[Quarterman Family History Project]
Quarterman
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DNA Project

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Quarterman Family History Project

Quarterman DNA Project

Liberty County Quartermans

  1. Do we share markers with Chalgrove Quartermans or Quatremaines?
    (The answer is yes.)
  2. If so, about when did our ancestor immigrate?
    (Probably farther back than the Camden County Quarterman ancestor James Quatermaine (1647-1727) of Oxfordshire, since none of his children match our known ancestors of that time period.)
  3. It would be good to make sure our immigrating ancestor did not change his name. This is something that was sometimes done at that time.
    (This now seems highly unlikely for our Quarterman families.)
See below for Results So Far and for new results.
As Clay Quarterman put it:
"I've been quite curious about our family's connections, especially regarding the origins of our common ancestor Robert Quarterman (d. 1710) in SC. Did he come from Oxford? or was he a Huguenot refugee? was he Scottish (Did I hear that someone called him "Robert the Scot")? It was recently suggested we consider DNA testing to establish some links. I think this would give us some clear directions for future geneaological reseach."

Results So Far

(See also new results.)

We have two results back from the Midway group, for John S. Quarterman and for Clayton Eric Quarterman,

who are in yDNA haplogroup I1b (that's capital I, digit 1, small letter b), described as:

"The I1b lineage likely has its roots in northern France. Today it is found most frequently within Viking / Scandinavian populations in Northwest Europe and extends at low frequencies into Central and Eastern Europe."
(This haplogroup used to be called I2c until a recent nomenclature change.)

There's been another nomenclature change. We're now I2b1 aka M223 aka I2a2a, a haplogroup I subclade that apparently mutated in Germany about 9,000 years ago.

Even before that, apparently I2 originated in what the Romans called Dacia, although long before there were Romans; we now know it as Romania, on the western shores of the Black Sea. Much more recently, the center of M223 was northern Germany, spreading to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and westwards along the sea in to France. In other words, Quartermans could still have in the distant past come from Norway or Normandy, although farther back likely from Germany near Denmark.

When did M223 cross the Channel to England? DNA speculation seems to be in two groups: one in the stone age, and another some time in the Anglo-Saxon age. Which of course doesn't preclude our group arriving with or shortly after William from Normandy. More research is needed to determine anything like that.

More specifically, we seem to be I-M223 subclade cont2a.

With more submissions, including from other Quarterman groups, we can find out more! Join now!

Midway Match
Meanwhile, jsq and Clay are an exact match for 12 markers, and at a genetic distance of 1 for 25 markers and for 37 markers. This is consistent with family history documentation: the two are third cousins, with common great-great-grandparents Edward William Quarterman and Adaline Way.
Camden County Match
Samuel Joseph "Joe Pete" Quarterman is also an exact match for 12 markers; see Camden County. Since the Camden County Quartermans trace their ancestry back into England, and the connection probably comes shortly before the earliest documented Quarterman ancestor of the Midway Quartermans (Robert Quarterman of S.C.), it is very likely that the Midway Quartermans originated in England.

The Camden County Quartermans specifically come from Garsington, Oxfordshire. So it seems likely the Midway Quartermans also come from Oxfordshire.

Garsington is a couple of miles from Oxford, and also from Chalgrove, where we searched for Midway ancestors, is about six miles closer to London. Probably we just didn't pick the right Oxfordshire village to explore; there are many other possibilities.

Oxfordshire Match
Philip John Quarterman, born Oxfordshire, resides Portland, Oregon, is an exact 12 marker yDNA match for jsq, Clay, and Joe Pete. Thus it is even more likely that the Midway group derived from Oxfordshire.

2008-09-17: Phil's 25 marker results have come in.
marker437449464a
jsq152711
Clay142611
Phil142612
  • Phil and Clay are 2 genetic markers different
  • Phil and jsq are 3 genetic markers different
  • (Clay and jsq are 1 marker different)

Interestingly, marker 449 is the only marker where Clay and jsq differ, yet Phil and Clay are the same.

"This may help resolve a question I've been discussing with Clay: which one of us is the mutant? Looks like I win; I am!" —jsq
More Midway Quarterman tests would help determine who's the mutant.
Gloucestershire Match
New! 2011-06-03: We have a match from a Quartermaine from Gloucestershire, England, who is three yDNA difference steps from Clay and four from me. The new match is also I2b1 M223 like the rest of us (Joe Pete of the Camden County Quartermans, Clay and me of the Liberty County group, and Phil of the Oxfordshire Quartermans). See also Gloucestershire in England.
Conclusions so far:
2012-11-18: It looks like the Midway Quartermans did indeed originate in Oxfordshire. This is from yDNA matches of at least three different patrilineal groups, same surname (or variations), two of which have documentation going back at least 300 years, two are known to have come from the Oxfordshire, and the third (the Midway group) always having suspected that. The Quartermaine match from Gloucestershire adds even more likelihood that the Midway Quartermans are descended from the Oxfordshire Quartermans. Are all three groups descended from the Chalgrove branch? That also seems quite likely, since the elder branch died out in the fourteenth century and the Chalgrove branch is the only one anyone knows to have survived with the Quartermaine surname.
Test Early, Test Often
With more cheek swabs, we can start to determine when the Midway group branched off, and from which Oxfordshire line. Quartermans from all over the world can help, England, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Argentina: Join now!
Last changed: $Date: 2013/03/03 11:21:18 $ [Quarterman Family History Project]