equivalent SNPs: M253, M307, M450, P30 and P40, S62, S63, S64, S65, S66, S107, S108, S109, S110 and S111. It is called Haplogroup I1 in the 2010 ISOGG and YCC Haplogroup trees. Nordtvedt has divided this group into 28 clusters, the main distinctions being Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Ultra Norse.  There are also some Eastern European clusters. The Fox project Haplogroup I-M253 contingent now consists of 15 project members plus 4 more Foxes found in the SMGF database, one from Ethnoancestry and one from Relative Genetics (now Ancestry.com). One of the project members also has results from SMGF. Origin is both British and German. There are a number of close matches in this group.

Thomas Fox of Concord, MA, Descendants


Updated 8/13/2022


New Name of Group

Haplogroup I-P109>S14887>Y4115 & Subclades _MostlyThomas Fox of Concord MA Descendants

After a Discover More analysis:

Kit 78547 has been moved to a new group called Haplogroup I-P109>S14887

Kit 638909 has been moved to a new grouping called HaplogroupI-P109>S14887>FGC22129 

Their connection to the rest of the group is quite ancient, 2700or so years

The rest ofthe original group remain in the renamed grouping cited above:

Kit 346823 shows his ancestor to be Jacob Siren.  He iscalled I-BY47937 and may match the others back 900 years ago.

The rest of the groups BigY testers appear to trace back to Thomas Fox (b. before 14 Oct 1618 in England and d. 14 Apr 1658 in Concord, MA) though 235636 shows Joseph Fox (b 1834 NJ) as his MDKA.  All of the three (Kits 235636, 92618 and B140462) are called Haplogroup I-BY16792 with an average of 5 private variants (singletons that only you have).  The Discover More tool says, "Haplogroup I-BY16792 represents a man who is estimated to have beenborn around 350 years ago, plus or minus 300 years."  This man could well be Thomas Fox himself and these three would then each descend from a different son.

There are a lot more in this grouping who could benefit from BigY testing.

Original Discussion of Thomas Fox Descendants Group

We now have six Foxes in the project and three more from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF) database who trace back to Thomas Fox (1619-1658), who came to Concord, MA, from England in the early1600s. Three other project members appear to be related, as does a Fox tested recently by Ancestry.com (formerly Relative Genetics). His known most distant ancestor is Martin Fox born in 1785 in New York State. His Ysearch ID is GQMSG.  We also have admitted two men named Calkins or Caulkins to the Fox Project because they matched our Thomas Fox descendants so closely and were outliers in the Calkins Project..

A recent addition to this group is 235636, a descendant of Peter Fox, born in Gloucester, New Jersey, in 1796.  He has the same value of 13 repeats at DYS442 as the two Calkins/Caulkins descendants. Since the Calkins/Caulkins pair are outliers in the Calkins Project, itis presumed their actual ancestor was a Fox and there was a non parental event(probably an adoption) involved.  PeterFox is most assuredly another Thomas Fox descendant and a search for a commonlocation of Thomas Fox descendants and Calkin ancestors might be productive.  There were Caulkins and Fox descendants of Thomas Fox living in New London,, Connecticut, in the early 1700's and this maybe a clue as to the connection.

N27705, 69617 and 142427 (tested at 12, 37 and 67 markers,respectively) trace back to Thomas' son Eliphalet and their most recent commonancestor is Eliphalet's son, Nathaniel (1682-1765.)  69617 and 142427 are 6th cousins in thedirect Fox line. 69617 and N27705 are 6th cousins once removed but the latterhas been tested at only 12 markers. 

92618 (tested at 67 markers) descends from Thomas’ son,Samuel and four more descend from his son Isaac (178620, tested at 67 markersby FTDNA, and three tested at 45 markers by SMGF). 178620, SMGF11 and SMGF12are from Isaac’s son, Samuel(1687), by his first wife, Abigail Osborne, andSMGF13 is from Isaac’s son, Samuel(1706), by his second wife, Mary Jones.178620 is a descendant of Thomas’ son Isaac (b 1657) and Isaac’s son, John (b1685). This family branch moved to New Brunswick, Canada, in the mid-1700s.

