A Similar-Sounding Surnames Sequel: Haplogroup R-FT70038

Abstract

Historical and Y-DNA analysis suggests that men with Branan and similar-sounding surnames of haplogroup R-BY140757 originated from the de Braham of Norman origin, who settled in Suffolk after the Norman conquest of England. Over the centuries, these de Braham took on important roles in English and Irish governance, military, and judiciaries. And in Ireland, the Norman surname took on, as was not uncommon, a Gaelic sound and written appearance, i.e., Branan and similar. Descendants of Irish colonial settlers in Virginia with Branan-sounding surnames (Branham, Brannan, Brannon, etc.), who belong to the sub-haplogroup R-BY140757>FT70038, have been identified as the progeny of two notable eighteenth-century colonial North American settlers – Caron Brannon and Kenyon Branan. This article identifies genealogical lines with known or hypothesized connections to Caron and Kenyon. Caron Brannon’s will indicates he had four sons, three of whom have direct male descendants documented and one documented to have died without children. Additionally, there are birth records for a fifth son, the eldest, who finds no mention in Caron’s will. Paper genealogy shows Kenyon Branan had one son with certainty, but three other lines are widely speculated to descend from him. This project identified and recruited descendants from Caron’s and Kenyon’s lines for DNA testing. Y-DNA results for descendants of two well-documented sons of Caron Brannon form sub-haplogroups, R-FTC4333 and R-FT101136. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that Caron Brannon is the patriarch of R-FT70038. However, a striking new sub-haplogroup to R-FT70038, dubbed R-Y10443, was discovered matching two of the three lines previously thought to descend from Kenyon. The eldest son of Caron is shown as a possible father to Kenyon or as the patriarch of R-Y10443, but he cannot be both. This new insight suggests strongly that the patriarch of R-FT70038 was one to three generations prior to Caron Brannon and that Kenyon Branan plays a minor role in the lineages of the haplogroup. The number of potential R-FT70038 haplotree options is now clearly defined. A combined analytical assessment of Y-SNP, Y-STR, and autosomal results reinforces the well-documented genealogies, debunks the speculative ones, and reveals new connections and chronologies that no single previous approach provided. Statistical modeling of the combined DNA data prefers the Haplotree with R-Y10433 descending directly from the patriarch and Kenyon Branan descending directly from Caron Brannon through his eldest son John.