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Sue Simonich's Newberry Surname DNA Project
Mission Statement:
Newberry Family DNA Project
World Mapping and Research
First known as de Novo Burgo, de Newburgh, then simply Newberry; this armigerous family has galloped through the mists of time conjuring images of barons, knights, gentlemen and Lords of the Manor. William the Conqueror established their principal range at Poorstock, then at Winfrith in county Dorset, England. They were known as pious servants of God from earliest times. In the 1600’s they began spreading their influence to the New World.
The earliest known members of this family arrived in New England circa 1634-45. Their names were Thomas and Richard Newberry and lived within walking distance of one another, but nothing is known of their familial connections.
Initially, the goal of this DNA study was to determine the relationships between these two colonials. Currently, the study has expanded to include immigrants who arrived prior to the American Revolution. Ultimately, we trust the study will connect disparate lines both in England and America, providing answers to long asked questions of hereditary relationships.
Special Note from Sue Simonich, Feb. 2012
Sue Simonich, Project Administrator
Newsletters
Newberry Family DNA Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 1 (312 KB)
October 2011 Memo from Sue Simonich
Memorandum: Newburgh/Newberry/Newburgh researchers
From: Sue Simonich, Administrator Newberry Surname Project
The following report, comparing the DNA of two New England 17th century Colonial Planters in Massachusetts is the culmination of several years of work.The goal of the project was to determine the relationship, if any, between Thomas Newberry b. 1594 and Richard Newbury b. circa 1609, who for many years were thought to have been related by generations of genealogists. Now, in the 21st century, with the help of modern science, we find via DNA collected from individuals who believe they are directly descended from both gentlemen - there was no familial connection in their English lines. Participant eligibility for this DNA project is based solely upon personal research done by said test participants. Neither the Newberry Surname Project Administrator, nor DNA Consultants bear responsibility for the veracity of any participant’s research. All tests are confidential.
Thomas and Richard Newbury
April 2011 Update: DNA testing for an American Newberry family
In 2003 and 2009, DNA tests were conducted on two separate individuals from James Newberry's families to see if the markers were the same. This type of test (YDNA) is done on males descended from father to son, from the person in question - in this case JAMES NEWBERRY b. 1791, Warwick, N.Y.
To help us determine the family's DNA, a gentleman descended from James Newberry and his second wife Elizabeth Haskins, agreed to take the test in 2003. At that time the tests showed Siberian and Polynesian markers which had not yet been defined as Native American by the scientific community. New categories for Native Americans were added to the knowledge base between 2003 and 2009, thus giving us identical, but more detailed results for the 2009 test. The scientific DNA databases continue to evolve as more people test worldwide.
In 2009 another member of the family descended from James Newberry through his first wife Mary Smith, agreed to be tested. The labs associated with DNA Consultants in Phoenix were used for this test, as they had developed a more sensitive/accurate test, and could read more markers. Comparing both tests, the markers were identical with the test done in 2003. The only difference was new indigenous markers had been identified and confirmed since the first test was done, i.e. those relating to the Siberian and Polynesian markers. The markers indicated in the 2009 test finally ratified a Southern tribe (Cherokee), and a Great Lakes tribe (Iroquois confederacy).
These tests prove the supposed "family fables" written or passed down orally by many Newberry and Morris family members over the past one hundred years. Empirical evidence (a patriarchal blessing) previously given by none other than the LDS Prophet Joseph Smith's brother (Hyrum Smith), documented James Newberry's Native American ethnicity back in the 1840s. Now we have scientific proof.
At least four of his five wives were also Native American. Mary Smith, Nancy Brown, (DNA tested in 2010) Elizabeth Haskins (Wampanoag tribe) and Amanda_____ (unknown).
Some information about the beginnings of the Newburgh/Beaumont lines for discussion.
Bartlett states . . .
"Robert De Beaumont b. abt. 1040 accompanied William the Conqueror in the invasion of England in 1066, and having greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Hastings was rewarded with vast possessions in England, receiving ninety-one great lordships or manors, mostly in Warwickshire. Upon the death of his mother in 1081 he became Comte de Meullant in France, abt. 1107 and was probably created Earl of Leicester in England by King Henry Henry I. He d. June 1118, aged nearly eighty years."
