In a message dated 8/29/02 4:26:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] (Jim Patrick) writes: > > I, too, am in a tizzy over the many Browns in VA, NC, SC, and TN around > 1800. > I believe that there are at least three or four different sources for these > lines: > 1. The classic Scottish immigrants who proliferated in the Va area and came > down through the Cumberland Gap. > > 2. The German Braun families who quickly became Browns. Some of them were > Palatines who were in PA for a long time before moving southward to the > Shenandoah Valley and on down through the Gap to Greene County and spread > out from there. > > 3. Indians and Melungeons who had no European surname, but who assumed the > name of Brown, because of coloring. My own step-grandfather, in Indiana, > was half-Indian, and was known as "Brownie" all of his life. > > Our Brown family, and seeming cousins, were in Greene Co TN from perhaps > 1790 to around 1812 or later, but I don't believe that they were ever in > NC. We suspect that some of them were in Warren Co in the 1820s. They may > have been associated with the Sherrills, Casteels, Spears, and Paynes. One > Brown/Spears marriage took place in White County (an offshoot of Warren Co > TN) in 1825. > > I have never been able to find anyone who can provide ancestry for the > mixed-blood Brown leaders of the Eastern Cherokees who were signers of the > Hiwassee Purchase in 1819. I had always suspected that they were descended > either from Jacob Brown and ruth Gordon, or from Jacob Brown the > Wagon-Maker, but I can't prove it. I believe that the families of these > mixed-blood Brown Indian leaders had migrated down through NC and SC before > moving into middle TN, and I believe that their heritage had been Scottish. > This project of yours could certainly prove that differentiation in lines. > Hi Jim and others! I think you've written a very good summary of some big problems faced by virtually all us interested in the Brown families of western NC and points south and west. One small quibble, however, about the Indians and Melungeons: I don't think they necessarily should be lumped together in terms of explaining why they took the Brown surname. I don't know much about either, but I know a bit more about the Indians than the Melungeons. It is my impression that Scottish and English traders lived among tribes like the Cherokee and the Catawba as early as the mid-1600s, and that they often took wives from such tribes. Hence, the fact that the Brown surname was very important among the Cherokee -- and was probably the most common European surname among the Catawba -- can apparently be explained simply by legitimate descent thru the male lines. Therefore, DNA studies almost surely can be of value in throwing light on various surname issues among the tribes. (You may be 100% correct, however, about why Melungeons would adopt the Brown surname. I'm sure we'll hear from experts on this issue!) > Now -- the questions -- > > What sort of information is available to the donor of DNA? The project in which I am participating uses a 12-marker DNA test. When two individuals show a perfect match with this test, the geneticists and statisticians say it indicates a 90% probability of a common male ancestor within the 48 past generations and a 50% probability of a common male ancestor within 14.5 generations. Participants also have the option of "upgrading" to a 25 marker test, which decreases the 50% confidence interval to the past 8.3 generations. Not a lot to go on, if taken in isolation! But the results can be very powerful if combined prudently with other genealogical methodologies. > I realize that he will be told if he's descended from the same source as > your line. But what about another line? Yes, the company doing the work will notify participants about all matches in their data base, whether on not within the participants' own self-identified lines. > > Does he receive a DNA profile that can be submitted to another matching > group? > Yes. For example, another researcher -- who is a true expert in the field and who is helping me -- has already taken my profile and "plugged into" a large European data base. It turns out that my profile is quite rare. The only match among 11,000 individuals in this data base turns out to be a man living in Sweden. So it's possible that my Brown line descends from Vikings or other Scandinavians who invaded the British Isles in the middle ages! (It's also possible, of course, that he's simply a Scotsman who married a Swedish girl and settled in Stockholm -- not a very interesting scenario!) > Do you know how many different labs are doing this sort of work? No, I don't. But the Brown-surname project I joined has established a good relationship with FTDNA, Inc., whereby we get a very substantial discount by participating as a group. > > Will we be advised of the lines of subsequent donors. Will we be advised > of the lines of current donors? > Yes, to both questions. Participants in the Brown study have already received information about matches with men who do not have the Brown surname -- case that obviously can arise because of adoptions or illegitimacy. > > What sort of data are we required to submit? The Brown surname project requires only a basic list of male-to-male ancestors, back to the earliest provable individual, along with whatever basic geographic info is known. Complete GEDCOMs or the like are not necessary. > I don't qualify for this project (no direct male descent), nor do my friends > and family, but I may be eager to pitch this project to a distant cousin, > who might qualify. I may take up a collection to get this guy tested, to > provide information to all the rest of us. > Would be great to have his participation. And I hope you can find (or start!) a Patrick project! Best regards, Jim Brown PS: You can find basic info on DNA testing for genealogy at: http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html