Family Tree DNA Makes Available A Public Y-DNA Haplotree

In yesterday's post I mention that Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) did not have a Y-DNA Haplogroup tree that was available online to the general public, that is those who do not have an account with FTDNA. Up until two days ago that was the case. This has now changed. I picked this up from the DNAeXplained blog post of September 27 (two days ago). And here in lies an example of the benefit in following select blogs - Family Tree DNA has the link to access this tree in a rather obscure place on their website's main page. I would not have learned this without the help of DNAeXplained.

To find the link to the haplotree, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of FTDNA's main page, past the solicitations for their products, to the link which is found under "Community" and is labeled, Y-DNA Haplotree.  You also do not want to be signed in to your own Family Tree DNA account (if you have one). For whatever reason, the link does not appear at the bottom of the main page when one is logged in to their account (go figure!). Having this public Y-DNA tree available is a good thing and I will direct you, once again to the September 27, 2018 post at DNAeXplained (authored by Roberta Estes) for detailed instructions and guidance on how to use the new haplotree. Included there are tips on how to set up your account at FTDNA so that your results will be included in the haplotree. Here is a direct link to FTDNA's public haplotree (be patient, it may take a minute to load).

Members of the Brewer DNA Project, and those searching for Brewers and Browers, can use the FTDNA haplotree to see just where Brewers and Browers are found on the tree. First it must be pointed out that the haplotree includes only those tested by FTDNA who have either taken a BigY test, or who have had their Y-DNA haplogroup confirmed by a test. If you have taken a Y-DNA test, but have only been assigned to a predicted haplogroup, you will not be included on this tree. Therefore, many of the current 337 members of the Brewer DNA Project are not represented on the tree.

So, to find the Brewers. You will note that the haplotree allows you to view it in three different formats, Countries, Surnames and Variants. And just below that is a line of letters of the alphabet which represent the main branches of Y-Chromosome DNA tree, starting with A (the oldest) through to T. Presently, the Brewer DNA Project has members that fall within the haplogroups designated as E, I, J and R (see the Y-DNA chart page at the Brewer DNA Project).

Select to view the tree by Surnames. Type in Brewer in the Search by Surname space, hit enter and you will find that the page responds by informing you that the surname appears in haplogroups, E, I, J and R (small font just below the Search by Surname space). This result was expected. So far, so good. Working along that line of letters (the haplogroups) select E, scroll down and you will see Brewer and Brower both appear next to three different SNPs, E-BY6201, and two below it, E-BY6245 and E-BY6312. These are the descendants of Adam Brouwer, in the Brewer DNA Project, who have taken the Big-Y test, who have filled in their "Most Distant Known Ancestor" (i.e. their direct paternal line ancestor) and set their privacy settings to public sharing (note that account numbers and names are not displayed on the public tree). Move to the left and click on those three vertical dots, select surnames, and you'll see the number of tests accounting for this place on the haplotree. We do have 14 members of the Adam Brouwer sub-group who have taken the Big-Y test, yet only 11 are picked up by FTDNA for the haplotree, which is likely because the other three have more restrictive privacy settings, and/or have not supplied a Most Distant Known Ancestor.

Now, select I from the line of haplogroups at the top. Scroll down, and we have Brewer and White at I-15031, and just below at I-Y21524, I-Y23708 and I-Y29640. These are all members of the subgroup labeled "Lanier-Brewer" at the Brewer DNA Project.
Scroll down further and we have  Brewer and Brower at I-Y7214. They are descendants of Jan Brouwer of Flatlands, L. I. Six members are accounted for here.

Now, move over to J. Scroll down. Brewer is found at J-CTS6804 and further down that branch at J-Y18828. Both SNPs are determined by descendants of Arthur Brewer, who I believed lived in North Carolina during the 1700s (I have not researched this family myself).

The last haplogroup involving members of the Brewer DNA Project is R. Select that from the line of haplogroups. Scroll down. First we hit R-M269. This is an old, "upline" haplogroup, a subhaplogroup of R-M343 which is the most frequent occurring paternal haplogroup in western Europe. There are a lot of names here, including Brewer. Further down the tree, there is Brewer at R-Y53883. There are two, who are in the Ambrose Brewer subgroup.
Scrolling down further we find Brewer at R-FGC46823. The two here are descendants of John Brewer of Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Now, go back to the Search by Surname space and replace Brewer with Brower. You'll find matches at E, I, and R. Those are E and I are covered above, but go to the R haplotree and scroll down. Brower is found at R-BY91798. The two here are descendants of Hubert Brower.

This public haplotree from FTDNA is certainly a welcomed addition. It was a long time in coming, and it is fun to use. It does not replace YFull's YTree which, along with their analysis, provides more info and is going to be more useful for the Brewer DNA Project to sort out the various branches below our known colonial period progenitors (Adam Brouwer, Jan Brouwer, Hubert Brower, Arthur Brewer, George Brewer, etc.) and so, members of the Brewer DNA Project who do take a BigY-500 test are still encouraged to set up an account and transfer their data to YFull.

BGB 607