DNA Testing has been progressing in Academic Departments since the 1980s, and this has led for example to a widespread acceptance of the `Out of Africa' thesis for the origins of our human ancestors; but it is only since 2000 that the first genealogical testing companies have begun to operate. The Plant project was begun in late 2001 and initial accounts of its implications for the Plant and Plantagenet names have been published as:
- John S Plant (2005) Modern methods and a controversial surname: Plant, Nomina, Vol. 28, pp. 115-33;
- John S Plant (2007) The tardy adoption of the Plantagenet surname, Nomina, Vol. 30, pp. 57-84; and,
- John S Plant (2009) Surname studies with genetics: a brief review including an outline of the Meates and Plant studies, DNA Section, Guild of One Name Studies.
Though only 27 Plants have been DNA tested so far (not counting those from a separate French-Candian Plante family), the initial indications are that Plant is largely a single-ancestor surname. This is an important finding. Though more recent DNA evidence indicates that this is unusual for a common English surname, this finding of an unusually large single family can be compared with the surprising finding of the first Y-DNA surname study: the Sykes study.
The first Y-DNA surname study found that Sykes was essentially a single-ancestor name. Some people are hence reclassifying it as a `locative' surname (from a single ancestor at a single place) rather than being the topographical surname it was previously thought to be (from the Yorkshire dialect word for a stream, ditch or boundary).
The early evidence for the Plant name in England is quite widespread, and a different type of reclassification seems to be needed. It seems no longer appropriate to classify the Plant name as a multiple-ancestor, occupational surname, meaning `gardener'. It is now better categorized instead as a single-ancestor, implicit patronymic surname, meaning `offspring' (of some implied, though unspecified, ancestor). In particular, the Welsh meaning `children' of plant is consistent with an idea that the name could have been coined for the `many children' of a single family; that could help to explain the DNA finding, with prolific beginnings (rather than many origins) leading on to the unusually large single Plant family.
Many more Plants remain to be tested. It is estimated that there are about 12,000 living Plants in England and Wales and about 5,000 in the USA. Of these, about 35% can be expected to be adult males (who can be Y-DNA tested). Only about 0.25% of these have been tested so far.
Plant is the 617th most common surname in England and Wales, where it represents 0.022% of the total population, and it is the 5729th most common name in the USA, where the figure is 0.002%. In North America, there may be some confusion of spelling with the French-Canadian name Plante, but this also is being tested in this study. The principal homeland of the Plant name is around north Staffordshire in England, though it was also found from early times around south Lincolshire for example.
The Y-DNA evidence is already quite persuasive that Plant is a single-ancestor name. However, by extending the number of Plants tested to around 50, we can expect to be able to make firmer pronouncements on whether Plant has single-ancestor (modal) origins, or is a multiple-origins surname as was previously held. More medium- or high- resolution Y-DNA results for the matching Plants would also be desirable.
The main limitation for Y-DNA testing is that not enough people have taken the test so far. There is, of course, always a tendancy to wait for others. However, those who take the test at an early stage can: share in the initial excitement; find out whether they are purely male-line related to the Plant family or whether their Plant name has descended at some past generation through a female; find out more about Y-DNA testing by participating in the process themselves and so spread the word; and, they can remain safe in the knowledge that their Y-DNA signature has been determined once and for all, and that it will become more useful as more people come forward to take the test. Potentially, it can help identify the particular Plant branch to which they belong and how the various Plant branches are inter-related. By extending the number of Plants tested to around 300, ideally at medium- (25 marker) or high- (37 marker) resolution, we can expect to gain a clear pattern of most of the main family branches of the Plants.
If you are not suitable to be tested yourself, you can recruit suitable relatives for the Plant project.
You may be a female who is interested in a Plant line of descent. If you are familiar with genealogy, you will already be accustomed to the idea that you often need to look for collateral relatives (brothers, cousins, etc.) in order to make progress with tracing back your family lines. The genetically important X-chromosomes of females contain information from an assorted mixture of ancestors, but this offers no help with genealogical studies since the code from the different ancestors is mixed up. Only men have a Y-chromosome, which descends purely down the paternal line (i.e. from his father's father's father's etc. father): this carries information about this male-line of descent (which usually coincides with the descent of a surname). The Y-chromosome carries only a few genes, which simply determine maleness. As only males have a Y-chromosome, you will need, if you are female, to find a Plant man with the same line of descent as the one in which you are interested; that person can then take the simple Y-DNA test (e.g. your father, brother or cousin). The test is on a few bits of the `non-coding' DNA between the genes on the Y-chromosome, and so the tested man need have no fears that the test will reveal anything about his physiology or maleness.
Click here to see how to sign up yourself, or someone else, for the test.
There is no need for concerns about health insurance premiums being affected, or privacy about racial origins, for example, being breached. Just a few bits of information are tested for some `junk' DNA on the Y-chromosome: this junk is of no interest except for studying the male line of descent. Though your male line of descent is only one of many, it is of particular interest when studying genealogy.
The person whose address is entered in the on-line form will receive a testing kit with very simple instructions (for him painlessly to take a swab from inside his cheek). You may, for example, select the 12-marker Y-DNA12 test and, if necessary, upgrade to more markers later. Taking the 37 marker Y-DNA37 test, however, will more probably identify your own particular branch of the family more uniquely. Payment (e.g. by invoice) goes direct to the testing laboratory: I take no payment myself. I am available to offer advice, however, and to help with analysing the results - click here for further advice for participants, such as about how to contact me.
