PROJECT NEWS

Hello, everyone! Happy Labor/Labour Day to our Americans and Canadians, and Happy Bank Holiday to our British participants. Autumn has arrived, and none-too-soon for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. It has been an unusually hot summer for us. I look forward to the crisp, cool days of September!

As some of you already know, about 70% of the participants in the Phillips DNA project belong to something called the R1b Haplogroup. More men in Western Europe and the British Isles belong to this haplogroup than to any other.

Haplogroups are roughly equivalent to nationalities or clans and can indicate the general area where your ancient Phillips ancestors originated. A haplogroup is defined by a mutation called a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism or SNP for short. Your particular haplogroup is determined by a SNP (pronounced "snip") that occurred thousands of years ago in a single individual. All members of a haplogroup descend from a very distant common ancestor.

To date, scientists have discovered twenty main haplogroups for men. These haplogroups are identified by the following letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S and T. These main haplogroups are further subdivided into one or more levels called sub-haplogroups or sub-clades, which are labeled by alternating numbers and letters. For example, Haplogroup J is further broken down into J1, J2 and J*. An asterisk is used to denote those who do not fit into a defined branch. There are many sub-haplogroups, and undoubtedly not all of them have been discovered yet. After all, DNA analysis is still in its infancy.

Haplogroup R is the most common male haplogroup of Europe and it is divided into sub-haplogroups R1 and R2. Haplogroup R1 is further divided into sub-haplogroups R1a and R1b. Haplogroup R1a likely originated in the Eurasian Steppes, and is primarily found in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Asia. It is associated with Slavic populations in Europe. R1a is not very commonly found in the British Isles and only about 2% of the members of our Phillips project belong to Haplogroup R1a. This is similar to the estimated number of all men in the British Isles who belong to Haplogroup R1a.

Some scientists believe Haplogroup R1b originated prior to or during the last Great Ice Age, when it became concentrated in refuge areas in southern Europe. Haplogroup R1b is the most common haplogroup of Western Europe and it contains the most sub-haplogroups. Because so many men of Western European ancestry share this haplogroup, if you belong to Haplogroup R1b, you cannot rely on only the 12 Single Tandem Repeat (STR) marker test to prove kinship. You will likely have many random or false positive matches at the 12 STR marker level.

Random or false positive match is something of a misnomer; what we really mean to say is that a match at the 12 marker level may be only a very ancient match. If you belong to the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype (WAMH), the most common haplotype of R1b, it is actually possible to match another man named Phillips on all 12 of the first 12 markers and still turn out to not be related within 1,000 years. We have seen this happen several times in our DNA project. So it is necessary for you to upgrade your DNA test to at least 25 markers, if not 37 or 67 markers, in order to confirm for certain that you belong to a particular family group.

In addition, you may want to consider ordering another type of DNA test called a Deep Clade test that tests your DNA for the presence of certain SNPs, which are different from STR markers. For the past several years, genetic scientists have been concentrating on discovering SNPs in men who belong to Haplogroup R1b in the hope of identifying more subclades that will help pinpoint exactly where in Europe their ancestors originated. We are including a technical article in this newsletter written by the project co-administrator of the R1b DNA project that explains more about this subject. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

GUEST COLUMN

News and Announcement of New Groupings in the R1b Project By Tibor Feher, Co-administrator of the R1b project

I am Tibor Feher, the new co-administrator of the R1b DNA project. I have just finished regrouping the project groups. The R1b haplogroup is a very diverse one, having many subgroups from Ireland to the Middle East. If you are R1b, you belong to the group which needs a Deep Clade R test. For everyone who would like to know more of his ancestry, I advise to order the Deep Clade R test. This can be done from your FTDNA profile, choosing "Order Tests & Upgrades" --> Go to Standard Orders --> choose Deep Clade R from the dropdown list. The cost is $89 USD, not much for testing 23 SNPs.

