DNA – americanman.org

Hays PA and VA 1700s DNA – What We Know

The Big Y Test Reveals a common Hays ancestor in 1550 CE for Patrick Hays (1720s PA) and John Hays (1740s VA) and a distinct DNA line for Patrick Hays (PA).

Four of us Ulster Scot Hays whose ancestors migrated to the America’s in the early 1700s have completed the Big Y 700 at Family Tree DNA and have family trees going back to either Patrick Hays settling in Derry, PA 1728 or John Hays settling in Augusta, VA in 1740. DNA indicates that both have a common ancestry from Ulster, Ireland. With a mutation from a common ancestor in 1550 and a second mutation in 1750. Persons with the “Hays” surname and lacking recorded evidence of ancestry may be able to use the Big Y DNA test to identify their line back to Scotland through Northern Ireland and the pioneer settlers in PA and VA in America in the 1720s and 1740s respectively.

If I’m reading this correctly, our common ancestor is R-FT115175. He was in 1550 CE (1296-1706) the parent group from which R-FT115690 mutated from. R-FT115690 is the parent of R-FT116536 which mutated in 1750 CE (1657-1857). We have 2 persons with R-FT116536 and they trace to Patrick Hays 1705-1790 in PA. We have 2 persons with R-FT116590 who trace their ancestry (highly suspected) to John Hays 1674-1750 in VA. Thus any person doing research on their Hays line who matches an ancestor in the line of the 4 listed can be reasonably certain (barring any errors in the genealogy trees) that they are from the Patrick Hays or John Hays lines. The R-FT116590 shows relations to John Hays from the mutation in 1550 which may be a relative 175 years before his birth. The R-FT116536 mutation may be Patrick Hays himself or his father or grandfather and as such relation may be through his brothers, or an unknown cousin, who migrated with him in the early 1700s.

R-FT116590 and R-FT116536 family trees: (As reported by the individuals, Patrick or John into the 1800s).

R-FT116536 Patrick Hays 1705-1790, Samuel Hays ? Dauphin County, PA – 1805 Warren, Kentucky, William Hays 10 Mar 1761 Augusta, VA – 25 Sep 1851 Warren Kentucky, Daniel Hays 1799 ? – 1862 Warren, KY.
R-FT116536 Patrick Hays 1705-1790, Samuel Hays 1741 Dauphin County, PA 1805 Bowling Green, KY, James Hays 1758 Augusta, VA (1783 lived in Davidson, TN) – 1830 Warren County, KY, John Hays 1785 Lincoln County, KY – ?, James Samuel Hays 1822 Bowling Green, KY – 1860 Marlin, TX.
R-FT116590 John Hays (unconfirmed) 1720 Bangor, Ireland – ? Augusta, VA, Unknown Hays, William Hays 1753 VA – 1831 Wythe, VA, Jacob Hays 1785 Rich Valley, Montgomery, VA – 1858 Brunswick, MO
R-FT116590 (me) John Hays 1674-1750, James Hays unk (Ulster)-unk, James Hays unk-unk, William Hays 3 Mar 1773 Rockbridge, VA – 10 Sep 1857 Greene, TN, George Hays 1802 Blue Springs, Greene, TN – 1866 Blue Springs, Greene, TN, William A. Hays 1835 Clear Creek, Greene, TN – 1911 Cedar Lane, Greene, TN.

At Family Tree DNA, the 67 Marker YDNA has 2 persons with a genetic distance of 3 steps from me, one traced back to Patrick Hays and one traced back to John Hays. FTDNA advises that at 111 markers 0 steps removed is accurate to 6 generations, 1 step is 9 generations, and 2 steps are 11 generations. At 111 there are 2 persons 5 steps removed with 1 tracing to John Hays and 1 tracing to Patrick Hays and one 6 steps removed tracing to Patrick Hays. The 67 and 37 marker tests show the Y-DNA Haplogroup R-M269 which mutated 4000 years ago (with 14 mutations to R-FT115175) thus any Y-DNA test below the Big-Y 700 will not provide any help in determining which Hays line you came from given he common ancestor R-FT115175 in 1550 Scotland and the common ancestor branches from R-FT116590 in late 1600-early 1700s Ulster Ireland.

These Hays arrived, most likely, in Philadelphia settled on the edge of the European settlements between existing original settlers and the natives (which we will discuss further in later blogs). There were scant written records when the Hays arrived in America and the European settlements didn’t venture far inland from the coastal settlements. As an example Patrick Hays settlement in Dauphin County in 1728 was well beyond the “Walking Purchase” of land from the Lenape (Delaware) Indians in 1737. The settlement in the Shenandoah River Valley of Virginia of John Hays in the 1740s likewise was intended to provide a buffer between the original settlers in Jamestown and the natives, luckily recorded in the Lyman Chalkley “Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement of Virginia.”

