| It was once thought that Jacob
STROUP II (1771-1846) was a grandson of Jacob
STROUP I (1724-1804) through Jacob I's son, Adam
STROUP (1746-1835). DNA testing has now proven that the long-accepted
biological
connection between Jacob II and Adam cannot be correct.
Currently, we have tested three individuals with paper descents from
Jacob II. These individuals are all Haplogroup J2, and they are a
tight genetic match with each other, consistent with them having a near
common ancestor. Each descends from a different son of Jacob II,
so, logically, Jacob II must also have been J2. The other tested
descendants of Jacob STROUP I — and his great-grandfather, Martin
STRAUB (1616-1676), of Großgartach, Württemberg — are Haplogroup
I1, which means these individuals cannot have shared a common ancestor
with the descendants of Jacob II for tens of thousands of years.
There is strong paper evidence that Jacob II was a son of Adam (in a
deed, Jacob II gives his father's name as Adam), which leads us to a possible
scenario that, as Adam's eldest son on paper, he is probably the
child of a former marriage of Adam's wife, Catherine ALEXANDER. In
other words, Jacob II may be Adam's stepson. The fact that
these three J2 individuals have a strong DNA match (35/37) with an individual
surnamed BIDDLE suggests that Catherine's prior husband was a man surnamed
BIDDLE. With the goal of identifying this man, or at least of identifying
his family, I've started a BIDDLE
Y-DNA Surname Project. |
| We have also tested two patrilineal descendants of Adam STROUP who
do not descend through Jacob II. One descends on a line from Adam's
son, Joseph, and the other apparently descends through one of Adam's sons
who moved to Jefferson Co., MO. This individual is surnamed BELEW,
but has a 67/67 match with the modal haplotype for Jacob STROUP I.
So, like the descendants of Jacob STROUP II, this BELEW apparently has
an NPE (a "non-paternal event," i.e., a hidden adoption or illicit
paternity) in his lineage. We know this BELEW descends on some line
from Adam STROUP because of where these BELEWs are found: in Jefferson
Co., MO.
The only known STROUPs in early Jefferson Co., MO, were sons of Adam,
namely, Andrew, Peter, and possibly Henry. Peter's children are accounted
for, but Andrew's are not, so if the NPE is an adoption, it most likely
involves Andrew's orphans. If the NPE is an illicit paternity, then
any of the brothers or their sons could be involved. In the 1850
census of Jefferson County, we find Silas BELEW listed next to Harmon STROUP,
presumed to be one of Andrew's orphans. We continue to find these
BELEW and STROUP families associated in later censuses. We do not
know where in this BELEW's lineage the NPE occurred, so I would encourage
this BELEW to test a first cousin, then a second cousin, then a third cousin,
to determine the generation in which it occurred. To make this determination,
a mere 12-marker test will suffice (athough it's usually desirable to test
67 markers, for this determination only 12 markers are needed). |