The most notable subgroups of R1b are as follows (see also the project Y-DNA results):

R1b1* (P25*) - quite rare, occurs at low frequency in the Middle East, also among Jews

R1b1a (V88) - occurs at low frequency around the Mediterranean and high frequency in Northern Cameroon and Hausa speakers in Nigeria

R1b1b1 (M73) - occurs at low frequency in the Mediterranean and is quite common among several Turkic tribes in Central Asia

R1b1b2 (M269) - the most common R1b subgroup, often used synonymously, nearly all European R1b is M269 positive.

R-L23 - Those who are positive for SNP L23, but negative for L51 and P310, are called shorthand R-L23. The highest frequency of this group is reached in Armenia and Anatolia, thus it is also called Armenian Modal Haplotype. It occurs from Iraq and Iran up to Central Europe in low frequencies.

R-L51 - There is a special group who are negative for P310 but positive for L51 and L23. This group is under research, occurs mostly in Central Europe.

R-L11 (also defined with P310 and P311): Those belong here, who are positive for L11/P311, but negative for the big P312 and U106 subgroup. Under research.

The above groups are rather rare compared to the following big subgroups, which belong to the WAMH (West Atlantic Modal Haplotype). WAMH makes up more than 50% of the population of Western Europe (UK, Ireland, Low Countries, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Spain, and Portugal) and around 1/3 of Scandinavia, Czech Republic and Hungary. Its biggest subgroups are the following:

R1b1b2a1a (U106) - usually connected to Germanic speakers, however, connection is under research. Highest frequency reported in the Low Countries and Austria. It has three big subgroups: U198 (specific for the British Isles), L1 (null value at 439) and the most common group L48.

R1b1b2a1b (P312) - usually connected to Italo-Celtic speakers, connection under research. In its P312* form widely distributed in Europe (second most common British subgroup).

R1b1b2a1b2 (M153) - specific for Northern Iberia, especially Basques.

R1b1b2a1b3 (M167) - usually connected to Northern Iberia and Southern France, but also occurs from the Rhineland to Britain.

R1b1b2a1b4 (U152) - most common in and around the Western Alps (Alsace, Upper Rhineland, North Italy) - I, myself, also belong to this group.

R1b1b2a1b5 (L21) - the most common British subgroup, the overwhelming majority of Irish, Welsh and Scottish people belongs here. It occurs also in Rhineland and Northern France. Niall of the Nine Hostages (M222) haplotype is also a subclade of L21.

To sum up, R1b is a very diverse haplogroup; thus if you would really like to know more about your ancestry, I advise you to order the Deep Clade R test to see which subgroup is yours. With any questions, do not hesitate to mail me at jafetie@gmail. com. If you would like to read more, I recommend the following page: http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ R1b. Every subgroup project is accessible from the bottom of the Wikipedia page through hyperlinks.

FEATURED ARTICLES

The Origins of the Surname Phillips By Tom Hutchison, Co-administrator of the Phillips DNA Project

The surname Phillips and its many variations are believed to be patronymic surnames, which mean they were originally derived from the male first name Philip or Phillip. Adding an "s" to the end of Philip or Phillip causes the name to mean "son of Philip" or "son of Phillip."

The website Behind the Name states that the first name Philip or Phillip is from the Greek: "Philippos," a compound of "philein," to love, and "hippos," horse. Hence, "lover of horses" or "friend of horses."

Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, was a famous bearer of the Philip forename. The popularity of the name Philip throughout Greece and Asia Minor and subsequently in western Europe was probably due to him. The name was eventually borne by five Kings of France; this includes Philip the 1st who reigned from 1060 to 1108. Early variations of the forename Philip migrated to England via France in the 12th century and became popular. Early on it appears as "Filippus" in the Documents relating to the Danelaw, Lincolnshire, dated 1142, and as "Philipus" in the Gilbertine Houses Charters of Lincolnshire, circa 1150.

Henry Phelipe, noted in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Norfolk, was one of the earliest recorded bearers of the surname in England with a "Ph" spelling, along with Ellis 'fil' Philip of Huntingdonshire. Another early spelling of the Phillips surname with a "Ph" is that of Alicia Philippes dated 1273 in the "Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire" during the reign of King Edward I, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. For patriotic reasons, Philip ceased to be popular in England as a given name after the reigns of Bloody Mary and Elizabeth the 1st. Nevertheless, its earlier predominance has given it immortality in British directories.

