Deep Ancestry The Journey Out of Africa
Haplogroup I1C(M223)
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 Your Y-chromosome results identify you as a member of haplogroup I1c. The
genetic markers that define your ancestral history reach back roughly
60,000 years to the first common marker of all non-African men, M168,
and follow your lineage to present day, ending with M223, the defining
marker of haplogroup I1c. If you look at the map highlighting
your ancestors' route, you will see that members of haplogroup I1c
carry the following Y-chromosome markers: M168 > M89 > M170 > M223
Your own haplogroup, I1c, is most common in Germany. About 11 percent of all German men belong to this genetic lineage. What's
a haplogroup, and why do geneticists concentrate on the Y-chromosome in
their search for markers? For that matter, what's a marker? Each of
us carries DNA that is a combination of genes passed from both our
mother and father, giving us traits that range from eye color and
height to athleticism and disease susceptibility. One exception is the
Y-chromosome, which is passed directly from father to son, unchanged,
from generation to generation. Unchanged, that is unless a mutation - a
random, naturally occurring, usually harmless change - occurs. The
mutation, known as a marker, acts as a beacon; it can be mapped through
generations because it will be passed down from the man in whom it
occurred to his sons, their sons, and every male in his family for
thousands of years. In some instances there may be more than one
mutational event that defines a particular branch on the tree. This is
the case for your haplogroup I1c, since this branch can be defined by
two markers, either M170 or P19. This means that either of these
markers can be used to determine your particular haplogroup, since
every individual who has one of these markers also has the other.
Therefore, either marker can be used as a genetic signpost leading us
back to the origin of your group, guiding our understanding of what was
happening at that early time. When geneticists identify such a
marker, they try to figure out when it first occurred, and in which
geographic region of the world. Each marker is essentially the
beginning of a new lineage on the family tree of the human race.
Tracking the lineages provides a picture of how small tribes of modern
humans in Africa tens of thousands of years ago diversified and spread
to populate the world. A haplogroup is defined by a series of
markers that are shared by other men who carry the same random
mutations. The markers trace the path your ancestors took as they moved
out of Africa. It's difficult to know how many men worldwide belong to
any particular haplogroup, or even how many haplogroups there are,
because scientists simply don't have enough data yet. One of the
goals of the five-year Genographic Project was to build a large enough
database of anthropological genetic data to answer some of these
questions. To achieve this, project team members are traveling to all
corners of the world to collect more than 100,000 DNA samples from
indigenous populations. In addition, we encourage you to contribute
your anonymous results to the project database, helping our geneticists
reveal more of the answers to our ancient past. Keep checking these pages; as more information is received, more may be learned about your own genetic history.
Your Ancestral Journey: What We Know Now
M168: Your Earliest Ancestor
Fast Facts
Time of Emergence: Roughly 50,000 years ago
Place of Origin: Africa
Climate: Temporary retreat of Ice Age; Africa moves from drought to warmer temperatures and moister conditions
Estimated Number of Homo sapiens: Approximately 10,000
Tools and Skills: Stone tools; earliest evidence of art and advanced conceptual skills
Skeletal
and archaeological evidence suggest that anatomically modern humans
evolved in Africa around 200,000 years ago, and began moving out of
Africa to colonize the rest of the world around 60,000 years ago.
The
man who gave rise to the first genetic marker in your lineage probably
lived in northeast Africa in the region of the Rift Valley, perhaps in
present-day Ethiopia, Kenya, or Tanzania, some 31,000 to 79,000 years
ago. Scientists put the most likely date for when he lived at around
50,000 years ago. His descendants became the only lineage to survive
outside of Africa, making him the common ancestor of every non-African
man living today.
But why would man have first ventured out of
the familiar African hunting grounds and into unexplored lands? It is
likely that a fluctuation in climate may have provided the impetus for
your ancestors' exodus out of Africa.
The African ice age was
characterized by drought rather than by cold. It was around 50,000
years ago that the ice sheets of northern Europe began to melt,
introducing a period of warmer temperatures and moister climate in
Africa. Parts of the inhospitable Sahara briefly became habitable. As
the drought-ridden desert changed to a savanna, the animals hunted by
your ancestors expanded their range and began moving through the newly
emerging green corridor of grasslands. Your nomadic ancestors followed
the good weather and the animals they hunted, although the exact route
they followed remains to be determined.
In addition to a
favorable change in climate, around this same time there was a great
leap forward in modern humans' intellectual capacity. Many scientists
believe that the emergence of language gave us a huge advantage over
other early human species. Improved tools and weapons, the ability to
plan ahead and cooperate with one another, and an increased capacity to
exploit resources in ways we hadn't been able to earlier, all allowed
modern humans to rapidly migrate to new territories, exploit new
resources, and replace other hominids.
