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In the Beginning:

Our Deep Ancestral Origins

By Todd Johnson, (Kit  # 17976)

Oct 7, 2006

 

 

 

 

            In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly referred to as DNA. It had long been established that children inherit traits from their parents. Members of the same family will generally have many similarities. However, the method of genetic transmission remained something of a mystery until DNA was identified as being the key component of reproductive cells. After genetic recombination from parents, a unique organism is created with a unique DNA sequence that provides the basic instructions that help make each of us who we are. With the exception of identical twins, every person, including siblings, inherits a different set of genetic instructions.

            Until recently, the implications of these discoveries remained irrelevant to the family historian. Then, it was discovered that the genetic sequence of the Y-chromosome remains relatively impervious to change from one generation to the next. Bryan Sykes, author of The Seven Daughters of Eve states that this chromosome “carries only one gene which really matters. This is the gene that stops all human embryos from turning into little girls”. Therefore, the Y-chromosome is the sex chromosome that fathers pass to their sons in a relatively pure form from one generation to the next. Females do not inherit a Y-chromosome. Rather, they inherit a second X-chromosome that carries a different set of genetic instructions resulting in the creation of a human female.

 

            In western cultures, surnames tend to be passed from father to son. Geneticists soon realized that because fathers pass their Y-chromosome on in a relatively unchanged manner, specific surnames would be linked with a corresponding unique genetic “fingerprint”. Theoretically, men who descended from the same common male lineage would generally carry the same surname AND the same genetic pattern on their Y-chromosome. By that rationale, therefore, an analysis of one’s genetic pattern would be useful in determining a relationship to other men who are believed to be members of the same family. Later advances in genetics would prove that assumption to be correct.

            Although a son’s Y-chromosome is a nearly exact copy of his father’s, it is not quite perfect. There are many different genes located on the Y-chromosome, and the vast majority of this material will pass form one generation to the next in an unchanged sequence. However, spontaneous genetic mutations do occur, and some genetic markers may change from one generation to the next. Moreover, it has been determined that each of these genes has a slightly different “mutation rate”. Some genes will mutate more frequently, while others may remain exactly the same for thousands of years.

In analyzing the mutation rates of specific genetic markers, scientists can make an approximation regarding the time to the most recent common male ancestor. Therefore, if two men with the same surname believe themselves to be descended from a common progenitor, an analysis of genetic differences can not only confirm the relationship, but it can give an approximation regarding the number of generations back the common ancestor would expect to be found. In families with very common surnames (such as Jones, Smith or Johnson) this could be a very useful tool. Furthermore, this analysis can be compared with known archeological and anthropological evidence to provide us with a better sense of our deep ancestral heritage. Generally, when we think of how far back a person’s lineage can be traced, we think in terms of centuries. Now, Y-chromosome analysis enables the researcher to gain a better understanding of paternal lineage for tens of thousands of years!

 

 

A Perplexing Genetic Sequence

 

            In the early part of the year 2004, this writer opted to use Y-chromosome analysis for the purpose of genealogical research. The surname Johnson is rather common, and not surprisingly, paper documentation concerning early generations of the family was becoming difficult to obtain. The problem was further compounded by the fact that the earliest proven ancestor was named William Johnson. He was born in the year 1754, and lived in North Carolina at the time of the Revolutionary War. Colonial North Carolina abounded with other men who carried the same name, and it was believed that DNA evidence would help break through this genealogical “brick wall”.

            Surprisingly, results from the genetic test failed to match anyone in a rather large Johnson family genetic database. In fact, the genetic sequence was so unusual, that it is rarely seen in all of Western Europe. Less than 1% of the men in Western European countries exhibit a similar pattern, yet family lore suggested origins in the British Isles. Specifically, it had been suggested that the family had come from either England or Scotland. Yet, the Y-chromosome analysis appeared to suggest otherwise. At the time, the genetic sequence appeared to be unique among Johnson family researchers who had submitted samples for genetic analysis. This data was extremely perplexing. Several months later, however, the independent testing company, Family Tree DNA, reported some encouraging findings.

            In the summer of 2004, this writer was contacted by researcher, Leonard Johnson. Not only was he an exact match, but he was a Johnson. Oddly enough, however, a common lineage could not be established. Although both families had been traced to the mid-18^th century, the families were living in different areas. Yet DNA evidence proved the families to be related. The common progenitor, therefore, must have lived generations earlier.

