Winder Wonderland Surname Project: Analysis of DNA Tests

We now have 13 participants, 12 having returned their kits.

So far, results show that Winders tested all appear to belong to haplogroup R1b, except for the descendant of John Burton Winder, who appears to belong to R1a. This indicates that, so far, most Winder lines originated centuries ago in the UK. R1a indicates eastern European ancestry some centuries ago.

The genetic distance reports tell us we need many more participants to make headway! But note that the genetic distance reports are simple statistics, to give us an indication of where to look next in the paper trail.

We have DNA samples from four of the known immigrant families. We have not yet found any relationship between these lines, going back to the UK:

• Thomas Winder of New Jersey (1680-1731), immigrated in 1703. There are two participants for this line. Test results are all in. These participants are WINders.
  Two "brick wall" lines MAY share Thomas Winder as an ancestor with these participants:
  • The participant for Thomas Winder of Ohio shows a genetic distance of 2 from the participants of this line. The probability of the two lines sharing Thomas Winder of New Jersey as a common ancestor is 68.61%. The Ohio Winder line are WINders.
  • The participant for Clement Winders of Virginia shows a genetic distance of 5 from the participants of this line. The probability of the two lines sharing Thomas Winder as an ancestor is 9.32%. The Clement Winders line are WINEders.
• John Rex Winder (1821-1910), immigrated in 1853 from England. This is the Mormon pioneer. One participant for this line, with test results all in. There appears to be no relationship to other participants so far. This line is WINder.
• John Burton Winder (1795-1866), immigrated in 1818 from England. We have one participant, test results are all in. This participant is the only one so far projected to be R1a. Richard Winder's comment: It seems to me that this result provides more evidence for multiple origins of the WINDER surname, and perhaps strengthens the notion that there may be Viking derivations for the surname of the Lancashire/Cumbria group, regardless of WINE or WIN pronounciation (it would be interesting to have some N. English WIN-ders agree to a test). . This line is WINEder.
• John Winders (1844-1884), immigrated in 1870 from England. This line is WINder.

Of the "brick wall" Winders, we have three lines participating so far:

• Thomas Winder (1814-1862), first found in Ohio in 1847. We have one participant for this line. This participant is a WINder.
  • This participant shows a genetic distance of 2 from the participant for Thomas Winder of New Jersey. The probability of the two lines sharing Thomas Winder of New Jersey as a common ancestor is 68.61%.
  • This participant also has a genetic distance of 5 from that of Clement Winders. The probability of the two lines sharing the same immigrant ancestor is 9.32%.
• Clement Winders (1790- ), first found in Virginia in 1820. We have one participant for this line, with test results all in. This participant is a WINEders.
  • This participant has a genetic distance of 5 from the participant of Thomas Winder of New Jersey. The probability of the two lines sharing Thomas Winder as an ancestor is 9.32%.
  • This participant also has a genetic distance of 5 from that of Thomas Winder of Ohio. The probability of the two lines sharing the same immigrant ancestor is 9.32%.
• James and William Winder ( -1844), of McMinn Co, Tennessee, both died in 1844. We have one participant for this line with test results all in. This participant shows no relationship to any of the other samples so far.
• John Burton Winder stands out from the rest, with indications he is of eastern European deep ancestry, rather than UK. This participant shows no relationship to any of the other samples so far. This participant is a WINEder.
• We have a participant from Ireland who has not submitted a pedigree, so we know little about him. He shows no relationship to any of the other samples so far.

Clearly, we need more participants, particularly those representing known immigrant lines.