The Hauser – Hooser – Houser – Hoosier Family DNA Project

April 2014 Update

On 4 November 2002, the results arrived for genealogical DNA tests, arranged for the author and for his fifth cousin, twice removed, John Archie Hooser. The tests were arranged by then president of the Hauser – Hooser – Houser – Hoosier Family Association, Paul H. Bardell, Jr., Ph. D. The test reports showed a perfect match – at all 12 out of the 12 markers tested on the Y-chromosome – between these two members of the same family. The former is a male, unbroken direct-line descendant from the immigrant Martin Hauser, Sr., via his son, Martin Hauser, Jr.; and the latter is a male, unbroken direct-line descendant from the same Martin Hauser, Sr., via his son, Jacob Hauser, Sr. (who was the twin of Martin Hauser, Jr.). These perfectly matching results show that our Hauser/Hooser family genealogical records are trustworthy. Martin Hauser, Sr. is, indeed, the common ancestor for both the author and John Archie Hooser.

The Y-chromosome Allele DNA test was performed by the firm, Family Tree DNA, Inc. of Houston, Texas, which has a web site at http://www.familytreedna.com. This beginning has grown into today’s Hauser/Hooser family surname project hosted by the same firm.

Testing of Descendants of Martin Hauser, Sr (1696-1761)

Fourteen further Hauser/Hooser family members have been tested as the years have passed. They are:

1. Dale Robert Hauser
2. Frank Hill Hooser, Jr.
3. Michael Lee Hauser, Sr.
4. Charlie Brady “Brady” Hauser (deceased)
5. Daniel Eugene Hauser
6. Herbert Howard Hauser (deceased)
7. Dr. Brian Paul Hauser
8. Jerry David Hooser
9. Donald Bedney Hooser, Jr.
10. Clifton Wallace “Wally” Hooser
11. Walter George Hooser
12. Lafayette Allen “Lafe” Hooser
13. Wayne Thomas Hauser (deceased)
14. Cecil Everett Hauser, Sr.

These individuals descend in individual direct paternal lines from four of the six sons who lived to maturity of our immigrant ancestor, Martin Hauser, Sr. In descending birth-date order among these four sons, four of our test subjects descend from George, Sr.; three descend from Michael, Sr., one descends from Martin, Jr., seven descend from Jacob, Sr., and one descends from George Peter, Sr. There are no known direct-line male descendents of Daniel Sr. who were born after the very early 1800s. That rules out Daniel.

Over the years, the Y-DNA tests have been extended to greater resolution. From the beginning with 12-marker tests, the tests have been extended twice (as far as the matters which are discussed in this article are concerned) first to 25 markers; and then to 37 markers. We have been able to learn four main facts about the Hauser/Hooser family as a result of all this Y-DNA testing.

Haplotype

First, the family’s fingerprint of test results (haplotype) has been definitively determined to a resolution of 37 markers. That is, the test results (allele – or repetition – values at each marker) perfectly match at 25 of the 37 markers for six of the fifteen test subjects who descend in varied ways from all four sons. (One of these six test subjects differs from the Hauser family haplotype by one repetition at a single marker in the range of markers 26 to 37.)  The other nine test subjects also all exhibit one marker where their test results differ by one repetition at a single marker. These differences are to be expected as generations pass and are called “random mutations.” These repetition differences of +/-1 do not destroy family structure where surnames are shared and the genealogy is known.

The allele values for the Hauser/Hooser haplotype (out to 37 markers) are as follows:

Red River John Hauser

Second, the identity of a Hauser/Hooser ancestor known as “Red River John” has been determined. A significant number of family members from Texas can trace their ancestry back to an early pioneer in northern Texas along the Red River known as Red River John Hooser/Houser/Hauser. His ancestry and his tie into the family were unknown, however. Three of his descendants underwent Y-DNA testing and their test results returned an allele value of 13 at marker 393, rather than the expected value of 14.

