------ Connections ------
Francis Beaty and Related Lineages (13, 20, 98, 227, and 241)
Some time ago, we concluded that because of the costs of DNA tests, it was necessary that we be somewhat selective of who and how we sought living male Beaty descendants for testing. We developed a testing strategy for our Francis Beaty Research Project that has application anywhere when distinctions among Beaty lineages are needed. This strategy may be read at Haplotype Mapping Strategy on this website.
The jist of this strategy is to try to "validate" the haplotypes of ancestors by selective sampling of descendants.
A haplotype is the set of numbers, or values, for the 25 markers on the Y-chromosome that are tested in the lab. (A haplotype can be 12 markers or 37 markers. We use the 25-marker test.) These values change very slowly from generation to generation. There is a 95% chance that the haplotype of a father is identical to that of his biological son.
An early DNA test revealed my (ID-2) haplotype. But, I wanted to establish the haplotype of my great-great-grandfather who was born in Georgia in 1820 and died in Oklahoma in 1888. I have a distant cousin who descended from another son of my great-great-grandfather. My cousin submitted a DNA sample (ID-21), and the results showed that we are a perfect match at all 25 markers!
What that means is that my haplotype and that of my cousin are identical to that of my great-great-grandfather who was born 183 years ago! The reason this is important is that the parents of my great-great-grandfather remain unproved.
I had gathered conventional genealogical information about the possible ancestry of my great-great-grandfather in Georgia. But, I wasn't sure of his connection to those earlier Georgia Beatys. Prior to my cousin's test, I had been in contact with another Beaty who had unconfirmed conventional genealogical information that he also may have descended from those same Georgia Beatys. He submitted a DNA sample (ID-9) and the result showed his haplotype to be close to mine except for a change at Markers 10 and 12 (which because of the special nature of these markers could mean only a single change). It appeared very likely that he and I shared the same Georgia Beaty ancestors.
A bit of background - There was strong circumstantial evidence that these Georgia Beatys descended from a son of a Francis Beaty (BP-2000 L-20) who died in North Carolina about 1773. This Francis Beaty came from Pennsylvania to Augusta County, Virginia around 1740. About 1755, he moved to North Carolina where he was active as a surveyor and land broker. He ended up in what became Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Anyway, a male descendant of another of Francis' sons (L-227) volunteered a DNA sample (ID-28). When the results came in, we learned that the haplotype of ID-28 was an exact match to my cousin's haplotype and to mine. That means that we probably have a validation of the haplotype of this Francis Beaty. I say "probably" because there is some evidence that Francis had two brothers, John Beaty who also died in North Carolina and a James Beaty who died in Pennsylvania. So, it's possible that an ancestor of either ID-28 or me could be descended from one of these two brothers but was raised within Francis' lineage. Our documentation doesn't suggest that, but such "adoptions" were often not officially recorded. But, even if that happened, the haplotype match would still validate the father of Francis, John, and James. (Assuming all three sons would have the same haplotype as their father.)
Are you confused, yet?
We believe that ID-9 is part of this family lineage also, but he has one mutation that is a bit of a mystery. (He is also a 25-marker match except for that one mutation.)
So, at this point we had validated the haplotypes of my great-great-grandfather and my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather (who died 232 years ago) and tied BP-2000 Lineages 241, 13, and 227 in to Lineage 20. Not bad! But, there was still more good news to come.
In 2000, Tim Daugherty wrote a thoughtful and well-reasoned paper laying out a rationale for proposing that James Beaty who died in Cumberland Co., PA in 1777 was related to Francis Beaty, L-20, who died in Mecklenburg Co., NC in 1773. This James Beaty lineage is L-98.
A male Beatty descendant in L-98 submitted a DNA sample (ID-29) in our DNA Project. The test results revealed that his haplotype is an exact 25-marker match to Francis Beaty, L-20, Thomas Ross Beaty (L-241), my two cousins, and me!
What does this mean? It means that the James Beaty of L-98 was at least a close cousin (1st cousin?) or a brother of Francis Beaty, L-20. That is, L-98 and L-20 are very closely related.
The next step was to obtain a DNA sample from L-56. This lineage descended from John Beaty, a North Carolina pioneer, who was generally believed to have been a brother of L-20 Francis Beaty. If this assumption were correct, this sample should be an exact 25-marker match also.
A sample was obtained from L-56 (ID-88). The resultant 25-marker haplotype revealed that L-56 was a genetic distance of 3 from L-20. Thus, it does not appear that John Beaty was related to Francis Beaty in the near term.
Following that revelation came another. A person with the surname of Brown submitted a DNA sample to FTDNA for 25-marker analysis. The result was an exact match to the descendants of James and Francis Beaty. This person (ID-103) traces his genealogy to Northern Ireland. It appears relatively certain that he is genetically a Beaty closely related to L-20 and L-98.
An interesting sidelight to our testing described above is that each of the six closely related participants (ID-2, ID-9, ID-21, ID-28, ID-29, and ID-103) has a value of 16 at Marker 23 (DYS-464b). All other participants in Group 01 (deemed "related") have a value of 15 at this marker. We are unsure what this means, but it could serve as a "flag marker" in the ancestry of Francis and James. As we push our haplotype validation back across the "pond," that flag marker may prove very helpful. We believe that somewhere in Northern Ireland and/or Scotland there is a male Beatty with a matching haplotype. All we've got to do is find him!
Update:
Since writing the above, we obtained a sample from a man named Beattie who lives along the White Esk in southern Scotland. The 25-marker haplotype of this man, ID-123, is an exact match to ID-2, ID-21, ID-28, ID-29, and ID-103. His haplotype includes the value of 16 at Marker 23, the “flag marker.” Apparently, the ancestors of ID-123 have always lived in southern Scotland. Thus, the DNA evidence strongly corroborates the theory that the ancestors of Francis and James Beaty came from southern Scotland.
Our project just keeps getting better and better.
-- Les Beaty
Click Here to view family group sheets of Francis Beaty (L-20) and two generations of his descendants.
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