The Chamberlain Story has traced a piece of DNA on chromosome 9 back to one of the parents of Thomas, Edmond and William Chamberlain. These three  brothers immigrated to America in the 1600s. My results (DC) on 23&me show that I share this piece of DNA with my uncle RC and six distant relatives TC, CS, DB, MS, CB and DP.

The eight individuals initialed above share part of chromosome 9. When two or more share an identical chromosome segment, they inherited it from a common ancestor. The three Chamberlain brothers of Middlesex County Massachusetts shared this same DNA in the 1600s. Apparently, all three brothers inherited this DNA from one of their parents. Genealogical information has confirmed that DB is a descendant of Thomas, CS of Edmond, and DC and RC are descendants of William.

23&me Advanced DNA Comparisons

The following diagrams from 23&me- Family & Friends- Advanced DNA Comparisons show that six individuals share a common ancestor. That ancestor is one of the parents of Thomas, Edmond and William Chamberlain. None of these six share any other DNA and therefore all are very distant relatives from one another, (6th to 12th cousins).

Figure 4. compares DC (purple) and my uncle RC (red), where our DNA matches with TC. RC is my father’s brother and therefore, our matching segments on chromosomes 1 and 9 come from my paternal line.

TC is another distant cousin. His genealogy information is not available. However, his surname, Chamberlain, gives us a great clue.

In addition to chromosome 9, TC also shares with us DNA from chromosome 1. This shows that he has a closer genetic relationship to me (purple) and my uncle RC (red), than CS (orange), DB (blue) and MS (green).

Therefore, we know he is also a descendant of William Chamberlain.

Chromosome 9 match could yield new information

The other three individuals, MS, CB, and DP have no available genealogy information. Nevertheless, they are almost certainly descendants of one of the three Chamberlain brothers.

However, other possibilities do exist. For example, if we can trace the chromosome 9 segment directly to England, we may learn more about the origin of our Chamberlain family. And, what if it were traced to the pre-1800s Chamberlains of Virginia? This might prove that Francis Chamberlain is the father of Thomas, Edmond and William.

Chamberlain family and Chromosome 9

Figure 5. shows DNA of my various family members as they match with our uncle RC. I use my uncle as a control to be sure we are looking at our paternal DNA. Chromosome 9 in figure 5 shows my full segment (purple). There is about a 50/50 chance to pass this segment of chromosome 9 on to each child in the next generation.

Chromosome 9 is about 138 million base pairs in length, (138Mbp.) The piece of chromosome 9 which I inherited from William Chamberlain is about 57Mbp. It seems amazing that such a large strand of unbroken DNA survived nine generations between myself and William.

I passed on the complete segment to my daughter LC (blue). My brother EC (orange), however, did not receive any of this special piece of DNA from our father, and my sister DG apparently received a very small portion.

The red on chromosome 9 shows that TC also has the DNA from William. The red on chromosome 1 is the only other piece he shares with our immediate family. Therefore, I estimate that TC is our fourth or fifth cousin.

Why chromosomes pass from generation to generation in chunks

We all have 23 chromosome pairs. One half of each pair (a chromatid) comes from our mother the other half from our father. Therefore, we all have 46 chomatids. In normal cell division these 46 chromatids independently duplicate themselves into homologous chromosomes. They then separate into two genetically identical cells.

However, germ cells or gametes are formed by a process called meiosis. This begins with two homologous chromosomes. For our purpose we might say the blue is chromosome 9 from the father and the pink is chromosome 9 from the mother.

In meiosis, these come together where crossover occurs, causing a recombination of DNA. The cells then divide twice to form haploid sperm or egg cells.

Crossovers occur with greater frequency in some areas of the chromosome than in others. Therefore, certain chunks of the chromosome tend to be passed down from generation to generation.

What are the odds?

There was only about one chance in 500 that the Chamberlain chr9 DNA made it all the way from William to me. How lucky is that? However, this segment is only about .5% of William’s DNA. Therefore, the chance that some part of his DNA might make the nine generation journey to me is roughly 40%.

