Helton Family DNA Project

The identities of our Helton ancestors beyond my 4g-grandfather, Arnold Helton (~1764-1829), have always been a mystery. I've heard conflicting stories and have even published information at this web site which has turned out to be inaccurate, or unverifiable. The advent of DNA testing promises to make resolution of such mysteries more likely. This is an e-mail I received from cousin Rob Young, also a descendant of Arnold Helton, which explores some of the recent DNA developments:

4 Feb 2010

...It's going to be almost an impossibility to go back farther than Arnold. Maybe one more generation, but after that, it's going to be tough.

A cousin of mine/ours donated DNA to the Helton DNA project and it turns out that we are from Haplogroup I, I2b1 to be exact. This Haplogroup is consistent with other Indiana Heltons. Haplogroups are broad brush DNA pools that can be traced on the Y-chromosome which is passed from father to son. Only father to son. It remains constant throughout history, so it's easy to trace it back for thousands of years.

It basically differentiates different groups of people who became genetically different after leaving Africa. The genetic mutations (not used in a negative way) were confined to local areas due to the last ice age. Once the ice retreated, the groups independently moved north to populate Northern Europe. This is shown in the images below, including the Haplogroup movement on the bottom one.

The most interesting thing is that DNA doesn't lie. Many people try to tie the Indiana Heltons into the Peter Helton line. But, the Helton DNA project has rejected that. The Peter line/Georgia Helton line is from Haplogroup R1b (you can see that Haplogroup's totally different migration pattern on the image below). That is a totally different Haplogroup and therefore it is improbable that my Indiana Helton line comes from Peter. It is genetically improbable. I see that a few people in the info you sent me claim that (Katy Owl and Charity Helton are mentioned). They are scientifically proven to be wrong. That is why the DNA project is so important. No ancestors of Arnold Helton have been found in Georgia from a DNA standpoint.

So, many Helton/Hilton/Hylton families all lived in the UK and the Isles, after taking different routes there, but some were from different historic gene pools...

I'd love to hear any comments on the above.

Thanks - Rob

After I posted his message here, Rob commented further:

9 Feb 2010

Great. I would love to see how we could get other male Heltons to be tested, particularly those that stayed in their local areas. That way we could trace the DNA path through America.

Richard Helton, the grandfather of Peter Helton, arrived in Virginia in 1619. There was an established town in the Jamestown area which is probably where he arrived. We are pretty sure this isn't our guy.

But, there are also records from the Hylton castle in England that give proof that William Hilton crossed the Atlantic to Massachusetts in the Ship Fortune in July 1621 in a rescue effort to save the dying Pilgrims. William Hilton is supposedly of Haplogroup I, ours.

So, we either came the same way as Richard, to Virginia, or arrived in the Northeast and worked our way down which was common at the time.

DNA might help.

One prominent male Helton who comes to mind is Todd Helton, first baseman of the Colorado Rockies, who was born in Knoxville, TN, not far from Sullivan county, where my 3g-grandfather was born. Could somebody persuade Todd to be tested?