Over the past decade, the popularity of DNA testing among curious genealogy enthusiasts has exploded. The most popular test, sometimes called "family finder," reliably identifies matches as distant as fourth or fifth cousins along any of our ancestral branches. From there, it's not so difficult to determine the common ancestor as far back as say a great-great-great grandparent. This test also offers an estimate of our origins, which in our case confirms the strong ties back to England.
But what if we have already identified those "family finder" ancestors and want to explore even further back in time? The Bramel paternal line is certain as far back as my sixth great grandparents; they are William and Margaret Bramhall (various spellings), who settled in Charles County, Maryland in the mid to late 1700's. Their descendants settled in Kentucky and then spread out across North America. But any connection researchers have made between this William Bramhall and his forefathers remains purely speculative at this time.
I decided to invest in a different type of DNA test this time in an effort to expand the research. The Y chromosome is passed down from father to son through the generations, almost unchanged. Girls get two X's and boys get an X and a Y. So by submitting a Y-DNA sample, I was hoping that distant relatives in England with a similar last name had also participated in the same test. The service I selected is Family Tree DNA, and I used my father's sample, even though I'm pretty certain he and I would have the same results. I selected a test of 37 different markers, which is more expensive but also more precise than the 12-marker and 25-marker options. It also provides the opportunity to upgrade in the future to the 67-marker or even the 111-marker comparisons for a greater degree of confidence. But for now, 37 markers is plenty.
The initial results have been very satisfying. At the 37-marker comparison, we match up with 51 other participants in the study, and more are sure to be added as more participants join in. They all match within what is described as a "genetic distance of four," which at the 37-marker level is as far off as a match can be and still be considered a match. Normal mutations occur randomly every few generations, which means the score of a marker passed from a father to a son can change by a point here or there. If two of the markers are off by one point, then that would be a genetic distance of two. Generally speaking, the smaller the genetic distance between two matches, the fewer generations there are between the two matches and their common ancestor.
Before the Bramels relocated from Maryland to Kentucky a couple hundred years ago, our surname was spelled "Bramhall" along with many other variations in official records. People in colonial and pioneer times weren't so interested in minor details like spelling. Within our list of DNA matches at 37 markers, there is only one with the Bramhall spelling. There is also a Bromwell and a Bromell. The most popular spelling within our matches is "Bramhill," with four occurrences. If we compare at the 12-marker level, there are more variations, including one Broomall and three Brimhalls.
One of the great features offered by Family Tree DNA is the ability for matching participants to contact each other. Within a few days of our results posting, I received a message from William Bramhill of Colchester, a town in the county of Essex in southeast England. Will has done extensive research back to his most distant known ancestor born about 1790, a gentleman by the name of Thomas Bramhill. Will seems to be the primary keeper of research for a branch they call the Liverpool Bramhills. Since we have a genetic distance of four with Will, chances are that our common ancestor is still quite a few generations prior to that era.
Then a message arrived from Peter Bramhill, a much closer match with a genetic distance of just one. Peter descends from a different grouping known as the Epworth Bramhills. Will writes, "you look to have a more recent link with the Epworth Bramhills, which would put your ancestors over towards Nottinghamshire (Ollerton) and Lincolnshire (Epworth / Isle of Axholme). It is very likely that they all came from Bramhall Hall and Cheshire originally but the family was already well spread out by the 1650s."
It's important to note that England is a pretty small place with an area roughly the size of Alabama. If you add in the rest of the United Kingdom (Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), then it's still only the size of Michigan. So a migration from Bramhall Hall to Epworth is about like traveling from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery.
Will adds that, "The Epworths have traced their family back to the 1700s and a ferryman on the river Humber in the east of England." With this new information, the odds are much better that we'll one day know the identity the first Bramel in America.
Not surprisingly, there are dozens of other names on our list of matches. People did not use surnames before Medieval times. Once they came into fashion, generally between about the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, people tended to take the name of their occupation or of the place where they lived.
The first instance of our surname traces back to before 1086 and to a manor in East Cheshire known as Bromale. An early proprietor of the manor became known as Matthew de Bromale. The property was passed down through several generations of his descendants while other Bromale relatives spread across Cheshire and much of England. Eventually, there was a generation without a male heir at the manor; Alice de Bromale, daughter of Geoffrey de Bromale, married John de Davenport in 1350. They inherited Bramall Hall and it remained in the Davenport family for over 500 years. While it has been rebuilt and renovated over time, the Tudor style Bramall Hall still stands today as a historic landmark and museum near the city of Stockport south of Manchester.
Here's a link to my research about the Bramall's who arrived in North America around 1650: Bramall Plantation of Calvert County, Maryland
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| Vernon Bramel ethnicity estimate |
Why Ask "Y"?
I decided to invest in a different type of DNA test this time in an effort to expand the research. The Y chromosome is passed down from father to son through the generations, almost unchanged. Girls get two X's and boys get an X and a Y. So by submitting a Y-DNA sample, I was hoping that distant relatives in England with a similar last name had also participated in the same test. The service I selected is Family Tree DNA, and I used my father's sample, even though I'm pretty certain he and I would have the same results. I selected a test of 37 different markers, which is more expensive but also more precise than the 12-marker and 25-marker options. It also provides the opportunity to upgrade in the future to the 67-marker or even the 111-marker comparisons for a greater degree of confidence. But for now, 37 markers is plenty.