Five do not yet have a paper trail back to Thomas Fox butare at a GD of 1 and 0 from the modal for the group (N34591 at 12 markers,70474 and 125558 at 37 and RG7 at 45 markers). 125558 is a descendant ofJedidiah Lyman Fox, born in New York State between 1831and 1840, who marriedNancy Ann Armfield in Wisconsin. He died about 1916, presumably in Wisconsin.125558 has identified a possible line back to Thomas through Samuel, but it hasyet to be firmly established.  235636traces back to Peter Fox of Gloucester New Jersey.

Since representatives of three different sons have beentested by FTDNA out to 67 markers and we have other markers from SMGF andRelative Genetics, we can pretty well estimate the ancestral haplotype forThomas Fox out to 78 markers.

92618 and 125558 have done deep clade testing so that thegroup can now be considered definitely in the Haplogroup I-P109 subclade ofI-M253.  This information has beensubmitted to Ken Nordtvedt (a Haplogroup I expert), who feels that I-P109divides his ultra-Norse cluster. Thomas Fox descendants are now groupedseparately on our Y-DNA results tables and identified as Haplogroup I-P109(I1d1).  92618 has also done the BigYtest but his well-interpreted results have yet to be provided to the Fox Project.

Ken Wheate has found baptismal records that tie Thomas Foxand his sister Thomasine (who married Moses Wheate) to St. Olaves Church on SilverStreet, London, and his parents are identified as Thomas and Anne Fox.  It is also available in the LondonMetropolitan Library archive.    At thetime of the great fire in London (1666) there were five churches in Londonnamed after the Norwegian saint, St. Olaf, certainly an indication ofScandinavian influence. This may or may not indicate a Norwegian for Thomas Foxbut  Haplogroup I-P109, is indeedindicative of Scandinavian origin.  Another investigator, Eric Williams, has triedto extend the lineage further back and has found a record of a marriage ofThomas and Ann Fox in Nottinghamshire in 1616 – two years before their possibleson Thomas was baptized in London.  Obviously,this all is open to further investigation. The three SMGF pedigrees list Samuel Fox (b abt 1593 of Enfield,Middlesex County, England) as the father of Thomas Fox of Concord but theproject considers this information to be incorrect.

The following is an analysis of the eight markers thatdiffered between the twelve Thomas Fox descendants, with an indication of thefamily line. Markers that deviate from the mode are highlighted and somethingof a pattern can be seen:

        ID       570 CDYb 19 449 464b A10  B7   442 534  640  Ancestral Line back to Thomas Fox              

69617       21    39     14   28   14  NA   NA    12   NA  NA   Eliph., Nath., David, David, Samuel

142427     22    39     14   28   14  NA NA      12     18  11     Eliph, Nath, David, David, Charles

125558     22    39     14   28   14  NA   NA    12   NA   NA  Traces to Jedidiah Fox(~1835 – NY))

N27705    NA   NA   14   NA  NANA  NA   NA  NA   NA   Eliphalet, Nathaniel, Daniel

92618      21     41     14  28   14   NA   NA   12   19    11     Samuel1651, Isaac1682,Isaac1708

178620     21    40     15   28   14  NA   NA   12    19    11    Isaac1657, John, James  

SMGF11   NA   NA  14   28   14   13    11    12   NA    NA    Isaac1657, Samuel1687, John

SMGF12   NA   NA  14   28   14   12    11    12   NA   NA     Isaac1657, Samuel1687,John

SMGF13   NA   NA  14   28   15   13   12     12   NA  NA     Isaac1657, Samuel1706, Oliver

235636     21    40     14   28   14  NA   NA    13   19    11    Peter Fox, Gloucester, NJ, 1796

   RG7      NA   NA   14   28   14   13   12    12   NA   NA    Traces to MartinFox(1792-CT)

N34591     NA   NA  14   28   NA  NA  NA   12  NA  NA    Traces to Sylvester Fox(1820 – WI)

70474      21     40     14  28   14   NA   NA   12  NA   NA    Son of Thomas Fox Not Provided

55779      21     40     14   29  14   NA   NA   13  19    11          HughCalkins Ancestor

150550     21    40     14   28   14  NA   NA   13   19    12         Isaac Caulkins Ancestor

Modal      21     40     14  28    14   13   12*   12   19    11      Possibly theancestral values

Markers ranked in order of increasing mutation rate:  B7, 19, A10, 442, 464, 570, 534, 449, CDYb.

*Results for two first cousins (SMGF 11 and 12) were countedas one in determining the mode. 

