Update on the Ackley Surname Project

The Ackley Surname Project has had two new Big Y tests of Ackley men complete recently, and I wanted to report on the results. Before we discuss their specific results though, I would like to take some time to explain the project in some detail to give readers an understanding of the goals and benefits of becoming a member of the project and participating in Y-DNA testing.

Goals and Strategy

The overarching goal of the Ackley Surname Project is to provide data in the form of test results and interpretations of those results that can help project members with their genealogy. The testing strategy should support these project goals. One way we can do this is to help “unattached” project members discover their connection if there is one. We also want to use tests appropriate for defining branches (SNP tests vs. STR tests), and test individuals who can help define family branches. The testing framework should be designed to keep overall testing costs to a minimum. I will give some concrete examples of these ideas below.

Basic Testing Approach

We use two different types of Y-DNA testing in the project: STR testing to determine family membership and SNP testing to place people on branches in the Y-haplotree. Based on a haplotype analysis I did a while back (see here for a full explanation of this analysis), Y-37 should be sufficient for new members to determine family membership. Y-37 testers who are over the FTDNA threshold but “close” can upgrade to Y-67 and check DYS617. For existing members who are looking for more information on their branch, the Big Y test would give the most information, but cost may be a factor. Another approach could be to do a custom SNP panel based on other project Big Y results.

What is STR Testing?

Family Tree DNA offers three levels of STR testing: Y-37, Y-67, and Y-111. According to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG):  “A short tandem repeat (STR) in DNA occurs when a pattern of two or more nucleotides are repeated and the repeated sequences are directly adjacent to each other.” [1] According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH): “A nucleotide is one of the structural components, or building blocks, of DNA and RNA. A nucleotide consists of a base (one of four chemicals: adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G), and cytosine (C)) plus a molecule of sugar and one of phosphoric acid.” [2] STR testing counts the number of repeats on specific segments of Y DNA (called markers), which are designated by the letters “DYS” followed by a number. The marker values for two men are compared, and if the number of non-matching markers falls below established thresholds, there is a high likelihood the two men are related. We have used Y-37 STR testing in the Ackley Surname Project to determine group membership; i.e., to check if a tester is a descendant of Nicholas Ackley or not.

What is SNP Testing?

SNP testing identifies Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms. From Family Search: “A single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP is pronounced snip) is a DNA sequence variation occurring when a single nucleotide - adenine (A), thymine (T), cytosine (C), or guanine (G) in the genome (or other shared sequence) differs between members of a species or paired chromosomes in an individual.” [3] For example, the substitution of a C for a G in the nucleotide sequence AACGAT, producing the sequence AACCAT, is a SNP. The Big Y test examines over 700,000 locations on the Y chromosome looking for SNPs. SNPs found are compared to a known, named list of over 260,000 SNPs (named variants in FTDNA terminology), and the individual is placed in the tree at the lowest (most recent) named variant for which he has tested positive.

How Does This Work in Practice?

One example of how this has worked in our project is the case of a member who joined the project not knowing how or even if he descended from Nicholas Ackley. He had hit a brick wall in his research and turned to Y-DNA testing to see if it would help. He did a Y-37 test, and lo and behold he was not closely related to any of the descendants of Nicholas in the project. However, his test did provide some clues that he might be a descendant of a man named Johan Eckler. After doing some more research he discovered that a descendant of Johan had changed his surname to Ackley in the late 1700s, so he recruited two other Ackley men who knew they were descendants of Johan and found that he matched them. With further research, he was able to determine how he descends from Johan and solved his brick wall. Details on this case can be found here.

There is another example of three members who were in a similar situation to the man mentioned above; they did not know how or if they were related to Nicholas and had reached brick walls in their research. Each of them did a Y-37 test first and determined that they were all related to the other known descendants of Nicholas in the project, and thus were also likely descendants of Nicholas. They each decided to do a Big Y test, and the results showed that each one was on the same branch as a member who was a known descendant of Nicholas's son Samuel who had already done a Big Y test and established the "Samuel branch" on the haplotree. Although none of these three men have determined how they descend from Samuel yet, the knowledge that they are descended from him has greatly focused their research efforts.

As has been discussed in previous posts, we have also used Y-DNA testing to try to discover connections to our English ancestors. We have tested two Ackley men of known English descent (see this post for details); neither of these men were matches for the Nicholas Ackley descendants in the project (or each other), but this information is useful for future attempts to discover our English lineage.

Big Y and Variants

Variant is another name for a mutation. “Y-DNA mutations used in genetic genealogy are miniscule variations in the Y chromosome that are not connected to any known genetic conditions” [4]. Big Y results report two types of variants: named and unnamed or private variants. To be named, a variant needs to have been found in at least two men. It is possible that an individual has some variants that are unique to him because so far no one else with those variants has tested. These are known as unnamed or private variants.As discussed above, named variants determine the placement of an individual in the Y-haplotree (sometimes known as the "tree of life"). Placement of an individual in the haplotree is somewhat temporary because if he has private variants there is a possibility that someone else who also has those variants will test, the variants will be named, and the individual will be moved to a lower sub-branch below his previous branch.

The "Rule of Three"

From above, we know that a Big Y test for a single individual will define his haplogroup with possible private (unnamed) variants remaining. Testing a second, closely related individual (father, brother, son, etc.), will usually lead to the naming of the private variants (they will now have been found in two men) and will establish their family clade (branch) in the haplotree. A third test of a more distantly related individual (4th cousin or greater) will confirm the main branch for the common ancestor of the larger family group. Testing groups of three men whose relationships are known can help define branching within a surname project. This “Rule of Three” (a concept developed by Bill Wood, administrator of the FTDNA - BigY Facebook Group) will be a part of the testing strategy for our project. Note that it does not matter what order you test the second and third individuals in the group of three men.

I will illustrate the "Rule of Three" concept with my own test, another member's test, and my son's test. I was the first member of the project to do a Big Y test, and my first results assigned me to the R-BY10450 haplogroup. At the time, FTDNA had not yet developed the block tree as a way to present positions on the hapotree, but they had a step chart that gave your relative position and displayed the number of matches you had. Here is my step chart:

You can see I had no matches at R-BY10450, meaning that no other tester had tested positive for the SNP BY10450. R-BY10450 is estimated to have formed about 2,500 years ago, so this information was not really useful for genealogical purposes.

