McGrew DNA Project

2009 Report

I.                   Member Growth

In 2009 we added 5 new McGrew and Megrue surnamed members and one descendant of James Nugent who joined our Project as a consequence of the similarity of his test results to our Macgruar/McGrew line.  We now have 26 Project members.

One of our new members is a known descendant of Robert McGrew through son John Robert (Kit 169646).  A second new member (Kit 162315) had a 25/25 match with the modal values for Robert’s line.  It is possible that this individual is descended from Alexander McGrew (1740-1821) who may be a son of Robert’s son William.

Another new member (Kit 149111) is in the Macgruar/McGrew line and is a known descendant of John (Flood) McGrew.  When this person’s test results matched the Macgruar line the ancestry of John (Flood) McGrew was finally proven.

We have a new Andrew McGrew/Megrue line with two members.  One (Kit 132939) was listed last year as an Individual member.  When a second known descendant of Andrew Megrue (Kit 161476) joined the Project and his results matched the first 37/37 the new line was established.  Our two members of this line are descended from different sons of their patriarch Andrew.

We also have a new line descended from Patrick McGrew who founded the Preston Co., WV, McGrew line. This descendant (Kit 168813) has a convincing paper trail back to Patrick.  This line appears to be another North West Irish line like Robert’s and Thomas’.  However this line’s results are sufficiently distinct from both of the others that no genealogically recent relationship among them is likely.  Additional testing of this line may shed light on its haplogroup designation.

II.                Robert McGrew’s Line

We now have 12 members in Robert’s line.  Six know their line back to Robert and one (mentioned above) may be descended from Robert’s son William.  I have been unable to determine any differences in marker values among the known descendants that can be used to identify the line of a particular son of Robert. 

The son of one of our members tested with the company 23 and Me.  His haplogroup was determined to be R1b1b2a1b5b which is consistent with the testing done by Family Tree.

III.             Thomas McGrew’s Line

We have four members in Thomas’ line although none have a paper trail that unambiguously ties them to Thomas.  A test kit is in the hands of a known descendant, and another known descendant who may be willing to submit a sample has been identified.

       IV.     Alexander McGrew/Macgruar’s Line

We now have five members in this line.  Four members have tested with Family Tree and one with EthnoAncestry of Edinburgh, Scotland.  One member had a Deep Clade R test done by Family Tree last year.  The test gave a haplogroup of  R1b1b2a1b5.  This haplogroup is older than Robert’s descendants.  The test done by EthnoAncestry revealed that this line is descended from the Pretani (Britanni) who were the original inhabitants of the British Isles.

V.                 Andrew McGrew/Megrue’s Line

This line was identified last year when a second member joined the Project.  Interestingly our two members have identical 37 marker test results.  This line is Norse Viking.  Andrew McGrew/Megrue was born in or near Baltimore about 1760.  Nothing is known of his parents. He married Hannah Rust about 1784.  In 1806 he and his family moved to Clermont Co., OH.  About that time he changed his name to Megrue reportedly so people wouldn't think he was Irish.  Some of his sons kept the McGrew name while others used Megrue.  One of our Project members is surnamed McGrew while the other is a Megrue.

VI.              Patrick McGrew’s Line

This is our newest line.  It is probably North West Irish like Robert and Thomas.  A Deep Clade R haplogroup test would provide proof of this origin.  These three lines show just enough marker differences to be in the Probably Not Related category.  However, based on calculations that I have done, I think it is possible that these lines could have a common ancestor 800-1000 years ago. 

Patrick McGrew was born about 1751 in Cumberland CO., PA.  Nothing certain is known about his father.  Patrick was probably a veteran of the Revolutionary War.  About 1778 he married Martha Welsh or Welch.  About 1786 he and his family moved to Brandonville, Preston Co., WV.  Some of his descendants remain on the original property

                                                                                            25 Marker Table For All Project Members

                                            Red  = Descendants of Robert McGrew                                   Blue = Descendants of Thomas McGrew  

                                            Green = Descendants of Alexander MacGruar/McGrew          Brown = Descendants of Andrew Megrue/McGrew

                                            Violet = Descendants of Patrick McGrew                                 Black = Individual Lines

V.                 The Future

I remain hopeful that if more members of Robert’s line extend their test results to 67 markers it will be possible to identify markers that can distinguish among the lines of Robert’s sons.  Thomas’ line needs a test result from a known descendant.  Alexander’s line seems to be as well defined as possible using current DNA technology.  Deep Clade R tests might reveal interesting information about both Andrew‘s and Patrick’s lines.

If each Project member donated $10 to the Project Fund we would have sufficient funds to carry out some of the testing mentioned above.

                 ---------------------------------------------------------

                        John G. McGrew

                        mcgrewjg@email.com