Nevertheless, the Chamberlain chr9 segment got off to a good start.  Since all three brothers apparently received it and they all had many children who could carry it along to future generations.

The various pathways of the Chamberlain segment of chromosome 9 are shown in the next three sections. More detailed information on the children of Thomas, Edmond and William can be found in Chapter 4.

Chamberlain Chr9 first five generations from Thomas

Generation 1- Thomas Chamberlain¹ was born in England about 1615 and immigrated to Virginia in 1635.  There he met his wife Mary Parker who arrived from England the same year. They were forced to leave Virginia in 1644. Thomas was made a Freeman in Woburn, Massachusetts on May 29, 1644. They had four children, Thomas, Anna, Mary and Samuel. Mary died 20 December 1669 and Thomas remarried the twice widowed Mary Jones Poulter Parker 16 April 1674. He had no children with his second wife.

Generation 2- Thomas Chamberlain was born in Virginia about 1639. His baptismal record in 1655 at Chelmsford said he was about 17 years. He married Sarah Proctor, the daughter of Robert Proctor and Jane Hildreth Proctor in Chelmsford, Massachusetts on August 10, 1666. They had eight children, Thomas, Mary, Dorothy, Samuel, John, Jane, Elizabeth, and an unidentified baby.

Generation 3- Samuel Chamberlain born 11 January 1679 in Chelmsford, Massachusets died 12 April 1767. He is the father of Souhegan John.  Samuel married Abigail Hill about 1703. Abigail was born 26 December 1683 in Billerica, Massachusetts, the daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Hill, and died 16 May 1760. Samuel and Abigail had 11 children: Benjamin, John, Abigail, Elizabeth, Jonathan, Samuel, Joseph, Thomas, Jane, Aaron, Jacob.

Generation 4- Elizabeth Chamberlain was born 8 January 1710 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, died about 1760 in Concord. She married Timothy Fletcher 15 April 1726. Timothy Fletcher was born 28 August 1704 in Concord and died 1779 in Chelmsford. They had ten children: Elizabeth, Timothy, Sarah, John, Joseph, Benjamin, Ephraim, Lydia, Joel and Samuel.

Generation 5- Ephraim Fletcher born 5 February 1740. Enlisted 30 July 1778 in the Revolutionary War, Rhode Island campaign. Died 1 January 1831. Married Sarah Davenport in Grafton, Massachusetts December 7, 1762. Sarah was born 1 October 1739 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Died November 4, 1806 in Newport, New Hampshire. Ephraim and Sarah had nine children: Joel, Sarah, Ephraim, Amos, Mary, Lydia, Timothy, Anna and Benjamin.

Chamberlain Chr9 first five generations from Edmond

Generation 1- Edmond Chamberlain² was born in England about 1617. He married Mary Turner on 4 January 1647 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. His wife Mary died at Roxbury 7 October 1669. Edmond Chamberlain Sr. married his second wife, the 35-year-old widow Hannah Witter Burditt 22 June 1670 at Swampscott, Connecticut.

Edmond was the constable of Malden, Massachsetts in 1675 during the King Phillips Indian War. His 19 year-old son, Edmund Jr. died that year in the “Great Swamp Fight”. Edmond Sr. died 8 May 1696 and Hanna a few weeks later on July 28, both in Woodstock, Connecticut. He is buried there near the First Congregational Church.

Edmond and Mary had seven children: Mary, Sarah, John, Elizabeth, John, Edmund and Jacob. Hannah had six children from her first marriage to Thomas Burditt: Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Joseph, Sarah and Ruth. Hannah then had five more with Edmond Chamberlain: Susanna, Ebenezer, Susanna, Edmund III and Mary. This was a total of eighteen children in their blended family. However, many of the children died and their name was given to the next gender appropriate child. There were two Johns, two Susannas, three Marys and two Edmunds. When Edmund Jr. died in the Indian war on December 19, 1675, he was replaced six weeks later when Edmund III was born.

