Y-Chromosome DNA and the Griffith Line

Y-CHROMOSOME DNA AND THE GRIFFITH LINE

DNA Double Helix

This page provides an outline of the descendants who have inherited the Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) from Robert Griffith (1854-1913), Thomas Griffith (1819-1893), Thomas Griffith (1788-1864), and William Griffith (1760-?) of Bangor, Caernarvonshire and some information on the family. Griffiths may be a variant of the spelling for your relatives.

Hopefully this will help with your genetic genealogy research. See also Lines of Interest for Where I Can Help You, Genetic Genealogy, and Do You Have the Right DNA?

See also Genome Coverage of Griffith-Hughes Line for a chromosome map.

My father has undergone Y-DNA (67-marker) testing and BigY at Family Tree DNA and his haplogroup of our Griffith line is:

R-Z225

R-Z225 is the actual terminal SNP. Before BigY his predicted haplogroup was R-P312 (?R1b1a1a1a1a). Note that before the change in Family Tree DNA's Y-tree on 25 Apr 2014, the haplogroup was shown as R-M269 (R1b1a2*).

R1b1 is the most predominant paternal haplogroup in Europe, and in Wales the frequency is >90%. See Haplogroup R1b on Wikipedia for more information and distribution maps and Y-DNA Haplogroup R and its Subclades from ISOGG. If you may be related to this line, you would need to have STR (short tandem repeat) testing to see if there is a match and I would recommend this is done at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), using a minimum of Y-DNA (37 markers). The standard cost for this is $169, but if you belong to a FTDNA Project (no charge), the cost is $149 – Contact Me if you may be related and you can join my project, and you can also join as many other projects as you wish. See How Much? for the costs during various previous sales – the cheapest I've seen in the past was $119 for Y-DNA37 and $189 for Y-DNA69.

Background on my Griffith Ancestors

The Griffith family comes from Bangor, Caernarvonshire. My great-grandfather, Robert Griffith (1854-1913) followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather and became a slater and plasterer, although he became blind in his 30's. His daughter, Mary Ellen "Nell" Foster (née Griffith; 1889-1978) said it was because of a problem with his optic nerves. He then learned the craft of mat-making from the School of the Blind in Liverpool and this is where he may have met his future wife, Elizabeth Hughes (1851-1934), who had moved to Liverpool from Holyhead, Anglesey when she was a child.

One of the little mysteries of the family is how Thomas Griffith (Jr.) had sufficient money to buy a terrace of 6 rather splendid houses in Upper Bangor (1 to 6 Mountain View; see right), as he and his family lived in a small house at 25 Albert Street, Upper Bangor (above left). His Will showed he owned multiple houses in Albert Street. Thomas bought (or built?) the Mountain View houses for son Robert, so Robert could make a living letting out the properties for rent – his blindness prevented him from continuing to be a plasterer and an income from mat-making was unlikely to support his family. The Mountain View houses have now lost much of their former glory and have been converted into student flats.

Robert Griffith and his wife Elizabeth had 4 children: Mary Ellen ("Nell"), Jane Catherine, Owen Thomas, and Elizabeth Christina (who everyone called "Flossie" – and her nephews and nieces referred to her behind her back as "Bossy Flossie" or "Auntie Bossy" for obvious reason!). Nell, Jane, and Owen were born in Liverpool and the family must have moved back to Bangor by 1897, when Flossie was born. The 1901 census shows them living at 1 Mountain View, Bangor with all 4 of their children, with Robert having the occupation as a mat-maker. On the 1911 Census they were still at 1 Mountain View with the 3 youngest children (Nell was married by then). Four of Elizabeth's nieces/nephews were also living with them in 1911: Mary Elizabeth, Hugh Herbert, Gladys Jane, and George Hutton Trail. Robert and Elizabeth Griffith brought up 5 of the 6 surviving Trail children after their parents, Jane née Hughes (~1863-1901) and James Trail (~1863-1901), died within a few months of each other. The 6th Trail child, Dillys Margaret Trail (1901-1983), was adopted as a baby by the Spooner family, who were neighbours of the Trails on the 1891 and 1901 Censuses. Dillys married Walter Hollinghurst (1901-1971). If you are a grandchild of any of the Trail children, then I'm your 3rd cousin – do Contact Me.

Owen Thomas Griffith (1892-1951) was my paternal grandfather and he was a grocer. He served in the cavalry in the First World War. In 1918, about a month before the official end of the war, he married my grandmother, Florence Louise Corlett (1880-1945), in London. She was 12 years his senior, although it seems as though she may have hidden her true age from Owen and made out she was a little younger, presumably because of the age difference. Around 1920 they moved to Birkenhead, Cheshire, where Owen had a grocer's shop.

Menai Straits Suspension Bridge, connecting Bangor on the mainland to Anglesey (image under a Creative Commons license – no attribution provided)

Owen Thomas Griffith (1892-1951), ~1917

IMAGE DETAILS (DNA Double Helix): This work has been released into the public domain by its author, Apers0n at the English Wikipedia project. This applies worldwide. This image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the National Institutes of Health.

Page updated 10 August 2014