A few other testers came along that refined this estimate somewhat, but they were still too distant to be of use genealogically. Finally, another member of the Ackley project who was a known descendant of Nicholas did a Big Y test, and the two of us matched and established the Nicholas Ackley branch in the haplotree. The block tree now looked like this:

This block tree is showing my branch as R-FGC52286, and indicates that I have one match, which would be the other member of our project. Note that R-FGC52286 is under R-FGC52285, which is under R-BY10450, which was my original branch until more people began testing and getting the variants named. At this point, we have completed the last part of the "Rule of Three", which is to test a more distantly related individual (4th cousin or greater) to confirm the main branch.

Out of curiosity I decided to test my son to complete the "Rule of Three" and establish our own branch on the haplotree. The block tree after his results came in looked like this (sorry for the small, fuzzy text):

My son had all the same private variants I had, so there were now two men who had these variants and they could be named. Our branch was named R-FGC52300 and had five equivalent SNPs that are all shown in the white block on the block tree above. Note that the other member of the Ackley project still shows as R-FGC52286 in this block tree because he still has private variants that have not been named. I will not show his updated block tree, but he subsequently tested one of his sons and all of his private variants were named, establishing their own block under R-FGC52286. I will show the current block tree including that update in a later section.

Current Project Statistics (as of 25 Feb 2023)

• 24 Ackley men have taken Y-DNA tests
• 19 known or suspected descendants of Nicholas Ackley
• 3 descendants of Johan Henrich Eckler
• 1 New Zealander whose father and known ancestors were born in England
• 1 Englishman whose father and known ancestors were born in England
• 13 Big Y tests
• 12 complete
• 1 in process
• 11 STR tests
• 6 Y-37
• 3 Y-67
• 2 Y-111 (All Big Y tests also have Y-111 results)

Current Project Structure

Below is a graphical representation of the groups of testers in the project (again, sorry for the small, fuzzy text). For the purposes of Y-DNA testing, only Nicholas's sons are relevant to the picture, so daughters are not included. The green boxes represent Nicholas's son John and his three sons John, Benjamin, and Nathaniel. The circled numbers under each son give the number of testers who are descendants of each son; in the example of John, there are 4 testers who are descendants of John's son John, while there are none for Benjamin or Nathaniel. Thomas is represented by the purple boxes; there are no descendants of Thomas who have tested. Nathaniel, in red, had no known children. James, in blue, had five sons; there are two descendants of his son Nicholas, two descendants of Nathaniel, and one descendant of Benajah who have tested. There is also one descendant of James whose descendancy from James is not known; this will be discussed in a later section. Finally, there are six descendants of Samuel who have tested; two descendants of his son Elijah, and four whose descendancy from Samuel is not yet known.

New Results

Finally to the new results. A member of the project who is a known descendant of Nicholas's son James recently completed a Big Y test. His results led to a refinement of the block tree and added a branch under which all descendants of James will fall. To illustrate what occurred, consider the side-by-side comparison of the "before" and "after" block trees for the project below.

The block tree on the left is from before the new testers results were available. The white block on the left of that diagram is the block for me and my son; we are descendants of James (and his son Nathaniel), so one or more of the equivalent SNPs in that block may have been formed in James, Nathaniel, or any of the other descendants between James and me. Without any other results from descendants of James, we don't know which ancestor those SNPs may have formed in, so they are all lumped together in one block.

The block tree on the right includes the results from the first of the recent testers who is a known descendant of James (and his son Nicholas). Note that there is a new block above my R-FGC52300 block that is labelled R-FT82490 and an equivalent SNP named FT82868. In the original block tree these two SNPs were included in my block (inside the red boxes), but the new tester was also positive for these SNPs so it is known that our common ancestor had to have had these mutations and they are moved to the block immediately above my block. The new tester has six private variants that may eventually be named and create new branches if other descendants of James and his son Nicholas test. So, for the time being, the terminal SNP for the new tester is R-FT82490.

The other recent new tester also tested positive for the two SNPs defining the "James branch" on the block tree, but did not match any of the private variants of the private variants of the other recent tester or the SNPs defining my son's and my branch under the "James branch". From this we can conclude that this tester is a descendant of James, but not either James's son Nathaniel or Nicholas. This tester has five private variants of his own that will need to be named to fully define his true terminal branch. We do not yet know which of James's sons this tester descends from, but given the above information we do know that he did not descend from either Nathaniel or Nicholas.

Current Block Tree

Including the two recent testers, the current Ackley portion of the block tree looks like this:

I have added the names of Nicholas and his sons to show which block (branch) represents each one, and the kit numbers of the Big Y testers on each branch.

Recruitment Goals

There are several short term recruitment goals of the project that can help members with their genealogy research.

First, I'd like to recruit other descendants of John, James, and Samuel to test and further refine the known branches. This could help other members who do not know how they connect to Nicholas determine their line of descent.

The next goal is to recruit known descendants of Thomas to test. This may be difficult – there are very few known male descendants. I have contacted one, and never received a response.

We also need to recruit additional English Ackleys to try to make the English connection. We have two so far, neither one of whom is a match to any of the Nicholas Ackley descendants in the project.

I'd also like to recruit additional Hackley descendants to test the purported Ackley-Hackley connection. As has been discussed in this blog before, there are some who claim that Nicholas Ackley's father was named Hackley and the name was changed to Ackley. There is one Hackley in the project who is not a close match. There are other Hackley lines in the U.S. that seem to be unrelated to the Hackley in the project that should be tested to see if there is a connection.

Finally, I want to encourage all current project members who have done only STR testing to consider Big Y. Some of them know their line of descent from Nicholas, and their Big Y test will further refine the Ackley branches on the Y-haplotree. Others do not know how they descend from Nicholas, and a Big Y test may give additional clues on where to look next.

This is where readers of this blog can help achieve the goals of the Ackley Surname Project. If you are an Ackley male or know of an Ackley male who might be interested in taking a Y-DNA test and joining the project, I encourage you to contact me and let me know of your interest. I will gladly discuss with you the various types of testing and suggest which type of test might help you achieve your goals and possibly help other project members achieve their goals. Don't wait -- contact me today!