Though DNA testing is still in its infancy, some preliminary results are becoming available for various surnames, including Plant. Given a few characteristic Y-line DNA signatures for Plant, Plantt, and Plante, the study may be extended to other `Plant like' names such as Planty, Plenty, Planta, Plantard, Planterose, and Plantagenet.
Initial results show that there is a charateristic Y-line signature for the Plant surname (main homeland in England). It will be interesting to discover if the same characteristic Y-STR signature is to be found more widely in such similar names as Plantt (England and USA), Plantz (Germany and USA), Plante (France and Canada), and Planterose (France and England).
A report in The Times Newspaper on 28th January 2002 described plans to obtain DNA from the skeleton of the Black Prince (a Plantagenet - associated with France and England). The Plantagenet name has also been associated with Warren-like or Wareing-like names; but the DNA evidence shows that, unlike Plant, these are multi-origin names and so modern Warren-like surnames do not descend from the single Plante Genest (Plantagenet) family though, more strictly, such possibilities as the following have not been entirely ruled out: (i) a few with the surname Warren for example may descend from the so-called "Warren Plantagenets"; (ii) there is more than one Y-DNA signature to be associated with the so-called Plantagenets since their genetic male-line of descent may not be intact (e.g. there were allegations that prince Edward was not a true son of Henry VI and also that Edward IV was not a true son of Richard duke of York).
The Plantagenet name descends from Geffrey Plante Genest, count of Anjou, and it is possible that the Plant family could have descended as lesser (illegitimate or younger) offspring of the same ancestor. However, to test this, it would be neccessary to find other living descendants (perhaps some of those called Warren or Waring or Somerset) and/or to Y-DNA test the ancient remains of the royal Plantagenets. There are problems with testing ancient remains however. Not only is permission needed to access the remains, but DNA degrades after death (especially if not preserved in dry and cold conditions). With degradation, the strands of surviving DNA typically become no more that about 100-200 base pairs long, which is barely sufficient for Y-STR testing. Also, any contaminating DNA from modern humans amplifies far more readily than the damaged DNA, and so, if extreme care is not taken, the measurments will be of the Y-DNA signature of a contaminating modern human instead of for the Plantagenet remains.
Volunteers were sought for studies on Plant-like names (any spelling). It was initially unclear what to expect. The earliest study for the name Sykes had shown it to be essentially a single-ancestor name despite the fact that it had been held to be a multiple-ancestor topographical name. A particularly large early study was for the name Pomeroy - those results are unlike the initial results that were found for Sykes and Plant, in that they do not indicate so much that the Pomeroys descend largely from a single family...
For the name Pomeroy, 27 of the 51 testees fell into seven different Y-chromosome groupings for their ancestral forefathers. The name spelling was found to have little bearing on the particular grouping to which each of the testees belonged. One member tested was from an old family descending from Ralph de la Pommeraye and, though no exact match was found, 6 of the Pomeroys were 3 Y-chromosome mutations away from the tested Norman knight's descendant.For the Pomeroy study, it was estimated that there are about 900 adult UK males with any spelling of that name - it has been found that half of them probably belong to one of 7 ancestral groupings, with the other half arising from `false paternity' events over the generations, which have introduced DNA from other surnames. On such a basis, it could have been hard to find matches amongst the 4,000-5,000 adult male Plants in Britain; but, in fact, many matches were immediately found.
An early focus for a DNA study of the Plant name has related to:-
- investigating ancestral connections in particular branches of the name, with a view to connecting together various family tree "twigs" with more certainty; and,
- seeking evidence for Plant(e) Y-chromosome types migrating around England and France and to the rest of the world.
Such information might be relevant in assessing (or discounting) various aspects of Plant origins based on documentary evidence, such as:-
- possible connections between Plant and the name Plantagenet from western France, given that there is documentary evidence for 13th century proximities in England between these names; and,
- published claims (of doubtful reliability) of a direct descent through similar names such as through a 10th century name Planta in England descended from a Duke of Brittany, related to Benjamin Plantevelu (Aquitaine) who is said to have descended from the 8th century Plantards (living surname), who are said in turn to have descended from the 5th to 8th century Merovingians of Sicambrian Frankish origin (still more contentiously, it has been claimed that this tribe had descended via Arcadia in Greece from the Benjamites of the Old Testament, a Princess of whom is alleged to be the Biblical Mary of Bethany "Magdelene", sometimes also called the Black Virgin) - this mythical bloodline is debunked elsewhere on this web site.
It would have been interesting, for example, if significant numbers of English Plants were found to have modal haplotypes characteristic of the Atlantic or Mediterranean coasts of France, or perhaps even Y-line Middle Eastern origins. In fact, the initial results for Plant appear to be characteristic of the Atlantic coast of Europe.
