Jefferson Surname: Y-DNA Haplogroup
Published genetics research or a documented case study links the surname Jefferson to a specific Y-DNA paternal-line haplogroup.
T-M184 (reported in 1998 as "K2"; modern ISOGG nomenclature T1a)
Clade T
Also spelled: (no widely documented alternate spellings)
Y-DNA of male-line descendants of Thomas Jefferson's uncle Field Jefferson matches the Y-DNA of Eston Hemings Jefferson's male-line descendants, supporting Jefferson's paternity of Sally Hemings' son. King et al. (2007) further showed 2 of 85 unrelated British men surnamed Jefferson independently carry the identical rare haplotype within this K2/haplogroup-T lineage, and that it is phylogenetically closest to an Egyptian K2 sample yet consistent with an ancient, rare indigenous European lineage.
Source: Foster EA, Jobling MA, Muniec PP, Roewer L, Tyler-Smith C, de Knijff P, et al. "Jefferson fathered slave's last child." Nature. 1998;396:27-28; King TE, Bowden GR, Balaresque PL, Adams SM, Shanks ME, Jobling MA. "Thomas Jefferson's Y chromosome belongs to a rare European lineage." Am J Phys Anthropol. 2007;132(4):584-589.
How to read this. A surname match means some people with that surname, in a specific study or family record, were found to share a haplogroup, most likely due to a shared patrilineal ancestor generations back. It is not proof that you personally carry that haplogroup: surnames change through adoption, remarriage, non-paternity events, and independent origin of the same name in different families. For your own confirmed haplogroup, test your DNA with our HaploAI Y-DNA/mtDNA predictor.
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