Steggles, Steggall, Stygall, Stagles DNA Surname Project
SummarySo far we know of 9 people, sharing our name who have had their DNA tested. These people are from 6 English and 2 previously unlinked American families.
Two links between the English families had been suspected. One of these was proven, but the other shown not to be.
The results so far (November 11, 2007) show 4 of the 6 English families to be related to one another and the 2 American families to be related to one another, but not to the English families.
One set of results shows a link between my Stagles family and a Steggles family traced back to William Steggles of Cotton in Suffolk plus 2 Steggle families, both tracing their ancestors back to London.
Another pair of results, entirely different from our own show an exact match between a Steagall family from Brazil and a Stegall family from the USA.
Five of the sets of results have been made public and can be seen under both Stagles and Steggles at www.ysearch.org
The names of those currently involved in the project include, Stagles, Steagall, Stegall, Steggle and Steggles.
Introduction
The Steggles / Stagles Surname Project was started up by Tom Stagles (a descendant of Thomas Stagles of Wisbech, born in about 1787) and Nigel Steggles (a descendant of John Steagle, born in Narford Norfolk in about 1745) because we thought that our families were probably related.
We also want to find out if the Steggles / Stagles families are all descended from just one or many families.
The project was set up with Family Tree DNA.
Independently of us, Ray Steggles (a descendant of Robert Steggal of Bacton Suffolk, born in about 1720) had his DNA tested by DNA Heritage.
Our results can be seen and compared on www.ysearch.org
DNA Testing
The Y-chromosome is passed, mainly unchanged through the generations from father to son. Certain markers on this can be measured. Mutation is random, but on average, for any marker may occur once in every 350 -500 generations. To some extent we can estimate the number of generations back to the nearest shared male ancestor from the closeness of results.
The testing is done from a simple oral swab that is posted to the testing laboratory.
This type of testing does not show up any medical conditions.
Non-Matching of Results
Where the results from men sharing a surname do not match the simple deduction is that they do not share a common male ancestor, however it could be that there is a paternity issue in one or both of the family lines. A paternity issue occurs when the biological father is not the person that we think he is. Possible reasons for this could be: when a widow re marries and her children take their stepfathers name, when a family change their name, or a man takes his wife's name for an inheritance, or a child is illegitimate.
Y DNA:The Role of Surnames
The article under this heading in Facts & Genes published by Family Tree DNA may be of interest. Click here to open it.
The Testing Companies
We have found just 3 companies that test to a sufficiently high resolution for a surname project. These being;DNA Heritage, a British company with offices in Weymouth, with testing done by the Sorenson laboratories in the USA. See www.dnaheritage.com, or phone 0845 226 1901.
Family Tree DNA, a large American company. See www.familytreedna.com This is the company we chose.
Relative Genetics, another American company, also using the Sorenson laboratories. See www.relativegenetics.com now part of the ancestry.com group.
All 3 companies would help us set up and advertise our surname survey. All 3 allow upgrades from less expensive lower resolution tests. All 3 have useful tutorials on their websites.
If you are interested in joining this project, please contact us at tom@stagles.co.uk or phone 0118 9676129, or write to me Tom Stagles at, 86 Cumberland Road, Reading, RG1 3JT, England.
Further Information
The book "DNA and Family History" by Chris Pomery, ISBN, 1-903363-70-8, priced £12-99. This is now out of print, but should be available in the larger libraries.
His follow up, "Family History in the Genes" ISBN, 978-1-905615-12-4, priced £7.99 is now available.
His website, www.dnaandfamilyhistory.com
Both Family Tree DNA and DNA Heritage provide lots of excellent information on their websites.
The first DNA Surname projects results published were those for Sykes, published by Professor Sykes in 2000. Although this name is much more common than ours it showed that they all descended from just one family.
Details on how to arrange for your DNA to be tested are given on our DNA, Get Tested page.
Our Results
Nigel Steggles and I each had 37 markers tested. There was a 12 step genetic difference between our results. This shows that we are not related. It would be very interesting to get the results from someone else from the Mitford Stagles / Steggles family tree.
Ray Steggles and I were compared over 67 markers and had just a 4 step genetic difference between our results. This shows that we do share a common male ancestor, and it's most likely that he was about 10 generations back. Ray's family have been traced back to Bacton which is the Suffolk heartlands. It is likely that Thomas's ancestors gradually migrated from this area to Wisbech. It is also likely that we are both related to many other families sharing a variant spelling of our name.
Are You Also Related?
If you are a male sharing our name and would like to see if you are also related, please arrange to have your DNA tested. We can help trace your family back through the census and parish records.
Support Our Project
Other than joining our project we also welcome financial support. Donations should be made directly to FTDNA through this link Make sure that you follow the links and add Steggles as the name of the project. Note that this fund can only be used to purchase test kits.
Our Family Trees
Tom's family traces back to Thomas Stagles, a coal porter resident in Wisbech on the Norfolk / Cambridgeshire border in 1815. He was born outside the county of Cambridgeshire in about 1787 and may have been baptised as Thomas Stiggles or Striggles.
Nigel's trace back to John Steagle, an agricultural labourer of Narford, Norfolk born in about 1745. Both Steggles and Stagles descendents still live in this central region of the county.
The DNA of a distant cousin of Nigel's has also been tested. This confirmed that the results were typical for the descendants of James Stagles, born in Beeston in 1829.
Ray's ancestors include William Steggles, born in Cotton Suffolk in 1749. He became a major land owner and builder in Bury St Edmunds. His tomb is in the abbey graveyard.
Tom Stagles,
tom@stagles.co.uk
November 11, 2007