Only about 50 haplogroups have been identified around the world and about half of European men belong to just one of them. Haplogroups are less specific than haplotypes; the latter are the main focus of this study, as they lead to more detailed information with high probabilities for common forefathers. However, some less detailed comments can be made simply about haplogroups. Haplogroups are sometimes referred to as clades; and, in the latest naming conventions, most Plants belong to a haplogroup that is called the R clade.The ancestral male line of most Plants was amongst those (the R clade) which repopulated Europe from Spain around 15,000 years ago following the last Ice Age. The R clade is believed to have recolonised Europe from the Basque country, between France and Spain, and this is now the most common clade worldwide. Its ancestor, the P clade, is confined to Central Asia, India and America as well as being common in the British Isles and Basque regions. The fact that the P clade is found on extreme edges of Europe suggests that it represents an earlier arriving population, before the repopulation of Europe by its descendant R clade.
It is perhaps no great surprise that most Plants have been found to belong to the R clade, since the principal homeland of the Plants is in north Staffordshire, towards the Western side of England.
In Britain, the R clade (Celtic regions) is found mostly down the western side, with Scandinavian clades (Anglo-Saxon and Viking regions) found more to Britain's east. The `offspring' or `children' meaning of Plant can be associated in particular with the nearby Welsh language, though similar meaning is found in early English.
Y-DNA testing does far more than just identify the clade, or haplogroup, of the person being tested, however. It identifies a unique signature for the particular branch of his surname, and so helps with the genealogy of the different branches of a surname.
As well as adult male Plant volunteers from further branches, additional adult male Plant volunteers from the same branches are sought in order to check the branch genealogy. The study was also opened to Warren/Waring-like names, though these have now gone their own ways with their owb separate projects. Volunteers called Somerset are welcome as these may add further insights to the possibilities of Plantagenet descents.
Branch/spelling Code for Earliest known ancestor of branch Status volunteer Main matching Plant family USA. Plant(t) PT1a William Plant(t), b c1655, lived in VA. OA + FT Florida, USA. Plantt PT2a FT Sheffield, England. Plant P1a Thomas Plant of Clowne, ?b 1745 Sutton-cum-Duckmanton in NE Derbyshire son of William Plant of Duckmanton. Descent apparently through William (bap 1772), William (b 1803) OA + FT Humberside, England. Plant P1b ?ditto - i.e. ?Thomas Plant of Clowne, as above, but descent apparently through Benjamin (bap 1782) and John (Bark) Plant (b 1812) FT Sheffield, England. Plant P1c ?ditto with descent from John Bark Plant through George Plant FT London, England. Plant P2a William Plant of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, c1720 (born 1716 Tur Langton). OA ditto P2b ditto OA Northants, England. Plant P3a Joseph Plant, b c1794 Ashton Under Lyne, Lancashire, subsequently of Duckinfield (1815) and Denton (1821-35). OA South Cheshire, England. Plant P5a Edward Plant of Siddington, c1565; with a line possibly from 15th century Rainow in east Cheshire. OA + FT Livingston, NJ, USA. Plant P7a John Plant, b c1646 England, d 1691 Branford, Ct, USA (married Betty Roundkettle). FT Austria. Plant P7b ditto FT Houma, LA, USA. Plant P12a James Plant, b c1839 Ireland, moved to New York City. FT Vancouver, Canada. Plant P14a Richard Plant bap 27.4.1740 Brewood, son of Richard Plant of Chillington, Brewood, Staffs. FT York, England. Plant P20a John Plant, b 1700, Old Swinford near Stourbridge, Worcestershire FT Hampshire, England. Plant P23a Alec P Plant; b 1914 Sheffield, England FT Matching south-Lincolnshire Plant Brough, Yorks. Plant P9a William Plant b 27.5.1832 Leake East Fen Allotment (south Lincs, England) to John and Eliz (b 1791) FT NSW, Australia. Plant P18a James Plant b 1783 Sibsey, Lincolnshire to Richard and Sarah Waltham; James's sons emigrated to Australia FT Other Plant London, England. Not Plant. P4a ?James Plant b 1806 Cheadle, Staffordshire. OA Ohio, USA. Plant P6a George Plant, b 1819, Stafford England, son of Richard. Living in Finney Green, Keele, Staffordshire in 1840 when he married Dinah Grocott. Migrated to USA in 1882. FT Manchester, England. Plant P8a Jonathan James Plant born of Martha Plant (spinster) at Leek on 25.10.1852; descent via Mark Ernest Plant b 1.May.1877 d 1.May.1951 Manchester (i.e. probably not a Plant by genetic male-line descent but by descent from Martha) FT Bedford, England. Brown P10a ?John Plant b c1813 Laxfield, Suffolk (hitherto uncertain whether a Plant by genetic descent) FT Norwich, England. Plant P11a Joseph Plant father of Alfred Plant b 1839 Lichfield, Staffs. FT