A Brewer DNA Project Haplotree

The Brewer DNA Project is now in its fifteenth year of existence. As of this writing there are 340 members of the project distributed across twenty-one subgroups, many of which are defined by a known progenitor or Earliest Common Ancestor (EKA). Other subgroups have yet to be labeled in such a way and a bit more research is required before an EKA can be identified (you'll find these subgroups listed as "Under Consideration A," etc.). In addition there is a large contingent of "Ungrouped" members who presently do not match up with any of the other Brewers (Browers, Bruers, etc.) in the project. A fair number of members have taken advanced Y-DNA tests in the form of Family Tree DNA's BigY-500 test. A majority of these members have also submitted their test results to the company YFull, for further analysis and for placement on their growing YTree. Others have taken single SNP tests to determine with certainty whether or not they can be identified by a particular SNP. However, a majority of the members still are only identified by a "predicted" haplogroup, which means that no direct testing of SNPs has been conducted for these members. Their haplogroup is predicted based on STR marker matches with others whose haplogroups have been determined by testing. With fifteen years worth of data now on hand, I thought I'd just have a little fun with the identified SNPs found in the project by using my genealogy software program (TMG) to create a haplotree of the Brewer DNA Project's confirmed terminal SNPs, or haplogroups. Here is the Brewer DNA Haplotree online as a PDF.

A little bit about what you're looking at in the haplotree. The terminal SNPs (which define the haplogroups) are determined by SNP testing by Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). As mentioned, many of the test results were then uploaded to YFull for that company's analysis, and in some cases the terminal SNP identified by YFull differs from that identified by FTDNA. Many positions on the larger YTree are defined by numerous terminal SNPs, and YFull lists these additional SNPs on their YTree. FTDNA does have its own public hapltotree which it launched back in September of 2018 (see the post of September 29, 2018). However, it provides less information than the tree published by YFull, and does not include analysis of tests conducted by other companies, where as YFull does. FTDNA's tree doesn't offer any time frames or references, whereas YFull gives estimated times for when a haplogroup was formed, and for a "Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor" (TMRCA) for those found at a particular position. YFull's times are given as "Years Before Present" (ybp). They are estimates, and as such are certainly subject to change as more individuals are tested and analyzed. For know they do provide us with a way to see just how all the members of the Brewer DNA Project might be related to their fellow members through their direct paternal lines.

A few other points that should be mentioned. On the right hand column of this page you will find, under "Brewer DNA Project," links to positions on YFull's YTree for a few subgroups of the Brewer DNA Project. Click on one of these links, go to the YTree page where that particular subgroup is found, and you'll find at the top a line, or bar, of SNPs leading from right to left, backwards in time, to the earliest SNP (labeled A0-T). The chart I created does not include all of the SNPs that you see on this bar. I would have liked to have but to do so would have created a chart that would not fit on standard letter sized paper, which is what I primarily wanted. You can download the PDF and print it should you wish to do so. That would not have worked if I included all the intermediate SNPs. My interest here was to get each group's terminal SNP to fit on the page, and to include the node or branching points common to our various subgroups. I had to eliminate many intermediate SNPs (those between the terminal SNP and A0-T) to make this work. I tried to keep the more important ones, so to speak, but someone else creating such a chart may well choose others.
Secondly, I did include most of those found in the Ungrouped section on the Project's colorized chart page, however, I did not include those whose name is something other than Brewer (etc.) were not included. Additionally, there were one or two project member's whose terminal SNPs as identified by FTDNA, are not found on YFull's YTree (there is a search tool in the top right corner of each page of the YTree). I was therefore unable to include them.
Finally, I have also not included Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) which you can find on the YFull YTree. The reason for this was simply that it would cluttered the chart and increased its size which would have forced me to eliminate a few intermediate branches that I wanted to include. TMRCA, none the less, is still important. You do want to know the time to a most recent common for those found within a haplogroup. It comes into play, in particular, with haplogroup I, mentioned below.

You can see from the haplotree and from the Brewer DNA Project's chart of Y-DNA test results, that all of the members of the project fall with one of four larger haplogroups, R, I, J, or E. Those interested in learning more about the formation and place origins of these haplogroups may wish to look them up online, perhaps starting with their respective Wikipedia pages. Here's the page for R, for an example. There are also pages on Wikipedia for many of the more recent haplogroups. Here is the entry for R-M269, which is found on the page for R1b (R-M343). The Wikipedia pages also include many references and links to research and papers on the various haplogroups. This in itself should be of interest to those who'd like to explore their "deep ancestry" further.