By 1700 the powerful Iroquois Federation (originally 5 tribes: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca adding a 6th, the Tuscarora in 1722) controlled most of present day NY, PA, VA and the lands west to the Ohio River Valley and beyond (control claimed by other tribes also). The 1722 Treaty of Albany (NY) was supposed to stop settlement beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains at the Great Warriors Path (southeast of the Appalachian Mountains) but the number of settlers outpaced available land and settlement continued west in PA and then southwest following the Shenandoah Valley. In 1742 a party of Onondaga and Oneida Indians skirmished with the Augusta, VA Militia and in 1744 at the Treaty of Lancaster the Iroquois sold the Shenandoah Valley which increased settlements and development of the Great Wagon Road (former Great Warriors Path) which stretched from Philadelphia to Gettysburg then southwest to Roanoke and then south into the Piedmont of North Carolina and continuing through South Carolina ending at Augusta, GA on the Savannah River.

The Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County PA states that Patrick Hays was born in Donegal, Ireland in 1705 and arrived in PA settling in Dauphin County, Derry, PA in 1728 with his brothers, Hugh, William, and James. Patrick had 5 sons (David, Robert, William, Samuel, and Patrick). James is presumed dead by 1751 and brother Hugh and William travel to Virginia in the early 1750s with Hugh returning to PA until his death with only a daughter recorded. Patricks 2 sons, William (b. 1737) and Samuel (b. 1741) also travel to Virginia.

John Hays and Patrick Hays (VA) self imported to Orange County, Virginia in 1740 from Northern Ireland via Philadelphia (unknown arrival year). As self importers they were entitled to settle land which was awarded in two grants, one the Beverly Grant and the other the Borden Grant (which we will explore in depth in a future blog). Patrick settled with his wife Frances and children Joan, William, Margaret, Catherine, and Ruth. John’s wife was Rebecca with children Charles, Andrew, Barbara, Joan, and Robert.

Patrick’s (PA) brothers Hugh and William travelled to Virginia in the 1750s and his sons William (1737) married (1767 ) Jean Taylor and Samuel (1741) married unknown and removed to Virginia also. It is possible they continued down the road into North Carolina also given the Indian hostilities occurring at the time. The French and Indian War, 1754-1763 caused much movement between Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina which ended with the treaty of Paris with England controlling the Ohio Country. In 1763 a Royal Proclamation was issued preventing settlement past the Appalachian Mountains to try to prevent conflict with the Indians.

Thus, due to a hostile frontier, and until the end of the Revolutionary War 1775-1873, settlement was restricted and movement amongst the Hays ancestors of Patrick and John Hays occurred mostly in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina with many moving back and forth as hostilities moved about. Excursions into Kentucky began with Daniel Boone and his son in law Capt. William B. Hays cutting the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and the Wautauga Settlement on leased land from the Cherokee in East Tennessee but widespread settlement wasn’t to occur until the end of the war. Virginia (who controlled Kentucky) ceded their wilderness land to the Federal Government in 1783 and North Carolina (which controlled Tennessee) started land grants and then ceded their wilderness lands to the Federal Government in 1790. Many of our Hays ancestors continued their pioneering with land grants in TN and KY.

“Cousin” News

I received an email from K.H., wife of C.H. She advised her husbands line traced back to Joseph Hays b. 1782 in New Jersey. C.H.’s R-BY96883 closely aligned with other Hays’ in Augusta County, VA. Her question was that his DNA doesn’t seem close to mine and was wondering if we are of the same family at all?

As she provided his Y deviations I compared them with mine and the first match was R-L151. My original search revealed that R-L151 occurred years ago and shows it originating in the Corded Ware Society of Western Europe 3000-3500 BC. Subsequently I found this site, https://indo-european.eu/2021/08/r1b-rich-earliest-corded-ware-a-yamnaya-related-vector-of-indo-european-languages/ with links to the original study it is reporting on, states that R-L151 is the most common Y-lineage among early Corded Ware males. It originated west of Bohemia near the Rhine River. For anyone looking to do a deep dive into their DNA I suggest this site, https://indo-european.eu.