69617 and 142427 in the Eliphalet line are 6th cousins inthe direct Fox line and the latter has moved from 21 to 22 repeats at DYS 570,a moderately fast marker.  147427 hasalso moved from 19 repeats (modal) to 18 repeats at DYS 534 in the 38-67 markerpanel.

92618 descends from Thomas' son Samuel, 10 generations downfrom Thomas, and 178620 from Thomas’ son Isaac, 8 generations down fromThomas.  Both have seen mutations atCDYb, a fast marker, and 178620 has moved from 14 to 15 repeats at DYS 19, amoderately stable marker.

The SMGF and Relative Genetics results cover a number ofdifferent markers.  SMGF 11 and 12 arefirst cousins and the latter has moved from 13 to 12 repeats at GATA-A10.  SMGF 13 is their 7th cousin and isthe only one of the Thomas Fox group to have moved from 14 to 15 repeats at DYS464b.  SMGF 11/12, SMGF13 and 178620 1404620descend from three different sons of Thomas’ son, Isaac(1657).  178620 is 8 generations down from Thomas, theother three are 9 generations down.

From the above table one might predict that 125558 might befrom the Eliphalet Fox line, since he is a 37 for 37 match with 142427. On theother hand, a Samuel(1651), Isaac(~1682), Jedidiah (~1706), Jedidiah (~1735)line has been found and this is another possibility, though at least ageneration is missing to make the connection. It is known that some of thisfamily did move from Connecticut to upper New York State. In thisinterpretation, 92618 and 125558 would be 7th cousins with a matchon 35 out of 37 markers.  An extension to67 markers might help to resolve the issue by making a comparison at DYS 534.

The Martin Fox ancestor of RG7 could descend from any ofThomas Fox’ sons, there are too many untested markers to be sure.  Testing at FTDNA might provide the answer.Similarly, nothing more can be said about N34591, tested at only 12 markers,except the he is a match at 12 markers. His most distant known ancestor wasSylvestor Fox, born in Wisconsin and married to Mary Whipple.  Sylvestor died on February 6, 1865, duringthe Civil War, in Louisville, Kentucky. He might be a Thomas Fox descendant but needs to test more markers to besure.  70474 is believed to trace back toThomas Fox but has given no further information and his e-mail address is nolonger active.  His test results are notsufficient to predict which son of Thomas he descends from.  We have three Thomas Fox descendants who have been BiyY 700 tested (992618, 235636 AND B140462) and all are called Haplogroup I-BY16792, showing a very close relationship

Other Reasonably Close Thomas Fox Connections

638908, whose father came from East Prussia (Poland after WWII) appears to be distantly related to the Thomas Fox descendants.  His  BigY 700 results are also positive for I-P109 and match them at threesubclades of P109; namely I-FGC16695, I-S7660 and I-S14887.  Beyond that, their testing results diverge, indicating I-S14887 is their most recent common haplotype..  The age of I-P109 is estimated by YFull as 3200ybp  and the age of I-S14887 as 2700 ybp.  As a first approximation their common ancestor lived probably 3000 years ago.  He notes that Fox is an unuual surname in that region.

We have results from another Fox, tested by Ethnoancestry and listed in Ysearch as CGFUN who may be related to 638908. He states,” The last confirmed most distant ancestor is Josef or JosephFox, born 18.12.1887 in Queetz, county (Kreis) of Heilsberg in East Prussia(Ostpreußen), Germany (today Kwiecewo, Poland). He descended most likely from a Petrus Fox who lived in 1825 in the same area.” He lists Antonius Fox, East Prussia, 1825, as his most distant ancestor on Ysearch. His closest matches in our project are in the Thomas Fox group but they are not really that close, GD of 5 with 30 markers to compare.

In addition, a fellow with the surname Roy matches the Thomas Fox descendents 33 for 37. He has been allowed to join the project,though his connection with the Thomas Fox group may go back well into  prehistory.   78547, a descendant of Louis LeRoy, babt 1610 in Dieppe, Rouen, France, is a 33 for 37 match, though there aremultistep deviations at CDYb.  Thi member actually joined the Fox project for his mtDNA result because his mostdistant known female line ancestor was Mary Fox b. Jan 24, 1886, in Rosscommon,Ireland.  There is no good reason to suspect a common male ancestor with the Thomas Fox descendants within the last 450 years but there may well be a connection before that time.


