Alvy Riggs YDNA

YDNA

Edwardian Riggses of America

(A series in 5 volumes)

Author

Alvy Ray Smith

Volume 1 published by

Newbury Street Press

Boston

Dec 2006

Jacobus Award 2007. Available from Picton Press

The goal is to determine the different Riggs (or Rigg) family lines in the world, and particularly in the US, using DNA tests.. This is the broadened goal. Originally the goal was devoted to establishing the genealogical descent from Edward Riggs, immigrant to Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1633. For now, these tests are restricted to YDNA tests - that is, those based on the Y-chromosome DNA passed only by Riggs males. Later this might be extended to mtDNA tests - that is, those based on mitochondrial DNA, passed by Riggs females (possibly including a male at the end of the chain of descent). See also www.FamilyTreeDNA.com/public/RiggsYDNA.

N.B. This image is copyrighted, @2005 Alvy Ray Smith (as are all images on this page or on the alvyray.com website - see copyright info)

Edward¹ Riggs the Immigrant passes his Y chromosome, and hence his YDNA, to all male descendants in unbroken chains of male descent - follow the yellow (for Y chromosome). So all his male descendants with surname Riggs share his YDNA. Exceptions are male descendants who are not biological descendants - by adoption, say.

No female descendants receive Edward's YDNA. There are no yellow descendants of Mary² Riggs (or of Mary³ Riggs).* The superscript number is the row number, or equivalently, the generation number.

Edward the Immigrant's wife, Elizabeth, passes her mitochondria, and hence her mtDNA, to all her children - follow the magenta (for mitochondria). That's why there is a magenta dot on the box for Edward². Think of the magenta dot as a dead end, because only females can pass on mtDNA. So no descendants of Edward² have his mother Elizabeth's mtDNA. There are no magenta descendants of Edward² Riggs.*

Similarly, Mary² Riggs passes her mother Elizabeth's mtDNA to all her children. That's why Joseph Twitchell has the magenta dot, but none of his children will have that grandmother's (hence his mother's) mtDNA. There are no magenta (or yellow) descendants of Joseph³ Twitchell.* So mtDNA is passed in unbroken chains of female descent (with possibly one male tacked on the end of the chain). The exception is female or male descendants who are not biological - by adoption (adultery doesn't matter in this case). There is no surname clue to mtDNA descent as there is for YDNA.

YDNA tests of Edward the Immigrant, Edward, and Joseph would show them to have a match in their Y-chromosome DNA, but that match would not show which generation they were in. You would not be able to tell from a match who was father or brother to whom, only that they were indeed related malewise to a common male ancestor..

mtDNA tests of Elizabeth Holmes, Edward² Riggs, Mary Riggs, Joseph Twitchell, and Mary Twitchell would show them to have a mitochondrial match (their mtDNA would match), and hence that they were indeed related, but that match would not show which generation they were in.

* Blanket statements like this assume no marriages between cousins. Notice that if Joseph Riggs were to marry Mary Twitchell (he didn't), and they had a son and a daughter, then two of the statements above with asterisks would be false. The daughter would carry the magenta DNA, and the son would carry both the yellow and the magenta DNA.

There are several Riggs subfamilies that are strongly documented and which claim to descend from Edward the Immigrant. Unfortunately, the record is not clear that this descent is valid for others of these subfamilies. The purpose of the Riggs DNA Surname Study is to establish (or disestablish) the descent from Edward the Immigrant. Some cases in point:

1. I am descended from Bethuel Riggs. The large family descending from Bethuel Riggs is fairly well established (I am in the process of doing exactly that, for up to 10 generations from Bethuel). The family believes it is descended from Edward the Immigrant, but this is not established genealogically. There are at least two different descents from Edward to Bethuel that have been offered, but neither is convincing. There are records missing in crucial places in the proffered descents. I have followed the Riggs line as it moves from MA to CT then to NJ then to PA, OH, and KY. It is plausible that Bethuel descends from the NJ part of the migration, but it is not proved. I am hoping that DNA may give us a test for proving the descent. Indications from the YDNA tests so far are that, indeed, Bethuel is Edwardian.