Because Philip was a popular first name in medieval Europe, it was imported into Wales quickly and became common by the late 13th century as Phelip, which was abbreviated as Phe: in early records. By the 15th century, it was found in small numbers in several parts of Wales, but it was mainly concentrated in the southern areas, especially Gwent and Morgannwg, where it reached 3%. Since it averaged 1% for all Wales, it was bound to form a significant modern surname by the patronymic route. The variant spellings of the surname are many, such as Philip, Philipp, Philipps, Philips, Phillip, Phillipp and, of course, Phillips.

In Wales, Philipps was the chosen spelling of the well-known family of Picton Castle in Pembrokeshire; however, they did not adopt this spelling consistently until the 18th century, after which it was considered rather grand and sometimes copied by humbler, unrelated families. Clergy and clerks frequently spelled the forename Phillip in the 18th century, thus leading to the predominance of Phillips in modern families. Philps and Philpin are other variants of Philip, chiefly found in Pembrokeshire, though some may be of southwest English origin. From 1813 to 1837, this surname was found across Wales but was far more common in the south than the north and more common in the west than in the east.

Early examples of the name in Scotland are Rauf Philippe, a Berwickshire landowner, who figures in the Ragman Roll of 1296; Robert Phillope who was sheriff clerk of Dunfries in 1629; and James Philip of Almerieclose, who was author of the Graemiad, an epic poem in Latin on the Claverhouse campaign of 1689. In the south, the name can be connected to Phelps or Phipps; in Scotland, the shortened form is Philp. This version was and is particularly common in the region of Fife. Stephen Philp was bailie of Newburgh in 1473, and Sir James Philp was curate at Abdie around the same time. John Philp was abbot of Lindores from 1522 to 1560. The pleonastic (redundant) form MacPhillips is also found but the commoner version is MacKillop, both of which are associated with Clan McDonnell of Keppoch.

In modern Ireland, Phillips, an English name, has to some extent taken the place of Philbin, the Irish diminutive of Philip. With the prefix 'Mac', it is found in Cavan and Monaghan and there it is usually a branch of the Scottish clan MacDonnell of Keppoch. MacPhilbin is the name of one of the hibernicized branches of the Connacht Burkes which formed a sept of the Irish type. O'Donovan says there were two branches, one in Mayo and one in Co. Galway. Of those Danish families that immigrated to Ireland, some took Irish surnames and more of them added the prefix 'Mac' to their names, as did many of the Anglo-Norman and English families in earlier times. Some branches of the De Burgo (Burke, de Burgh) family of Connaught took the surname MacWilliam and some of them that of MacPhilip. The De Burgo (Burke, de Burgh) name is one of the most important and most numerous of Hiberno-Norman names. First identified in Connaught, it is now numerous in all the provinces (least in Ulster).

With a few exceptions, hereditary surnames, the last names passed down through the males of a family, didn't begin to exist until about 1000 years ago. While it may be hard to believe in today's crowded world, surnames just weren't necessary before that. In a world that was much less populated than it is today - a world where most folks never ventured more than a few miles from their place of birth and every man knew his neighbor - first, or given names, were the only designation necessary. Surnames became a necessity when early governments introduced personal taxation. In early England, this was known as Poll Tax. During the centuries that followed, surnames have continued to develop, leading to astounding variants of the original spelling.

When considering the origins of the Phillips surname along with the DNA analysis of over 450 men named Phillips or some variation of Phillips, it quickly becomes obvious a great many unrelated men who had fathers named Philip or Phillip adopted some variation of the surname Phillips (meaning son of Philip or Phillip) as permanent surnames gradually came into general use in Europe from 1000 AD to 1800 AD.