Generation 2- Edmund Chamberlain III was born on January 31, 1676 at Windham, Connecticut. He married Elizabeth Bartholomew 21 November 1699 at Woodstock, Connecticut. He died 18 December 1751 at Woodstock. She was born 15 March 1674 and died 28 December 1746 also at Woodstock. They had eleven Children: Jacob, Edmond IV, Elisabeth, William, James, Joseph, Samuel, Peter, John, Mary, Sarah and Hannah.

Generation 3- Samuel Chamberlain born about 1708 in Woodstock, Connecticut. Died December 27, 1753 in Woodstock. Married Ester Hammond 23 March 1727 in Newton, Massachusetts. She was born 3 February 1709 and died 22 December 1753. They had ten children: Ann, Samuel, Esther, Elisha, Hulda, Ezra, Marsha, Lydia, Stephen and Stephen.

Generation 4- Elisha Chamberlain born 16 April 1736. Married Damaris Bugbee about 1756 she died about 1780. Married a second wife Margaret Ledoyt 11 July 1782 at Woodstock Connecticut. She died 23 March 1847 at Woodstock, Connecticut. Children of Elisha and Damaris: Stephen, Sarah, Walter, Elisha, Marsilva, Elisha, Calvin, Luther, Pheobe, Calvin. Children of Elisha and Margaret: Samuel, Samuel, Lydia, Benjamin, Rhoda, Sylvanus, Benjamin.

Generation 5- Elisha Chamberlain born 30 March 1768, died 11 September 1841. Married Sarah Chandler about 1796 in Connecticut. She was born 17 July 1773, and died 27 May 1833. Children of Elisha and Sarah: Sally, Nathan, John Chandler, Joshua, Mary, Lydia, Moses, Nancy.

Chamberlain Chr9 first five generations from William

Generation 1- William Chamberlain was born in England in about 1619 and came to America at age 16 in 1635, he died 31 May 1706 in Billerica, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Married Rebecca Addington or Shelly³ 4 January 1646 at Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Rebecca was born in 1625 at Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and died in Cambridge Prison 26 September 1692. It is believed she was accused of witchcraft. Children of William and Rebecca: Tmothy, Isaac, William, John, Sarah, Jacob, Thomas, Edmund, Rebecca, Abraham, Ann, Clement, Daniel.

Generation 2– Daniel Chamberlain⁴ was born in 1671 Billerica Middlesex, Massachusetts, d. 22 November, 1725, Billerica. Married in 1694, Billerica, to Mary Swain 1673-1713. Children of Daniel and Mary  Isaac, Ebenezer, Ephaim, Thomas, Mary, Dorothy.

Generation 3- Thomas Chamberlain was born in 1703 in Billerica, MA and married Abigail Pierce 10 June 1730 in Concord, Middlesex, MA.⁵ She was born 18 May 1706, Woburn MA, died 18 may 1769, Westmoreland, NH. (Note: I have done extensive research to get correct information and birth order of their children.) Children of Thomas and Abigail:   Josiah, Isaac, Joshua, Job, Jedediah, John and Increase and Abigail.

Generation 4- John Chamberlain was born about 1739 in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts.⁶ His father Thomas moved from Newton to Westmoreland which places John’s birth order between Jedediah and the youngest brother Increase. John married an Indian we know as Winona. This John Chamberlain is the father of Spencer Chamberlain. To see the complete and complicated evidence for this, read Chapter 10 and Chapter 15.

Generation 5- Spencer Chamberlain was born about 1786 in Westmoreland, Cheshire, NH. Died 21 December 1853 in Glover, Orleans, VT. He married Millie French in Glover, VT. She was born on 28 March 1786 and died 21 September 1849. Spencer Chamberlain is known as the hero of Runaway Pond.  The children of Spencer and Millie:  Jeanette, Amanda, Delana, Alonzo, Sarah, Melissa.