Sources

1. International Society of Genetic Genealogy. "Short Tandem Repeat". ISOGG Website, accessed 25 Feb 2023.

2. National Institutes of Health. "Genetics Review - Nucleotide". National Center for Biotechnology Information Website, accessed 25 Feb 2023.

3. Family Search. "Y-Chromosome Single Nucleotide Polymorphism testing". Family Search Website, accessed 25 Feb 2023.

4. Vance, David. The Genealogist's Guide to Y-DNA Testing for Genetic Genealogy. Independently published, 2020, p. 21.

Link of the Day

This is the link for the Ackley Surname Project home page at Family Tree DNA for anyone who would like more information about the project:

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/ackley/about

Quote of the Day

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

--Robert Louis Stevenson

Dr. Horace Ackley (1810-1859), Medical Pioneer

 Occasionally when I am doing Ackley research I run across a character who is not in my direct line, but they are so interesting that I take some time to learn something about them. Dr. Horace A. Ackley is one such person; he lived in Akron for a time while my 2nd great grandfather, Gibbons Jewett Ackley, lived there, so his name pops up frequently when I am doing research in that area. Dr. Ackley was somewhat of a medical pioneer, and had a huge impact on medicine in the Cleveland area.

Dr. Horace A. Ackley [1]

Horace was born in August 1810 in Genesee County to James Erasmus Ackley and Hannah J. Cadman. He is a descendant of Nicholas Ackley, and his line of descent is as follows:

Nicholas --> Samuel --> Bezaleel --> James Erasmus --> Horace

Horace attended lectures at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of the Western District of the State of New York in Fairfield, Herkimer County, from 1833-34. He moved to Akron, Ohio in 1834 after being licensed, and shortly thereafter went to Toledo. It was in Toledo that he married his wife, Sophia S. Howell of Willoughby in 1937 [6]. Horace and Sophia had one son, Horace Hall Ackley, born in 1846 [2]. By 1839 he was in Cleveland, and it was there that he established himself as a pioneer of surgical procedures and became known across the country [2], [3].

A Career of Firsts

In 1841, Dr. Ackley was the first doctor in Northern Ohio to restrict his practice to surgery. [8]

From The Summit County Beacon, Dec. 22, 1841, p. 1

In 1843, Dr. Ackley, along with several of his colleagues from nearby Willoughby University, approached Western Reserve College with an offer to establish a medical department. The offer was accepted, and Dr. Ackley became the first professor at the new school. [3]

In 1847, Dr. Ackley was the first to use ether as an anesthetic during surgery in the Western Reserve, only 3 months after it was first publicly demonstrated in Boston. [2]

In 1855, Dr. Ackley became the first chairman and superintendent of the Northern Ohio Lunatic Asylum. The hospital was built in Newburgh on land donated by the family of future president James A. Garfield. [9]

Cantankerous Yet Compassionate

In an address by Dr. D.H. Beckwith to the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County in 1904, he recalled his teacher Dr. Ackley like this:

"Abrupt in his conversation, he often impressed his hearers as a man devoid of sympathy, but this was an error, for he was good to the poor, giving them his services freely, and he loved children, caring for them with gentleness." [7]

Examples of his bad behavior are easy to find. In one case, an angry mob cornered him at the medical school in Willoughby because they had heard he was operating on humans. Dr. Ackley brought out a small cannon, aimed it at the crowd and threatened to fire it at them if they did not leave him alone. The crowd dispersed. [4]

Stories of Dr. Ackley's good deeds are abundant as well. One fine example: In 1849, when a cholera epidemic was ravaging the city of Sandusky, Ohio, an urgent call went out for medical aid. Dr. Ackley shuttered his practice, organized a group of doctors to join in, and went to Sandusky to offer his assistance [6].

Body Snatcher?

Being a scientist as well as a physician, Dr. Ackley spent a good deal of time looking for ways to improve the body of knowledge around surgery. In 1855, when an instructor and some medical students were caught robbing a grave at Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland to get a body to practice on, Dr. Ackley went to bat for them and introduced a bill that would allow the bodies of "friendless paupers and persons found dead" to be used by medical colleges for dissections [1]. Dr. Ackley was no stranger to this activity; at one point the police had raided his office looking for a body that he was practicing on. He had received a tip about the impending raid and had placed the body in a barrel and rolled it out to the street in front of his office in an attempt to hide it. None the wiser, the police walked right past the barrel into his office and never found the body [4].

Stealing dead bodies to practice on sounds like a macabre thing to do, but in those days finding cadavers to work on (rather than live patients) was a real problem. Ohio had no established method for medical schools to procure bodies to be practiced on, so doctors and students had to resort to snatching bodies from local cemeteries or the city infirmary. Dr. Ackley's bill was designed to provide a legal way for doctors and students to refine their skills without putting a live patient's life at risk, and after much debate and many revisions, the City Council passed an ordnance allowing infirmaries to distribute dead bodies to medical schools if they were not claimed by relatives [1].

A Famous Patient

From Cincinnati Post, February 11, 1943, p. 17 [4]

While the above article from the Cincinnati Post is a bit melodramatic in drawing a straight line from Dr. Ackley's actions to Lincoln becoming president and saving the country, it does provide an interesting look into Ackley's reputation as a skilled surgeon.

Stephen A. Douglas, senator from Illinois and presidential candidate several times, came to Dr. Ackley in late 1855 after falling ill and becoming so hoarse he could not speak. At a campaign event in Paris, Illinois on October 27, 1855, he could only muster a bow to the crowd, and someone else was enlisted to speak in his place. Some of his friends thought he was so sick that he might die. He was first taken to a Dr. Reed in Terre Haute, Inidana, but after a month with little improvement he was convinced that surgery was required and made his way to Cleveland and Dr. Ackley, who was acknowledged as "one of the foremost surgeons on the Western Reserve" [5].

