Pugh Y-dna

There are various organisations around that will test your DNA - its quite straightforward, they send you a couple of swabs, you brush the swabs round the inside of your mouth, send them back, and a month later you have the results. Emrys Pugh (who was born in Wales) supplied a sample of Y-dna for testing. The test was done by Ancestry.com in October 2008. Finding matches and seeing where the links occur takes time as the various databases on the web are scattered and need to be thoroughly combed and a lot of emails sent. I am confident that the origins of the Pughs back to 1788 are correct on the map below.

Map showing the origins of the Pughs, plus the Rowlands dna match in Anglesey

These tests confirm paternal lineage and common ancestry on the male line. The Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup in European populations. It is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last glacial maximum 10-12 thousand years ago.

What I am trying to do in corresponding with dna matches is to find where we all originated. One thing I quickly learnt about dna is that its results are much misunderstood, and badly presented by those companies doing the testing. The fact that matches tend to be completely by having them with people with different surnames is perhaps the thing that throws people most. Do not let different surnames either surprise you or lead you to discount those matches.

A 23 out of 25 match on dna means in rough terms that there is a 75% chance of sharing a common ancestor in the last 12 generations ( a 24/25 match increases the chance of a common ancestor in 12 generations to 75%). And if you go further back in time, the odds on having a common ancestor increase to virtually certain in 25 generations. If you allow 30 years per generation, the 12 generation match goes back to a man born about 1650, which is normally as far as a "paper trail" will take you.

So my advice is to igore whether you have a surname match on dna, just look at where the family came from as far back as you can. Consider your family a moving on a map, and look for where your dna matches moved on the map. Then try to find where their lines may have crossed. That is where your family actually came from.

Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA):
This is a type of DNA that is only carried by men, inherited from fathers and passed down from father to son through the generations, along the male line. This male line is said to share a common paternal ancestor, as they all have similar Y-DNA. The Y-chromosome contains millions of bits of information, each of which is encoded by a "base pair." Analysis of all these base pairs is impractical for genealogical purposes. Geneticists have identified a number of specific chromosome locations that can be used for analysis and comparison. These unique locations are generally called "markers" and when they occur on the Y-chromosome, they are typically given numeric values/names starting with the prefix "DYS", for example, DYS391.

Y-DNA is particularly useful for tracing one's direct paternal line (father, paternal grandfather, etc.) because it changes slowly from generation to generation. This is most useful, as the son in most societies usually inherits the surname of the father. Males who share a common paternal ancestor will have virtually the same Y-chromosome DNA. This of course does not mean that you have to have the same surname. There is always the Non Paternal Event, which can be anything from adoption through second marriages to illegitimacy.

The first thing you can learn is your Haplogroup, or where your stone age ancestors came from. The vast majority of the European population is divided into three ancient ancestral groups. The markers in the Y-DNA strand are passed directly on from father to son. Nine of these markers are passed on with very little or no deviation from the ancient ancestor. These markers DYS 19/394, DYS 389i, DYS 389ii, DYS 390, DYS 391, DYS 392 and DYS 393 are used to help identify a haplogroup. With the addition of markers DYS 385a and DYS 385b it further helps to pinpoint which ancient population group one is a member of.

The members of HG1 group are thought to be the descendants of the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers who arrived in Europe before the last Ice Age about 40,000 years ago. This group of people are found in southern and western Europe and as far north as Scotland. This group was one of the first to populate the British Isles. The markers of this group can be found today in the populations of the UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and north Italy. Most people of Celtic origin are in this group.

Trolling for matches on Ancestry.com, ysearch.com, familytreedna led to

The Pugh web site on FamilyTreeDNA does not have any close Pugh matches.Even to the David Pugh b1650 in Merioneth. The participants are on this site are virtually all Americans, who are concerned only with American genealogy

My values of Emrys Pugh from Ancestry.com lab have been inserted into ySearch using ammended values as they instruct

  Emrys Pugh Bill Rowlands Lyn Hughson Jack Pritchitt Welsh Modal
DYS 393 13 13 13 13 13
DYS 390 24 24 24 24 24
DYS 19/394 14 14 14 14 14
DYS 391 11 11 11 11 11
DYS 385a 11 11 11 11 11
DYS 385b 14 14 14 14 14
DYS 426 12 12 12 12 12
DYS 388 12 12 12 12 12
DYS 439 13 12 12 12 12
DYS 389-1 14 14 14 14 14
DYS 392 11 11 11 11 11
DYS 389-2 30 30 30 30 30
DYS 458 13 13 13 13 13
DYS 459a 9 9 9 9 9
DYS 459b 9 9 9 9 9
DYS 455 11 11 11 11 11
DYS 454 11 11 11 11 11
DYS 447 23 23 23 23 23
DYS 437 16 16 16 16 16
DYS 448 19 19 19 19 19
DYS 449 28 28 28 28 28
DYS 464a 14 14 14 14 14
DYS 464b 15 15 15 15 15
DYS 464c 17 17 17 16 17
DYS 464d 18 18 17 17 17
DYS 460 11 11 11 11 11
GATA H4 11 11 11 11 11
YCA IIa 19 19 19 19 19
YCA IIb 24 24 24 24 24
DYS 456 15 15 15 15 15
607          
576          
570          
CDYa          
CDYb          
DYS 442 12 12 12 12 12
DYS 438 12 12 12 12 12
DYS 444 12        
DYS 446 13        
DYS 461 12        
DYS 462 11        
GATA A10 13        
DYS 635 23        
GAAT1B07 11        
DYS 441 13        
DYS 445 12        
DYS 452 12        
DYS 463 22        

Conclusion

There is not a lot one can say until more information becomes available.

Pugh introduction