Relative to each other, which is what I was curious about, haplogroup E is more distantly related to R, I or J, with R being more distant to I and J than these two are to each other. The common node, or branch for all four haplogroups is found at the haplogroup called CT, which by YFull's estimates was formed 88,000 years before present (ybp). This would have been during the Middle Paleolithic, a subdivision of the Paleolithic (old stone age) period and before, what was previously widely believed, to have been the time when humans first migrated out of Africa. However, some recent findings are now questioning this belief, it appears that groups of humans first migrated from the African continent at a much earlier date. Within the Brewer DNA Project, all members, with the exception of one, who are within haplogroup E, are descendants of Adam Brouwer of Gowanus, Long Island. The sole member of member of the project who is in haplogroup E, but is not a descendant of Adam Brouwer, has been confirmed by testing as E-M96, which is the identifying SNP for haplogroup E as a whole. In other words, although he has a positive test for E-M96, those results are pretty broad. We know that he cannot be a descendant of Adam Brouwer from the results of his STR marker test, which does not match up well with the STR marker results from our known Adam Brouwer descendants. E, or E-M96, is estimated to have formed 65,200 ybp, still within the Middle Paleolithic, and most certainly in Africa.

65,900 years before present, haplogroup F (F-M89) is formed (possibly in South Asia) and (with a series of intermediate haplogroups between) haplogroup IJK was formed about 48,500 ybp. This page of YFull's YTree may be helpful for visualizing the relationship between the earlier haplogroups that I was not able to include on the chart. Haplogroup K is formed about 47,200 ybp, and a descendant of K, haplogroup R is formed about 30,700 ybp. Now we're in the Upper Paleolithic, or "Late Stone Age." Haplogroup R is thought to have arisen in Central or South Asia, or perhaps Siberia. 22,800 ypb we have the formation of two major (sub)haplogroups of R, namely R1a and R1b. The Brewer DNA Project has members descended from both of these haplogroups. Three of the projects subgoups, namely "John Brewer of Sudbury, MA," "Ambrose Brewer" and "Hubert Brower," as well as "Samuel Brewer of Kentucky" and "Under Consideration F," are descended from R1b. Overall the Project probably has more members who are of haplogroup R than any other haplogroup, which is also believed to be the most common haplogroup among present day European males. Many of the Project's members in R are "unplaced."The common ancestors for these subgroups (and those who are unplaced) however, was formed variously between 4500 and 13,300 years before present. So, while many of the living Brewers and Browers of these subgroups may be living today, in the United States, and perhaps in some cases within the same states, counties, maybe even towns, their common paternal ancestors can only be found way back before the period of recorded history. So much for the idea that just because two Brewers are found living at the same time, in the same county or town, "they must be related," which is something I've heard over the course of these past years from numerous individuals. They may not be related. In addition, the Project has one subgroup, "Under Consideration B" which is predicted as R-M512, and descended from R1a. Here you will have to go back to R1, formed 28,200 ybp to find a common ancestor with those in R1b.

The haplogroup IJ formed 47,200 ybp, and the descendant haplogroups I and J each formed about 42,900 ypb. This would also be during the Upper Paleolithic. Haplogroup I (I-M170) is thought to have originated in the Caucasus, Europe or Southwest Asia (the Middle East). It is the second most common haplogroup among present day European males, behind haplogroup R (above). The origins of haplogroup J (J-M304) are thought to be in "Western Asia," which is essentially synonymous with "Southwestern Asia." The "Arthur Brewer" subgroup, "Under Consideration J," and a few unplaced members are in haplogroup J. Haplogroup I includes the larger "Jan Brouwer of Flatlands" and "Lanier-Brewer" subgroups, as well as a few other subgroups with fewer members. The "Jan Brouwer" subgroup descends from I2 (I-M438) while "Lanier-Brewer" descends from I1 (I-M253), both of which formed some 27,500 years before present. If you look at the placement of these two haplogroups (I1 and I2) on YFull's YTree, you'll see that while the Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor (TMRCA) for I2 is 21,800 ypb, the TMRCA for I1 is only 4600 ybp. Haplogroup I1 is thought to have arisen in Northern Europe, while I2 may have arisen in Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean or Balkans. I1 is a much more recent haplogroup than I2. The Brewer DNA Project has other subgroups in the I haplogroup and I'll simply refer you to the chart to see where they fall.

A final caveat. Over the years since the advent of Y-DNA testing and the application of test results to the attempt to unravel the human tree in terms of male genomics the picture of the Y-DNA tree has changed considerably. I would expect to see this continue into the future and I would expect the same to apply with regards to the results, and this tree, for the Brewer DNA Project. So, in due time, maybe even in short order, the tree I present here will become obsolete. Keep that in mind. Enjoy, and have some fun exploring your "deep ancestry."

BGB 630