According to "The Eve of Conflict: Stephen A. Douglas and the Needless War" by George Fort Milton:

"The day after Christmas, Dr. Ackley performed the first of a series of operations, passing an instrument down the throat and into the windpipe and injecting nitrate of silver into the parts affected. A couple of days later, he operated on 'the uvula or lower palate,' removed the patient's tonsils and put him to bed to recuperate." [5]

Of course we know how this turned out; Douglas recovered and went on to run for senator against the then little-known Abraham Lincoln in 1858. Lincoln lost the race, but the now-famous Lincoln-Douglas debates that were held during that campaign propelled him into the national spotlight and on to the presidency.

An Untimely Death

Dr. Horace Ackley died at just 49 years of age on April 26, 1859. His obituary appeared in the Summit County Beacon (Akron, Ohio) on April 27, 1859:

Obituary from Summit County Beacon, April 27, 1859, p. 3 [10]

Although the obituary states that his death was sudden, other sources imply that Dr. Ackley's health may have been slipping for some time due to some bad habits. From the American Medical Biographies:

"...the truth of history demands further the brief and sad statement that Dr. Ackley in his later years fell into habits of intemperance, which not only obscured the honorable records of a strenuous life, but contributed in no slight degree to his premature death, April 24, 1859." [6]

Sources

1. Osborne, Catherine. College of Arts and Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, "A Grave Matter: Legislating Dissection". Website, accessed 19 Feb 2023.

2. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, "Ackley, Horace A." Website, accessed 19 Feb 2023.

3. College of Arts and Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, "No. 8 Horace A. Ackley". Website, accessed 19 Feb 2023.

4. "Ohio Forges the Nail, Cleveland Doctor's Skill Helped Put Lincoln in Presidency." February 11, 1943. The Cincinnati Post. p. 17.

5. Milton, George Fort. The Eve of Conflict: Stephen A. Douglas and the Needless War. New York: Octagon Books, 1963, p. 209.

6. Kelly, Howard A., and Walter L. Burrage. American Medical Biographies. Baltimore: The Norman, Remington Company, 1920, p. 2-3.

7. Annals of the Early Settlers Association of Cuyahoga County. United States: The Association, 1904, p. 564-565.

8. "Surgery." December 22, 1841. The Summit County Beacon. p. 1.

9. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, "Cleveland State Hospital." Website, accessed 21 Feb 2023.

10. "Death of Dr. Ackley." April 27, 1859. The Summit County Beacon. p. 3.

Quote of the Day

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." 

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Search for Our English Ancestors Continues...

I promise this blog is not just about DNA, but I must admit I do write about it an awful lot. I view DNA testing as a valuable tool for helping us discover some of the mysteries of our family trees. For reference, here is a list of the posts I have written about DNA and how it can be used in Ackley genealogy:

Update on Ackley Surname Project Y-DNA Testing (May 2021)

An Analysis of the Ackley Y-DNA Haplotype (Feb 2021)

How to Join the Ackley Surname Project at FTDNA (Dec 2020)

A Report on the Status of the Ackley Surname Project Y-DNA Testing (Dec 2020)

Report on New Recruits - Part 2 (Sep 2020)

Report on New Recruits (Sep 2020)

Update on Y-37 DNA Test Recruiting Effort (Aug 2020)

I WANT YOU ... To Take A Y-DNA Test (Jul 2020)

What Are the Origins of the Ackley Surname? - Part 3 (May 2020)

Update on Hackley/Ackley DNA (Jul 2016)

DNA Revisited (Jun 2016)

How Could DNA Testing Help Us? (Feb 2016)

One of the objectives of the Ackley Surname Project at Family Tree DNA is to try to use Y-DNA testing to identify the English ancestors of Nicholas Ackley, the first known Ackley in America. To that end, I have identified two Ackley men with UK ancestors who have graciously agreed to test and join the project. As reported here, the first of these men is from New Zealand, but his father was born in England, and his Ackley ancestors were from England. His earliest known Ackley ancestor is William Ackley, born about 1858 in Manchester, Lancashire, England, and died in 1921 in Chorlton, Lancashire, England. There are some records giving his father's surname as Ackerley, but the paper trail ends there.

The most recent English Ackley tester was born in England, and his earliest known Ackley ancestor is John Ackley, born about 1818 in Lancashire, England. Interestingly, there is evidence that John's father's surname was also Ackerley, and the paper trail ends there as well. As with the New Zealand Ackley, the surname is consistently given as Ackley for all generations up to and including the project member. At this point, it is hard to know if the names were changed from Ackerley to Ackley for some reason, or if the names were recorded as Ackerley in error, or if an extra "er" was included in the pronunciation of the name for some reason.

What is known for sure is that neither of these English project members is closely related to any of the Nicholas descendants in the project, nor are they closely related to each other. The following sections will detail the DNA evidence from the two types of Y-DNA tests performed that prove there are no relationships between the various Ackleys.

Y-STR Results

The most common type of Y-DNA testing examines what are known as short tandem repeats (STRs) at specific locations on the Y chromosome. See this post for a more detailed discussion of STR testing. Y-DNA matches are measured by genetic distance; I won't repeat all the details on how this works here, but if you need a refresher, see this post. The relationship between genetic distance and relatedness is summarized in the table below. We will make our comparisons at the the 37 marker level since many of the testers in the project have tested only at that level.

Table of Relatedness for Y-DNA Testers

The table below shows the genetic distances between all pairs of Ackley men who are members of the Ackley Surname Project. Sorry for the small font; there is a lot of information to display in limited space. 

Ackley Surname Project Genetic Distances

The important thing to notice from this table is that there are four distinct groups of Ackley men in the project; the Eckler group (men whose surname is now Ackley, but was originally Eckler - see this post for an explanation of this group), the Nicholas Ackley Descendants, and each of the English testers who individually form their own groups, UK2 and UK1. 

Note that for each of these groups, the only blocks with genetic distances that indicate that two men being compared are related (colors other than red) are for other members within their group. Further, there are no relationships between any of the groups; the genetic distances between men in the Eckler group and the Nicholas Ackley Descendants group are all very large (greater than 30 in every case). Similar genetic distances are observed between the Nicholas Ackley Descendants and each of the UK testers as well as between the UK testers. This leaves no doubt that the groups are not closely related to each other at all. While this information is a disappointment in terms of our quest to find our English ancestors, it is helpful in that we know which Ackley lines in England we do not have to pursue when looking for future Y-DNA test candidates.