            Because of a similarity in naming patterns, Leonard Johnson had made the acquaintance of Jerry Johnson. Both men had been researching the same group of people, and Leonard had persuaded Jerry to submit a DNA sample for comparison. The results were a near perfect match. Eventually, several other matches were also found, and a DNA profile can now be established for the common male line progenitor. In using this data, combined with an open exchange of research notes, we are better able to tell the story of this family from prehistoric times down to the present day.

            Genetic testing provides an analysis of specific markers along the Y-chromosome. These markers are reported as a series of numbers. Various tests consist of 12, 24, and 37 marker analyses, each test being somewhat more precise. Using DNA evidence from six living descendants, the following 12 marker genetic sequence can be reconstructed for the common male ancestor for each of the participants.

 

 

 

 

 

            With but one exception, all participants matched one another exactly. Yet, one participant matched the others with a one marker difference. It was observed with a value of 14 at marker 439, while each of the other participants had a value of 13 at the same location. However, marker 439 has been determined to have a faster mutation rate than most other markers. Therefore, because all participants carried the same surname, this difference is considered to be relatively inconsequential.

            In comparing the genetic sample above with samples collected from random individuals living throughout the world, we can get a better sense for the family’s deep ancestral origins. The technique is rather simple. That part of the world where similar genetic patterns are found most frequently today would be viewed as the place of origin in the remote past.

Although humans have become increasingly more mobile in recent generations, populations were more settled hundreds and thousands of years ago. Because early human populations frequently revolved around kinship, early groups of people would frequently exhibit smaller amounts of genetic diversity than is observed in human populations today. As groups of people remained separate from one another for lengthy periods of time, their DNA would become less similar as genetic mutations continued to accumulate within separate populations. It is interesting to note, however, that these corresponding genetic mutations do not necessarily manifest themselves in physical characteristics. In fact, two groups who become isolated from one another may continue to share the same physical characteristics. The genetic diversity that is observed throughout the world today can be used in conjunction with evidence from other disciplines (such as archaeology and anthropology) in an effort to discover where any specific group may have originated. 

 

 

Haplogroups and the Remote Past:

I1b

 

            A comparison of the Johnson family’s genetic sequence with indigenous populations throughout the world yielded surprising results. The markers observed in the Y-chromosome analysis are rarely found in Western Europe. Yet, the family almost certainly came to the American colonies from Great Britain.

            Similar genetic sequences are grouped together into haplogroups. These classifications correspond to modern human populations who share common origins in the remote past. People are grouped into specific haplogroups based on the specific markers that are retained in their genetic sequence over extremely long periods of time. While some genes have a tendency to mutate rather quickly, others remain very stable over very long periods of time. People who retain the same stable markers up to the present day are believed to share a common ancestry that may date back thousands of years. Surprisingly, much of Western Europe belongs to the same haplogroup, suggesting that they descend from a common group of ancestors who arrived in Europe tens of thousands of years ago. The Johnson family, however, belongs to the vast cluster referred to as the “I haplogroup”.

            Family Tree DNA has analyzed the DNA sequence for several members of this Johnson family who are known to share common ancestry. In comparing Johnson family genetic markers with other samples in their database, it has been determined that our line belongs to the haplogroup known as I1b. An analysis of genetic mutations found in the main branch of haplogroup I indicates that “haplogroup I dates to 23,000 years ago or longer”. It is interesting to note that this time period coincides with the advance of enormous ice sheets during the last glacial period in the Earth’s history.

Our ancestors are known to have arrived in south-eastern Europe during the last ice ages. There, they multiplied in small hunter gatherer groups. Due to the advance of the ice, they became isolated from other human populations who were living to the West in Europe and Asia to the East. Over several thousand years of isolated existence, the genetic markers found on the Y-chromosome of our ancestors began to develop characteristic mutations that would distinguish them from other groups of people who became settled in other parts of the world.

            Curiously, the genetic markers displayed by the men in the Johnson family are found with great frequency in and around modern-day Bosnia where a large percentage of the men demonstrate similar genetic patterns. Family Tree DNA further categorizes Johnson family markers into the subgroup known as I1b. The company states that “The Balkan countries likely harbored this subgroup of I during the Last Glacial Maximum. Today, this branch is found distributed in the Balkans and Eastern Europe, and extends further east with Slavic-speaking populations”. The National Genographic Project specifically notes that I1b is “found around the Dinaric Alps, a mountain chain in southern Europe spanning areas of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Albania”.

