CASE STUDY
Debbie’s own DNA project shows the benefits of combining the latest genetic genealogy with traditional research into a particular surname I set up my Cruwys DNA Project in 2007, and now have Y-DNA results for more than 100 men ( familytreedna.com/groups/cruwys-dna). Although the Cruwys surname is rare, variant spellings such as Cruise, Cruse and Crews are more common. The men in the project are grouped into genetic families based on their Y-DNA matches. There are currently 10 distinct genetic families. The largest grouping consists of over 30 men in the USA, whose ancestry is from Colonial Virginia. We are hoping that one day they will have a match with someone in the UK, so that they can trace their line across the pond. We also have 27 men who are singletons; that is, they don’t currently have any matches within the project.
I was able to confirm through Y-DNA testing that my father’s line was related to a family from Cruwys Morchard in Devon who have been lords of the manor since the 1200s. Surname spellings are not a good predictor of relatedness, and other men in this genetic family spell their name as Crewes, Cruse, Cruise and Cruice. This group also includes a man with a different surname, Raney. He is the product of a ‘non-paternity event’ where the transmission of the surname does not correspond with the inheritance of the Y-chromosome.
One of the members had an ancestor who settled in South Africa in the 1830s whose origins in the UK were unknown. He did not have any matches when he first tested, but now he is in a genetic family with a good tree that can be traced back to the village of Ogbourne St George in Wiltshire, although we haven’t yet been able to find the paper-trail connection.