SNP Results

The other type of Y-DNA testing that is useful for genealogy is SNP testing, which examines mutations known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The patterns of these mutations can be used to place individuals on the Y haplotree - the "Tree of Mankind". See this post for a more detailed explanation of SNP testing. The FTDNA comprehensive SNP test is called Big Y-700. Results for the Ackley groups identified above will be discussed below.

Before presenting a comparison of the various Ackley groups, it is useful to look at the position of the Nicholas Ackley Descendants on the haplotree.

Block Tree for Nicholas Ackley Descendants

As expected, you can see from the block tree above that the Nicholas Ackley Descendants who have done the Big Y-700 test are found close to each other on the tree of mankind. I have added some additional labels to identify the descendant groups as well as the block that represents Nicholas Ackley.

FTDNA has recently added a new feature to Big Y-700 results called "Discover More". One of the more useful pieces of information available in "Discover More" is the haplogroup story for each haplogroup, which describes the formation dates of each haplogroup and its parent haplogroup, as well as how it is related to other haplogroups. Here is the haplogroup story for R-FGC52286, the haplogroup for Nicholas Ackley (I have added notes to explain some of the information):

R-FGC52286 Haplogroup Story

Note that Nicholas Ackley's haplogroup is estimated to have branched off its parent group (R-FGC52285) around the year 850, which is before surnames were commonly in use. From the block tree, we can see that there are many equivalent SNPs in the block with R-FGC52285. At this time, due to lack of enough test subjects, it is impossible to tell which of these equivalent SNPs occurred first, so they are all lumped into one block. Therefore, it is likely that there were many branches between R-FGC52285 and R-FGC52286 that occurred between the years 850 and 1635, the year that Nicholas Ackley was born.

The diagram below gives yet another view of the information from the block tree and the haplogroup story that is now available in the new "Discover More" functionality for Big Y testers. The diagram shows the time-based relationship between a given haplogroup and the upstream (older) and downstream (more recent) branches in the haplotree.

Note the four branches of the time tree that are at the right-hand edge of the tree. These are the four haplogroups representing the testers in the Ackley project; note that the mutations represented in these haplogroups are all estimated to have formed in modern times (i.e., within the last 500 years). In fact, all of them are estimated to have formed between 1800 and 1900.

Another interesting bit of information on the time tree is the brown circle with a shovel in it at around 500 CE. This represents a set of remains that have been determined to be an ancient relative of the Ackley men (known as Birsay 78), having haplogroup R-BY10450, which is an upstream (older) branch from all of us. I wrote about the discovery of these remains here. FTDNA is making a concerted effort to add Y-DNA data from many different excavation projects to the haplotree, and our project members currently have 18 sets of ancient remains that have been determined to be on upstream branches from us. I plan on writing a detailed post about these samples in the near future.

None of the men in the Eckler group have done the Big Y-700 test, so they have not been placed on the haplotree as of yet. However, high-level haplogroup predictions can be made from the STR tests they did, and their predicted haplogroup is G-M201. Note that the beginning letter of the haplogroup is "G", while the Nicholas Ackley Descendants are "R". This is certain evidence that the Nicholas Ackley Descendants and the Eckler group are not at all closely related to each other.

The two UK testers have both been found to be in the "R" haplogroup, the same as the Nicholas Ackley Descendants. However, the subbranches of the three groups are far from each other, confirming that none of the groups are closely related to each other. The branches are far enough apart that they cannot be captured in one graphic, so the easiest way to visualize this is to compare the SNP paths of the three groups to see what the common branches are. A SNP path is simply a list of the SNPs (mutations) that have occurred over time leading up to a given haplogroup. The following SNP paths for the three Ackley groups were found on the SNP Tracker website [1].

The red box in the graphic above encloses the most recent SNP that is common between the Nicholas Ackley Descendants and the UK1 tester (R-Z39589). This means that these two groups had a common ancestor at that point in time, which according to the chart was approximately 2410 BCE (Before Common Era), which was about 4,400 years ago. Clearly, these two groups are not closely related given that their common ancestor lived 4,400 years ago.

Likewise, the blue box encloses the most recent SNP that is common between all three Ackley groups, which is R-P312. According to the chart, the common ancestor lived around 2800 BCE, which was about 4,800 years ago. With a common ancestor who lived 4,800 years ago, it is certain that these three groups are not closely related.

What's Next?

While the search for our English connection has been unsuccessful so far, the quest will continue. The process is slow -- the first difficulty is identifying a living Ackley man who would be a candidate for testing. The usual method for doing this is to use historical records (such as census records) to identify an English Ackley line and then tracing records forward in time until a living male candidate is found. Once a candidate is identified, the next trick is to find a way to contact him, which is easier said than done. As often happens in dealing with DNA in genealogy, the next step is a waiting game -- some people will respond to communications, and some queries will go unanswered.

If anyone reading this post is a suitable candidate or knows someone who would be a suitable candidate for testing, please don't hesitate to contact me in the comments section. A suitable candidate would be a male with the Ackley surname who was either born in England or can show that a recent male Ackley ancestor was born in England. Any leads on possible testing candidates would be greatly appreciated! 

Sources

1. Spencer, Rob, SNP Tracker [website], "SNPs" tab, accessed 22 Oct 2022.

Link of the Day

This is a link to the "Discover More" tool on the FTDNA website for the Nicholas Ackley SNP (R-FGC52286). There is a wealth of useful information available here. Make sure to explore all of the various tools listed on the left of the page.

https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/R-FGC52286/story

Quote of the Day

"Do not judge me by my successes; judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again." ― Nelson Mandela

A New Book on Nicholas Ackley : "Discovering Nicholas Ackley, Early Connecticut Settler, (1630-1695)" by Nancy Mattison

Discovering Nicholas Ackley by Nancy Mattison; cover image from author

As mentioned in a recent post, there is a new book about Nicholas Ackley that has just been published. Nancy Mattison, a 7th great granddaughter of Nicholas, has written a comprehensive story of Nicholas's life, blending known facts with information about the laws, norms, and customs of the time to create a very readable and enjoyable account of the first known Ackley in colonial America.

