DEMAREST ANCESTRY

French Huguenot ancestor David Demarest was born in 1620, married in Zeeland Province Netherlands, & settled in Bergen County, New Jersey.  His son Jean was our ancestor. A Demarest descendant has provided a yDNA sample which falls into Haplogroup J1. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J-M267    

Here is the Demarest House Museum, with some of the Demarest history: www.bergencountyhistory.org/Pages/demaresthse.html  In the past there has been a Demarest Family Association, but this does not appear to be currently active. In view of the impressive track-record of genetic genealogy regarding major modifications (and myth-debunking) of several traditional accounts of genealogy and history, one should be very cautious about acceptance of reports of Demarest deep ancestry, crusades, links to royalty, etc. Non-Paternity Events might occur at about 2% per generation. Reports tying our David Demarest to Baldwin I Des Marets (1074 - 1140) “Ain’t necessarily so”.

Jean Demarest (b. 1645) & Jacquemine DeRuine were Gary’s 7th great-grandparents. Some people also descending from this Jean Demarest are among Gary’s autosomal DNA matches in the Family Tree DNA database. There appears to be no other ancestry which can account for these atDNA matches other than Demarest, despite the very long generational reach. The total of chromosomal shared segments with each of these matching persons suggests that common ancestries more recent, so a quest will continue for alternate explanations.  Generally, I have noted substantial cousins’ intermarriages among my Dutch/French Huguenot kinfolk, which might extend the reach of atDNA. Demarest connections to my Van Voorhees kin are quite extensive.

In Gary’s Muffley tree, Jean Demarest is at http://person.ancestry.com/tree/64174501/person/32528171900/facts  My descent from Jean Demarest is à Leah Jansen Demarest (b. 1682; m. Abraham Pieterse Brouwer) à Daniel  Brouwer Sr. (b. 1719; m. Marijtje "Mary" Koning) à Daniel Brewer Jr. (b. 1768; m. Maria "Mary" Voorhees) à Christiana "Tina"  Brewer (b. 1798; m. Johannes "John"  Williamson) à Margaret  Williamson (b. 1835; m. John Skinner McCreary) à Emma Jane McCreary (b. 1862; m. Joseph Pierce Muffley) à Albert Harold "Bert" Muffley (b. 1885; m. Edna Una Jagger) à Robert Pierce Muffley (b. 1911; m. Frances Christine Lindstrom) à Gary.

Jean Demarest is in this Novak-Tuschman tree: http://person.ancestry.com/tree/48882514/person/12941923407/facts  Gary’s atDNA matches include this tree author and 3 other people who report Demarest ancestry. These are among 11 people who match Gary on Chromosome 9. Most of these people do not report enough ancestral information to be able to integrate the overall picture. The graphing tool from https://dnagen.net/  places these Chromosome 9 matches into 3 clusters, and adds to each cluster some people who are Gary’s matches via other chromosomes. Our working assumption is that these 3 groups of people represent the largest groups of Gary’s Dutch/French Huguenot cousins to date in the FTDNA database. Bogart ancestry also enters into this mix. A brother of Leah Jansen Demarest Brouwer was Peter Demarest (b. 1683). Peter was the ancestor of Gary’s Australian correspondent Greg.

This site https://sites.google.com/site/adambrouwerdna/pedigrees reports on the yDNA of my ancestor Adam Brouwer (b. 1620). Search at this site for Kits # 30185 & 55150, who have provided Brouwer yDNA samples. These guys also descend from Leah Demerest Brouwer. Autosomal DNA from either, or both, of these men should match me, barring chromosomal shared-segment dropout.