Elijah Fox Descendants

Six matching Foxes in Haplogroup I1 appear to trace back to North Carolina and Virginia. It appears that this clan may have originated in Virginia, went through North Carolina and then through Cocke County, Tennessee, on their way west.  Four of them trace back to Elijah Fox, born about 1775 in North Carolina.  Elijah apparently moved to Cocke County, Tennessee, and fathered three sons, Ransom, Absolom and John Fox.

36288 is a John Fox descendant, 31167 and 56554 are Absolom Fox descendants and 164277 is a Ransom Fox descendant.  36288 and 56554 match exactly at 37 markers.  31167 and 164277 (tested at only 12 markers) match exactly at 12 markers but differ from the other two at DYS 385b, where they show 15 repeats as compared to 14 for the other two.

Two other Fox Project members appear to belong to this family group, though the exact connection has yet to be determined.  76361 traces back to Allen Fox of Wilkes Co., North Carolina, b.1798, and 147651 traces back to James Fox of Virginia, b.1754 (via his son Enoch Fox, b.1774.)  It is possible that Allen Fox was another son of James.

A recent addition, 246551, also descends from Allen Fox and is an exact match with 76361 on 37 markers. 

76361, tested at 67 markers, matches 36288 and 56554 exactly on 37 markers.  147651, tested on 37 markers, differs only at DYS 477 where he is 21 repeats as compared to 22 repeats for the other three.  Thus the 37 marker ancestral haplotype is well determined and it would appear that a parallel mutation has occurred at DYS 385b in the two 12 marker results.  This is not a truly rare occurrence but it is recommended that both 12 marker results be upgraded to 37 markers. 

All are estimated to be in Haplogroup I-M253 but none have had this confirmed by SNP testing.  The best fit to Nordtvedt’s Haplogroup I clusters is the Anglo-Saxon version of I1a.
 
They have been joined by a Burris (N30820) who matches them closely (GD=2 in 37 markers) and has been allowed to join the project. Again, these project members did not previously know each other and are still trying to figure out the paper trail connecting them.


Jacob Fuchs Descendants

24157 and 47889, in Haplogroup I-M253, are fourth cousins twice removed, the most recent common ancestor being David Theobald Fox (1738-1823) of North Carolina.  They are an exact match at 25 markers.  David was the son of Jacob Fuchs (1703-1783), who immigrated from Germany (Alsace or Palatine?) to Bucks County, PA, in 1739.

86766 is a GD = 1 from 24157 at 37 markers.  24157 reports that 86766 is his third cousin with Josiah Burel Fox (1830-1900) of North Carolina and Missouri as the common ancestor.  Josiah was a 4th generation descendant of Jacob Fuchs of Germany and Pennsylvania.  Haplogroup I1a has been confirmed for 86766 by SNP testing (M253+.) There has been no deep clade testing but they appear to fall into Nordtvedt’s M-253 Anglo-Saxon clusters.

143344 is a fourth generation descendant of Nicholas Fox, b. abt 1788 in Chatham County NC, buried in Arch Small Cemetery, Ekin, Tipton Co IN, d. 1847 to 1849 in Tipton County IN.  Nicholas was married to Levina Holder.  143344 and 86766 are an exact match at 37 markers, confirming a suspected relationship.


Other I-M253 Results

24106 is a 6th generation descendant of Abraham Fox, b before 1890 in Adair County, Kentucky and moved to Polk County, Tennessee.  His is a typical Haplogroup I-M53 result and some of his closest 37 marker matches within the Fox Project are the Thomas Fox of Concord MA, descendants at a GD of 9 or 10.  He is a GD of 8 from the Roy descendant, 78547.

99981 is another Haplogroup I-M253 but does not match closely the others in this group.  Tested at 67 markers, his most distant known ancestor is Herbert Fox, 1880, Norfolk, England, but one researcher thought there might be a family connection with the Quaker founder, George Fox.  George Fox had no offspring but may have had brothers or cousins who left descendants. His father, Christopher Fox, was a weaver from Fenny Drayton, about 25 miles south of Leicester, England.



Haplogroup I-M223 or I2b1:


This Haplogroup defined by the SNP markers M223 and S24. The latest ISOGG and YCC Trees have this as Haplogroup I2b1.  It is common in England and on the Continent.  Wilhelm Gabert has associated it with the Germanic tribe called the Sugambrer and given it Viking heritage.  Nordtvedt has divided this group into 8 main clusters – Root1, Root2, Root3, Cont1, Cont1a, Cont2a, Cont2b and Cont2c.   Further subclades are I2b1a defined by M284, I2b1b defined by M379, I2b1c defined by P78 and I2b1d defined by P95.

