The Adam Brouwer Sub-Group of the Brewer DNA Project at the End of 2017

As the year 2017 comes to a close, here is the status of the Adam Brouwer Sub-Group of the Brewer DNA Project, hosted by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA).

Haplogroup Assignments (by FTDNA) of the current members of the Adam Brouwer Sub-Group

 The Adam Brouwer sub-group now has 43 tested members. The above screenshot shows the Haplogroups assigned (by the testing company FTDNA) to each of the members of the sub-group. Haplogroups printed in Red are predicted, while those in Green are confirmed by testing. The names you see are Earliest Known Ancestors (EKAs) as entered by each of the individual members.

The predicted (red) haplogroups E-M35 and E-L117 are "equivalent," which is to say they are the same branch on the larger Y-DNA Tree. You can see this on YFull's public YTree. By YFull's calculations the haplogroup E-M35/E-L117, was formed 34,800 years before present (ybp). The estimate of the Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) for those who are positive for the Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) M35 and L117, is 24,100 ybp. The SNPs that define the branch that would eventually include descendants of Adam Brouwer was formed during the Last Glacial Maximum during the Upper Paleolithic. Humans had yet to cross into North America. The ancient ancestor in which these SNPs first appeared likely lived in east Africa. Having occurred long ago, this is just the first step in the sequence that identifies the SNPs shared by descendants of Adam Brouwer.

The confirmed haplogroups, seen in green, are E-M78, E-V13, E-BY6201 and E-BY6245. All four were formed more recently in time. They are subclades of E-M35. E-M78, here on the YFull YTree, was formed 19,800 ybp, with the most recent common ancestor appearing about 13,400 ybp. This SNP is believed to have originated in either north Africa or in the Horn of Africa. See the E-V68 (of which E-M78 is a subclade) page at Wikipedia. 13,400 years ago, the direct paternal ancestor of Adam Brouwer was still in Africa.

E-V13 was formed still closer to the present, as calculated by YFull, about 7,600 ybp. E-V13 is the largest subclade of E-V68 (and of E-M78) and today is most frequently found in the Balkans. It may have first appeared in western Asia, perhaps in Anatolia or the Near East. E-V13 can be found on the same E-V68 page at Wikipedia. YFull's TMRCA for E-V13 is 5,100 ybp. It is conceivable that Adam Brouwer's direct paternal ancestor was living in Anatolia (now the location of the present day nation of Turkey) or the Near East (perhaps Egypt or the Levant). 5,100 years is still long ago. Perhaps 204 generations if we use 25 years as an average generation.

The remaining two confirmed haplogroups, E-BY6201 and E-BY6245, bring us to recent times. FTDNA's Big-Y test is the test that was taken that identified these SNPs. FTDNA does not provide an estimate as to when these SNPs were formed. To date we have 10 descendants of Adam Brouwer who taken the Big-Y test, and it is their test results that have identified BY6201 as a SNP common to all direct male descendants of Adam Brouwer. The SNP BY6245 was identified it two of the ten men tested, and we know that the two are first cousins. E-BY6245 is a subclade of E-BY6201. Of our ten tested descendants, seven have submitted their test data to YFull for further analysis. YFull uses E-Y19643 as the identifying SNP for our seven (E-Y19643 on YTree v5.08). E-BY6201 (FTDNA) and E-Y19643 (YFull) are in effect, "equivalent." YFull's estimate for the formation of E-Y19643 is 3,700 ypb, or about 1700 BCE (think the classical age, Homer and Ancient Greece). Their calculation for TMRCA (of the seven analyzed) is 400 ybp (think Henry Hudson's exploration in 1609 and the Mayflower crossing in 1620). We know that Adam Brouwer was born in Cologne, Germany, most probably during the decade of 1610 to 1620, also about 400 years ago. Descendants of Adam Brouwer can be identified through Y-chromosome tests that show a positive for the SNP BY6201 (or Y19643). [For more on how Adam Brouwer's direct paternal ancestors may have come to the area of Cologne from the area of the Balkans, I refer you to this piece by Richard Brewer from a few years back].

As mentioned, E-BY6245 is a subclade, a more recent SNP, of E-BY6201. YFull estimates that it was formed 400 ybp and estimated a TMRCA for our two positives as 375 ybp. However, YFull does not factor in what we know of the ancestries of the two positive test takers. As mentioned, we now that the two are first cousins. They have, using traditional genealogy research, identified their earliest known ancestor as Peter Brewer who was likely born during the decade of 1750-1760, or about 257 to 267 years ago. It is likely that this SNP (BY6245) was formed more recently than YFull's current estimate, and perhaps within only the most recent two or three generations. E-BY6245 likely was formed in the United States.

Descendants of Adam Brouwer on YFull's YTree v5.08 (December 2017)

Currently the Adam Brouwer sub-group of the Brewer DNA Project has ten members who have results from FTDNA's Big-Y test. We are awaiting the test results of four more. At the end of 2017, the Adam Brouwer sub-group has 43 members, with a 44th whose test results are pending. Of the 44, 25 can demonstrate through traditional genealogical research, a lineage back to Adam Brouwer. 17 others can identify some direct paternal ancestor with the surname BREWER or BROWER, but have yet to discover or confirm that ancestor's lineage back to Adam Brouwer. [There are an additional two members who, for different reasons, are not counted here].

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