London, England. Plant P13a Edmund Plant, b Yorkshire c1900 FT Anglesey, Wales. Booth P15a ?Henry Plant b 1814 Bidulph son of John Plant - descent through his son Daniel Plant b 1860 Astbury, Cheshire who married Mary Ellen Booth (nee Harding). FT Newport, Wales. Plant P16a Charles Plant, b 1916 Birmingham, England. FT Stamford, Lincs. Plant P17a John Plant m Sarah Barsby at Morcott Church Rutland 31 March 1761. FT Davis, California. Plant P19a Edward Plant b 1787, Birmingham, England FT Portland, Oregon. Plant P21a Edward Uriah Plant; b 15.1.1851 Cork, Ireland; d 7.9.1911 York, Canada; possibly a son of Uriah Plant; b 1821 Cheshire who was a merchant involved in a lawsuit in Clare in 1849 FT Melbourne, Australia. Plant P22a John Plant (labourer) emigrated unmarried, aged 17, to Australia in 1868 from County Cork, Ireland; son of John Plant (labourer) and Johanna Keiley FT Cheadle, Staffordshire, England. Plant P24a Thomas Plant, b c1699 Leek who settled with his wife Margaret (nee Walker) in Cheadle c1722. Descent through John (1726-98), Thomas (1750-??), William (1783-1862), James (1806-59), James (1831-89). FT Matching Quebec Plante family Quebec, Canada. Plante PE1b Jean Plante, sailed to Canada in 1647 from La Rochelle-Laleu, France, landed at Quebec City, settled at Chateau Richer just to its east. (Descent through Francois b 1668 C.R. and Jos- Ambroise b 1697 C.R) FT Idaho, USA. Plante PE1c ditto (Descent from Jean through his son Jean, then Louis, Joseph Marcel, Antoine, Jean Baptiste, Thomas, etc.) FT NJ, USA. Plante PE1e from Quebec FT Richmond, Virginia, USA. Plante PE2a Ernest Plante (1918-91) Burlington, Vermont FT Illinois, USA. Plante PE3a Joseph Plante father of George Plante b 1871 Kanakee, Illinois FT Ames, Iowa, USA. Plante PE4a ?France FT Other Plante Ontario, Canada. Plante PE1a Jean Plante, sailed to Canada in 1647 from La Rochelle-Laleu, France, landed at Quebec City, settled at Chateau Richer just to its east. (Descent through Francois b 1668 C.R. and Pierre b 1702) FT Michigan, USA. Plante PE1d ?from Quebec FT Indiana, USA. Plante PE5a ?from Quebec FT Other Plant-like names Zaragoza, Spain. Planter PR1a Ramón Planter (Goser) b 17 Dec 1844 Zaragoza (Descent through Antonio Planter (Sangorrin) b Jun 1905 Zaragoza) FT West Virginia, USA. Plants PS1a Christian Plants, b 21 Apr 1747 Bavaria, Germany; descent through Jacob Plants, b c1807 Washington County, Pensylvania, USA. FT Warren/Waring-like names Illinois, USA. Waring WG1a John Waring, father of Emanuel Waring, bap 4.Oct.1807 Dewsbury, W.Yorkshire, UK. FT NSW, Australia. Waring WG2a William Waring, b Lancashire, England; d Kilkenny, Ireland, will 1709 proved 1713. FT Jacksonville, Arkansas, USA. Waring WG3a Sampson Waring 1617-68, born in Shropshire, England, died in Maryland, USA. FT Memphis, Tennesse, USA. Waring WG4a Thomas Waring, Essex County, Virginia, USA, early 1700s. FT Cornwall, England. Wearing WEG1a Henry James Wearing, b Whitechapel, Middlesex, England 1828, d Nova Scotia 1909, son of James Wearing m Sarah Bignold 1824 St Mary, Whitechapel. FT Columbia. Wareing WREG1a Harry Wareing, b Gainsborough, Lincolnshire 1899 FT Suffolk, UK. Warren W1a James Warren, b 28.12.1716 Marnhull, Dorset FT Warren (VNFSM, 66386) W2a George Warren, England FT Warren (70059) W3a FT Each volunteer has been given a code (e.g. P1a, P2a, etc.) and the above table relates each code to an "earliest known ancestor" based on documentary evidence. Results for those marked with Status "OA" in the above table are summarised below under Initial Results. Those with Status "FT" have ordered testing kits from a different Testing Laboratory and are appearing under Futher Results.
Buccal (cheek cell) samples from the first 7 volunteers were tested by the Oxford Ancestors Testing Laboratory with the following results...
: DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS : 19 388 390 391 392 393 389i ii-i 425 426 Main Group : P1a : 14 12 24 11 12 13 10 16 12 12 P2a : 14 13 24 11 13 13 10 16 12 12 P2b : 14 12 24 11 13 13 10 16 12 12 P3a : 14 12 24 11 13 13 10 16 12 12 P5a : 14 12 24 11 13 13 10 16 12 12 PT1a : 14 12 24 11 13 13 10 16 12 12 Other : P4a : 16 13 26 11 11 14 09 16 12 11 The 6 sets of results in the Main Group are for 5 different branches that are known from documentary evidence to be unrelated for the past 200 or 300 years and from different parts of England and the USA. They include the name spelling Plantt (volunteer PT1a) as well as Plant. So far, all agree apart from single mutations for the volunteers P1a and P2a (marked in bold). Future plans include measuring more markers to find more differences between the various Plant branches and twigs. The volunteers P2a and P2b are thought to be of the same branch 250 years ago, despite the mutation for P2a. Poisson statistics suggest that each of the lines of P2a and P1a is likely to have diverged separately from those of the other 4 volunteers sometime around 250 to 1250 years ago. Measuring more markers will help to determine likely times of divergence more sharply.