I've had an opportunity to read a pre-publication copy of the book (several times), and it is well worth your time. In addition to a well-researched telling of Nicholas's life story, you'll learn what life must have been like for Nicholas and his family in colonial Hartford and Haddam as one of the earliest settlers of Connecticut. The book addresses much of the misinformation about Nicholas that has proliferated across the internet, and makes sound arguments in support of the most likely circumstances of his origins and parentage. There are several helpful appendices covering topics such as Nicholas's alleged ancestry, details of his land ownership, the concept of inhabitants and freemen, and his children. In short, this book collects all of the known information about Nicholas Ackley that until now has been scattered across the internet and organizes it into a well thought out, factual tale of survival and perseverance of an early Colonial American family.

"Discovering Nicholas Ackley" is available for sale now at lulu.com and will soon be available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If you are a Nicholas Ackley descendant or are researching the Ackley family, I highly recommend adding this book to your library. It is both a good story and a good genealogy reference. You can learn more about the book at the author's website here. You can order the book from lulu.com come here.

Land Records for Haddam and East Haddam

While doing some research for a recent post on Samuel Ackley, I ran across a good resource for land records from Haddam and East Haddam that should be of interest to Ackley researchers. If you're like me, you probably haven't paid much attention to land records, which is to our own detriment. As Lisa Cooke states in her "Genealogy Gems" blog [1]:

"Land records are some of the most underutilized, yet most useful, records available in genealogy. Often, they are the only records which state a direct relationship between family members. They can also be used to prove relationships indirectly by studying the land laws in force at the time. Sometimes they can even be used to locate an ancestor’s farm or original house, so that we can walk today where our family walked long ago."

Fortunately for us, there are some land records for Haddam and East Haddam that are fairly easy to access online if you know how to get to them.

Family Search

Most of you are probably aware of and have used records from familysearch.org. The site is free and has billions of pages of records that have been digitized and put online. While many of the records are indexed and can be found by searching for your ancestors by name, there are many more available that you have to go digging for a little bit. The Haddam and East Haddam land records fall into that category. Here are a few screen shots showing the process of finding the records for East Haddam.

Step 1: Click on "Search" and then "Catalog"

Step 2: Start typing haddam into the box labeled "Place"

Step 3: As you type haddam into the box, a drop down with possible place names will show up. It is important that you select the place name from that list; if you just type in the word haddam and hit return, the search will not find the place you have typed in. Click on the name and it will appear in the box. Click the "Search" button.

Step 4: From the list of record types associated with Haddam that your search produced, click on "Land and Property". This will expand that category and show you all of the different collections that have land and property records for Haddam.

Step 5: In this case, there is only one record collection that has land and property records for Haddam (some locations have more than one). Click on that collection.

Step 6: Clicking on a collection will take you to a page with a description of the records in the collection and a list of all of the "films" available in the collection. I put "films" in quotes because in the "good old days" these were physical microfilms, but by now Family Search has digitized nearly all of their microfilm and it is available online. Here is a portion of the list for the Haddam land records.

Note that for this collection, the first two entries are an index to all of the rest of the volumes of land record books for Haddam. For most land record collections, the index volumes have two lists of the people involved in land transactions; grantors (sellers or givers of land), and grantees (buyers or receivers of land). Before moving on, we need to discuss the last column of this list - the one with the heading "Format". If there is a camera there, you can click on it, and you will get a page that shows all of the images available on that film, and you can click on them to see them. In this case, we have the dreaded camera with a key above it:

This means that the images on this film are not available (locked) to the average user doing genealogy in their jammies at home. This happens sometimes when Family Search has an agreement with the original owner of the records not to make the records available to the whole world online.  But all is not lost; if you click on the camera with the key, you will see this:

If you click on either "Family history center" or "FamilySearch affiliate library", a map of the United States will pop up with the locations of all of the places you can go to look at these records on one of their computers. The same map pops up no matter which link you click. You can zoom in to your area and find the closest one; the greenish-bluish circles are Family History Centers and the orangish circles are FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries (i.e., public libraries that are allowed to access the restricted records). Here is the map zoomed in for my area:

I live very near O'Fallon, Illinois (lower right corner on the map); you can see that I am close to both a Family History Center (these are typically located in a Latter-Day Saints church) and an Affiliate Library. If you click on any of the location icons, a box will pop up with the address, phone number, and hours of that location. I have used the Family History Center in O'Fallon many times in the past, but right now they are open by appointment only due to COVID, and I didn't want to make someone open the library just for me. In the end I went to the St. Louis County Public Library, which also happens to be the repository for the National Genealogical Society book collection, so they have a lot of good reference materials available.

What will you find?

Assuming you have found a location that has access to these records, what next? The first step is to look in one of the index volumes to find names of interest that were involved in land transactions in Haddam. The index volumes are usually arranged alphabetically. Here is a page from the first index volume with Ackley grantors (all of the Ackleys who sold land in Haddam during the time period covered by the index):

I realize this is a little hard to read, but the page on the right-hand part of the image is a list of all of the grantors with the last name Ackley (the first column). The next column is the grantee for that transaction. The third column is the book number that transaction can be found in, and the fourth column is page number. The last column is title "Character of Deed". Most of the entries say "War" (I'm assuming that means warranty deed); there are a couple that say "Q.C." (I'm assuming that means quit claim deed), there is one that says "Mor" (I'm assuming that means mortgage deed), and there are two that say "Lease for life". I am not at all familiar with the different types of deeds, but that information might be useful for something. The fifth entry in the list is for Samuell Ackley (grantor), Thomas (grantee), which can be found in book 1, page 88. The grantee pages are arranged in a similar way, but the leftmost column is the list of grantees; the grantee pages would thus be a list of all Ackleys who bought land during the time period covered by the index.

