The Project

The recent advance of commercial genetic testing for family genealogists has resulted in an explosion of surname projects that use patterns of Y chromosome mutations to determine ancestral relationships between male members of a single family surname.  The Worth surname is uniquely suited for this DNA research because of its comparative rarity in the general population, and because most lineages appear to originate from a single regional source in the British Isles.  Consequently, Y-DNA testing of bearers of the Worth surname around the world may eventually lead to a more complete understanding of the relationships between the many branches of this family, and when and how each branch was separated from one another.  The Worth DNA Project may additionally provide new linkages between family lineages that are simply not possible with traditional genealogical and historical research.  Genetic markers may therefore fill in gaps where written records are absent or missing.

 

Ultimately, we hope to assemble a broad database of Worth DNA information which will supplement existing genealogical data and provide a much more complete portrait of Worth ancestry and relationships.  If you would like to participate, please read on and use the contact information below.

Y-DNA Primer

The Y chromosome, found only in males, apparently contains very little useful genetic information other than to determine maleness of individuals.  Nevertheless, it does contain a considerable amount of genetic material, much of which has no obvious function for the individual that carries it.  In addition, since the Y chromosome is not passed on to female children, it is not involved in the pattern of mixing genetic information from parents to offspring during each generation.  For this reason, the Y chromosome is passed largely intact and unaltered from father to son during the course of centuries and even millenia.

 

It is important to emphasize that the Y chromosome in each male descends only from a single male ancestral line, or patrilineage.  Similarly, only direct male descendents of each ancestral male carry that ancestral male's Y chromosome.  The diagram below illustrates the descent pattern of Y chromosomes.

 

 

Simplified diagram of Y-DNA descent

 

In this simplified diagram, males are represented by M, and females by F.  Each married couple is presumed to have one male child and one female child.  Marriage partners (from outside the primary family line) are italicized.  As can be seen, only one male great-grandson of the apical male ancestor carries the Y chromosome from that ancestor (the red patrilineage).  All other males carry Y chromosomes from other patrilineages (the blue, green, and orange).  Females carry no Y chromosomes, and thus are excluded from consideration.

 

Despite the fact that the Y chromosome is passed largely intact from one generation to the next, natural genetic changes, or mutations, do appear randomly within the Y chromosome over the course of many generations, and geneticists have been able to calculate the average rate at which such mutations occur.  Using specific locations on the Y chromosome where certain genetic "markers" occur (each marker is designated by a separate "DYS number"), geneticists can read the number of repeated short DNA sequences (called "Short Tandem Repeats," or STRs) to determine the exact number of repeats (called "alleles") at each marker location.

 

The accepted average rate of mutation in any given genetic marker is one mutation every 500 generations, resulting in a 0.2% chance of mutation between each generation (father to son).  Individual generations of course very considerably in length, averaging somewhere between 15 and 25 years in the past, and thus geneticists generally calculate this mutation rate in terms of the number of generations, and not the actual length of time involved.  Since the mutation rate in each individual marker is very small, geneticists generally use a series of 12 or 25 standard markers to determine an individual's "haplotype" in order to compare with other males and determine whether they descend from a single individual male at some point in the past.  This male ancestor is called the Most Common Recent Ancestor, or MCRA.  And since mutation rates are only known as a calculated average, the results of Y chromosome tests are generally expressed as a statistical probability of the MCRA between two individuals having occurred within a certain number of preceding generations.  Depending on the number of markers tested, and the number of markers matched between two individuals, these probabilities can determine with greater or lesser accuracy and precision the probability of a common ancestor, as shown on the table below.

Probability of MRCA (based on Family Tree DNA)

The table demonstrates that if two individuals match all 25 markers tested, then there is a 50% chance that their MCRA was within the last 7 generations (and a 50% chance it was more than 7 generations).  But there is a 95% chance that their MCRA was within the last 30.4 generations (a time span lasting perhaps as much as 750 years or so).  As can be seen, these results are not particularly impressive on their own, but when combined with the fact that two individuals share a common surname (and perhaps other genealogical evidence showing common ancestry), they can provide powerful evidence of descent from the same individual, sometimes very deep in the past.  And depending on the comparative number of matches between individuals in a group sharing the same surname, it is also possible to estimate the point at which each individual's lineage branched from other lineages, possibly assisting in tracing the timing of migration or other separation events in the past.