23&me DNA Test

Please allow me to refer you to 23&me. I would love to see if we have a chromosome match.

When you receive your 23&me kit, I highly recommend you fill in your ancestor’s surnames and specific locations of where they were known to live. This may help find how were are related. Perhaps we even share the Chamberlain chromosome 9!

Learn what your DNA has to say about your ancestry. Click here for 23andMe kit!

Summary Page 3- Other DNA studies

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to  www.thechamberlainstory.com.

References:

1. 1. George W. Chamberlain, One Branch of the Descendants of Thomas Chamberlain of Woburn, Worccester Mass, 1897
   2. Familysearch.org Sources Listed:
      Chamberlain Association of America, Mss Gen., New England Historic Society, SG/CHA/49-14, Edmund of Roxbury [RC321-1 thru 4R, #1]. Chamberlain Families, by Prentiss Glazier, Vol. I, “Chamberlain Families in Connecticut, 1790,” P. 42; Vol. II, “Descendants of Edmund¹ Chamberlain of Roxbury,” pp. 27-28. The History of Woodstock, Connecticut, Norwood, MA, 1926, by Clarence Winthrop Bowen, Vol. III, P. 270 [RC 397]. A History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, by W. Waters, 1917, Three Volumes, Vol. 1, P. 27 [RC 285]. History of Peter Parker and Sarah Ruggles, by J.W. Linzie, 1913, pp. 147, 371, 374, 541. Cutter’s book on early Connecticut familes. Also see, the histories of Roxbury, Chelsea, Malden, Revere, Dudley, and Hopkinton, MA. And other sources listed upon request. Less
   3. Rebecca Addington or Shelly Chamberlain, www.findagrave.com
   4. Familysearch.org
   5. James Parker, Thomas Chamberlain’s wife Abigail Pierce, http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/chamberlain/2676/
   6. Hamilton Child, 1736-1885 Gazetteer, Cheshire County, N. H., 1885 Syracuse, N.Y., p.519

Three predominant Chamberlain families immigrated to America in the 1600s. These were the 1- Thomas, Edmond, William Chamberlain, presumably brothers; 2- Henry Chamberlain, known as the Black Smith, and 3- Richard Chamberlain of Braintree, MA.

Y-DNA tests show that these three families are unrelated. However, in my study of the Y-DNA data, I have found that in these three divergent lines of the Chamberlain family, at least two can be traced back to a single source. According to history, this might be the family of Lord Chamberlain to the Duke of Normandy and to King Henry I of England, William de Tancarville.

The origin of the Chamberlain surname

In January 1066, King Edward on his death bed granted the kingdom to Harold Godwinson, the head of a very powerful noble family in England. When the king died, Godwinson was proclaimed King Harold II. On the other side of the English channel, William Duke of Normandy was outraged.

Fifteen years earlier, William visited England and met with his cousin King Edward. According to Norman historians, the childless English King promised to make William his heir to the throne.

William was of Viking origin. The Vikings pillaged northern France in the late ninth and early tenth centuries. However, they eventually accepted that their territory of Normandy become part of France in exchange for peace. William and other Normans were descendants of these Scandinavian invaders. They grew up in Normandy loyal to the French kingdom.¹

On September 28, 1066, William, determined to have the promised throne, landed with thousands of troops and cavalry on Britain’s southeast coast. He seized the village of Pevensey.  He then marched on to Hastings where he paused to organize his forces.

King Harold soon arrived near Hastings with his army. The day after his arrival, October 14, 1066, William led his forces in to battle. It ended in a decisive victory. Harold was shot in the eye with an arrow and died and his forces were destroyed. After his victory at Hastings, “William the Conqueror” marched on to London which submitted to his army. There, crowned on Christmas day in Westminster Abbey, he became the first Norman king of England.