“Greetings Cousin, a way back one,” is how I started my reply. It was a short 4 paragraph response outlining that we shared a common grandfather, a founder of our patrilineal line, about 3000 years ago (an error as it was 3000 BC) explaining the far split in the DNA. Testing at the Big-Y level on Family Tree DNA shows 11 deviations for me based on SNP’s tested. Using an estimate life span of 50 years there are 60 generations in 3000 years. Y-DNA Haplogroups are explained here, https://www.geni.com/projects/Y-DNA-haplogroups/3717#haplogroups.

The Corded Ware society was well established across Bohemia and the East European Forest Steppe area. The Corded Ware Era was, as was the following eras after it, a very violent time. DNA indicates migrations resulted in Y-DNA dispersal into local populations and it is believed that genocide of males in a conquered tribe allowed the Y-DNA of the conquerors to spread. This continued into the middle ages. It has been proposed that the R-U152 appeared in the Hallstatt Culture in the early Iron Age around 800 BC near the Italian Alps.

K.H was unsure if Joseph Hays from New Jersey was a Presbyterian but he moved with his parents to Washington County, PA in 1792. The only evidence to link C.H. and myself is a common spelling of our last name, a 5000 year old DNA match, and the century and location of migration to the America. It is the name and locations which provide the best indications. Joseph H. was born in NJ one year before the Revolutionary War ended. It is quite possible they relocated to N.J. due to the war, either to escape warfare on the settlement fronts or because Joseph’s father was fighting on the side of the Revolutionaries and brought his wife along for safety so as to not leave her alone (common practice).

Settlement in Washington County, PA would have been dangerous as that was the front line of settlements with the Indians at the time. Western PA was ceded to the U.S. (as part of the Northwest Territory) by the British but the Iroquois Federation didn’t ceed the land until 1784. In 1790 and 1791 the new US Government tried to take control of the NW Territory but lost 2 battles with the Miami, Wabash, and Shawnee Tribes who were not party of the treaty with the Iroquois and Americans. It wasn’t until The 1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers that the Miami, etc. were forced to accept.

So Joseph’s parents may have settled on “the Irish Tract” in Roanoke with other Hays Presbyterians, or PA, and it was common for people to move back and forth between the state of PA, VA, and eastern TN based upon circumstances, If a Presbyterian Hays would have been able to read and write and generally the spelling of the name was not mixed, unless entered wrong by a clerk spelling phonetically and adding an “e” to it, Hays would be the surname of a working class Presbyterian Scot affiliated with a Lowland Clan Hay, possibly a cadet House. Now whether they came from Ulster or direct from Scotland is anybodies guess. But given the Northern Ireland had virtually whole congregations (and related Hays’) moving to the Americas on the same ship I think we have reasonable cause to believe that Joseph Hays’ parents came over from Northern Ireland.

I am honestly amazed that a very distant relative of 5000 years ago, in 3000 B.C the DNA splits, and he pops up with the same surname and experience in arriving in America. That means 2 brothers in the Corded Ware Era and then their children, and their children, and on, and on, for 60 to 100 generations travelled west in Europe on a similar path. My R-U152 (which C.H. doesn’t have) is suspected to have split at the Italian Alps with the Hallstatt Culture. As our DNA had split before it is unknown if C.H. travelled the same route (I’ll leave that for them to research, DNA information is coming online in droves these days). But the known facts are both our lines travelled from present day Poland, across the Alps, through Germany and France and over to Scotland where we both ended up affiliated with the same Clan Hay in lowland Scotland, and migrated to America in the 1700s as “Hays” settling in the same areas of the colonies.

Their line went from NJ and PA (DNA relatives in Roanoke) to Ohio (1802), Indiana, Missouri, then Oklahoma. My line went through PA, VA, TN (late 1700s), OK (late 1800s), TX, back to OK then Depression Era Grapes of Wrath to CA. And every Hays line that I have looked at arrived in America and went to the frontier (as it was known at that time), pioneer American’s. I’m glad now that I secured the AmericanMan.org web address, because every American Hays (so far as I have seen) with a DNA link, no matter how distant, is an American Man. I hope more people can put the story of their American Hays line down for future generations.

On the question, could me and C.H. be of the same family? Paternal surnames weren’t used until the 1400s and generally until the 1700s but certainly when queried what Clan ye be? we answered, “I’m with the Hay’s, the Hays spelling seeming (anecdotally) to me to be what is used by lowland working class Scots of the Clan Hay, the “Hays” surname they leaned to write in the 1500s and carried to Ulster and then America. Genealogy research says a common ancestor has to have both a surname link and a DNA link and we have that, albeit a long ago DNA link, but a link none the less. So I say, Greetings Cousins, a way back one, but cousins none the less.