So far, the modal haplotype for the Plant name includes the Atlantic Modal Haplotype (AMH), which is designated HT1.15 and which is found in surnames along the Atlantic coast in Europe. The haplotype HT1.15 is part of the haplogroup Hg1 (or more rarely Hg22), which is believed to have its origins in the Stone Age populations of Western Europe. HT1.15 is defined by just 6 markers, namely DYS 19, 388, 390, 391, 392, 393 with values (repeats) of 14, 12, 24, 11, 13, 13. This matches PT1a, P2b, P3a, P5a of the Plant results and is just 1 mutation away from P1a and P2a. The haplotype HT1.15 and single mutations from it are designated HT1.15+ and a recent paper reports that HT1.15+ was found in different proportions in different populations: 70% in Wales, 56% Basque, 44% Ireland, 41% Orkney, 38% Friesland, 18% Norway, 15% Turkey, 1% Syria. It should be noted however that these results are based on the measurement of just 6 Y-STRs. Indeed, if the Y-UEP called SRY-2627 is also measured, the Basque population is associated with Hg22 rather than Hg1. This appears to place Plant origins in Western Europe (rather than the Middle East for example). It is so far not known, however, whether the Plant modal haplogroup is Hg1 or the rarer Hg22 associated with Basques and Catalans. This may be of some relevance in as much as the name spelling Plante is clustered in Gascony neighbouring the Basques whereas the main Plant cluster neighbours Wales.
Using more of the Y-STR markers measured for Plant(e), the likelihood of a match is significantly reduced though a full 10 out of 10 matching is known to occur with PT1a, P2b, P3a, P5a for lines descending from George May (USA, VA in 1755), William Brooking (England, Devon in 1544), Dyson sample U ( England, Yorks), and Fairservice (Canada, SCO in 17th century). If many of the Plant results are found to be identical, it would always be possible in due course to try to divide them up into smaller groups by extending the number of Y-STR markers measured to 25 though there is currently an additional charge of 100 dollars for that (additional to the fee for the FT-DNA 12 marker test).
It can be noted, in particular, that it is surprising that different Plant(t)s from different regions of England and the USA have matched up so consistently so far. This almost certainly indicates an agnate (purely male-to-male) family connection between them in the past millennium or so.The result under Other is significantly different from the results for the Main Group of Plants and clearly has not arisen as a mutation from that group in recent times. It is also a rare result for the European population as a whole.
Only 7 of the tested markers can be compared with the YSTR results held in a European Database (DYS19, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS389i, DYS389ii-i). From the 9188 results held in that database, there are no matches with P4a, 26 matches of these 7 markers with P1a, and 539 with PT1a, P2a, P2b, P3a, P5a. These 7 markers indicate that the result under `Other' (P4a) is extremely rare. Using instead the 6 markers that define the AMH (which associates the Main Group of Plants with Celtic/Basque populations for example), the result for `Other' is 3 mutations away from a haplotype that is broadly associated with many Norwegians.
As 6 out of the 7 intial results for Plant matched (4 exactly and 2 within a single mutation), it seemed advantageous to measure more markers for each person in order to increase the chances of finding slight differences between different Plant branches.
Some of those tested at 10 marker positions have had 9 of these markers checked and a further 16 or 28 markers measured. Also, further volunteers have signed up for the 12-marker or 25-marker test offered by Family Tree DNA.The further results are compared with the earlier results in the following table - the Y-line signature obtained for the Main Group of Plants above is labeled below as PMH (for Plant Modal Haplotype).
DYS : PMH P1a P1b P1c P7a P7b P5a P12a P14a P20a P23a : P16a P21a : P18a P9a PR1a : P6a P8a P11a P13a P17a P19a P22a P24a 393 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 13 : 13 13 13 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 390 : 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 : 24 24 : 24 24 24 : 23 24 24 23 24 24 25 24 19/394 : 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 : 15 15 : 14 14 14 : 14 14 14 16 14 14 14 14 391 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 11 : 11 11 11 : 10 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 385a : 11 11 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 11 : 13 12 11 : 11 11 11 11 11 10 11 11 385b : 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 : 14 14 : 15 15 15 : 15 15 15 15 11 14 14 14 426 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 12 12 : 12 12 12 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 388 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 12 12 : 12 12 12 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 439 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 13 13 : 12 12 12 : 11 13 13 12 11 11 12 12 389-1 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 13 : 14 14 14 : 14 13 12 13 13 13 14 13 392 : 13 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 13 : 13 13 13 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 389-2 : 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 : 29 29 : 30 30 30 : 30 30 28 29 29 29 30 30 425 : 12 12 12 : : : 458 : 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 : 18 : 17 17 : 17 18 15 17 19 19 16 459a : 9 9 9 9 9 10 9 9 : 9 : 9 9 : 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 459b : 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 : 10 : 10 10 : 10 10 10 10 10 10 11 455 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 11 11 : 11 11 11 11 11 12 11 454 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 11 11 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 447 : 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 : 25 : 25 25 : 24 25 26 26 24 25 24 437 : 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 : 15 : 14 14 : 15 15 15 15 16 15 14 448 : 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 : 19 : 19 19 : 19 19 19 19 20 19 18 449 : 30 30 30 30 30 29 30 30 : 30 : 31 31 : 29 28 29 31 30 31 28 464a : 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 : 15 : 15 15 : 14 15 14 15 15 15 15 464b : 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 : 15 : 15 15 : 15 15 15 16 15 15 15 464c : 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 : 16 : 16 16 : 17 16 17 17 16 16 16 464d : 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 : 17 : 18 18 : 17 17 17 17 17 18 17 460 : 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 11 : 11 10 10 GATA H4 : 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 11 : 12 11 10 YCA IIa : 19 19 19 19 19 : 19 : 19 : 19 19 19 YCA IIb : 21 21 21 21 21 : 23 : 23 : 21 23 23 456 : 18 18 17 19 19 : 16 : 16 : 19 15 15 607 : 15 15 15 15 15 : 15 : 15 : 15 15 15 576 : 17 17 17 17 17 : 19 : 18 : 17 18 18 570 : 20 20 19 19 20 : 17 : 16 : 19 17 17 CDYa : 36 36 35 36 36 : 37 : 38 : 37 38 37 CDYb : 37 37 38 37 37 : 38 : 39 : 37 39 38 442 : 12 12 12 12 12 : 12 : 12 : 12 11 12 438 : 12 12 12 12 12 : 12 : 12 : 12 12 12 Note: the standard for evaluating the `464' alleles was readjusted in May 2003 and the values in the above table are corrected for this change.The further results, for the name spelling Plant, indicate that P1a, P1c, P5a and P23a match though they have each diverged, in their own ways, from the ancestral Plant signature which may be that kept by P7a and P1b. Also, P12a and P14a match at the 12 marker level.
The volunteer P1a is found to match the 25 markers measured for P7a apart from the single mutation (at DYS392) that had already been identified for P1a. Also P1c and P23a have different characteristic mutations. The previously tested P5a is found, in the 25 marker test, to have two characteristic mutations (at 459a and 449). For example, the single mutation for P1a (at DYS392) is not found for P1b which may mean either (a) they have not descended from the same common ancestor as was thought or (b) the mutation has occurred in the 6 generations since the common ancestor (there is an estimated 25% probability that one of the 25 markers would have mutated in this time).
The newly tested P7a and P7b are from branches related to the railway pioneer Henry Bradley Plant associated with `Plant City'; they match exactly the 25 marker modal haplotype for the English Plant family. Though P7b is a genetic distance of 5 from P1a and P1c at the 37 marker level, most of the difference is for quickly-changing markers and there remains a 90% probability that P1a (or P1c) and P7b are related within the last 25 generations which is in the timescale since when the Plant surname began. This illustrates the power of distiguishing between different branches of the Plant family by measuring the extra, quickly-changing markers beyond FT-DNA's first 25 markers.
Also, P14a, who descends from a Mayor of Wolverhapton, matches with the main English Plant family though only 12 markers have been measured for him.
The newly tested P6a, P8a, P9a, P11a, P13a, P17a, P18a, P22a and P24a are significantly different - some of these are not expected to be Plants by genetic male-line descent and the DNA results confirm this.
In particular however, there are two secondary groups of matches.
One secondary group of matches comprises P16a and P21a. Though these do not match the main Plant family and though their earliest known Plant ancestors are widely separated, at Birmingham in England and at Cork in Ireland, they match one another. There is a 91% probability that they belong to the same family within the past 24 generations.
Also, P18a, P9a and PR1a appear to form another secondary group of matches. There is a 98% chance that P9a and P18a are related in the past 24 generations; this is perhaps unsurprising in as much as both P9a and P18a hail from different ancestors in south Lincolnshire around 1800. More questionably, at the 12 marker level, P9a is just a genetic distance of 1 from PR1a, who is Spanish with the name Planter; this suggests that there is about a 67% chance that both of these could descend from the same family, perhaps a Spanish family called Planta for example, though further results to check this would be desirable.For P1a, P1b, P1c, P5a, P6a, P7a, P7b, P8a, P9a, P11a, P12a, P13a P14a, P17a, P18a, P19a, P20a and P23a, P24a it can be estimated that they have the haplogroup R1b1c now renamed R1b1b2. The measurements are of the haplotype, not the haplogroup, so this is only an estimate and, since R1b is a new name for Hg1, this corresponds with the previous estimate that the PMH corresponds with Hg1. It was initially conjectured that the haplogroup R1b (or Hg1) could have spread back from around Spain into Western Europe after the last Ice Age; but it is now conjectured that R1b1b2 migrated into Western Europe with Indo-European language from the the Maykop culture (3500-2500BC) which lay to the east of the Black Sea.
THE NAME SPELLINGS PLANTE AND PLANTS
The deep male-line ancestry of the main French-Canadian Plante family has been found by DNA testing to be E1b1b1a2 in contrast to R1b1b2a for the main English Plant family. The haplogroup E1b1b1a2 is otherwise known as E-V13 and it is believed to have originated in Greece about 9000 years ago before reaching northern France about 5500 years ago, whereafter the line of the main French-Canadian Plante family evidently migrated to Canada from La Rochelle in France nearly four hundred years ago.
Two of the results for descendants (PE1b and PE1c) of the emigrant from France to Canada are known, from the paper trail evidence, to be for descendants of two different sons of Jean Plante, who emigrated from La Rochelle to Quebec in 1647. It seems that there have been two mutations for PE1b from the modal 25 marker signature for the French-Canadian Plante family. Another four Plantes (PE1e, PE2a, PE3a and PE4a) from the USA are also exact or close matches. None of these, however, nor the Y-line signature of PE1a or PE1d matches with the results for the name spelling Plant (PMH).
Nor does a result for the name spelling Plants (PS1a) match to Plant or Plante; and, the deep male-line ancestry for PS1a is a rare one (I1 aka I-M253) that is scattered for example around northern France.
DYS : PMH : PE1b PE1c PE1e PE2a PE3a PE4a : PE1a PE1d PE5a : PS1a 393 : 13 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 13 13 : 13 390 : 24 : 24 24 24 24 24 24 : 24 23 24 : 22 19/394 : 14 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 17 15 14 : 14 391 : 11 : 10 10 10 10 10 11 : 10 11 11 : 11 385a : 11 : 16 16 16 16 16 16 : 15 11 11 : 13 385b : 14 : 18 18 18 18 18 18 : 16 14 14 : 14 426 : 12 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 12 12 : 11 388 : 12 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 13 12 12 : 15 439 : 11 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 13 12 13 : 12 389-1 : 13 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 14 13 : 12 392 : 13 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 13 13 : 11 389-2 : 29 : 30 30 30 30 30 30 : 30 30 29 : 28 458 : 18 : 16 15 15 15 15 : 17 : 15 459a : 9 : 9 9 9 9 9 : 9 : 8 459b : 10 : 9 9 9 9 9 : 10 : 9 455 : 11 : 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 8 454 : 11 : 11 11 11 11 11 : 11 : 11 447 : 25 : 26 26 26 26 26 : 25 : 23 437 : 16 : 14 14 14 14 14 : 15 : 16 448 : 20 : 19 19 19 19 19 : 19 : 20 449 : 30 : 35 34 34 34 34 : 30 : 28 464a : 15 : 14 14 14 14 14 : 14 : 12 464b : 15 : 16 16 16 16 16 : 15 : 14 464c : 16 : 16 16 16 16 16 : 15 : 15 464d : 16 : 18 18 18 18 18 : 16 : 15 460 : : 9 9 9 9 : 11 : GATA H4 : : 11 11 11 11 : 11 : YCA IIa : : 19 19 19 19 : 19 : YCA IIb : : 21 21 21 21 : 23 : 456 : : 17 17 17 17 : 16 : 607 : : 11 11 11 11 : 15 : 576 : : 16 17 17 16 : 18 : 570 : : 19 19 19 19 : 16 : CDYa : : 30 30 30 30 : 36 : CDYb : : 35 35 35 35 : 40 : 442 : : 11 11 11 11 : 13 : 438 : : 10 10 10 10 : 12 : Some results of Possible Relevance to Plantagenet
There are impediments to establishing a Y-DNA signature for Plantagenet, the name given to the late medieval kings of England. It is therefore necessary to use less direct methods to examine various possibilities of claimed male-line descent from them.
There have been some claims of connections to other names. For example, there have been claims of connections between the names Plantagenet, Plantt or Plant and between, for example, Plantagenet, Warren or Waring. It is hence relevant to compare the DNA signatures of such names, if only to disprove that they all match. Only if all of the columns in the table below matched would all of the claimed connections between the names be correct for the purely male-line.
The following table compares results for Plantt (PT1a, PT2a), for the Plant modal haplotype (PMH), and for Waring (WG) and Warren (W).
DYS : PT1a PT2a PMH WG3a W3a W2a : WG1a WG2a W1a WG4a 393 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 13 13 13 12 390 : 24 24 24 24 24 24 : 23 23 23 24 19 : 14 14 14 14 14 14 : 15 14 14 15 391 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 10 10 10 10 385a : 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 13 14 13 13 385b : 14 14 14 14 14 14 : 14 15 15 18 426 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 11 11 12 11 388 : 12 12 12 12 12 12 : 14 14 12 15 439 : 11 11 11 11 11 11 : 12 12 12 12 389-1 : 13 13 13 13 13 14 : 12 14 13 12 392 : 13 13 13 13 13 13 : 11 11 13 11 389-2 : 29 29 29 29 29 30 : 28 30 29 29 458 : 19 18 16 17 : 14 13 459a : 9 9 9 9 : 7 8 459b : 10 10 10 10 : 9 9 455 : 11 11 11 11 : 8 11 454 : 11 11 11 11 : 11 11 447 : 25 25 25 25 : 24 29 437 : 16 16 15 15 : 16 16 448 : 20 20 19 19 : 20 19 449 : 30 30 28 29 : 29 29 464a : 15 15 15 15 : 12 13 464b : 15 15 15 15 : 14 15 464c : 16 16 17 17 : 15 15 464d : 16 16 17 17 : 15 17 So far, there is a match between Plantt (PT1a and PT2a) and the most common Y-DNA signature for Plant (PMH). This indicates that the two names belong to the same male-line family.
When 25 markers are measured, about 1.5 mutatuations difference (30x25/500) can be expected between the PMH and the measurement for any volunteer descended from the same family about 30 generations ago. This is consistent with the genetic distance of one (at DYS458) from the PMH found for PT1a.Though the first 12 markers of one of the Waring volunteers (WG3a) were found to match exactly with the PMH, this turned out to be a false positive indication of a match - the extension of the measurements to 25 markers produced a genetic distance of 8 (i.e. definitely not a match of Plant(t) to this Waring). More recently, the 25 markers of a Warren volunteer (W3a) have been found to be just a genetic distance of 2 from this Waring (WG3a) which suggests, subject to confirmation from measuring still more markers, that this Warren might belong to the same male-line family as this Waring. There is also some documentary evidence to support the idea that the names Warren and Waring might sometimes be a corruption one of the other.