Armed with the book number and page number for the transaction you are interested in, now go back to the list of films and find the one that has the book number you want. Click on that film, and you will get the page of images in the book. You will now have to browse those images to find the page number you want (remember, these films are not indexed), which is a little tedious. The page for Samuell Ackley and Thomas Ackley from above looks like this:

I don't expect you'll be able to read that; their transaction is on the lower right of the image. Here is a small snippet so you can see what the handwriting looks like:

You can see that the handwriting is very difficult to read in spots, and on the edge the copy is not great, but if you slog through it you can get the information about the parties involved and the land being sold. I did a quick and dirty transcription of the the above record, and here is what I came up with (I tried to transcribe it exactly as written, so you will see many words that are not spelled as they are today):

To all whom thes presents may concern greeting Know ye that I Samuell Ackley of the towne of hadam in the county of Hartford and collony of Conectticut good and valuable consideration ? ? unto ? ? ? ? ? ? and just soum of nine pounds of current silver money of New England ? to me by bill b? d? with all ? ? bargained granted sold in ? and doe by this grant bargain sel and ? ? unto my brother Thomas Ackley a certain parsell or tract of land lying and being situat within the township of hadam on the east side of Conectticut River being by estimate about thirty acres be it more or less being in the second ? of land of Lady ? on the east sid the Great River being bounded north on the land of Capn George Gates east on the Comon south on the land of Nathaniel Ackley west on the highway that runs between the d? together with the right of twenty pounds right in the Comons and undivided lands to him my brother Thomas Ackley to him his heirs executors administrators and assigns for ? to have hold p? p? and quickly in joy for ever without any lot hindrances ? ? station from or by me or my heirs executors administrators and assigns or any by or from mine or their p?ment or any other that hereafter shal pretend to any claim or titel to the said land or any part thereof or any of the ? and immunity of the unto belonging or in any ? approximating unto the aforesaid tract of land for ever in ? money ? unto I have set to my hand and seale this twenty third of January 1699:1700.

 

Witnes John Chapman                                                          Samuell Ackley

James Ray                                                  Acknowleged before Nathaniel ? ?

You can see from the many question marks that there were a lot of words I could not decipher. Also, there was absolutely no punctuation in this record whatsoever, so it runs on and on a little bit. Some of the language doesn't make complete sense either. Nonetheless, you can get the gist of what transpired in this transaction. Samuel sold a tract of land in Haddam on the east side of the Connecticut River (most of Haddam is on the west side of the river) to his brother Thomas for nine pounds. The land was about 30 acres. Captain George Gates's land is to the north, common land lies to the east, Nathaniel Ackley's land is to the south, and a highway is on the west boundary. It also appears that Samuel has given his rights to some common land to his brother Thomas. The transaction was completed on January 23, 1699/1700. Recall that until 1752, Great Britain and the colonies were using the Julian calendar while much of the rest of the world was using the Gregorian calendar. Under the Julian calendar, the year ran from March to February, while the Gregorian calendar (which is what we use now) ran from January to December. As a result, the month of January was reported with two years - it was still 1699 under the Julian calendar, but 1700 under the Gregorian calendar.

Ackley Grantors and Grantees

To give you a headstart on finding Ackley land records in these collections, I have transcribed all of the Ackley entries in the index books for both Haddam and East Haddam.

Haddam Grantors

Haddam Grantees

East Haddam Grantors

East Haddam Grantees

If you are planning to do some research on Ackley land records in Haddam or East Haddam, the tables above from the index books will give you a starting point; to see the individual transactions, you will still need to access the volumes containing the actual records. Good luck with your research!

Sources

1. Cooke, Lisa. "How to Find and Use Land Records for Genealogy", Genealogy Gems Blog. Published Oct. 4, 2019; accessed online Dec. 11, 2021.

Link of the Day

The link of the day is the Family Search website from which all of the screen shots in this post are taken:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/

Note that the Family Search website is completely free to use, but you need to have an account to access records.

Quote of the Day

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work."

 -- Thomas Edison

Assumptions, Rumors, Myths, Legends, and Falsehoods

I am not a professional genealogist, and I suspect very few (if any) of the readers of this blog are professional genealogists. However, there are some things we as genealogy hobbyists ought to be striving for as we research our families and share the information we gather with others. While very few of us have taken steps to formally publish what we have found, we are all in a sense "publishing" our work when we share our information on sites like Ancestry, WikiTree, Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage, and Family Search, and we owe it to each other to be as accurate as we can so we don't spread misinformation about our ancestors among our fellow genealogists.

Standards

As the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) puts it:

"Both professional genealogists and casual family researchers need genealogy standards in order to get their genealogy right. Without standards, inaccuracies and myths can be created and perpetuated. Many of these errors can be avoided by working to genealogy standards." [1]

To guide genealogists with their research, the BCG has developed what is known as the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). To reach solid conclusions in our research, we ought to meet the following five standards [1]: 

1. Reasonably exhaustive research.

2. Complete and accurate source citations.

3. Thorough analysis and correlation.

4. Resolution of conflicting evidence.

5. Soundly written conclusion based on the strongest evidence.

 

So where am I going with this train of thought? I've been looking at a lot of online trees with Ackley ancestors in them lately, and I am seeing many profiles that are supported mostly by assumptions, rumors, myths, legends, and falsehoods. I've written about elements of this in previous posts, but I wanted to address it in a more systematic way in this post.

Common Types of Inaccuracy

First, some definitions of the words I am using here [2]:

assumption - a thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.

rumor - a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.

myth - 1. a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. 2. a widely held but false belief or idea.

legend - 1. a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but unauthenticated. 2. an extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field.

falsehood - the state of being untrue.

These words have slightly different meanings, but what they have in common is that if we report information in our genealogy that falls into any of these categories and don't acknowledge that it may not be true or don't qualify it in some way, we are not supporting this information properly.

Some Examples

To illustrate, consider some of the information below that is widely reported for Nicholas Ackley. While there is a great deal we do know about Nicholas (see this post for his biography), there are some basic items that are still not known for certain, yet are reported as if they are fact. Some of the more common examples:

1. Nicholas Ackley was born in England. While this is a reasonable assumption and is almost certainly true, it is an assumption for which I have never found any actual documentation. There are no passenger lists or other immigration documents that definitively state that Nicholas came from England. It makes logical sense given his name and the origins of the other people in Hartford and later Haddam where he lived, so it does seem a reasonable assumption to make. However, in the absence of any documentation, we should say that it is an assumption rather than a known fact.

2. Nicholas Ackley was born in Shalford, Essex, England. This item has always puzzled me because it is so specific, yet I have never seen a reliable source for this information. I have written several posts relating to Nicholas's birth place, including this one, and this series (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) on the possible origins of the Ackley surname. Without any proof for this claim, at best it can be viewed as a rumor.

