About us
The goal of the Miller-1750 Rowan NC Project is to help genealogists and family researchers make connections with different Miller families that settled in Rowan Co. NC during the 1700's. All descendants of the surname, Miller, are invited to join our Miller research project. The recruitment of new DNA participants will help the Miller-1750 Rowan NC Project grow. Please contact Kevin Miller, administrator, at kevin.miller.kentucky@gmail.com or Melissa Pendzinski, co-administrator, at melissadawn_98@yahoo.com if you have any questions.
We are dedicated and invested in overseeing four specific areas of genealogical DNA research:
1) Big Y 700 testing of male Millers which identifies SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) or strands of YDNA.
2) YDNA testing at the 37 and 111 marker levels, identifies STRs (short tandem repeats), which links you to a particular surname family.
3) Family Finder autosomal DNA testing in which you identify matches in every family line, paternally and maternally.
4) Mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA), strictly a test for a pure maternal line.
Big Y 700 Test Results
The earliest connection within this YDNA framework was the addition of the R1b-P312 & Subclade Project which first identified the Wendel Miller haplogroup as R1b1a2a1a1b. Henry Zenker was the former administrator for that project. More recent YDNA testing through the Big Y 500 Test classified our Haplogroup as R-DF19 with a subclade of DF88. Wim Verlest, George Ranney, and Tiger Walsh are the co-administrators of the R-DF19 & Subclade Project. Their extensive work on the DF19 Haplotree has been a wonderful help in our Miller research. Originally, fourteen Millers took the Big Y Test with other distant matches to the surnames Mowery, Moore, Kloock, and Swann.
During 2018, the Miller Big Y group added a fifteenth match with John Allen Miller, who possibly descends from Johann Adam Müller, 1725-1764, the oldest son of the Miller immigrant, Johann Michael Müller 1696 of Dörrenbach Germany who sailed to Philadelphia in 1739 with his wife, Anna Maria Linxweiler, and their seven children.
Our branch of American Millers was given the refined haplogroup R-Z27998 in 2017. As we have upgraded with the new technology of the Big Y 700, many of those R-Z27998 Millers have been refined to new terminal haplogroups. These new haplogroups identify a younger SNP or mutation which is more recent in time, within the past 200-300years. For example, Ken Miller changed to R-BY62248; James Arthur Miller changed to R-FT42877; and Kevin Miller changed to R-FT405882. At this point, only two to four Millers have positive results for these specific SNPS.
We have 11 main YDNA lines posted on our Miller-1750 Rowan NC Project. Two of the lines, Wendel Miller 1733-1805 and Nicholas Miller 1729-1807 of Rowan Co. NC, sons of our immigrant, Johann Michael Muller 1696, are extremely well documented. We have recently upgraded 3 Wendel Miller lines and 6 Nicholas Miller lines to the Big Y 700 level.
Five other lines are well documented back to a brick wall John Miller. Each line is a different John Miller, all in different locations with the documentation stopping around the Revolutionary Wartime period. John Miller 1770 of PA, John Miller 1760 of VA, John Miller 1774 of Lincoln Co. NC, John Miller 1763 of Catawba Co. NC and John Miller Sr. 1770-1842 of Calloway Co. KY make up an interesting list of 16 descendants that have recently upgraded their YDNA to the Big Y 700 level.
We also have 3 new upgrades from the George Miller 1740 Lancaster SC line, one new upgrade from George Washington Miller 1781 of White Co. TN, and 2 upgrades from the Hodges-Miller family. The George Miller 1740 of Lancaster Co. SC is a well-documented line who settled on the Lynches River in 1760 with a Michael Miller.
Our ultimate goal is the take the DNA from the established Wendel and Nicholas lines, along with Lynches River George and see how those brick wall John Millers align. In other words, the geneticists will be analyzing thousands of strands of DNA from each tester and making verifications on whether that person tests positive or negative on that strand of DNA, or SNP.
When Ralph Miller, Ken Miller, Brent Miller, Lyle Miller, Rod Miller, Read Miller, Kevin Miller, Fred George Miller, James Michael Miller, Allen Ray Miller, James Arthur Miller Jr., Charles Preston Hodges, and Hugo Müller tested on the original Big Y during 2013-2014 (which was later updated to the Big Y 500 in 2018), we were all given a Haplogroup designation of SNP R-Z27998. The two Hodges testers were negative on that SNP and also on Z27999. They matched us Millers to a certain point. Those two negatives make our connection point with the Hodges back deeper in time, possibly in the 1500’s. The geneticist can look at the SNPs and make a good determination of the age of the SNP or a mutation in our DNA and place a time on that mutation.