The Mellers and Mellors of Staffordshire
The spelling of Meller or Mellor
is of little
significance - seemingly, it became fixed as and when individuals
learned to write their names for themselves, each making their own
choice, I default to the E variant. I am told that one of the
earliest spellings was 'Melior' and is distinct from the
occupational name of 'Miller'
I am fairly confident in starting
'my' Meller
ancestry with John Meller
b1791, a potter in Lane End (in the
Potteries of course). Details of earlier forebears are being brought to
light with the kind help of Laura Bowcutt
who has researched this line
over several decades. John moved, with his young family, to
Higham-on-the-Hill, Leicestershire around 1815 (many thanks to Celia Hornbuckle
for helping with this) and many of his
descendants either worked the land in the local villages or moved to
the more industrial areas. My
great-grandfather Samuel, born in Higham in 1838, moved away in about
1860 - just before smallpox hit the village, claiming the lives of a
number of his kith and kin - to work on the farms around
Lichfield. In
1885 his wife Sarah gave birth to my grandfather James who became a
chorister in the Cathedral and a baker before moving to Compton,
Wolverhampton
at the end of the 19th century.
A contact from
Roger Ward
has taken me in an unexpected direction - to
Chicago in the USA. It would seem that one of John's sons,
Charles b1844, decided to try his fortune in the New World and made the
crossing to Cook County, Illinois, with his wife Ann Wheatley and two
very young children, in 1872. Carol
King, a descendant of Charles has done a goodly
amount of work on his family on that side of the Atlantic and I have
attempted to link him in to the family they left behind. Here are the
latest results of that research,
spanning over 235 years:
Charles
Meller's Family of
Chicago, Cook County, USA.
I have been asked many times by my Meller relatives whether 'our'
family is connected to that of John
P Mellor OBE QSM,
a prominent and very active figure in Wolverhampton. In the
summer of 2010, after reading a letter of his in the local Express
& Star, in which he outlined his origins, I decided to explore
his
roots more fully and see if there was indeed a connection.
Alas,
I have managed to get back to about 1750 in Abbots Bromley near
Uttoxeter without
finding one - but who knows - at this point the families were only 10
miles apart. At John's request, I have now expanded my
research to include more than just the Mellor line. John has his own website
- a real treasure-trove of remembrances, musings and stories and I
thank him for those relating to my grandfather, 'Jim the Baker', when
Compton was one part of John's 'beat' as a village 'Bobby'
back in the early 1950s. Here in 'Pedigree' layout (so, some
text
will be small, be ready to use Ctrl-'+' to zoom in)
are my
findings:
John P Mellor OBE QSM
Yet another Meller connection: Erddig
(pronounced Erthig), a stately home near Wrexham
(NT),
was in the possession of a John Meller in the early 1700's and
his coat
of arms can be seen there. He had no children of his own but there
could still be a link with his wider family.
If
you can help extend
our venture then please send any information to me, Clive Egginton,
here:
The Bishtons of
Donington
My grandmother Annie Burns's grandmother was Tryphaena Bishton
b1808 in
Worfield and her father was Thomas Bishton but as yet we have no record
of his birth or baptism.
Much work has been done trying to shed light on their
ancestors and we know that there were many Bishtons in Worfield,
Albrighton and nearby areas at the time.
The records of Bishtons take us back via Donington and the surrounding
area to Shrewsbury and 1495. One branch became quite wealthy
rubbing
shoulders with the likes of Abraham Darby with their
coal and ironworks out at Dawley. Remnants of their industry can be
found at Blists Hill
Museum near Ironbridge and many prestigious properties were owned in
and around Kilsall, near to what is now Cosford. A group of
their
early C19th graves, set in a rather privileged position, can still be
found at Donington Parish Church in Albrighton.
As the precise link between Tryphaena's father, Thomas, and
the wider Bishton family is
not yet known, I am presenting these
tentative results in
a completely separate
set of pages starting with Thomas's page and a link to a possible set of
parents:
The Bishtons
of Worfield & Donington
I am sure that there will be many
errors here and I would love to hear from anyone who
can help me build up a more accurate set of connections. For
descendants of Tryphaena, or
her siblings, the records in the main
Egginton/Meller pages will be more complete.
Recently, I have had contact with another descendant of the Worfield
Bishtons, giving me details of a relocation to Liverpool - thank you
Emily. This has prompted me to gather together some photographs
of relevant locations and upload them to Picasaweb.