 

References about this subject can be found at the following online sites:

 

Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor Calculator (Bruce Walsh 2001/Family Tree DNA)

 

Primer on Molecular Genetics (Denise Casey/Human Genome Project)

 

Why Y?  The Y Chromosome in the Study of Human Evolution, Migration, and Prehistory (Bradman and Thomas 1998)

Worth Genealogy

The roots of the Worth surname are traditionally tied to County Devon in southwestern England, where three brothers who participated in the Norman conquest of England in 1066 ultimately settled near the community called Tiverton.  According to this traditional family history, three Norman knights, named Ralph, Reginald, and Robert de Paynell (or Paganel/Pagnel), served under William the Conquerer and were granted an estate near Tiverton.  Ralph de Pagnell was listed as the Sheriff of York in the Domesday Book of 1087, and was the first lord of the Manor of Worth.  His son Ralf Fitz Paynel inherited the estate but died without heirs, and thus his brother Reginald Fitz Payne succeeded him.  It was evidently Reginald who added "de Worthe" to his surname, and his son Robert de Worthe began a long line of Worths in County Devon, which can be traced to the present day.

 

According to tradition, at least one significant branch of the North American Worth family apparently descends from the three sons of John Worth, who himself was baptized April 11, 1606 in Devonshire, and who was killed along with his own father John in the seige of Plymouth Fort in 1643.  After the seizure of the family estates by the Crown during Oliver Cromwell's reign, brothers Lionel (1627-1667), Richard (1640-1692), and William (1642-1724) immigrated to America, where they settled in Massachusets and New Jersey.  William Worth was the progenitor of a long and notable line of Worths in Nantucket, many of which spread to other states.

 

If both these traditions have substantial basis in reality, then all Worth descendants of the 11th-century Norman knight Ralph de Paynell should today possess only minimal Y-DNA mutations from Ralph himself.  Furthermore, all descendants of William Worth of Devonshire/Nantucket should possess an even more restricted range of Y-DNA mutations from his original 17th-century haplotype.

 

References regarding the Worth surname and its earliest family origins can be found at the following sites:

 

Ancestors of William Worth of Nantucket (Cece Bibby)

 

Descendants of John Worth of Nantucket, son of William Worth and Sarah Macy (William M. Worth)

 

My Worth Ancestors (Daniel Lavaine Worth) text file and Addendum on the Worth and Solomon Genealogy page (Roy Eugene Worth)

Project Results

As of this date, only two Worth descendents have had genetic testing conducted for this project, both of which derive from a single Worth lineage (Worth Lineage 1 for this project, abbreviated as W1 on the chart).  Individual results from each Family Tree DNA kit are listed below, marked by lineage (W1) and individual letters (a, b, c, etc.).  FT-DNA kit numbers are also provided.  When additional results are obtained from other participants, those results will also be posted in the table below, and analyzed in order to determine genetic relationships between all lineages.

Worth Family Y-DNA Markers (Family Tree DNA order)

Y-DNA Marker	FT-DNA Number	W1a #7617	W1b #7618	Hg-I1c Cont2 (Modal)
DYS 393	1	14	14	14
DYS 390	2	23	23	23
DYS 19 (394)	3	15	15	15
DYS 391	4	10	10	10
DYS 385a	5	15	15	15
DYS 385b	6	16	16	15
DYS 426	7	12	12	11
DYS 388	8	13	13	13
DYS 439	9	12	12	11
DYS 389-1	10	14	14	14
DYS 392	11	12	12	12
DYS 389-2	12	32	32	32
DYS 458	13	15	15	15
DYS 459a	14	8	8	8
DYS 459b	15	10	10	10
DYS 455	16	11	11	11
DYS 454	17	11	11	11
DYS 447	18	26	26	25
DYS 437	19	14	14	14
DYS 448	20	20	20	20
DYS 449	21	27	27	27
DYS 464a	22	11	11	11
DYS 464b	23	14	14	14
DYS 464c	24	15	15	14
DYS 464d	25	15	15	15

 

The genealogical details of each Worth lineage are presented separately below:

 

Worth Lineage 1 (W1)

Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) William L. Worth (1830 GA - c1878 FL) m. Temperance Sapp (1835 GA -1887 FL)   Pedigree to Earliest Probable Common Ancestor William L. Worth (1830 GA - c1878 FL) m. Temperance Sapp (1835 GA -1887 FL)    -son of James Worth (1801 GA - c1870 FL) m. Elizabeth McKenney (1804 SC - 1886 FL)       -son of Thomas Worth (c1770 ?? - c1825 SC) m. Comfort ____ (c1780 ?? - c1835 SC)   Notes on Y-DNA results Both individuals tested in this lineage (#7617 and #7618) have completely identical haplotypes at the 25-marker level, which, when combined with genealogical data regarding common ancestry, make it essentially certain that these two individuals descend from the same Worth lineage.  Unfortunately, the origins of this lineage are unclear prior to c1770.