            A large body of evidence can be found supporting our classification into the group known as I1b. Independent confirmation has been obtained from other genetic databases. Specifically, geneticist Whit Athey has developed a haplogroup predictor. Using STR values, or specific genetic markers, an individual can determine which group his remote paternal ancestors most likely belonged to based on data collected from thousands of genetic samples collected from around the world. Not surprisingly, Whit Athey’s model has also predicted that our family belongs to haplogroup I1b.

            Genetic markers are described as a set of “repeat values”. The specific set of repeat values found on a Y-chromosome is called a haplotype. Using an individual’s haplotype, Whit Athey has developed a program to predict that person’s Y-chromosome haplogroup. Athey defines a haplogroup as “a group or family of Y-chromosomes related by descent”. Using correlational data, Athey’s program can predict an individual’s haplogroup based on how well a person’s haplotype “fits the pattern of previously reported STR values for a haplogroup”. For instance, men in the large R1b haplogroup, will typically exhibit a “repeat value” of 12 on marker 426. In rare occasions, there are exceptions where they will exhibit a value of 10, 11 or 13. However, they will never exhibit a value of 16. Many times, members of a specific haplogroup will exhibit only one value at a given marker. In such cases, these are markers that mutate very slowly. Athey’s model compares an individual’s “repeat values” (or haplotype), with the values found most frequently for people whose haplogroup has been determined through the lengthy testing process known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). Using this “goodness of fit”, an individual’s haplogroup can be predicted when compared with values exhibited by known members of a given haplogroup.

            Athey’s prediction model yields a numerical score when predicting a haplogroup based on “repeat values”. A perfect 1 to 1 correspondence with the values most frequently demonstrated in a haplogroup yields a score of 1. However, people will almost never exhibit such a ratio. Rather, a decimal is used to express this “goodness of fit”. Using the greatest value generated by the program, a haplogroup can be predicted. Haplogroups can be predicted when there is a correspondence of .40 or higher. Using the “repeat values” found in Johnson family participants, a score of .68 was established for haplogroup I1b. This is a very strong score. As such, these results are believed to be very reliable.

            Family Tree DNA hosts Ysearch, a public database of genetic samples. This service allows researchers to compare their sample against all other people in the database. Using this free service, a comparison of the Johnson family’s genetic profile yielded some fascinating results which support the findings generated by Whit Athey’s predictor model. A 12 marker analysis indicates that men in the Johnson family differed from the “Y-DNA-I1b security modal haplotype” by only one marker resulting in a score of ~1. According to Ysearch:

 

“The Y-DNA-I1b Security Modal Haplotype is a tool for finding out whether or not you could belong to haplogroup I1b…your mutational difference value will most likely be less than ~3 compared to this set of 12 I1b –specific markers.”

 

 

Archaeology and Genetic Evidence

 

 

            Genetic evidence can be a useful tool to the modern day researcher who is interested in discovering information regarding his or her remote ancestry. Archaeological evidence can help illuminate the technical information obtained from a series of genetic tests. A graphic analysis of genetic distributions will frequently betray information concerning ancient migratory patterns and settlements. 

            The I haplogroup is confined to European populations. Rootsi et al. have published a rather comprehensive report pertaining to the distribution of the I haplogroup in Europe. Their findings indicate that the most genetic diversity is found in Bosnia where more than 40% of the male population belongs to group I1b. These facts imply that the I haplogroup dispersed from this region in prehistoric times, resulting in a greater number of genetic variations in modern populations. They estimate that the I haplogroup ancestors arrived in the region during the glacial period. Their “estimates hint that its initial spread in Europe may be linked to the diffusion of the largely pan-European Gravettian technology ~28,000-23,000 years ago”.

            The link between the I haplogroup and Gravettian technology is reiterated by the National Genographic Project sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Information concerning the spread of Gravettian culture can be found at www.historytoday.com.

 

“Gravettian culture: a phase (c.28,000-23,000 years ago) of the European Upper Paleolithic that is characterized by a stone-tool industry with small pointed blades used for big-game hunting (bison, horse, reindeer and mammoth). It is divided into two regional groups: the western Gravettian, mostly known from cave sites in France, and the eastern Gravettian, with open sites of specialized mammoth hunters on the plains of central Europe and Russia. Some early examples of cave art and the famous 'Venus' figurines were made by Gravettian artists.”