Burns of London -
Help Needed
Tony Smith is the
man! My grandmother Annie Burns's
father James
Burns
b1859
has been a bit of a mystery for me for the last few years with many
hours spent trying to find his
roots without success. After trying, yet again, to
discount an 1881 census return
showing him in Salop Street, Wolverhampton, I stumbled across a
reference by Tony to the 1871 census record. 'Ancestry' had
read 'Burns' as 'Broms' and the enumerator had heard 'Sheward'
as
'Shuara' - no wonder it was so elusive. That 1871
census
records James's place of birth as 'Enfield, Middlesex' and his absent
father as being a 'Gun Locksmith' these facts match exactly the
informationn we find on his marriage certificate and the 1911 census.
This, along with recently discovered
military documentation, seems to demolish the idea that he was the James Burns
born in West Ham who previously had seemed to be the most likely
candidate. There are still plenty of gaps, particularly regarding his
father John and his whereabouts in 1861.
The Selveys of Wolverhampton
Selvey
(or Selby)
is a name that has cropped up a couple of times in connection
with the Eggintons back in the early 1800s. The strongest
link being
that of Rachel
Selvey b1823
& Moses Egginton and who were married in
1844. At the end of 2009, I began working with Roger Szendy in
Connecticut, USA, to bring some clarity to the relationships.
In 1870, Roger's
great-great-grandmother Lucy Selvey b1836 & Henry
Fletcher, her husband, left
Wolverhampton for New
York with their children. Our
working partnership has been successful and most enjoyable and the
results
are continuing to grow with contributions from
Henry E.P. Pritchard of Philadelphia, USA. We
have recently made contact with some Selveys still living
in the UK and I have to thank Sandie Morgan for
some details of the family of Ellen Washbrook b1867, wife of
William Selvey b1864..
The gaps in the on-line records of St Peter & St Pauls RC
Church in the
IGI
and at Ancestry between 1830 and 1837 have required direct inspection
of
the registers on microfilm. Enough work has been done, by
Roger & myself, to paint a wider (but rough) picture of the
descendants of William
Selvey
b1763 & Mary Gill
who were married in St Peter's in 1790.
It would seem that there were a few separate Selvey families in
Wolverhampton
around 1800 and at least one with Walsall/Bloxwich
connections. Here is a working document
listing the records of all of Selveys in Wolverhampton at the time.
Most of the individuals have been associated with their respective
families but there are still a few unplaced ones. If you can help place
the 'orphans' please
let us know.
Whilst exploring the other famlies connected to the
Selveys, new strands connecting them to the Eggintons have
been uncovered. As a result, a substantial number of Careless and Leek family members
have been woven into this picture of Victorian Wolverhampton, however,
a couple of mysteries still remain to be solved - in particular the
precise connection of Ann Careless b1848 and Hannah Leek
b1820 to their
respective families.
Roger has a brilliant website covering his wider family circle and lots
of charts and photos here: Szendy Genealogy
The Shepherds of Willenhall
My wife's grandfather was Henry Shepherd a locksmith from Willenhall
and his background is another tangle I'm trying to unravel,
some of my preliminary findings are here.
It is clear that there were quite a few Shepherd families and if they
were
linked, it was well before 1800. There were also numerous
'Josephs' born just before 1850, this
marriage certificate has helped to determine that the father
of Joseph
Shepherd b1847
(husband of
Fanny Cotterhill and Henry's grandfather), was
William
Shepherd b1822.
Brevitts and Cotterills
Henry's other grandmother was Ann Brevitt b1840 and with the
encouragement and support of Edna
van Genderen
in Brisbane have included some of the Brevitt families in the area.
One Horatio Brevitt born in Darlaston became a solicitor and
Town
Clerk in Wolverhampton, a role for which he was knighted in 1915.
A fair bit of work has gone into mapping-out the various
Cotterill
families that lived in Tettenhall and Tettenhall Wood throughout most
of the 1700s and 1800s. Much of that work has been done by Dr
Richard A.Y. Jones and I hereby 'tip my hat' to him in
gratitude.
We start with Joseph
Cotterill
born there about 1690
Other Families
In an attempt to map out some more of my closer connections, I've been
looking at the stories of my cousins June Evans and Carol Brownsword's
fathers (Edward
Henry Evans and William
Brownsword) and
husbands (Eric
Millington
and Bryan
Bayley).
Although
there are a few mysteries unsolved, there's enough to warrant being
included.
Other family names traced back are those of Cross and Allen of Blackpool and Bradford, look
for
them in the Surname List. A recent contact from a Meller descendant has
resulted in an expansion of the Pugh
branch of West Bromwich and Madeley.
Finally, I have been exploring the roots of a friend of mine (no
connection to my tree as far as I can tell) and have a
partial tree which inlcudes the names Bleakman & Dobson
(located in
and around Malvern, Worcester & Pershore) and those of Price &
Meese (located in and around Brierley Hill, Kingswinford).
The results can be found here: Gladys Beatrice
Bleakman's Tree and here's her chart.
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