Cousins updates (2) and an unrelated to (Patrick Hays-PA but with Hays ancestors) contact

1. Hey Bro, we’re cousins.

A close family friend (so close we call each other Brother) contacted me with the news that we are cousins (by marriage). It turns out his wife was doing genealogical research and was reviewing 5th to 8th cousins on Ancestry.com when she came across my photo (Ancestry offers autosomal DNA and matches members with their possible cousins). We shared a 4th Great Grandfather on my fathers maternal line, Joseph Price 1769-1834. I’m sure I’ll be introduced as “BroCus” at any gatherings as an opening to discussing genealogy research in the family. It’s a small world after all.

This got me to thinking about how American was I? So I went back to my own family tree using the maternal name that married into my Hays line following their paternal lines. Peoples trees on Ancestry trace my Grandmothers Price line back to Daniel Price born 1725 in Henrico, VA. Price is a welsh name and is the 91st most common name (out of 100) in the US (2020). Great Grandmother Mary Ellen Wilcox married Alexander Hays in TX and her line traces back to George Wilcox born 1718 in VA. Wilcox is Scottish or English in origin, from medieval English. By the time America was settled most surnames had been Anglicised (even Irish and Scottish Gaelic names).

My 2nd Great Grandmother Harriet Atwood Walker married William A. Hays in Greene, TN and her line traces back to Thomas Walker born 1650 in Westmoreland, VA. Walker, like Wilcox is the Anglicised form from Scotland or England. 3rd Great Grandmother Sarah W. Rodgers (b. 1808) married George Hays in Greene, TN and her line goes back to one generation to Robert Rodgers with no information available. Rodgers is also Anglicised English or Scottish, this spelling variation more common in Scotland. 4th Great Grandmother Abigail Cravens married William Hays in either Rockbridge, VA or Greene, TN. It traces back to Robert Cravens born 1733 in Lewes, Sussex Co., DE. Cravens is of English origin. From William A. Hays back my Hays line were Presbyterian and appear to be active in church so it is safe to assume the spouses were also Presbyterian and most likely their families Presbyterian migrants from Ulster, Scotland, or England settling in proximity to my hays line (eventually).

You can follow our diaspora of Hays pioneers as Ancestry has an interactive map based on the census which shows in 1840 NY, PA, OH, and TN led the country with between 114-226 Hays family names with OH 1st which had 226 Hays’ which was 14% of us in the US. The name shows in all the settled areas of the U.S. that time. By 1920 PA, OH, IN, IL, MO, KY, TN, GA, AL, MS, AR, OK, and TX all had between 301-600 Hays families but every state in the U.S. had Hays families in it. There were 600 Hays families in #1 KY, 7% of all the recorded Hays in the country. States around this cluster and CA, OR, and WA came in second 101-300, the midwest and New England coming in last at 1-100. The 2010 census has “Hays” name ranked at 1021 with 34,191 records (Smith, Johnson, Williams, Jones, and Brown are the top 5) and out of each 100,000 people we are 11.59% of the population. Hayes is in 127th place and Hay ranks 2005 and it is unknown how many of these are Ulster Scot Presbyterian with a changed spelling (See Hays spellings).

Fair use from Ancestry.com, Hays diaspora 1840 in the U.S.A.

It was my father who broke the line of Hays men marrying women with pre-Revolutionary War Colonial roots. But this was understandable as it was his generation which finalized the Hays’ generational moves west when he landed in CA with the other “Oakies” in the 1930’s. Like many other Hays’ he ran out of land to continue migrating west. (although service in the Pacific theatre in WWII, Korea [war and after], and Vietnam leave the possibility the DNA continued to migrate west?). Military service brought him back east to NY where he married my mother, a 3rd generation German immigrant to this state on her paternal line, 2nd on her maternal her mother arriving as a baby, settling in VT and upstate NY. Some of his children and grand children stayed in NY and as is the custom in America now some moved about the country following adventure, a spouse, or work.

Note on name as ancestry alone. The 2010 census shows about 70% of U.S.A. “Hayes” identifying as White – non hispanic, 85% of Hay, and 91% of Hays ruling out many as immigrants from Scotland to Ulster to America excepting acknowledged intermarriage. Also the spelling of Hays was historically phonetic, especially in those who could not write (pre-Presbyterian education in the peasant class in Great Britain prior to 1600 and in rural America west of the Mississippi – both my Grandfather and Great Grandfather for example) and so they made their mark and another spelled based upon how it sounded. proper genealogy research requires name matching (including similar spelling), DNA, religion, and other historical records matching. Don’t cheap out, do the research.