We have focused on several father-son combinations, brother-brother combinations, and 1stcousins-2nd cousins combinations. What these relationships develop from the upgraded testing is that new, very young SNPs are discovered and identified. Two examples of this are Ken Miller and his son, Kenny Miller whose haplogroup changed to R-BY62248 and Jim Miller and his son, Brian Miller whose haplogroup changed to R-FT42877. As mentioned earlier, no other person in the world has tested positive to these particular SNPS other than the father and the son. These SNPS can be classified as very recent mutations. We also have brothers Jim Miller and Hank Miller testing, so their SNP matches may be similar to the father-son scenarios.
Ken and Kenny have 4 unique SNPs that no one has tested positive on. But with Nicholas Miller descendants such as Pete Miller, Gary Miller, Glen Miller, and Brent Miller also upgrading, we will be able to analyze whether or not any of these 4 Millers also match those 4 unique SNPs. Those matches will help the geneticists place them in chronological order. If we find out that some of the non-Nicholas Miller lines that might be brick wall John Miller lines, also share any of these 4 unique SNPs, that would confirm a match to the Nicholas Miller line.
We had a great discovery from one of our new testers, Wendell Allen Miller. He recently matched all of the Millers very closely at the Y111 level. He recently upgraded to the Big Y 700 level and he matched all of the Millers with the exception of two SNPs, Z27998 and Z27999. Both Hodges and Wendell Allen Miller test negative on these two SNPs, making the connection to the Millers farther back, approximately 400 years to about 1625, possibly earlier. This means we have a second Muller immigrant that came to early America. Tommy Rockwell Miller and Aaron Nathaniel Miller have recently matched Wendell Allen Miller and they are both negative on Z27998 and Z27999.
What these negative readings prove is that Wendell Allen Miller’s common ancestor is not Johann Michael Muller 1696, but more likely 2 more generations back further to Johann Michael Muller’s grandfather, Johannes Muller, born 1625. Johannes is well documented in early Dörrenbach church records as the father of Johann Wilhelm Müller 1657 and Johann Wendel Müller 1658. Hugo Müller descended from Wilhelm 1657 and Johann Michael Müller 1696 was a son of Wendel 1658.
My theory is that Wendell’s ancestor may be a brother to Johannes, possibly an older Jacob that is also listed in the early Dörrenbach church records. Wendell’s line is well documented back to John Miller 1763. It is believed his father was Frederick Miller 1745 and his father may have been Jacob Müller. It is unknown if this Jacob originally settled in the Tulpehocken area or Lancaster Co. PA as Johann Michael Müller did in 1742. It is possible that Wendell Allen Miller’s ancestor settled in York Co. PA and was affiliated with the Moravians when he came to Rowan Co. NC.
The name Miller is the 8th most common name is the United States, whereas the name, Müller, is the most common name today in Germany. With the use of YDNA testing, many questions have been answered and many myths have been disputed.Starting in 2020, with the help of Kay Miller Pitts, a descendant of Noah Miller 1825 of Catawba Co. NC, the Big Y 700 research has exploded. As of April 2021, the Millers now have 35 Big Y 700's posted at FTDNA.
The mtDNA wives of Wendel Miller
Settlers began traveling south down the Great Wagon Trail during the 1740's to claim cheap land out on the frontier of North Carolina. They traveled from Lancaster Co. PA to Augusta Co. VA, on to Rowan Co. NC with many continuing on to Lancaster and Chesterfield counties in South Carolina. Millers eventually went west and settled in Calloway Co. KY in 1821. These Millers also match the YDNA of the Rowan NC and Lancaster/Chesterfield SC Miller lines.
The formation of Rowan Co. NC was:
- Bladen Co. NC - had been formed in 1734 from New Hanover Co. NC.
- Anson Co. NC - was then formed from Bladen in 1750.
- Rowan Co. NC - was then formed from Anson Co. NC in 1753.
- Other counties carved from Rowan were:
1770 Surry & Guilford (north & east) 1777 Burke (west) 1788 Iredell (west) 1822 Davidson (north) 1836 Davie (north)
The following charts were contributed by Ken Miller on March 14, 2014:
North Carolina Counties
Anson 1750 (from Bladen County) Montgomery 1779 (from Anson County)
Cabarrus 1792 (from Mecklenburg County) Rowan 1753 (from Anson County)
Iredell 1788 (from Rowan County)