Lancashire Vikings?

31754 and 36120 are both estimated to be Haplogroup I-M223 (Now Haplogroup I2b1, old Haplogroup I1c) and both have ancestors hailing from Lancashire, England.  They are a GD of 6 at 37 markers. 85639, whose ancestor is Johnny Fox of Stokes Co., NC, matches them both with a GD = 4 at 37 markers.  There are mismatches at only seven markers, as follows:

DYS         19        388        439       460        570       CDYb        442         GD from Modal
31754      16         13          12         12         18          40           12                  3
36120      15         14          11         11         18          39           11                  3
85639      15         13          11         11         17          40           12                  1
Modal       15         13          11         11         18          40           12                  0

It is apparent that these men form a cluster and that 85639 is only one mutation from the modal result for this cluster, which appears to match Nordtvedt’s I-M223-Cont.2b very closely. These Lancashire Foxes have been tentatively traced to a group of Vikings who left Dublin, Ireland, to seek refuge in Lancashire in the year 918 AD.

31754 has also been tested by DNA-Fingerprint and has a number of additional markers, markers which continue to support I-M223-Cont.2b.

Descendants of Christian Fuchs of Kutztown

N69127 now has 67 marker results available.  The most distant known ancestor is Christian Fuchs, born 1749, who died in 1814 in Berks County, PA, in Maidencreek, near the town of Kutztown. The family name was changed to Fox from Fuchs in 1825.  It turns out that he is step-nephew to N23128, who matches him at 12 markers.  Aside from that his closest 67 marker match in the Fox Project is 85639 with GD=27.

N23128 has been SNP tested as M170+, M223+ and P19+, putting the two of them in Haplogroup I2b1.  He has not been tested for downstream SNPs below M223.

Haplogroup I-M223  Other Results:

N16652 – upgraded to 67 markers – has given his most distant known ancestor as William Fox born 1791 in Salem County, New Jersey. He also has results from SMGF. He has tested as Haplogroup I-M223* or I2b1*, the asterisk indicating that he is negative for downstream SNPs M284, M379, P78 and P95.  Nordtvedt has predicted that he might test P95+ or Haplogroup I2b1d.

Another member (89347) of Haplogroup I2b1 or I-M223 has now been tested at 67 markers.  He traces back to George Fox who married Mary Wood at Christ Church in Philadelphia, PA, on August 4, 1751.  He is well removed from other members of this Haplogroup I subclade, except for N22211, who is of Irish ancestry.  They are an 11 for 12 match.

133998 gives his immigrant ancestor as Christian Fuchs/Fox, b. 1840 Oberbexbach, Bavaria-d. 1921 Youngstown, Mahoning, Ohio; most distant ancestor Johann Conrad Fuchs, Buergermeister in Dudweiler-Nord around 1766, Kontrolleur of the mine in Burbach, 1776.  His closest matches (GD=13 at 37 markers) are the Lancashire Viking descent (31754, 36120 and 85639).  They are projected to be Haplogroup I2b1* (or I-M223*) but FTDNA projects 133998 to be Haplogroup I2b (or I-P214).  His mtDNA results (HVR1 and HRV2) indicate the very common Haplogroup H.



Haplogroup I-L38 or I2b2



Descendants of Richard Fox and Hannah Williamson

71539 is a documented descendant of Col. Richard Fox (d 1771) and Hannah Williamson of Virginia (see Project Background Section). His relationship with 68387, a descendant of Joaquin Fox, who moved from New Orleans to Mexico in the mid-1800s, has yet to be established. The two match exactly at 37 markers.  68387 has been deep SNP tested by FTDNA and is L38+ L39+ L40+ M161- M170+ M21- M223- M227- M253- M258+ M26- M307- M72- P19+ P214+ P215+ P216+ P217+ P218+ P30- P37.2- P38+ indicating Haplogroup I-L39 (same as I-L38).  This is now called Haplogroup I2b2 by both FTDNA and ISOGG.  He has also been STR tested at 67 markers and has joined the Haplogroup I-L38 Project at FTDNA.  Interestingly enough, this is the Haplogroup of the skeletons found in the Lichtenstein cave, a Bronze Age archaeological site in central Germany associated with artifacts of the Urnfield culture.