2. Chickasaw Nation

RS contacted me after finding the AmericanMan web site. His mother was a Hays and he traced her line back to Patrick Hays in PA and he’s actually been to the gravesite in Derry, PA (on my bucket list). He’s a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation (fathers side) and also a member of the Love County Historical Society and so I got a lot of information on Burneyville, Love, OK. which is where my Great Grandfather, Robert Alexander Hays migrated to with his wife Mary. Robert Alexander is buried in the Burneyville Cemetery. I have no information on why they migrated to Chickasaw Territory to farm. The 1900 census shows Township 7, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory with Mary as the head of household with 8 children, widowed the year prior. I addressed the question of Indian ancestry but will need to do site investigations to see why the couple, he from Green, TN and she from Equality, Miller, MO. and who were married in TX, settled in OK.

The 1910 census shows Mary as head of household with my Grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Hays 18, and 3 younger sisters in Hickory, Love, OK. By 1920 my Grandfather was listed as head of household, married with a one year old child and Mary and his sister, Lula R. 24 residing in Justice Precinct 5 Cooke, TX. Thomas J. had children born in order; Illinois Bend, Montague, TX; Plainview , Hale, TX, Illinois Bend, Montague, TX; Plainview, Hale, TX; and Cyril, OK, the last being my father who was a baby when his father died. The 1930 census shows my fathers family in Olton, Lamb, TX and in 1940 he was in Plainview, TX again but some time in between he lived with his uncle Jess Price in Chandler, Commanche, OK.

RS advised that the Burneyville Cemetery is quite large but Burneyville itself is almost a ghost town. The Love County Historical Society is in the Pioneer Museum in Marietta, OK (Love County seat). It’s run by volunteers so hopefully it’s still open when the lockdowns are lifted as I would greatly like to visit it and do research. His parents met in TX so the connection of Hays to Burneyville was of interest to him. I’ll check and see if he has his Hays family tree and if he’ll share it and approves its posting on this site.

Calgary, Canada

MT in Calgary, Canada contacted me after reviewing AmericanMan.org. He’s an R1a (our Hays are R1B) but he has many Hays in his lineage and was wondering if I came across any R1a Hays’ in my searches for the name which I haven’t. R1 split into R1a and R1b around the last ice age. My Hays line is R1b1a2 with the R-M269 marker which is the most common marker from Europe and dominated in the Yamnaya Culture 3500 BCE. It also includes R-M343 which migrated from Kazakstan across Unkraine, Romania, the Italian Alps and into France. The R1 (R-M420) migrated from Kazakstan into Russia and then Belarus. The Hay and Hayes DNA Projects reveals not only R1’s with a Hay derived name but many others, although the bulk of Hays’, over 75% of the 275 in the Hay project, appear to be R1b and most of them with the R-M269 marker.

Note: We concurred that the education of people in North America is greatly lacking. Not only are American’s taught virtually NOTHING about Canadian History and Canadians taught virtually NOTHING about U.S History, neither country properly teaches their own history which we discovered in our genealogy research. I’ll add to this the history of Mexico and the U.S. I suggest everyone get on internetrchive.com and download history books, now public domain and many digitalized or available for a digitalized free borrow from a library from written in the time you are researching or shortly thereafter. And remember to send them a tax deductible donation as they are in INVALUABLE resource to truth and history.

Hays Ancestors: Mans east and west diaspora and the Hays migration to Scotland.

Although he didn’t know it, DNA Adam in Africa 60,000 years ago was a Hays. He’s actually related to the vast majority of the people alive today so he has a pretty long list of surnames. They were stone age hunter-gatherers when 60,000 years ago a DNA Adam son, a Hays male ancestor, started to migrate north out of Africa. 50,000 years ago the Hays cousins, the C Haplogroup, went west out of Africa over the tip of India and up the Asian coast to North America, the first settlers to that continent. When the Hays sons reached Asia 35,000 years ago, around present day Uzbekistan, cousins in Haplogroup Q went west northwest while the Hays, in the R Haplogroup, continued north. Both The Hays R Haplogroup and cousins Q Haplogroup were still hunter-gatherer societies, dependent on climate and the movement of large game animals, about 11,000 years ago when Q went into North America at present day Alaska .