2. Silas, James, Isaac, and John Riggs are reputed to be brothers of Bethuel's. The families of Silas, James, and John are strongly and extensively documented (my own work also figures here, in the company of that of others). They all claim to be descendants from Isaac Riggs of NJ who is thought to be a descendant of Edward the Immigrant. None of this is satisfactorily proved genealogically. Nor is it well-established that Bethuel is the brother of the other four. Perhaps DNA testing can be used to establish or disestablish these connections. The tests so far indicate strongly that, indeed, Silas and James are both Edwardian. This does not show that they are brothers but does not contradict it either.

(1) Bethuel, Silas, and James share a common ancestor. It is not known if this ancestor is a common father.

(2) Bethuel and Samuel³ share a common ancestor. He has to be Edward². Hence Edward¹ of Roxbury, the Immigrant, has also to be a common ancestor.

CAVEAT: It is possible that Bethuel descends instead from an ancestor of Edward¹ - that is, via another immigrant who has an ancestor in common with Edward¹. So the arguments here ASSUME that no other Riggs with the Edwardian Y chromosome immigrated to America and started lines here. In this case, of course, Bethuel would be still from the same family as Edward¹ but not a direct descendant of Edward¹ himself. The common ancestor would be an earlier Riggs in England. This possibility has to be disproved and has not yet been.

(3) Silas and Samuel³ share a common ancestor. He has to be Edward² (to within the caveat above). Hence Edward¹ of Roxbury, the Immigrant, has also to be a common ancestor.

(4) James and Samuel³ share a common ancestor. He has to be Edward² (to within the caveat above). Hence Edward¹ of Roxbury, the Immigrant, has also to be a common ancestor.

(5) The adoption of Nathaniel Riggs Jr. by Nathaniel Riggs Sr. (son of Bethuel) has been disproved. That is, Nathaniel Riggs Jr. is the natural son of Nathaniel Riggs Sr. The father adopted his own son, for propriety's sake it seems.

(6) Two descendants of Bethuel have been found and matched, thus establishing Bethuel's "signature." By the results above, this is also the signature of Edward the Immigrant and hence of his entire male (agnate) descent. This is true regardless of the caveat above.

(7) A descendant of Elias Riggs, known to be a bona fide descendant of Edward¹ of Roxbury, shares a common ancestor with the descendants of Bethuel, Silas, and James, and with the descendant of Samuel³.

(8) Three Riggs males have not matched the Edwardian Riggs males above, and have not matched one another, thus establishing that there are at least four distinct Riggs lines in America. To make this a strong statement we need to test another male Riggs of each of these families to ensure we are not seeing an anomaly.

(9) One male with a non-Riggs surname has matched the Edwardian Riggs males above. He is therefore genetically an Edwardian Riggs. For social reasons, he is a non-Riggs by surname.

To establish that Bethuel and the four brothers are indeed all brothers, we seek YDNA donors from Riggs males who are thought to be bona fide descendants of each. A YDNA match of, say, a Riggs male descending from Bethuel (call him B Riggs, for Bethuel) with, say, a Riggs male descending from Silas (call him S Riggs, for Silas) would prove that B Riggs and S Riggs share a common ancestor. Assuming the genealogies of each were correct then this common ancestor would be a Riggs male. The match would not prove that Bethuel and Silas were brothers, but it would be consistent with their being so. The match would also not prove that the common ancestor descended from Edward the Immigrant.

To establish that Bethuel or Silas is descended from Edward, we seek YDNA donors from Riggs males who are widely separated descendants, in genealogical terms. Edward, the son of Edward the Immigrant moved to Derby CT. All of his sons, except Samuel, migrated to Newark NJ. This happened early in American history. Thus somebody today descended from Samuel Riggs of Derby is distant genealogically from somebody today descended from the Newark branches. Suppose we had a YDNA match between, say, a Riggs male descending from Samuel Riggs (call him CT Riggs, for Derby CT) and one descending from Joseph Riggs (call him NJ Riggs, for Newark NJ), then CT Riggs and NJ Riggs would have a common male Riggs ancestor. Assuming no cousin marriages between the CT and NJ lines, then the "nearest" common ancestor would have to be Edward of Derby. Of course, any descendant of Edward of Derby is also a descendant of his father, Edward the Immigrant. Bethuel and Silas (and their putative brothers) are thought to be NJ Riggses.