Deep Roots

According to the Family Tree DNA reports, the Worth lineage 1 haplotype (W1) is apparently consistent with an assignment to Haplogroup I in the YCC nomenclature developed under the direction of Dr. Michael Hammer. Based on YCC and FT-DNA charts, this group is characterized by the M170 mutation within the broader M89/M213 mutation group, one of three large subsets of the M168 mutation. The M89/M213 group has recently been interpreted as having its origins in the groups of modern Homo sapiens which evolved in East Africa, and which dispersed at about 45,000 years ago through the Levantine corridor into Eurasia, ultimately replacing the Neanderthal populations already present there. These recent immigrants into Europe became the first Upper Paleolithic cultures in that region, and later became the bearers of the Aurignacian archaeological culture (ca. 32,000-18,000 years ago). Somewhat later, about 25,000 years ago, a group of these M89/M213 populations are interpreted to have moved from the Levant into Europe, where they developed the M170 mutation in situ. This group may have been the bearers of the Gravettian archaeological culture (ca. 25,000-15,000 years ago), which co-existed for a time with the Aurignacian culture. While the original core area from which the M170 mutation eventually spread to other areas was in central eastern Europe, after the Ice Age these populations spread into northwestern Europe as well as the Scandanavian region.

 

More recent analyses by researchers have provided data to suggest that the Worth haplotype may be most closely related to the I1c variety within Haplogroup I, based on the presence of the M223 mutation (but lacking other mutations defining other sub-clades within this I1c group). In modern European populations this haplogroup is most densely distributed in northwest Germany and the Netherlands, extending into Denmark, southern Sweden and Norway, and also the eastern British Isles as well as the Normandy region of France (see article by Ken Nordvedt listed below, as well as the Hg-I1c distribution map in Rootsi et al 2004).  The most likely common thread of origin for this distribution is Germanic-Scandanavian immigration and/or invasion across much of this region surrounding the North Sea, potentially connected (at least in part) with the Viking era.

 

 

Simplified diagram of Y-DNA mutations associated Haplogroup I1c

(Worth lineage highlighted in red)

 

While these data do not provide conclusive proof that the Worth patrilineage derives from Viking stock, they do strongly suggest that the apical male ancestor for the Worth Lineage 1 came from populations that ultimately originated in Eastern Africa prior to about 45,000 years ago, which moved into the Near East after that point, and which spread into Europe from the Levant about 25,000 years ago, and which is presently focused in distribution in northern continental Europe and the circum-North Sea region. Nevertheless, given the present distribution of the Hg-I1c haplogroup (marked by the M223 mutation), as well as the historical and genealogical data regarding the Worth family origins in the Norman conquest during the 11th century, the greatest statistical possibility would seem to suggest that the Worth patrilineage might indeed originate among Viking populations that were living in Normandy at the time of the 11th-century Norman conquest of England, and the arrival of the Paynell brothers to establish the Worth lineage in southwestern England.

 

References for the above discussion can be found at the following online sites:

Population Varieties within Y-Haplogroup I and their Extended Modal Haplotypes (Nordvedt n.d.)

 

The Phylogeography of Y-Chromosome Haplogroup I Reveals Distinct Domains of Prehistoric Gene Flow in Europe (Rootsi et al 2004)

 

The Phylogeography of Y Chromosome Binary Haplotypes and the Origins of Modern Human Populations (Underhill et al. 2001)

 

The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic Homo Sapiens Sapiens in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome Perspective (Semino et al 2000)

A Nomenclature System for the Tree of Human Y-Chromosomal Binary Haplogroups (The Y Chromosome Consortium) (see Figure 1)

Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree (Family Tree DNA)

To Participate

Like many other surname organizations, we have selected Family Tree DNA as the commercial company best suited to provide data for the Worth DNA Project.  The commercial test kit includes all the materials needed to obtain a swab sample of cells from the inside of the cheek (completely non-intrusive; no blood required).  In order to qualify initially for group discounts in kit prices, there must be at least 6 individuals confirmed to participate in the Surname Project.  All interested individuals should contact the Group Administrator in order to coordinate their test kit orders with the overall project.  By participating within a larger surname project, costs are reduced for each individual participants.  Other current surname projects advertise the following reduced prices:

Y-DNA 12-marker test - $99 + $2 shipping
Y-DNA 25-marker test - $169 + $2 shipping

Y-DNA 37-marker test - $219 + $2 shipping
Y-DNA-Refine (upgrade from a 12-marker test to a 25-marker test) - $90

In order to reduce costs even further, it is important to note that not every male individual in each family or even in each extended lineage needs to be tested for the results to be useful.  Groups of closely-related families might choose to pool their efforts and pay for only a single test for one male within the lineage.  Additionally, any interested female Worth descendants can request that brothers, fathers, and paternal uncles take the test in order to provide information on their Worth ancestral lineage.

 

We would especially encourage broad geographic coverage in these tests, in order to provide more extensive data from which to reconstruct the Worth family tree.  Ideally, there should be tests from descendants of all major branches of the Worth family, including not only English Worths, but also those who descend from the various immigrants to America, Australia, and other locations.

 

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