 

            Members of haplogroup I became isolated from one another as the ice sheets advanced to a maximum extent. This resulted in subsequent mutations that would distinguish one group from another. The various groups living in Eastern Europe were cut off from their distant relatives who would seek refuge from the ice in Western Europe. In the Balkan region, prehistoric Gravettian hunters utilized mammoth bones and tusks to construct shelter. In the West, caves were preferred. Regardless of geographical location, the Gravettian culture is associated with the production of voluptuous “Venus” figurines. Such exaggerated sculptures are believed to reflect the importance of fertility in these early European populations. 

The Famed “Venus of Willendorf”, Circa 23,000 BC

Found Near Willendorf, Austria

 

 

 

 

As members of haplogroup I1b, the paternal ancestors of the Johnson family are known to have been sheltered in or near modern day Bosnia during the last “ice age”. However, the climate gradually began to improve about 15,000 years ago. As global temperatures began to rise, the ice sheets began a slow retreat. By 8,000 BC most of central and northern Europe was released from this icy prison. Therefore, the small groups of people residing in Europe exhibited corresponding changes in their behavior.

As the ice sheets began to recede, a small group of men belonging to the I haplogroup left their refuge in southeastern Europe. Descendants of this group migrated to France, eventually migrating to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. During the ice ages, these northern lands were completely submerged in ice. Therefore, it was too hostile for human habitation. However, after the retreat of the ice sheets, members of haplogroup I colonized the region. Of course, over long periods of time, these men developed characteristic mutations that would distinguish them from their kin who remained in the warmer Balkan region of Europe. Today, these Scandinavian members of the I haplogroup are categorized as the sub-group I1a.

 

Migratory Patterns of Various European Haplogroups

Following the Last “Ice Age”

 

 

 

 

Warmer global temperatures resulted in increased movement among human populations. The climate in southern Europe became warmer and wetter, and new plants began to flourish. In addition, people in the Balkan region began to develop better hunting methods which enabled larger groups of people to cooperate and live together. Most importantly, people in western Asia began to experiment with agricultural methods which enabled them to settle in one place for extended periods of time because of a surplus of food. Due to gradual global warming, some of these people began to settle in southeastern Europe. The ice, which had isolated various human populations, was no longer a barrier. The influx of people from settled villages in Asia resulted in an increase in genetic variation as these different groups began to breed with one another. In addition, it resulted in a free exchange of ideas, and Europe began a slow process of change. People gradually moved from a life of hunting and gathering in small groups, to living in settled villages and raising crops.

            One of the earliest settled communities in Europe was at Lepenski Vir in the former Yugoslavia. Today, it is located in Eastern Serbia, and the archaeological evidence of this early civilization closely corresponds with the genetic fingerprint of the I1b haplogroup. Lepenski Vir became a settled community about 8,500 years ago, and it was comprised of approximately 60 permanent homes that were built along the banks of the Danube River. Archaeological excavations reveal that each of these homes housed characteristic stone carvings of “fish gods”. It is believed that the Danube provided these people with much of their food, but the remains of homes built of stone and wood indicates that they were among Europe’s earliest farming communities.

            In reality, Lepenski Vir was only one of many farming communities that sprang up along the Danube River during the Mesolithic period otherwise known as the Middle Stone Age. Residents of this settlement traded pottery and food with neighboring communities. Over time, however, Lepenski Vir came to be the ritual center for what would become known as the Starcevo-Cris Culture. This ancient culture overlapped the ancestral home of haplogroup I1b which had become established in the Balkan region many thousands of years earlier. Moreover, Starcevo culture appears to have been somewhat of an outgrowth of the earlier Gravettian culture. Perhaps the most notable similarity connecting the two ancient cultures is the continued obsession with fertility demonstrated in “Venus figurines”.  A website pertaining to this early farming culture has been found at AncientWisdomCulturesPeople@groups.msn.com. It is noted that “The Starcevo Culture covered a huge area, including today's Slovakia, western Ukraine, Romania, eastern Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, and northeast Bosnia. In Croatia, it extended at least as far as Vucedol (near Vukovar) and Sarvas (near Osijek)”.   

 

 

“Fish God” Sculpture from Lepenski Vir

Circa 5000 BC

 

 

 

 

Modern Map Illustrating the Extent of

 Starcevo-Cris Culture: Circa 6,000 BC

 

 

 

            The book The Last Two Million Years explains the population explosion that took place in the Balkan region of Europe beginning about 5,000 BC. By that time, agriculture had spread from Greece, in the South, to Hungary in the North. People in this region lived in “densely populated villages”, in homes that were constructed of mud and timber with flat roofs. Homes were generally constructed with a raised floor on a clay platform that served as a kitchen area. The people created beautiful, painted pottery, and they wore clothing made of flax and wool.