The Hays R Haplogroup first split into R1 and R2 (some estimate about 25,000 years ago) and then the R1 split into R1a and R1b (some estimate about 18,500 years ago), with R1b being my (and many others) Hays line. The R1b Hays continued to migrate west into Europe. The climate at the time was much cooler than now due to the last Ice Age with glaciers that grew and receded back and forth from 110,000 to 12,500 years ago. In Scotland 24,000 years ago the ice was over a mile thick and Britain was connected to mainland Europe due to reduced sea levels from the glacier and migrations of people by foot in and out and in could occur. Reduced sea levels due to glaciation opened up the Bering Land Bridge, Beringia, between present day Siberia and Alaska and about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago people began to migrate in and out of North America.

Glaciers and climate continued to impact movement of people. The Q Haplogroup crossed into North America and continued to migrate south and east settling North and South America. The Hays R1b Haplogroup continued further west into Europe. As warming occurred 12,000 years ago the glaciers began to melt and recede and ocean levels began to rise. By 6000 years ago the British Isles were separate from mainland Europe by the English Channel and Beringia was under water.

The flooding of Beringia separated North America from Asia and migrations into North America stopped, but the Q Haplogroup continued their migration south and east across 2 continents. 90% of American Indians carry the Q Haplogroup. As evidence of the America’s being separated from Asia and Europe, canines were domesticated from grey wolves by the hunter-gatherers some 14,000 years ago. Travelers over Beringia brought dogs to North America and DNA studies have shown they were related to dogs in Siberia, but were distinct from European dog lines. Among other herd animals, ancient horses originally from North America died out in North America but they continued in Asia. North and South American civilizations remained isolated from the civilizations of Eurasia and did not benefit from any advances in Eurasia culture and developed on their own.

About 9000 years ago farming was developed in the fertile crescent in Mesopotamia (present day middle east). Cereal crops (wheat and barley), lentils, peas and chickpeas were cultivated for food and flax was grown for oil. Goats and sheep were domesticated as were chickens and pigs in China and cattle in the Near East. Farming and pastoralism created a more sedentary lifestyle but successive generations would require more land in temperate zones to farm and graze on. Stone age tools were improved on and pottery making developed to store grains and seeds.

Farming increased birth rates as children were weaned earlier onto a grain diet (mush). Villages and town centers (tribes and clans) would develop for social gathering, government, and religious activities and as a gathering point for common defense against raiding. Increased populations increased the need for more land to farm and thus encouraged migration. Genetic diversity within a village would be maintained by marriages between two villages. This would build alliances and help prevent tribal and regional conflict. Farming would migrate west into Europe, just as the R1b Haplogroup and the Hays did.

About 6000 years ago (4000 BCE) horses were domesticated on the Western Asian Steppes. Mankind emerged from the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age about 3000 BCE. Wheeled vehicles, including war chariots, and metal weapons and tools were developed (the Yamnaya Culture). Advances in the tools of war and the tools of agriculture occurred as societies moved from the Bronze Age into the Iron Age. These “Metal Age Invaders” moved into Europe and mixed with the European Farming Cultures. Haplogroup R1b and subclade M269 were common in all of western Europe with 110 million men carrying the M269 marker today.

Allistair Moffat in “The Scots: A Genetic Journey” explains that the migration of the M269 subclade corresponds to the advancement of farming. Seeds of founder crops, domesticated animals in tow, and farming knowledge being necessary for the advancement of farming, he believes that the advance of farming was concurrent with the migration of men and not only the migration of knowledge by itself. He believes that the explosion of the M269 marker which coincides with the development of farming across Europe was by those who moved and took a local as a wife. The larger farm families and the need for new lands for sons to farm would seem to support this theory.

About 800 BCE the Hays and the R1b Haplogroup, M269 subclade would be in the Italian Alps (part of the Halstatt Culture 800-450 BCE) with migration continuing into central and western Europe (the La Tene Culture 450-1 BCE). The Iron Age started about 1200 BCE and in Europe about 700 BCE. Iron improved farm implements greatly. The development of steel from iron as we approached the Common Era (CE) greatly improved war implements, both weapons and defensive armor and shields.

Halstatt Culture and La Tene Culture – Source Wikipedia.org used under fair use doctrine.

The Halstatt Culture were Celtic, speaking a Proto-Celtic language, and they had no written records. They had a societal hierarchy of slaves, soldiers, farmers, and craftsmen under a Chieftain who ruled from fortifications on top of a mound. There was a hierarchy of Chiefs and Kings above them. Horses, wagons and chariots were used in war with soldiers armed with sword, spear, and wearing body armor. Iron ploughs improved agricultural production and the tribes traded goods as far away as Greece and China. The Halstatt Culture evolved into the La Tene Culture.

