Cousin Steven Earl Hamilton - our Y-DNA Link.
Glen Hamilton
Cousin Cynthia Hamilton of Boston recently shared the obituary of our Hamilton cousin, Steven Earl Hamilton of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Cynthia Hamilton and Steven were close Hamilton cousins and good friends.
It was Steven's male Y-chromosome DNA primarily (along with other male cousins) that links us to the descendants of our colonial American emigrants, Thomas & Lydia (Wing) Hamilton. The genetic documentation in our DNA is the most conclusive record of common paternity that we have. Our Y-DNA evidence would stand up in court as proof positive in forensic DNA and even common paternity cases.
The male Y-chromosome (Y-DNA) is passed intact from father to son across the generations (hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands of years) with relatively few mutations. It is the father's unique gift of paternity to his sons. In cultures where surnames are also passed down from the father's side, Y-DNA is the perfect tool to trace common paternity linked to common surnames back hundreds of years or more.
Both Steven and a couple of his other male Hamilton Nova Scotia cousins, with Cynthia's sponsorship, had their Y-DNA tested with comprehensive 'walk the Y' SNP analysis that decodes the entire chromosome.
I also did two different complete 'walk the Y' Y-chromosome tests. As part of the Hamilton DNA Surname Project, we learned together that my Y-chromosome (which is essentially identical to all my living male Hamilton cousins and known Hamilton male ancestors) matches exactly with Steven's and his cousins'. We are unique among all known Hamilton families on the currently documented Human Genome in that we share a terminal haplogroup node, labeled I-Y14194. We also uniquely share some other key SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) markers. Our calculated estimated TMRCA (Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor) is between 330 and 350 years, which puts it in the lifetime of Thomas Hamilton, when his sons Thomas Jr. (born circa 1670) and Daniel (born in 1671) were born in Rhode Island (we are descended from one of those boys, likely Daniel).
Steven is descended from the younger son, Daniel, born 355 years ago. Additionally, genetic cousin Curtis Hamilton, the father of Courtney Flores in our group, is also a documented descendant of Daniel Hamilton through a different line of descent from Steven. Curtis also has the terminal haplogroup I-Y14194, which is totally unique to our American Hamilton family.
We will always be grateful to Cynthia, Steven, and their cousins who allowed their Y-DNA to be completely documented so that we could discover with absolute certainty who our American Hamilton immigrant family was and still is!
Steven's obituary and tribute wall:
https://www.sweenysfuneralhome.net/obituaries/Steven-Earl-Hamilton?obId=42525475
Photos
Steven Earl Hamilton (March 31, 1947 – May 12, 2025). Steven is our genetic Hamilton cousin whose DNA linked us to the American Hamilton colonial line of Thomas and Lydia (Wing) Hamilton. Chart of some of the members of the 'Group B' Hamiltons in the Hamilton Surname DNA Project who have taken advanced 'Walk the Y' Y-DNA decoding tests. The chart groups the participants by family back to our common originating male Hamilton ancestor, Sir James Hamilton, born circa 1390 in Scotland. The green highlights show the haplogroup Y14194 and the shared markers between cousin Cynthia Hamilton (through the test of her male Hamilton cousin, Steven Earl Hamilton) and me, Glen Hamilton. We are of the same American Hamilton family. AI creation of a t-shirt celebrating our American Hamilton family by sharing our surname, crest, and common identifying terminal haplogroup on the Y-DNA human genome tree. The letter I denotes that our family is a distant node in the main Haplogroup I tree. Haplogroup I was our main Ice Age and Stone Age European paternal DNA group. Y-DNA Haplogroup I is one of the oldest and most deeply rooted paternal lineages in Europe. Often referred to as the "native European" haplogroup, it is the only major Y-DNA haplogroup thought to have originated almost entirely within the European continent.