Genetic relationships between
R1b Stewarts (67 markers) at August 2009
Contributed by Belinda Dettmann
This is the second draft of a hypothetical Relationship Tree for R1b
Stewarts. The first draft, devised in
January 2008, was based on tests with 37 markers. Now that more 67-marker tests
are available it is informative to analyze these results in the same way.
The dots on the
graph represent DNA haplotypes from men with the Stewart surname, or men who
have joined one of the Stewart Projects at FTDNA. Analysis indicates that there are two
recognizable but separate groups of Stewarts, colored red and blue on the
graph, and many unassigned Stewarts, colored yellow.
The haplotype designated
ORIGIN is believed to be that of Alexander Stewart (c 1220-1283), 4th High
Steward of Scotland. He was the ancestor of the Royal Stewart kings of Scotland
(via King Robert II), and the Royal House of Stuart in the United Kingdom (via
King James I and VI), plus many other lines of Stewart or Stuart nobles in
Scotland, England, Ireland and France.
The ORIGIN haplotype does
not represent the test result of a single person, but has been inferred from
the pattern of Stewart descendants. It is entered in Ysearch as QHV9S. No single tester is yet known with results that exactly match the ORIGIN
signature. Three different testers are
known to be at a GD of 1 from this configuration, through three different mutation from the ORIGIN haplotype.
The red group consists of Stewarts who have been tested to 67 markers
and who match the ORIGIN haplotype at a genetic
distance (GD) of 8 or less. These testers include several known descendants of
the ancient line of the Stewart High Stewards of Scotland.
I believe that any Stewart with a 67-marker test result that falls into
this category is likely to be a direct descendant of this line, whose lineage
can be traced back to Flaald of Dol in Brittany (born about 1046).
The blue group is related to the Scots modal signature, also known as
the Dalriada modal, or R1bSTR47Scots, differing from it by a GD of 8 or less.
Some genealogists believe that this was the DNA signature of the early
Dalriadic kings of Scotland.
The yellow dots are well separated from the other groups in terms of
their Y-DNA, so they are unlikely to be direct-line descendants of the Ancient
Stewarts or the Dalriadic Kings of Scotland.