by Phillip G. Goff, GGFA Director of Genetic Genealogy
The Gough family of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England has a refined genetic banner. The previous descriptor of 1849 GOUGH (GB-STS) R-Y61318 has been updated to 1849 GOUGH (GB-STS) R-Y74432. The revised genetic narrative for this family, like all such narratives, is on the GGFA site under the following series of links:
> Archives & Research > DNA Surname Study > Current GGFA DNA Family Groups”
Here are the major changes:
- Pre-surname matches have taken Big Y 700 and split the very long list of YSNPs, resulting in the new terminal YSNP of R-Y74432. The first man with the R-Y74432 YSNP was born about 1250 AD, according to FTDNA’s Discovery report. This is 300 years more recent than the previous terminal YSNP of R-Y61318, which mutated around 950 AD. While both are in the pre-surname period, the new designation is within about 100 years of the adoption of hereditary surnames.
- The Gough Big Y 700 participant was and remains on somewhat of a genetic island. However, it is now clear that the closest match is just prior to the adoption of hereditary surnames. A Winward Y111 kit was known to match on 101 of 111 markers, but these markers are unstable, leaving uncertainty when the most recent common ancestor lived. Big Y 700 reveals that the Winard and Gough participants shared the R-Y74432 paternal ancestor, who was born around 1250 AD. The Winard participant traces his lineage to John Wynnarde, b. 1521, Standish, Lancashire. Standish is about 84 miles or 135 kilometers from Wolverhampton.
- A slightly more distant match, surname Arculus, traces to Thomas Arculus who died 1645 in Feckenham Parish, Worcester, England, about 26 miles or 43 km south of Wolverhampton.
Please periodically check the GGFA DNA Surname Study link for changes to your genetic Gough/Goff/McG* family.
Phillip Goff is the co-author, along with Roy L. Lockhart, of The Four Goff Brothers of Western Virginia. Since 2004, he has run the Goff/Gough Surname DNA Study, which today has about 500 participants.
For more information, please check our GGFA DNA Surname Study pages or email Phil at dna@goff-gough.com. Each new participant helps to fill in the history of the Goff/Gough families.
I am a descendant of the orphaned Harry Dorsey Gough (1766-1807) who was the British born nephew of Harry Dorsey Gough, Esq (1745-1808) of Perry Hall, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The elder Harry took in his orphaned nephew and raised him to adulthood. The elder Harry managed the inheritance of his namesake orphaned nephew, who was his British brother’s child. The child’s father was said to be John William Gough, but I’m not sure. I understand that Thomas Gough is the name of John William Gough and Harry Dorsey Gough, Esq. Is there some way I could find out the connection of the Gough family of Baltimore with the one in England?
Hi Linda, if there is a male Gough descendant of each lineage, YDNA can be effectively used to determine the branches of the family tree via the Big Y 700 test. I think I recall there are no male descendants of Harry Dorsey Gough of Perry Hall, Maryland, but I’m curious to know more. More challenging at this generational depth is autosomal DNA, such as the Family Finder test, or AncestryDNA. This is the go-to test when there’s not an unbroken male lineage. Have descendants of nephew or uncle taken an autosomal DNA test? If so and they took the test at different labs, this is easily remedied by uploading the results to http://www.gedmatch.com. The GGFA is here to provide the tools to sort out/prove Gough/Goff/McGough lineages. If you are already a GGFA member, thank you! If not, please consider joining today.