Evidently a random mutation had occurred at this marker which (statistically, according to the experts) did not mutate very quickly as the generations passed. The question became: Could we pinpoint where in the family’s genealogy this relatively rare mutation occurred? The answer to this question turned out to be “Yes!”

Here’s how it was done. The breakthrough came with the testing of Lafayette Allen “Lafe” Hooser. Lafe’s genealogy was known and it did not include descent from Red River John, but nevertheless his test results still returned the mutation value of 13 at marker 393. All four of the test subjects with this mutation value at marker 393 descended from Jacob, Sr. and, in turn, from his eldest son, Jacob, Jr. But there the common ancestry ended. Lafe descended from Jacob, Jr.’s second son, William. The question became: Did Jacob, Jr. have another son who could be Red River John, the ancestor of the other three test subjects with the mutation value at marker 393? The answer to this question was “Yes.” Jacob, Jr.’s eldest son was named John (b. 1792) of whom, at the time, nothing further was known. (This John had disappeared from the traditional family histories.) He was the right age to have gone from Surry County, North Carolina, to Tennessee and on to Red River County, Texas. More to the point this young John was carrying the same DNA mutation in the Y-chromosome that he and his brother, William, received from their father, Jacob, Jr. (Three other test subjects who were not in the set of four we have just been discussing and who descended from Jacob, Sr. – but not from Jacob, Jr. – did not carry the random mutation at marker 393.) Mystery solved! The mutation at marker 393 occurred at the conception of Jacob Hauser, Jr. and was passed down intact to his sonsRed River John (b. 1792) and William (b. 1794) and then to their descendants.

DYS 449 Variation

Third, three other statistically more common random mutations have been identified which have occurred among Hauser family males, but without disturbing their known family ties. These three mutations all have occurred at marker 449 (in the 25-marker test results). This marker is known to researchers as a site on the Y-chromosome where frequent mutations occur as generations pass. Two test subjects have returned allele values of 34 at this marker, rather than the expected haplotype value of 33. One of these subjects descends from George, Sr., and the other descends from Jacob, Sr. Exactly where in the family line of descent these two different mutations occurred has not been determined.  The third mutation at this same marker was found among the test results for yet another test subject: He returned an allele value at this same marker of 32, rather than the expected haplotype value of 33. This last subject is a descendant of Jacob, Sr. and, like the previous two subjects, it has not been determined exactly where in the family history this last mutation occurred.

The concept called “genetic distance” is the cumulative number of differences in allele values obtained when quantitatively comparing one set of test results with another. To have a family haplotype defined to the extent that there are seven perfect matches (genetic distance of zero) and nine subjects who match within one at a single marker (genetic distances of +/-1) translates to a very well-defined family haplotype (see the details given above).

SNP Haplogroup

Finally, there is another type of Y-DNA testing which is called Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) testing. By means of these tests, a different kind of test result can be identified called a “haplogroup.” The haplogroup is used, for example, by the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project to group males according to their proposed migration paths around the world during prehistoric times. You can reach the Genographic Project on the Internet at http://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/.  The author and Dr. Clifton Wallace “Wally” Hooser are the only members of the Hauser/Hooser surname group of subjects to date who have had the SNP tests run on their Y-DNA. The results are that the haplogroup for the Hauser/Hooser family has been determined to be G2a3b. This is a relatively rare haplogroup among males with known early European ancestry. You can use this haplogroup when logging onto the National Geographic Society’s web site and studying the maps that are presented there.

Summary

I can’t sum the overall situation up any better than to paraphrase an eminent Hauser/Hooser family genealogist, Mark B. Arslan. (Mark has placed a page of Y-DNA testing results on the Internet at http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/hauser/results.) Here is the paraphrase: If the question arises whether or not a male is a direct-line descendant of Martin Hauser, Sr. (or of one of Martin’s male family members left behind in Europe in 1727), send us a sample for Y-DNA testing and we can say yes or no in reply to the question!