Update on Ackley Surname Project Y-DNA Testing

This blog isn't meant to be about just DNA, although it may seem like it given the amount of time devoted to the topic lately. I promise there will be plenty of non-DNA posts in the future, but the Ackley Surname Project is on a bit of a roll right now and I wanted to report on the progress we've made over the last few months. The following representation of the family tree for the members of the project who have done Y-DNA testing will be referred to throughout this post.

The tree is a little busy, but I think it is a pretty good way to summarize the project in a single diagram. It shows the known ancestry of all project members (who are represented by their kit numbers to protect their privacy), as well as their testing status. The borders around the blocks representing each project member are color coded to indicate the testing level they have attained, and white boxes surrounding groups of members indicate the haplogroup to which they belong. Recall that haplogroups represent branches on the haplotree, or "tree of mankind".

The boxes in various shades of gray on the left of the tree are project members who have done Y STR testing that confirms they are descendants of Nicholas Ackley, but do not yet know how they descend from him. One of the goals of the project is to have some of these members do SNP testing to determine which of Nicholas's sons they descend from and help them complete their line of descent from him.

Evolution of Big Y Testing in the Ackley Surname Project

Bear with me for a few paragraphs here as I explain the evolution of Big Y testing in the Ackley Surname Project. I believe it will help explain how Big Y testing is being used to define the branches of the haplotree for the descendants of Nicholas Ackley.

I was the first member of the group to do a SNP test, back in May 2016. STR testing had given me a predicted haplogroup of R-M269, but SNP testing is needed to refine that prediction. Recall that SNP testing looks at single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs. A SNP is a mutation, which creates a new branch on the Y-DNA haplogroup tree. A haplogroup is a major branch on the Y-DNA tree that shares hundreds or even thousands of mutations that are unique to that group. The SNP test I took was not a full Big Y test, but rather tested a relatively small group of SNPs known to be common to Western Europe. From that test, my confirmed haplogroup was R-S1051 (orange arrow in table below). R-S1051 is estimated to have formed around 3,900 years ago, so that information is not particularly useful for genealogical research.

I wanted to know more, so I did the Big Y test in July 2016. Big Y tests a much larger number of SNPs and determines the tester's "terminal" haplogroup; i.e., the lowest (most recent) branch on the haplotree for which there is at least one other tester who is also positive for that SNP. As a result of that test, I was placed in haplogroup R-BY10450 (blue arrow in table below), which is estimated to have formed around 3,200 years ago. Closer to present time, but still not useful for genealogy. It is important to note that at that point I still had a number of what are known as private variants -- these are SNPs for which I was positive but had not yet been found in other men. Naming of private variants occurs when other men who are positive for these mutations test; this is how branches are added to the haplotree.

A genealogically relevant branch was added to the haplotree when another member of the project (kit number B313386) did a Big Y test in mid-2018. This tester was also positive for a large number of the private variants I had, and as a result we were identified as members of haplogroup R-FGC52286 (green arrow in table below). I had only six remaining private variants and the other tester had only two. This branch represents our most recent common ancestor, and since both of us are known descendants of Nicholas Ackley, me through his son James and the other tester through his son John, R-FGC52286 is effectively established as the "Nicholas Ackley" branch on the haplotree. All descendants of Nicholas Ackley should be on R-FGC52286 or a more recent sub-branch of R-FGC52286. Additionally, my private variants help define the "James Ackley" branch and B313386's private variants help define the "John Ackley" branch. This information will indeed be useful for genealogical research as will be shown below.

To completely define my own branch on the haplotree, I had my son (kit 934998) do a Big Y test. He was positive for all six of my private variants and had no private variants of his own, so all six of those variants were named and we were placed on the R-FGC52300 branch of the tree (yellow arrow in the table below). Tester B313386 has also done individual SNP tests on his first cousin and two sons to confirm that they are also positive for R-FGC52286. In addition, the Big Y test for one of his sons has just completed resulting in the naming of his two private variants, placing them on their own branch below R-FGC52286. As reflected in the family tree above, this branch has been named R-BY135594 and further defines the "John Ackley" branch.

Most Recent Ackley Big Y Tests

We recently had two Big Y tests complete that provided some very useful information for the project. One of the Big Y testers, kit 938816, is a known descendant of Nicholas Ackley's son Samuel. His results placed him as expected on the R-FGC52286 branch, and he had just two private variants. Another member, kit 938369, who was on one of the unknown lines of descent, also decided to do a Big Y test that finished just after 938816. 938369 was also R-FGC52286 and had three private variants. One of those private variants matched one of 938816's private variants, confirming that 938369 is a descendant of Samuel. This variant was given a name and these two men have now established the "Samuel" branch of the tree, R-FTA24085.

More recently, kit 947514's Big Y test completed. He was also among the group that did not know how he descended from Nicholas; his Big Y results also place him in R-FTA24085 and on the "Samuel" branch. Note that there is another Big Y kit in process at this time; kit 950608, who is known to be in the same line of descent as 947514, should finish soon and further refine the "Samuel" branch. Those two kits will likely form a new sub-branch under R-FTA24085. This is a prime example of Big Y testing helping uncover genealogy clues -- men who did not know how they descend from Nicholas Ackley have learned that they are descendants of Nicholas's son Samuel. Although they don't know all the details yet and in a sense are still searching for a needle in a haystack, the haystack has gotten considerably smaller.

Another way to visualize this information is the FTDNA block tree. The block tree is a representation of the haplotree that shows the relationship of closely related haplogroups. The current block tree looks like this:

 

New Zealand Ackley with UK Roots

As mentioned in a previous post, an Ackley man from New Zealand has joined the project and his Y-37 results are now available. Based on these results, he is not a close match to the Nicholas Ackley descendants in the project. He has decided to do a Big Y test to learn more; it is in the manual review phase right now and should be complete within a week or so. In the meantime, the search for our English connections continues!

Link of the Day

Join the project! If you are an Ackley man or a woman who has Ackley male relatives that you'd like to test, we'd love to have you join the project. Details on how to join and suggestions on what test to take can be found in this post.

Quote of the Day

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

 --Robert Louis Stevenson