Two recent additions are 2068892, uncle of 68387, and 219447, another known descendant of Richard Fox and Hannah Williamson.  He differs from the others only by a mutation at CDYb.


Descendants of Johan Fuchs of Germany

131649 is a descendant of Jesse Fox of Georgia and Arkansas. His great, great, great grandfather was Johan Fuchs of Germany. He is a first cousin of 114418, whose father underwent heavy radiation exposure at Nagasaki in 1943.  They are a GD=1 in 37 markers, the only deviation being at DYS 391 so the radiation did not appreciably skew the comparison. 

The closest match for 114418 in Ysearch is named Brion (Ysearch 8GD73) from Kimburg, France, with whom he is a genetic distance of 5 in 37 markers. He and Brion have 15 at 388, 11 at 454, 11 at 438. Those are unusual values on very slow mutators. The norm is 13, 12, and 10, respectively.  His 9 at 460 is also rare for Haplogroup I-L39. Because they match on some slow markers they may be closer than would otherwise be apparent.  114418 is currently upgrading to 67 markers to check out this situation.  131649 has been tested M170+, meaning backbone Haplogroup I, but we suspect they would both test L38+ and L39+ and both have joined the L-38 Project at FTDNA.  These two are GD=20 at 37 markers from 68367 and 71539.



Other Haplogroup I -  Not Further Identified



N30890, with a 12-marker haplotype, was SNP tested as Haplogroup I but the subclade not determined. His ancestry is German but that is all that is known.


Haplogroup G2


24750, tested at 12 markers, is assigned Haplogroup G2.  He is a descendant of Franz Joseph Fox and his son Gideon Fox, both of whom came from Germany to Pulaski County, Indiana sometime around 1836. 

N28014, also G2, has indicated the Ukraine as his ancestry.

We have found a Fox who appears to be Haplogroup G2 in the SMGF database.  The most distant ancestor listed is Adam Fox of Philadelphia, born before 1800.

Two recent Haplogroup G2 members are 201278 (ancestor is Harry Fox of San Francisco) and 230009  (ancestor is Alexander Maxwell Fox of SC and GA).  No matches in the project



Haplogroup R1a1


Richard Fox and Vaniah Fox of Glastonbury, CT, Descendants

The only match in Haplogroup R1a1 (ISOGG calls this R1a1a), is where 133409, a descendant of Richard Fox, 1641, of Glastonbury, CT, matches 134182, a descendant of Vaniah Fox, who married Abigail Cadwell in Glastonbury, CT, in 1748.  They match on 35 of 37 markers.  A third Fox, N55006, matches the Vaniah Fox descendant exactly at 12 markers.  His MDKA is Harry Francis Fox (1849) of Lydlinch, Dorset.  Unfortunately for the Fox surname, there is a tradition of an illegitimate Fox ancestor of Harry Francis Fox who took his mother’s name, according to one researcher.  This group is actively searching for connections.  See the Project Background section for further information.

N55006 has been tested M198+ and negative for all downstream SNPs making him Haplogroup R1a1* (R-M198*). The others are presumably the same. 


Haplogroup R1a1 – Other Results

46155, tested at 37 markers, has also been assigned Haplogroup R1a1. This is an eastern version of Haplogroup R, which is well represented in European males, including some of Viking descent. The earliest known ancestor of 46155 is Gottlieb Fox (b. Dec 1846, Germany; d. 19 Jul 1903, Belmont County, Ohio.

N57084, a Genographic Project transfer, is another member of Haplogroup R1a1.  Recruited by N16652 and another investigator interested in New Jersey Fox families, he is a direct descendant of Jeremiah Fox, 1829, of Salem, NJ, but traces back to Frederick Fox, ~1728, Palatinate, Germany.



Haplogroup E3b1b1


We have two transfers from the Genographic Project (N19397 and N23138) whose matches in the FTDNA database suggest Haplogroup E3b1b1, found mainly in the Middle East.  Ancestry is unknown.

144536, a descendant of Barnaby Fox born 1750 in Cumberland County, NJ, is also estimated to be Haplogroup E1b1b1.) He is an 11 for 12 match with N23138 but is 10 as compared to 14 repeats at DYS 439.  No matches as yet.