Sources:

"The Surnames of Ireland" by Edward MacLysaght
"Scottish Surnames" by David Dorward
"The Surnames of Wales" by John & Sheila Rowlands
"Directory of English & Welsh Surnames" by Charles Bardsley
"Last Name Meanings & Origins" by Kimberly Powell, About.com

PICTON CASTLE AND THE PHILIPPS FAMILY By Nancy Kiser, Volunteer administrator of the Phillips DNA Project

Picton Castle is a medieval castle located near Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was originally built at the end of the 13^th century by Sir John Wogan of Wiston and is still inhabited by his descendants, the Philipps family.

The estates, gardens and parkland of Picton Castle were once part of the larger Manor of Wiston, but became a separate holding by the 13^th century. Wiston was a Flemish settlement and there is some speculation that Picton was also a Flemish settlement. The origin of the name Picton is uncertain but may derive from either the old English personal name Pica or from the old English word "pic", meaning a sharp point. Others believe it is from an old province in France called Poictou.

Picton Castle began as a motte-and-bailey castle and was reconstructed in stone by the Wogan family during the 13^th century. A motte-and-bailey is a form of castle situated on a raised earthwork and surrounded by a protective fence. Many were built in Britain, Ireland and France in the 11th and 12th centuries, favored as a relatively cheap but effective defensive fortification that could repel most small attacks.

Picton Castle estate was acquired by the Philipps family when Sir Thomas ap Philip of Cilsant married Jane, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Dwnn of Picton in the 1490s. Thomas ap Philip means "Thomas, son of Philip". Sir John Philipps, who inherited the castle in the 15th century, remodeled the building and created a new entrance which remained until the 1820s when a new entrance was designed by Thomas Rowlands (who also designed Slebech Church).

The estate remained with the Philipps family until the death of Sir Richard Philipps, Lord Milford, in 1823, when it was inherited by Sir Richard Bulkeley Grant who assumed the surname Philipps. Sir Richard Bulkeley's heir was his half-brother, the Rev. James Henry Alexander Philipps (formerly Gwyther), who assumed by royal license the surname and arms of the Philipps family. On his death, the estate passed to his son-in-law, Charles Edward Gregg Philipps then to Sir Richard Foley Foley-Philipps, cousin of Sir John Erasmus, and grandson of Charles Edward Gregg Philipps. The estate is now run by the Picton Castle Trust.

I have spent a lot of time studying the Philipps family of Picton Castle, since so many Phillips in the USA and Canada hope or claim to descend from this family. I have even contacted the Picton Castle Trust and asked if any male member of the family would be willing to join the DNA project and get tested. They declined, but told me to the best of their knowledge, no member of the family ever migrated to the USA and/or Canada and remained.

I bought a booklet from the Picton Castle Trust called The Families of Picton which describes two Philipps men of Picton Castle who briefly moved to Canada. One of these men was Lieutenant General Richard Philipps (1660-1750) who served as Governor of Nova Scotia. He and his family returned to England before the outbreak of the American Revolution. A nephew, Major Erasmus James Philipps, followed his uncle to Nova Scotia and became a commander of the British fort at Annapolis. Erasmus had one son who was killed in 1776 in New York during the Revolution while fighting on the side of the Crown. This son had no children.

There is a Canadian professional genealogist named Richard Ripley who specializes in trying to tie every single Phillips in Canada and the USA back to the Picton Castle Philipps family. Mr. Ripley recognizes that many, many people named Phillips in Canada and the USA would love to claim a connection to the aristocratic Philipps family of Picton Castle, and he is capitalizing on this desire. People pay him good money to obtain a phony Philipps pedigree.

Although we have not been able to obtain a male volunteer from the Philipps family of Picton Castle for DNA testing, it is important to recognize that we have now identified 64 distinct, unrelated Phillips families through DNA analysis. In addition, we have over 140 Phillips men in the project whose yDNA does not match anyone else named Phillips. This is overwhelming evidence that we do not all descend from a single Phillips or Philipps family. In other words, there is no way we all descend from the Philipps family of Picton Castle.

Sources: "The Families of Picton" by Hero von Friesen and Thomas Lloyd, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picton_Castle