[extracted from J. Gardner Bartlett.]
"His brother, Henry De Newburgh (named for the castle of Neubourg in Normandy) b. 1045, ancestor of the Newberry family, even though his father's name was Beaumont. The rest of the family retained the De Beaumont name, but Henry broke off and used the Newburgh name in honor of the castle where he was born in Normandy."
Sir Anthony Wagner, who was an eminent English historian and genealogist, writes the following regarding Beaumont lines in England. It appears that some of them broke off heading into the Holy Land. But Wagner discusses the English lines, which are probably associated with Henry De Newburgh somehow.
"It was only in the age of chivalry [says Gibbon] that valour could ascend from a private station to the thrones of Jerusalem and Constantinople. The titular kingdom of Jerusalem had devolved to Mary, daughter of Isabella, and Conrad of Montferrat, and the grand-daughter of Almeric or Amaury [King of Jerusalem]. She was given to John of Brienne, of a noble family in Chamagne, by the public voice, and the judgment of Philip Augustus, who name him as the most worth champion of the Holy Land. In the fifth crusade he led a hundred thousand Latin’s to the conquest of Egypt; by him the siege of Damietta was achieved." [from Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ed. Bury, vi. 432.]
Wagner continues, "His kingdom in Palestine never in fact extended far beyond the walls of Acre and Tyre and in 1223 he left it. He then became commander in chief of the papal army but in 1229 was elected Latin Emperor of Constantinople for life.The Elder line of the house of Brienne had further links with the Latin East through John's nephew Walter, Count of Jaffa, and his grandson Walter, Duke of Athens, killed at the battle of the Cephissus in 1311. John himself by Berengaria daughter of Alfonso IX King of Leon and aunt of Edward I's Queen Eleanor of Castile had a younger son Louis who became Vicomte of Beaumont in Maine in right of his wife Agnes de Beaumont. Their younger son HENRY DE BEAUMONT (died 1340) came to England and served with distinction in the wars of the first three Edwards. He obtained the Scottish earldom of Buchan by marriage with its heiress and a different times was Lord of the Isle of Man, Constable of England and Justiciar of Scotland. His brother Louis de Beaumont (d. 1333), became Bishop of Durham."
[This of course, is not the Henry shown in our line as he was much earlier, however, I must leave it to the professional historians to help us figure out how they connect, though I am sure that they do.]
"Henry's descendants lost his Scottish earldom but were Lords Beaumont in England till their senior male line ended in 1507. John 4th Lord Beaumont (d. 1396), Henry's great-grandson, had however, a younger son Thomas whose line, long seated at Cole Orton in Leicestershire, has continued to this day. Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th baronet (d. 1827) was known as the friend and patron of painters and poets, among them Wordsworth and Coleridge. From a young branch sprang Francis Beaumont (1616) the Jacobean dramatist and collaborator with John Fletcher. The present Sir George Beaumont is thirty first in descent from Count Engelbert I."
All the above information appears on page 43-45, in English Genealogy, by Sir Anthony Wagner.
The following is from page 66 of Wagner. He discusses more of the Norman ancestry, and ties it to the counts of Brionne.
"If Robert de Neubourgh, who held Winfrith Newburgh, Dorset, about 1130 could have been identified, as Hutchins thought he could, with his namesake the son of Henry Earl of Warwick, a family of Newbery, Newberry or Newbury, widespread today on the Devon and Dorset border, perhaps with a branch in New England, might possibly be derived from Thorold, lord of Pont-Audenmer, [Torf's son, Touroude, Sire Du Ponteaudemer?] a follower of Duke Richard I of Normandy (d. 996). This identification has, however, been disproved. From Robert of Winfrith to the seventeenth century the line appears clear and Dorset wills and modern directories show the name continuing in the same places. The derivation from this line of Thomas Newberry (1594-1635) the 1634 settler at Dorchester, MA, which has been suggested seems incorrect, yet he may descend from it somehow."