The Hays line continued their migration west into Normandy and from there came into Scotland with the Norman Conquest. The M269 subclade occurs in 70% of Scottish Men, including the Hays. For 800 years the Hays stayed in the Scottish Lowlands. Persecution for their Presbyterian Religion and their Scottish Ancestry fostered one final move westward in the 1600’s into Northern Ireland for about 2 generations. Here they would again suffer persecution and want of necessities and so they looked to again migrate west over the Atlantic Ocean, a risky adventure, but one which might provide liberty of conscious and opportunity for them and their children.

Little did they know that the travel west to America would put them face to face with the Haplogroup Q cousins that decided east over west 35,000 years ago. And that the landing on the East coast of North America was only the beginning of another migration west, this one across America, pioneers, farmers, and soldiers, on a 200 year journey which won’t end until the Pacific Ocean is reached.

Ancient Origins from DNA

Being born in America we tend to think of ourselves as immigrants and wonder where did we come from usually following our surname back to the country which preceded our arrival in America. In my case the name “Hays” (and my research around it) reveals that my ancestors came to America from the Plantations of Northern Ireland having settled there, most likely, from the Scottish Lowlands. And while we think of Scotland as a country of similar individuals, history and DNA research reveals that many different peoples migrated to and settled in Scotland before it was Scotland as we know it today.

I highly recommend the book “The Scots: A Genetic Journey” by Alistair Moffat. He tells of the ancient history of Scotland including prehistoric and early historic times in an easy to read format which includes the most recent DNA findings regarding the migrations of people. He notes, “Every Scot is an immigrant. Until 9000 BC Scotland was empty of people and animals.” He then weaves together the story of Scotland, its people, languages, customs and culture, and how it all came together to form Scotland and the Scottish People.

Both ancestry.com and FamilyTreeDNA.com give me a geographic history of my atDNA with Family Tree even breaking my DNA down into my ancient European origins. A comparison of the geographic estimates reveals interesting results. Ancestry has me 46% England & Wales, 27% Germanic Europe, 22% Sweden, 3% Ireland-Scotland, and 2% Norway. Family Tree has me 59% British Isles, 27% Scandinavia, 8% East Europe, 4% Iberian Peninsula, and 2% Norway. The estimates are arrived by comparing my DNA to a reference sample (Ancestry advises their reference currently at 40,000 samples) so even though my DNA stays the same as more references samples are added regions are bound to be broken down into sub regions in the future providing more accurate information for the individual.

My ancient European origins estimate on Family Tree is based on DNA comparisons to those who migrated into what we know today as Europe. Family Tree DNA shows me 43% from Hunter-Gatherers, 42% from Farmers, 15% from Metal Age Invaders, and 0% non-European. Hunter-Gatherers migrated into Europe about 45,000 years ago following large herd animals as glaciers increased and decreased . Farmers migrated into Europe about 8000 years ago during the Neolithic (new stone age) Era cultivating in temperate areas. The farmers differed from the Hunter-Gatherers as they had a salivary gene which may have helped them break down starches more efficiently. The Metal Age Invaders arrived in the Bronze Age (3000-1000 BCE) and used copper, bronze, and tin tools and arrived as nomadic herders using horses and wheeled vehicles. The Metal Age Invaders originated in the Eurasian Steppes north of the Black Sea and are closely related to the Yamnaya Culture. They brought with them a tolerance for lactose and the Y-chromosome haplogroup R1B with the M269 subclass which mixed with the local population and is now dominate in Western Europe today.

The Y-DNA follows the paternal line back through time and the mtDNA follows the maternal line back in time. Family Tree shows a migration map so my mtDNA haplogroup of H1C1 is a sub group of the H migration which after the last ice age the “H” maternal line spread across Europe and 10,000 years ago migrated into Western Europe accounting for about 30% of the population. My R-BY3510 haplogroup is a subgroup of R-U152, a sub of R-M269 and a sub of R-M343 under the R1b haplogroup. That migration map shows that 30,000 years ago the R1 group in the Eurasian Steppes split with R1a landing in Eastern Europe 10,000 years ago and R1b journeyed into Western Europe is successive waves.

Most mtDNA traces back to “Mitochondrial Eve” in East Africa 120,000 years ago and most yDNA traces back to a “yDNA Adam” in East Africa 60,000 years ago. The H maternal line migrated from Africa north to the area of the Black Sea and then west into Europe 10,000 years ago. The The R paternal line migrated north across the Middle East into Eurasia on the east side of the Caspian Sea turning west traveling north of the Black Sea into Europe 10,000 years ago. At what point from there did my ancestors first enter Scotland? I go to “The Scots” to fill in the story of how it was settled and can only guess at my ancestors particular circumstance.