            Farming settlements were particularly numerous along the Danube River. The rich river valley was particularly conducive to raising crops. The valleys also provided protection against invasion from nomadic peoples. Many historians believe that the Danubians were responsible for the advance of agriculture as it spread from southeastern Europe. “They and the revolution they represented spread rapidly across Europe, reaching Holland before 4,000 BC”. These early farmers were able to benefit from the rich soil that was a result of glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age. These early Europeans cultivated wheat, barley and peas. However, as farming spread toward northern Europe, people began to domesticate cattle and pigs with increased frequency.

 

Subsets of Haplogroup I1b

 

As agriculture spread from the Balkan region of Europe to the North, groups of people became increasingly mobile. It is interesting to note, however, that these advances were more the result of an exchange of ideas rather than the displacement of one group of people by another. Whatever the case may be, it is now clear that a small handful of people from the Balkan region inevitably migrated to the Baltic coast of Europe during this time period. Moreover, it is likely that the Danube River was the primary mode of transportation for these early men who first carried the I1b haplogroup to northern Europe.

 The findings of a number of noteworthy geneticists support the conclusions of Family Tree DNA and Whit Athey’s haplogroup predictor in classifying Johnson males into haplogroup I1b. In fact, an analysis of specific markers can now help us to identify which specific branch of this haplogroup we descend from. Haplogroup I1b has been divided into two major subgroups. The vast majority are classified as “I1b1-Dinaric”. The group takes its name from the Dinaric Alps, a group of mountains situated along the border between modern-day Croatia and Bosnia. This subgroup of 1Ib is mainly distributed near the ancestral homeland of the I haplogroup. In addition, it is often found throughout parts of Eastern Europe.

In addition to I1b1-Dinaric, a Western subgroup has recently been discovered. In contrast to their distant kinsman in southeastern Europe, representatives of this subgroup are found most frequently in northwestern Europe. Ken Nordtvedt, perhaps the world’s foremost I haplogroup researcher, describes the I1b1-West haplogroup as follows:

 

“I1b1-West (Western) is a variety of (old) I1b…found more in Western Europe, and particularly in a swath across Germany’s Baltic and North Sea coastal areas, and then into the British Isles. Western I1b1 variety is most notably identified by having 15 repeats at DYS388 instead of the usual 13 repeats of Dinaric I1b1. I1b1-West is also usually 10 at DYS391 instead of I1b1-Din being 11…they have differing modal values at a large number of markers and are usually not difficult to distinguish from each other.  I1b1-West was discovered in 2004.”

 

In May of 2005, Ken Nordtvedt refined his definition of I1b1-West as follows:

 

“I was upgrading my Western I1b (the variety with the unusual DYS 388 = 15 and Western Europe geographical distribution) with the latest Sorenson data …one must add DYS448 = 18 (an unusual modal value in its own right) to the root definition of Western I1b … Here is the total 6 marker core haplotype:

DYS388 = 15; DYS448 = 18; DYS454 = 11 = DYS455; DYS462 = 12

 

Its DYS 19, 390, 391, 392, 393, 385a,b, 389i modal haplotype is then 15,23,10,11,13,(12,15),14 and highly so except for 389i which also has significant population with 13 repeats.”

            In comparing this very specific root definition of the I1b1-West modal haplotype with the genetic profile of Johnson family men, we find that there is a nearly perfect correspondence. The only difference is that Johnson males demonstrate a characteristic repeat value of 16 at marker 385b rather than the more typical value of 15.

            In order to properly classify the peculiar genetic sequence of Johnson family males, this writer contacted Ken Nordtvedt directly. Specifically, Mr. Nordtvedt was asked for his opinion regarding the classification of the Johnson family into haplogroup I1b1-West. After several weeks, he sent the following response:

 

“You are definitely Western I1b.  I don't think I would have said western I1b is more common in Britain than in continental Europe.  I have found it both in Britain and in the swath you mentioned.  I assume continental people brought it to the British Isles. Perhaps with the Anglo-Saxons or Danes, but maybe in an earlier migration pre-Roman?  Only more data and future research will answer that choice. I have identified a separate type of I1b which is ‘Isles’ I1b and not yet found on the continent.  But it is different than what you have which is the ‘western’.”

 

            Today, the I1b1-West haplogroup can be subdivided into typical haplotypes. Researchers have now discovered that I1b1-West manifests itself somewhat differently in England, Ireland and Scotland. “Comparative y-DNA results” obtained from Ysearch indicates an extremely close correspondence with what has been called the “English Y-DNA-I1b modal haplotype”. This data implies that our Johnson male line ancestry stems from England.

