This page contains one note:

LeStrange/Strange/Strang/Stronge/Strong

DNA Study Note #6:

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It will be noted that in the DNA Results presentation, kit #6194 appears twice.   The first time it
is shown as a part of Haplogroup 2 (HG2, or YCC: I);  the second time it is shown as part of
Haplogroup 2 (HG2, or YCC:  J). The reader is referred to the discussion under subpart

E) Grouping Test Results for further background explanation. 

 

The dual presentation of kit #6194 has been made to show the apparent closeness of the kit to Haplogroup 2 (HG2, or YCC:  J) in comparison to Haplogroup 2 (HG2, or YCC: I).   It will be noted that as yet we do not have complete information indicating the modal average values for each of the markers in YCC Haplogroup J.   However,  we do have some marker values as provided by Dr. David L. Roper in his webpage  “Y-Chromosome Haplogroups”, see http://www.roperld.com/HaplogroupFamilies.htm#haploassign .  These marker values have been used here to show, to the extent possible, the marker patterns matching kit #6194 to old Haplogroup 9, which is now contained within YCC Haplogroup J.   It will be noted that there are far fewer mutations present in the markers shown when kit #6194 is compared to YCC Haplogroup J as opposed to old HG 2 (or YCC Haplogroup I), tending to substantiate the suggestion that kit #6194 belongs in YCC Haplogroup J.    However, it should be noted that in order to group kit #6194 in old Haplogroup HG 9 (as Dr. Roper has done in the webpage noted)  he has had to relax his usual definition of not more than 1 relative mutation to be in a haplogroup, to 3 relative mutations as the lowest relative mutations, compared to the 7 haplogroups defined in his website.  Thus, kit #6194, with two mutations, is fitted into his presentation as part of HG 9.

 

Family Tree DNA has suggested that kit #6194 falls within the new Y-Chromosome Consortium (YCC) grouping “J2”.    Given that the LeStrange family which this kit apparently represents has an apparent history of nearly 1000 years in England this proposed grouping  requires some examination.   The LeStrange family were early feudal lords under the successors to William the Conqueror, and it is thought they probably accompanied him during the Conquest.   There is some evidence suggesting the family were from Dol, a city in Brittany, France.   They were staunchly Roman Catholic until well after the Protestant Reformation. For assistance in tracing the history and lineage of the Norman LeStrange families, see: the writings of John R. Mayer, as published by Arapacana Publishing Co., and see also Patrick Harris’ Genealogy of the LeStrange Family.

 

How then can we reconcile the suggestion that their Haplotype is part of Haplogroup J?    Haplogroup J is  “…. more common in Southern and Eastern Europe. They are believed to be the descendants of the Neolithic farmers from the Middle East who were the first to practice agriculture in Europe about 8000 years ago."  Haplogroup J includes sub-clades, some of which may be of varying ethnic origins such as "Krasnador/Adygean", "Multan/Pakistani", "Jewish", etc.  The old Cohen Modal Haplogroup, HG9, is included within new YCC Haplogroup J.   Since the LeStranges were most certainly Normans, and probably anciently situated in Brittany prior to the Middle Ages, it is quite possible they represent a family having links to the Roman Empire reaching back into antiquity.    Based on present knowledge, we cannot say with certainty what their ethnic background was.   Since the Roman Empire was certainly spread throughout the Middle East as well as Western Europe, the family lineage may very well include a Middle Eastern backgound.   See also DNA Note #1.

 

Interestingly, there has been speculation concerning the origin of the surname “Lestrange”.   It has been suggested that it derives from the French word describing one as being a “stranger”.    Perhaps the foregoing discussion may give another insight into why the family may have been referred to as “strangers”….  

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