3. Nicholas was born at Hopton Castle, England. Also a very specific assertion, and in direct conflict with #2. However, there is some documentation to support this idea, but it is entwined in a whole series of events related to item #11 below and is discussed in this post. The post raises some pretty fair arguments against accepting this as fact. Further, I have recently written about the fraudulent nature of the work of Gustave Anjou, the genealogist who produced the pedigree for Nicholas's ancestors in this post. Well-known genealogists have warned against using any of Anjou's work in developing pedigrees for our ancestors.

4. Nicholas Ackley was born in 1635. Another puzzling one given the specificity of the data and the lack of any reliable sources to support it. Logically I also have some doubts about this date given the other information we know. We have evidence that Nicholas signed a petition in May 1653 seeking to establish a plantation at Nonotuck, Massachusetts. If he was born in 1635 he would have only been 18 years old when he signed the petition. I am a little skeptical that such a young man would have been allowed to sign such a document; certainly not impossible, but in my opinion not likely. Therefore, I feel that his birth year may have been a little earlier than 1635. But, I have no evidence to back that up, so I can't report any alternative date with any authority.

5. Nicholas Ackley was an immigrant. This item follows naturally from the assertion in item #1, and for the same reasons listed there it is a reasonable assumption. Further, there have been no records found that would suggest Nicholas was born in the colonies, although that is not impossible.

6. Nicholas Ackley was indentured when he came to America.

7. Nicholas came to America to flee the British Civil War. #6 and #7 seem to be the stuff of family legend. I have not seen any documentation to support either assertion, although both are certainly plausible. Indentured servitude was a fairly common way for people to gain the funding necessary to travel to America, and the British Civil War took place between 1642 and 1651, which is consistent with the time period that Nicholas is thought to have come here. However, in the absence of any supporting documentation, these assertions will remain family legend in my eyes.

8. Nicholas Ackley's first wife was Hannah Ford Mitchell and his second wife was Miriam Moore. See this post for details; all we can really prove with reliable documentation is that his first wife was named Hannah (she is mentioned by first name only along with Nicholas in a deed) and that his second wife was named Miriam (she is mentioned by first name only in his will).

9. Nicholas had two other sons (named Nicholas and Benjamin) besides the ten children listed in his will (Thomas, Nathaniel, John, Samuel, James, Elizabeth, Hanna, Mary, Sarah, and Lydia). Although there are a couple of sources that name these two sons, these sources offer no good support for these claims, and one of the more complete references [3] on Nicholas Ackley's family speculates that they are probably grandsons, although even that argument has holes in it. For this reason, I would rate this claim as a rumor at best. 

10. Nicholas was a private in the Revolutionary War. This is just a flat-out falsehood and could not possibly be true given the known date of Nicholas's death and the timing of the Revolutionary War. From Nicholas's probate we know that he died on 29 Apr 1695. The Revolutionary War didn't start until 1776, which is 81 years after his death. 

11. Nicholas is the son of John Hackley (or some other Hackley). This relationship has been repeated over and over in family trees on Ancestry, WikiTree, and Family Search. I have written extensively about this item here, here, here, and here. Although this issue can probably not be put to bed until we find proof of who Nicholas's parents actually are, I feel that the arguments made in the first post cast serious doubt on the veracity of this claim. 

Bottom line: We need to stick to verifiable facts in our genealogy as much as possible. If we report data that is not supported by documentation or logic, we need to state as such so that others who are reading our work know that we are not certain about the data presented. If we don't know a date for certain, we need to use language such as "about 1635" and explain why we think that date makes sense. If we report a location we aren't sure about, we need to use words like "probably England" and include logic to support this speculation. To be sure, assumptions are not always a bad thing, but when assumptions are made, we need to identify them as such and explain why we think they make sense.

Another thing we need to be aware of when attempting to support our research is that not all sources are created equally. The different types of sources are a topic unto themselves, but I do want to mention that the following may or may not be reliable sources:

1. Someone else's Ancestry tree

2. Millennium files on Ancestry

3. LDS IGI records

4. LDS pedigree files

5. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900

6. Find-A-Grave

The reason these sources need to be used with caution is that they all are some form of user-provided information, and could suffer from the issues discussed above. It is probably not fair to paint all of these sources with the same broad brush -- many people are very conscientious about sourcing the information in their trees, and their trees can be perfectly good sources if there is supporting documentation. On the other hand, there are also many trees that have little to no documentation associated with them, and are little more than good hints for further research. As such, I tend to use the above types of information as a starting point for a deeper dive into people of interest.

Final Thoughts

I want to emphasize that this post is not meant to be a criticism of anyone who uses some of the information detailed above in support of their trees. While the internet has been an absolute boon to genealogists because it has made billions of records available to us from the comfort of our own homes, it has also been responsible for the proliferation of improperly supported "facts". It can be very tempting to accept this information if "everyone else" has it in their trees. I view this and previous posts about this topic as encouragement to seek out valid documentation when conducting our research and building our trees. A quixotic endeavor perhaps, but one I feel is worth undertaking.

Don Quixote fighting windmills [4]

Sources

1. Board for Certification of Genealogists, "Ethics and Standards". https://bcgcertification.org/ethics-standards/

2. Google Online Dictionary (provided by Oxford Languages), accessed online on 9 Sep 2020. 

3. Ferris, Mary Walton, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes Vol. II (Wisconsin: Cuneo Press, 1931), p. 33-54.

4. Wikimedia Commons contributors, "File:Don Quixote fighting windmills.jpg," Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Don_Quixote_fighting_windmills.jpg&oldid=427763549 (accessed August 30, 2020).

Link of the Day

For an excellent example of using the principles discussed in this post, see the forthcoming book on Nicholas Ackley titled "Discovering Nicholas Ackley, Early Connecticut Settler, 1630-1695" by Nancy Mattison. I have had an opportunity to read the book before publication, and it addresses virtually all of the issues noted above. To learn more about the book, visit the author's website at this link:

https://ackleygenes.com/

Quote of the Day

“If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.”

  -- Marcus Aurelius