America when my ancestors arrived in the 1730’s

Given the DNA I can pick a point in time and call myself by a tribal name of the various Celtic, Germanic, and other tribes which made up my ancestors DNA in Scotland. My Hays ancestors entered America in the 1730’s arriving most likely in Philadelphia with the other Scotsmen of Northern Ireland as they called themselves in a mass exodus with entire families and communities traveling together settling in Pennsylvania and Virginia and now almost 300 years in America, the continuation of our westward migration which started in Western Europe 10,000 years ago into Scotland and then Northern Ireland. It is unknown how many generations were spent in Northern Ireland but it is sure that they were not Irishmen as they considered themselves Scots with little, if any, intermarriage outside their Presbyterian Scot community. And so given that I’ll call myself a “Scottish American” with an “Ulsterman” footnote.

The value of y-DNA to Hays genealogy

My preferred (non compensated endorsement) y-DNA testing company link https://www.familytreedna.com Cover photo Enoch Hays musket circa 1820 courtesy of Rachael McAllister

I was recently contacted by Rachael offering information on a Hays line:

I have a Hays family record that was given to my grandmother and then to me. It was put together in 1978.
I have many Hays family photo’s from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. If interested I have all the records and photo’s on my google drive. I can add you as a viewer and you can download everything I have for your records.
Thanks, Rachael McAllister

She provided the following links to the Nicholas Hays story and also Ancestor photo’s of N.H. (I believe you’ll need to contact her to gain access to them). I see by the story that Nicholas came to America from Ireland in 1746, arriving in Philadelphia and settling in VA before migrating to Greene, TN as the young nation grew. This similar to the migration of my, and many others, Hays line.

The back story of Nicholas Hays written in 1988 (without reference) states that they came from Tipperary (southern), Ireland with discussion of the lineage there (I refer you to the story for specifics). My line, as shown by my DNA goes back to Northern Ireland, most likely coming there from the lowlands of Scotland. Thus we may have two distinct unrelated lineages with a very similar diaspora and same surname on arriving in America.

The “Hay, Hays, Hayes” name has 3 main origins. One is English which is a place name (for example, an area in Kent). The second is Irish, an Anglicised name for “O hAodha” which was “Hayes” in Cork County (and “Hughes” in Ulster). The third from the Norman delaHaye and the formation of the Scot Clan Hay. Thus an an Ulster-Scot Hayes, Irish Hayes, and English Hayes most likely have distinct y-DNA lineages. This confusion of the source of “Hays” is added to by different spellings of Hays, in addition to inaccurate research, incorrect retelling of family history through the generations, and incorrect conclusions not based upon evidence.

While recent records help us follow our lineage and surname, historical records often leave large gaps in our knowledge and leave us guessing on connections with little evidence to go on. This especially as we go back in time and records become fewer with reduced accuracy in the records. Our connections to the mother country are often based upon scant evidence or hear-say passed down the generations. Here is where y-DNA helps.

By itself y-DNA will show a probability of a common ancestor in generations removed but if you add a common surname the odds of a common ancestor goes up. At 67 markers tested and a genetic distance of 3; the odds a non “Hays”surname is related is 24% for common ancestor 4 generations back and 84% at 10 generations but a “Hays” surname increases the odds to 46% related at 4 generations back and 10 generation back it is 93%.

So if the Y-DNA is tested and there are few matching markers the persons are most likely not related and the lineage is different even if it is the same surname (understanding if we go back 20, 30, 40 or 50 generations EVENTUALLY we will find a common ancestor as all y-DNA originated from one person “y-DNA Adam” in Africa). If a person is a close match but the surname is different the common ancestor in most likely further back in time.

For perspective it was 8 generations ago when my ancestors came to America (about 1720). I believe I have a good track and evidence back 6 generations but the DNA helped me connect with the most likely source of my line, John or Patrick Hays (assumed to be brothers) who arrived from Ulster. This helped greatly in building my story of my Hays line, even if I can not find evidence to connect the line (I have a one generation missing link at 7) .

10,000 years ago my DNA line crossed the Italian Alps eventually making its way to Scotland where it stayed for about 800 years. From there it came to America where we have now stayed for 300 years. The group it is in is one of the largest and most common. If a male relative of Rachael’s got the y-DNA test she would then be able to confirm her lineage and connection to the Irish Hays as it would be distinct from the Ulster Hays. As more Hays get their y-DNA tested and compared we’ll be better able to sort out the lineages and from whence we came.