William and other Normans spoke French which became the language of the king’s court. It gradually blended with the Anglo-Saxon tongue to give birth to modern English.¹

One member of the King’s court was Count William de Tancarville of Tancarville Castle. His castle was built on a spur overlooking the Seine River in Normandy. He came with “William the Conqueror” to England.  Though he returned to Normandy himself, his sons and descendants remained in England and occupied lands granted to them. William de Tancarville “is the progenitor of the Chamberlain family in England and America.”²

“John de Tancarville, son of the former Earl, was Lord Chamberlain to King Henry I”.² Henry ruled England from 1100-1135. John “assumed his title as a surname. Richard, son of John, was also Chamberlain of King Steven and the surname Chamberlain has since his day been that of the family.”²

Famille de Tancarville

An English translation of a French record of the Tancarville family gives us a different version of the story. It is more detailed and therefore may be more accurate. It tells us that Guillaume de Tancarville (the French name for William) was the chamberlain to King Henry I.

Translation: “William I de Tancarville son of Raoul, chief chamberlain of Normandy and Angleterre. It seems certain that he was the chamberlain of Duke Robert Curthose, and his brother Henry Beauclerc, after his victory at the Battle of Tinchebray (1106). He was a close adviser to King Henry I of England.”³

When William the Conqueror died his oldest sons inherited the kingdom. Duke Robert Curthose ruled Nomandy and his brother William Rufus became King William II of England. Their younger brother, Henry Beauclerc, became King Henry I of England in 1100 when William II was killed in a hunting accident. Henry defeated his brother Robert for the control of Normandy in the Battle of Tinchabray.⁴

Rabel de Tancarville, the son of William, inherited the role of chamberlain of Normandy from his father. He refused to recognize Stephen as King of England for unknown reasons but quickly submitted. Therefore, apparently, King Steven confirmed him in his function as chamberlain.³

This French account gives us three successive chamberlains to the Duke of Normandy, Raoul, William and Rabel. The English chamberlains, John and Richard, are not mentioned in this report.

Do most Chamberlains descend from William de Tancarville?

About 100 living Chamberlain male descendants (mostly in the United States) were Y-DNA tested before 2011. Modern Chamberlain genealogist James Baldwin Parker concluded that the results of these tests  “absolutely proves that there are more than a dozen Chamberlain ancestral lines in the States and elsewhere who are completely and totally unrelated to one another. Only one of them, if any, could be a Tankerville line.”⁵

The Y-DNA data shows that the Chamberlain families tested are very diverse. That is certainly true. However, I am not sure what this proves and what it does not prove. The data just hasn’t been studied thoroughly enough to come to any conclusions.

Therefore, I decided to examine the Y-DNA data. I would like to find answers to a couple of interesting questions: Are any of these diverse Chamberlains related in their paternal line? And, how many of these Chamberlain families, if any, can be linked to William de Tancarville and his family?

Y-DNA genetic analysis

We all have 23 pairs of chromosomes. We receive one set from our mother which is paired with another set we receive from our father. One of these pairs, the X and Y chromosomes, are sex chromosomes which determine gender. Those with two X chromosomes are female. While males always receive an X chromosome from his mother and a Y chromosome from his father.

Mutations in genetic markers called STRs (short tandem repeats) are used to track genetic diversity in father to son generations

When a mutation occurs in the Y-chromosome, it will also be passed on to future male progeny giving that line its own trademark.

This information can be used for many purposes including the following:

1- To identify for an individual their own Chamberlain or non-Chamberlain paternal ancestor lineage.
2- To estimate the number of different ancestral lines that exist among Chamberlain families through out the world.
3- To trace known USA Chamberlain lineages to common ancestors and locations in England or other countries.

The Chamberlain Story now has its own Y-DNA research project. Join today!

Observation of this diagram shows that seven families C, D, M, P, Q, R and S are completely unrelated. All of the families were sorted and the unrelated families (non color coded letters) appear on the bottom third of the chart. This lower third of the diagram shows that none of these families (uncolored letters) are found in the green (likely related) section, but many letters are deep in the orange and red (not related section).

The seven unrelated families were removed and a CPA Y-DNA analysis was done on the remaining 13 families.