            Nordtvedt has also been able to estimate the approximate age of I1bI-West by studying the genetic mutations that separate this group from their relatives in the Balkan states. He suggests “a 4300 year age for the Western I1b.” This suggests that the two major subgroups of haplogroup I1b diverged sometime about the year 2,300 BC.

Ken Nordtvedt suggests that the unusual genetic sequence of the Johnson family was “brought … to the British Isles. Perhaps with the Anglo-Saxons or Danes”. It is clear that I1b1 was brought to the coast of northern Europe from the Balkan region by about 2,000 BC. As agriculture spread to Northern Europe along the Danube River, male representatives of this family must have followed, carrying their unique genetic sequence with them to the Baltic and North Sea region. Here they assimilated, learned the customs and language, and blended with the people who would eventually become known collectively as “the Anglo-Saxons”. Through a series of genetic mutations, their DNA developed the interesting characteristics of a new haplogroup, known as I1b1-West.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting Evidence for an Anglo-Saxon

Migration to England

           

Today, I1b1-West is a genetic sequence that is rarely found in England. Yet, it is clear that quite a few English families share a common genetic heritage that is betrayed by their collective membership in haplogroup I1b1-West. The Sorenson genetic database indicates that the majority of these families are generally distributed in Northampton, Lancashire, Worcester and Nottingham. Information from this database and others shows a distribution of similar genetic patterns found in northern Germany and Denmark; a region that corresponds with the ancestral homeland of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes who invaded England roughly 1,500 years ago.

            Ken Nordtvedt used “2,200 SNP tested British Isles haplotypes” and discovered that there was a “clear cluster of Western I1b haplotypes” found in England. It is noted that there is “a slight preference for Western I1b being located in eastern England where Anglo-Saxons or Danish Vikings settled. This is confirmed with finding Western I1b in Sorenson database with Baltic coast and Danish origins”. He further notes that such haplotypes only constitute somewhere between ½ and 1% of the Y-chromosome patterns found in northwestern Europe today.

            Information obtained from Ysearch provides a pattern that is even clearer. Nordtvedt describes a concentration of I1b1 outlined by Northampton, Nottingham, Lancashire and Worcester. A system was also devised by this writer to refine the area of concentration. An attempt was made to identify families of English extraction who would appear to be classified as I1b1-West. This search was restricted to English families who are no more than three genetic mutations away from the Johnson family. Then, those surnames were correlated to specific regions of England where the surnames are found most frequently. Not surprisingly, the names do coincide with the area described by Nordtvedt. However, these families also appear to share a dense concentration along the border with Wales in Shropshire, extending East through Leicester.

            Family names used in this correlational study included Sharp, Stanley, Lucas, Terry, Overstreet, Ashley, Parker, Holder, Slaton, Buckley, Glover, Mills and Johnson among others. As with the Johnson family, some of these surnames may have originated in multiple places independently. However, others are relatively confined to a small geographical area in England. The region of England from Shropshire to Leicestershire reveals a marked concentration of almost all of the surnames in question. This observation is especially useful in that it is believed that each of these families shares a common male lineage at a time before surnames were adopted in England. Moreover, a study of the various mutations present in each of these families can reveal which are most closely related to the others. 

            Of particular interest to Johnson family researchers is the family of Edenfield. This family shares a match of 24 out of 25 genetic markers. Moreover, the Edenfield surname is rather uncommon in England. Although its greatest concentration is now found around Halifax in Yorkshire, the family took its name from the village of Edenfield in Lancashire. We can be sure of this as there is only one village of this name in all of England. Edenfield is situated about four miles east of Bolton and Blackburn. As surnames were frequently adopted from village names during the 12^th and 13^th centuries, this gives us an approximate location of where the Johnson family may have originated during this time period as well. Moreover, it fits with the genetic distribution of haplogroup I1b1-West that Ken Nordtvedt observed in his studies of English pedigrees.

            Together, Nordvedt’s observations coupled with modern-day distributions of related English families point to a probable early settlement near the Staffordshire / Leicestershire border. From there, our unusual genetic signature appears to have become diffused along the border between England and Wales. Finally, it seems likely that our specific branch of the family settled a bit to the North in or near what is now southeastern Lancashire. The following chart illustrates the various clusters of English families who appear to share a common male lineage with the Johnson family.