So if B Riggs (modern Riggs male descended from Bethuel) matches YDNA with CT Riggs, we know that B Riggs is a descendant of Edward the Immigrant. This assumes no cousin intermarriages between the CT and NJ lines that might cause a less distant common ancestor. Here is where we would use strongly established genealogies to assist in the proof. Similarly for a YDNA match between S Riggs and CT Riggs.

So, given B Riggs, S Riggs, and CT Riggs are all who they are thought to be (descendants of Bethuel, Silas, and Samuel of Derby), here are the possible outcomes:

1. B, S, and CT match: Then all are related and all are descendants of Edward the Immigrant (to within the cousin intermarriage problem which has to be decided some other way).

2. B and S match, but do not match CT: Then B and S are related but are not descendants of Edward the Immigrant.

3. B and CT match, but do not match S: Then B and CT are related and both descendants of Edward the Immigrant, but S is not related.

4. S and CT match, but do match B: Then S and CT are related and both descendants of Edward the Immigrant, but B is not related.

5. No two of B, S, or CT match: Then B and S are not related, and neither is related to CT, nor are either of B or S related to Edward the Immigrant.

If B Riggs is not a genetic descendant of Bethuel, then no tests involving him are meaningful. The test design does not establish that B Riggs is a bona fide Bethuel descendant. The same can be said of S Riggs and Silas. And the same can be said of CT Riggs and Samuel of Derby.

If CT Riggs is not a genetic descendant of Samuel of Derby, then none of the relationships to Edward the Immigrant can be proved.

Brotherhood of Silas and Bethuel cannot be determined, only that a male relationship exists or doesn't.

I have not yet thought through the cousin intermarriages and what that might mean. The following graphic is an illustration I designed for the Riggs manuscript I am currently 2000+ pages into. It illustrates the potential problem. The red lines here are the marriages between the families of the brothers Silas, James, and John Riggs (putative brothers of Isaac and Bethuel). Descent is to the right and vertical blue lines tie siblings together. The box colors here are arbitrary and have nothing to do with the Y or M DNA color codings above:

N.B. This image is copyrighted, @2005 Alvy Ray Smith (as are all images on this page or on the alvyray.com website - see copyright info)

The test could be greatly improved by establishing strongly that B Riggs was a genetic descendant of Bethuel (and similarly for S Riggs and CT Riggs). This could be done by obtaining samples from widely distributed Riggs male descendants of Bethuel (widely distributed in a genealogical sense). This would guard against mistakes, or non-results, introduced by adoption, adultery, or inaccurate genealogy. Testing widely separated Bethuel descendants, and obtaining matches among them, would establish that the YDNA being used for comparison, in the case of B Riggs, was indeed that of Bethuel Riggs. (Again, all this goes for S Riggs and CT Riggs as well.)

I am currently scouring the records looking for possible candidates to increase our certainty in this study. Bethuel, for example, had two sons of whom we have extensive genealogies, Jonathan and Nathaniel. The current candidate for B Riggs is thought to be descended from Jonathan. It would be a great addition to the study to have another Riggs male (call him B2 Riggs) descended from Nathaniel Riggs. If B Riggs and B2 Riggs matched, then we could be fairly certain that their YDNA was that of Bethuel. (And similarly for Silas and Samuel of Derby.) [NB. We now have another sample, a descendant of Nathaniel, and there is a strong match of the YDNA.]

In the YDNA descent charts below, deceased males known to have no male progeny are sometimes omitted.

N.B. All images on this page are copyrighted, @2005 Alvy Ray Smith (as are all images on the alvyray.com website - see copyright info)

Here is a Riggs line that is completely known back to Edward of Roxbury. I start this subtree from Rev Elias Riggs and give his YDNA tree. Here is Elias's descent from Edward of Roxbury: Elias⁷ Riggs (Preserve⁶, Zebulon⁵, Joseph⁴, Edward³, Edward², Edward¹). This is a NJ Riggs family.

X	Terminal. No further male descendants along this line
?	Possible. Might be male descendants of this line but none currently known
*	Out of birth order
Name	Alive or possibly alive. A potential Riggs YDNA contributor
Name	Deceased