The initial results have been very satisfying. At the 37-marker comparison, we match up with 51 other participants in the study, and more are sure to be added as more participants join in. They all match within what is described as a "genetic distance of four," which at the 37-marker level is as far off as a match can be and still be considered a match. Normal mutations occur randomly every few generations, which means the score of a marker passed from a father to a son can change by a point here or there. If two of the markers are off by one point, then that would be a genetic distance of two. Generally speaking, the smaller the genetic distance between two matches, the fewer generations there are between the two matches and their common ancestor.
Liverpool Bramhills and Epworth Bramhills
Before the Bramels relocated from Maryland to Kentucky a couple hundred years ago, our surname was spelled "Bramhall" along with many other variations in official records. People in colonial and pioneer times weren't so interested in minor details like spelling. Within our list of DNA matches at 37 markers, there is only one with the Bramhall spelling. There is also a Bromwell and a Bromell. The most popular spelling within our matches is "Bramhill," with four occurrences. If we compare at the 12-marker level, there are more variations, including one Broomall and three Brimhalls.
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| We all share a common ancestor! |
One of the great features offered by Family Tree DNA is the ability for matching participants to contact each other. Within a few days of our results posting, I received a message from William Bramhill of Colchester, a town in the county of Essex in southeast England. Will has done extensive research back to his most distant known ancestor born about 1790, a gentleman by the name of Thomas Bramhill. Will seems to be the primary keeper of research for a branch they call the Liverpool Bramhills. Since we have a genetic distance of four with Will, chances are that our common ancestor is still quite a few generations prior to that era.
Then a message arrived from Peter Bramhill, a much closer match with a genetic distance of just one. Peter descends from a different grouping known as the Epworth Bramhills. Will writes, "you look to have a more recent link with the Epworth Bramhills, which would put your ancestors over towards Nottinghamshire (Ollerton) and Lincolnshire (Epworth / Isle of Axholme). It is very likely that they all came from Bramhall Hall and Cheshire originally but the family was already well spread out by the 1650s."
It's important to note that England is a pretty small place with an area roughly the size of Alabama. If you add in the rest of the United Kingdom (Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), then it's still only the size of Michigan. So a migration from Bramhall Hall to Epworth is about like traveling from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery.
Will adds that, "The Epworths have traced their family back to the 1700s and a ferryman on the river Humber in the east of England." With this new information, the odds are much better that we'll one day know the identity the first Bramel in America.
Bromwell of Dorchester County, Maryland
The Bromwell match on our list traces to an ancestor named Levin Lake Bromwell, born 1805 in the northern Dorchester County, Maryland community of Tobacco Stick. This is Maryland's Eastern Shore, along the Chesapeake Bay, and it is of particular interest to me since my ancestors from the Bramhall line had settled just across the bay in Charles County, Maryland, near the town of Benedict on the Patuxent River. I was able to trace the Bromwell line further back to Jacob Bromwell, born about 1700, in Talbot County, the next county north of Dorchester. In the southern end of Dorchester County, many generations of a Bramble family have roots, but to date, I have not been able to make a paper or DNA connection to this family.
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| Tobacco Stick, Maryland, on the Little Choptank River |
According to Family Tree DNA's analytics, there is a 91.3% chance that the Bromwell match and I have a common ancestor within 12 generations. This makes sense considering the proximity of the two families in early Maryland. The earliest possible Maryland ancestor I have discovered is William Bramall/Brumile who arrived around 1650 and owned a plantation in Calvert County, between the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. There is now strong speculation that these Maryland Bromwell and Bramhall families may have descended from this William Bramall. I have included a link at the end of this article to my stories about the Bramall Plantation.
Way Back Before Surnames
Not surprisingly, there are dozens of other names on our list of matches. People did not use surnames before Medieval times. Once they came into fashion, generally between about the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, people tended to take the name of their occupation or of the place where they lived.
The first instance of our surname traces back to before 1086 and to a manor in East Cheshire known as Bromale. An early proprietor of the manor became known as Matthew de Bromale. The property was passed down through several generations of his descendants while other Bromale relatives spread across Cheshire and much of England. Eventually, there was a generation without a male heir at the manor; Alice de Bromale, daughter of Geoffrey de Bromale, married John de Davenport in 1350. They inherited Bramall Hall and it remained in the Davenport family for over 500 years. While it has been rebuilt and renovated over time, the Tudor style Bramall Hall still stands today as a historic landmark and museum near the city of Stockport south of Manchester.
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| Bramall Hall in the 1920s |
Some of those other family names on our match list can be traced back to locations in East Cheshire not far from Bramall Hall. Carrington (three matches plus one Carr), is also a place name just ten miles west of Bramall Hall. Similarly, there are five matches with the name Higginbotham (different spellings), and four matches named Royal (including Ryall and Riley). The Higginbotham line traces back to Otwell Higginbotham who died in nearby Stockport about 1560. We share a common ancestor with each of these matches, but from Medieval times, the days before surnames became established.
Links:
Some descendants of William and Margaret Bramhall left Maryland and settled in Kentucky: The Church That Bramel Built
Here's a link to my research about the Bramall's who arrived in North America around 1650: Bramall Plantation of Calvert County, Maryland
Anyone interested in participating in the Y-DNA project, check out: Bramhall Y-DNA Project
Here's a link to research topics surrounding Bramhill ancestry:
Here's a link to research topics surrounding Bramhill ancestry:
