Chapter 8

Research Director:
Jim Light

Understanding Group 8 Chandler Lineages

Here is a snip from the Genetic Chandler Families page.

Since you are a member of CFA Chapter 8 you. or a close male relative of yours with the surname of Chandler and a Chandler Lineage. have taken a Y-DNA test and discovered that your Chandler ancestry is in genetic Group 8.  I hear questions from time to time concerning (doubting?) your inclusion in this group, and also questions about the sub-groups I have created within Chapter 8.  Please be assured that if you or your relative did a Y-DNA test and it resulted in assigning you to Group 8, you are indeed in Group 8.  The additional assignment with Chapter 8 to one of the sub-Groups 8A through 8G is purely my doing so that I (and I hope you) can get a better understanding of the lineages we have for our Chapter 8 members.  If you can suggest to me a better way to organize this material, I will be happy to discuss it with you.

A major purpose of this page is to help you understand Chapter 8 Lineages better.

Sub-Groups 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8F, and 8G all have lineages in the USA; Group 8E does not.  None of the USA sub-groups know who the Chandler was that emigrated to the USA and established our roots here.  We are exploring the idea that William Chandler who arrived in Virginia in 1638 aboard The William might be that person.

The sub-groups have some commonalities within them, but not between them.  Groups 8A, 8B, and 8C all descend from a single Chandler ancestor.  Group 8D has not yet identified the Chandler patriarch from whom they descend.  Group 8E knows its ancestors in England already; it is from this group that we believe our Chapter 8 Chandler ancestors originate in Leicestershire.  Group 8F has a variety of Earliest Known Chandler Ancestors (EKA), i.e., we currently cannot link them to a single Chandler ancestor, nor to any of the other subgroups. 

Group 8G all are linked via genealogy research to Isaac Chandler (1732 VA-1797 TN), who is in Group 7A.  Isaac Chandler has other descendants who have Y-DNA test validated his inclusion in Group 7A.  Isaac has recorded sons with the same names as these Chandlers (George, Thomas, and Daniel), but to my knowledge, there is no compelling source data that says these men are the same men in Isaac’s household.  Clearly, Isaac is not their biological father.  We are going to cease attempting to establish links between the sons of Isaac and Group 8.  We DO need to find biological parents for our Group 8 EKAs, whether Isaac “adopted” these children, or not.

One benefit of preparing this paper is that I identified that the EKA of testee 889746 in Group 8F MIGHT BE a son of Robert Chandler (1775-1848) in Group 8A.  Jackie Cahoon did the original research on for the 8A line, and she has confirmed that Joseph Chandler (1829-) is indeed the same person she had recorded as one of the sons of Robert Chandler (1775-1848).  So, one mystery solved!

Consider the table below.  It is organized by the kit-numbers of those who have tested into Group 8.  You can find this same list of kit-numbers on the CFA Website in the Y-DNA results report.  For each testee, we have a Chandler lineage.  The earliest known Chandler in that lineage (EKA) is identified in the table, along with where he was born, and where he died, if known.  I have also listed sons of the EKA where we have testee’s who descend from different sons of the EKA.  Having more than one line of descent resulting in the same Y-DNA test result provides corroboration of the DNA of the EKA.  In the case of the Rev. John Chandler (8B), he only had one son, Horatio, so the corroboration was accomplished by having two different grandsons’ descendants tested.  Similarly, two of the testee’s in Group 8G descend from George Chandler’s son James, so included are George’s grandson’s which corroborates James DNA.

Please let Jim know if this report has been helpful to you, and also let Jim know if you have any additional ideas to further our research.