There is further a close match of another Warren volunteer (W2a) to Plant(t); both of the markers that are different are DYS389 markers and this corresponds with a genetic distance of 1 at the 12 marker level, indicating that this Warren is possibly related to the main Plant family. However, as for the Waring match, this really needs checking out at the 25 (or more) marker level. If this match held up when more markers were measured, it could serve as an indication that the Plants and this Warren (W2a) could be Plante Genest descendants sharing the Plantagenet Y-DNA signature.
Y-DNA test results are often clear cut; but, in some cases, it is appropriate to consider their statistical basis:
A characteristic Y-line DNA signature has been found for 15 of the 27 Plant volunteers tested so far and different results have been obtained for 1 volunteer called Plants and for 9 volunteers called Plante (though 6 of the 9 called Plante match one another). It is too early to draw firm conclusions for Plant-like names as a whole. However, an initial comment is that largely consistent results with at least half of the volunteers matching, such as has been found so far for Plant (and separately for Plante), can be considered to be expectable provided that one supposes each name, Plant and Plante, descended mostly from its own single family. The Canadian Plante family is of different male-line stock from the main English Plant family. Either might be imagined to have descended from a fictionally-supposed 7th century Plantard family in France; but, fiction aside, the main Plant family is likely just an English family from around 1200-1400; other evidence, taken with these Y-DNA findings, suggests that the name of the main English Plant family may have originated in the Welsh Marches in the 13th or 14th centuries and has the Welsh meaning `[many] children'.
A further preliminary comment is that the characteristic signature for Plant (so far) has been found to agree with one for Plantt. Plantt appears in early records in England and it is sometimes written Plantt. This might be thought to point to a possibility that Plant was an abbreviation of a French surname such as Plantinet (rare) or even Plantagenet (see also further details about Plantt). The Plantagenets can also be associated with Warren/Waring-like names (see also evidence for a Plant-Warenne affinity) but, so far, only one of the Warrens/Warings tested matches with the Plantt/Plant family. Indeed, further Warren results appear in the Y-search database; and, so far, few named Warren or Waring have matched any other Warren or Waring, such that it is beginning to look as though, unlike Plant(t), Warren and Waring are multiple-ancestor surnames, perhaps mostly descended from various individuals with the common Norman personal name Warin. There has been a close match of one Warren (W2a), at the twelve-marker level, to the main English Plant family; but, further evidence would be needed before it could be claimed that the Y-DNA signatures of this Warren and most Plants descend from the Y-DNA signature of the Plantagenets.
Grossly inconsistent results, unlike those found so far for Plant(t), could have been expected if there had been many false paternity events down the centuries or if there had originally been several different Plant families. The DNA results so far tend not to confirm such suppositions as ones that there were several different Plant families who happened to be called Plant simply because they were (a) all `gardeners' or (b) all influenced into calling themselves Plant out of respect for the Plantagenet name. It is possible of course that they all descend largely from one family that was so influenced, with other Plant lines having died out. Alternatively, however, the Plant name likely means `offspring' (the Welsh meaning, as can be expected for origins in the Welsh Marches) and that it orginated as the many children of a single (though unspecified) ancestral forefather. Another possibility that can not yet be discounted is that the English Plant name was sanitised from Plente (meaning abundant or fertile) - no DNA result is yet available for the surname Plenty which may have derived from Plente.
Further Y-line testing of Plant-like names, such as for the Plante family of Gascony (SW France), or the Plantard family of Brittany (NW France), or the noble Planta/Von Planta family of Switzerland, might shed further light. There is an unconfirmed possibility that two English Plants (P9a and P18a) from south Lincolnshire and a Spaniard named Planter (PR1a) might descend from a common ancestor with a Planta-like name.
The test involves the volunteer simply taking a swab of cells from the inside of his mouth. It is required that the testee should disclose in confidence to the Group his results, which have no genetic significance except that they relate to his male-to-male Y-chromosome ancestry. A summary of the results can then be published, with the personal names of each testee being kept anonymous.
The Plant Family History Group has offer prices with the FamilyTree-DNA (FT-DNA) Testing Laboratory. The standard FT-DNA test measures 12 markers for 99 US dollars, though 25 markers can be measured instead for 124 US dollars or 37 markers for 149 US dollars or 67 markers for 239 US dollars. You can take the 12-marker test and then subsequently upgrade to more markers if appropriate though measuring, for example, 37 markers can be beneficial in the long run.
Answers are available to some Frequently Asked Questions. There is also an active email discussion group on DNA genealogy.
If you are interested in participating in the Plant DNA Testing programme, you can either:
It would be helpful to the project if you could supply me with the earliest known male-to-male Plant ancestor of the intended testee and that ancestor's historical location.
- proceed straight to ordering a testing kit, by completing the on-line form obtained by clicking here; or,
- contact me, the project coordinator, Dr John S Plant.
You may send your message to me by whatever method you prefer..
(email: j.s.plant@keele.ac.uk or by postal address: Dr J.S.Plant, Computing, Finance and IT Directorate, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, England).Please include: your name; earliest known male-line ancestor; email address; and, any questions or comments.
Plant Name Distribution
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