Haplogroup Q


94524 is a descendant of Aron Fuchs of the Ukraine who moved to the United States in 1915 and changed his name to Harry Fox.  He is a confirmed Haplogroup Q and his 25 marker STR haplotype is typical of this group.  A number of his close matches are reportedly of Ashkenazi descent.  He is a 24/25 match in Ysearch with a man from the Ukraine with the surname Lurie.

N34859 is a descendant of Creek Indian Trig Fox.  Only 12 markers but tested Haplogroup Q-L53.



Haplogroup J2 and Subclades


We now have two members of Haplogroup J1 and 6 members of Haplogroup J2 in the Fox Project.  This is a Mediterranean Haplogroup but exists all over Europe to some extent.  The Romans are thought to have brought this Haplogroup to Britain.

In Haplogroup J2:

97877 is a 37 marker upgrade from Genebase.  The Genebase results were matched and, combined, he now has a total of 56 markers tested.  He is estimated to be Haplogroup J2a1-bk (Athey prediction.) His ancestor is Rankin Fox of Staley, NC, b 1881 

110488, a descendant of William Francis Fox, born 1906 in SC was tested at 37 markers and also appears to be Haplogroup J2a1b.  His SNP testing at FTYDNA confirms Haplogroup J2 (M172+).  Testing M67 would confirm J2a1b (FTDNA presently calls this J2f but this is due to change.)

140364 is our first member of the Palatine, NY, Mohawk Valley Fuchs clan and is estimated as Haplogroup J2.  He is a documented descendant of Christoffel Fuchs, born 1608 in Gravenweidt, Germany.  Several of Christoffel’s grandchildren migrated from Niederbieber, Germany, to New York City in 1710 and then migrated to upstate New York.  “The Mohawk Valley Foxes,” a book by Donald P. Fox, documents this family quite well.

153293 is a descendant of Johannes Friederick Fuchs, b 1727 in Germany, who lived in Cumberland County, NJ, in the 1760s and 1770s.   In his book, "The Fox Family From Germany to Southern New Jersey"(1982), Rulon D. Brooks, Sr., states that Frederick Fox and his wife Mary Band emigrated to the US from Germany aboard the ship "Edinburgh" in 5 Sept 1748.  This may or may not be the same Friederick Fuchs.  Johannes Friederick Fox (Fuchs)'s descendents are well documented primarily because they were farmers and stayed in Deerfield Twp, Cumberland Co, NJ, until the present.  This result has also been found to fall under Haplogroup J2* and is a 23 for 25 match with 140364.  Markers 26 through 37, however, include five mismatches. There may well be a Fuchs family connection here in the far distant past back in Germany.

208921 is a descendant of Morris Fuks of Odessa, Russia.  Many matches with other surnames and has joined the WIRTH Project of related Ashkenazi surnames.  Haplogrooup J2a3b1

240688 is a descendant of Samuel Fox of Russia.  Another J2a4b.


In Haplogroup J1:

N51825 is a 12 marker transfer from the Genographic Project who appears to fit Haplogroup J1.  He fits the 6 marker Cohanim modal haplotype but deviates on 3 markers when extended to 12 markers.  He has not given his ancestry but could probably join the Cohen project at FTDNA if he could establish some sort of paper trail.  This haplotype is common among descendants of Aaron, the Jewish Patriarch.

169337 is a descendant of Moishe Fuchs of Kutno, Poland.
 


Mitochondrial DNA Results


We have a number of mtDNA postings bringing the total up to 31, including 21 men and 10 women. Seven are transfers from the Genographic Project, two of whom prefer to hide their ancestry. Again there are a wide range of results, including mtDNA Haplogroups B2, H, H1c, H5a1, HV*,J1b1, I, K, K1a1b, T*, T1, T2, U2, U4 and U5a1a.  Differences from CRS (Cambridge Reference Sequence) are shown along with the projected mtDNA Haplogroup in the table.  Most are typical European Mitochondrial Haplogroups.  31754, however, is Haplogroup B, which ties in with a Spanish/Indian Mexican descent on the female side.

There is a match at the HVR1 + HVR2 level between 53477 and 56554, who are niece and uncle, respectively. There is also a match between 30540 and 36120 but, in general, matches at this level are not significant genealogically.

mtDNA results for 14179 and 25481 have been identified in the SMGF database.
 
14179 is Mitosearch MDBCN:
HVR1: 183-, 215G, 224C, 311C, 519C
HVR2: 073G, 152C, 263G, 315.1C, 497T, 524.1C, 524.2A
This is a firm K1a Haplogroup result because of the 497T, the MRKA ancestor being Euphemia Lacy (or Lacey), born in Loudoun County, VA, in ~1786.  23andMe results have extended this to Haplogroup K1a2, based on a result of 11025 C

25481 is Mitosearch DGMRU
HVR1: 183C,189C,193.1C, 356C, 519C
HVR2: 263G, 315.1C
This is a typical Haplotype H result, the most distant ancestor being Frances A. Johnston, born in 1826 in Putnam County, GA.  23andMe has refined this to H1c1



Results from Other Labs:


Results from other labs are listed at the Alternative Fox Surname Project Website.  They include results from Ethnoancestry, DNA-Fingerprint, Relative Genetics, Gene Bank and Sorenson.

The original Fox test data of Jobling and King at Leicester University have now been identified. One of these is a known descendant of Francis Fox, mentioned above, and is classified R1b1c9a. The other (28579) has joined the Fox Project and is listed with Other Haplogroup R1b.  Originally tested at 16 markers, he has now upgraded to a total of 71 markers.

Additional testing at DNA-Fingerprint and Relative Genetics has cast doubt on the results at DYS 464,a,b,c,d for 25481, a member of the null439 Fox group.  FTDNA continues to call it 14,14,16,16 but other results give him 14,16,16,16, which would match the other members of this group exactly at this marker.  It is expected that FTDNA will shortly change their result.

14179 and 25481 both now appear in the SMGF database and have also have results from Relative Genetics (both use the Sorenson Lab for testing)  While they were null at DYS 439, according to FTDNA, the duplicate Y-DNA test run by Relative Genetics, using different primers, actually shows a value of 12 repeats for DYS 439 (the value assumed by FTDNA.)  They have upgraded to 67 markers at FTDNA, who show a genetic difference for them of 5 but this would reduce to 4, using the revised values for DYS 464 mentioned above.  Their full haplotypes include 11 additional Relative Genetics markers not shown in the Y-haplotype tables and these results are identical.

A Fox tested by Genebank (Canada), ancestor Robert Fox of York, England, has supplied his results, which are typical R1b1c.  He and several additional Fox families found in the Sorenson database are listed at the Supplemental Fox Surname Project Website but not shown under Y-Results on this Website.  24157 has had an additional 5 markers tested by Biotix, also not shown here.

We also have information on four Foxes tested recently by Ancestry.com (formerly Relative Genetics.)  They have been given RG numbers for identification purposes:

RG6 is probably in Haplogroup I-M223, along with 10 other Foxes, none closely related.  He descends from John Fox (1770-1809) of Cumberland Co., Pennsylvania.  Before this, he suspects Fuchs ancestry from Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. His Ysearch ID is BWUW8.

RG7 is another apparent descendant of Thomas Fox of Concord, MA.  His known most distant ancestor is Martin Fox born in 1785 in New York State. He matches 92618 exactly at the 35 markers they have in common.   Together with the three Thomas Fox descendants found in the SMGF database, he extends the Thomas Fox modal haplotype out to 75 markers and the number of descendants out to eleven.  His Ysearch ID is GQMSG.

RG8 may be a descendant of John Fox of Ontario County, New York, born in 1820 – his great, great grandfather but it is possible his grandfather may have been adopted while living in Williamsport, PA.  He is obviously another member of Haplogroup R-M269 or one of its subclades but has no close matches in the Fox project.  His Ysearch ID is EJ5G5 and he has some interesting close matches with men named Clendenin and Stephenson in the Ysearch database.  Clendenin has Scots descent and may well be Haplogroup R-L21.

RG9 is also Fox Project member 139347.

SNP testing by Ethnoancestry has been mentioned throughout this discussion.  They offer tests on a number of special SNPs that define important subclades of Haplogroups R and I that are not available elsewhere.

No matches have yet been found for other members of this category within the project, but one member (48088) has provided data for a cousin tested by Oxford Ancestors and two others, found in the SMGF database, had John Fox, born 1827 in Monroe, NY, as the common ancestor.  Both of these did match exactly on the markers tested.

Most of our Y-DNA results, along with pedigrees, can be found in the Ysearch.org database - go there and search for the surname Fox.

Very early Progress Reports are available at the Fox DNA Project - Family History & Genealogy Message Board