WALKER-JAGGER OF SOUTHOWRAM & DNA

This Walker family http://kittybrewster.com/ancestry/walker.htm has long been a focus in our search for the source of the Walker yDNA which was carried by our William Jagger (b. 1781, Southowram), my 3^rd great-grandfather. Search for the sole Jagger in Walker yDNA Group 20 at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Walker%20DNA%20Project%20mtDNA%20Results?iframe=ycolorized  Kit # 411247 is my cousin Randy. Kit # 352904 is Randy’s 59 of 67 STR markers yDNA match, with Walker ancestry of Birstall West Yorkshire.  Birstall lies east of Southowram.

It seems highly likely that William Walker (b. 1749) at http://kittybrewster.com/ancestry/walker.htm was the biological father of our William Jagger (b. 1781). “Mystery Man” revealed? This William Walker’s paternal grandmother was Elizabetha Haigh (b. 1690) who married William Walker (b. 1689) in 1709 at Almondbury, West Yorkshire. In the AncestryDNA database, I have an autosomal DNA match with a person who has Haigh ancestry of Almondbury; there are no other listed ancestral surnames in common. Unusual surname at a specific location.

William Walker (b. 1749) had a paternal-line great-grandmother Sarah Mortimer (d. 1702) who married William Walker (1665-1714) on 3 May, 1685. At AncestryDNA, I have an 18.2 centiMorgans shared chromosomal segment with the author of this tree:https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/82569959/family/pedigree where Edward Mortimer was born 17 March, 1824 at Cleckheaton, just west of Birstall.  This tree author & I have a joint match Paul, who has Walker-of-Birstall ancestry, but also some other ancestral surnames shared with me.  In the Family Tree DNA database, I have an atDNA match with Janice S., who has Mortimer of West Yorkshire ancestry; our Chromosome 18 shared segment also triangulates with Elvina, who also has Mortimer ancestry. Atwww.gedmatch.com Janice = T583342 & Elvina = T674417. At FTDNA, Cousin Randy has a couple of atDNA matches who report Mortimer ancestry.

The author of this tree is Randy’s Walker-of-Birstall yDNA match:

https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/60009101/family/pedigree Ancestor Richard Walker (b. abt. 1555, Birstall) is listed at the Walker yDNA Project. This tree author himself has Mortimer ancestry. The children of Dave’s Christiphor Mortimer (b. 1641, Birstall) would have been contemporaries of my probable 7^th great-grandmother Sarah Mortimer Walker (d. 1702). Probably atDNA kin to one another?

My probable 8^th great-grandfather Abraham Walker (1629-1695; m. Ann Langley) was a contemporary of Dave’s Robert Walker (1619-1663) & they seem almost certainly to have been yDNA kin to one another. How much further back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor on yDNA? Somewhere around that generational level may have been the MRCA for West Yorkshire versus Walker migrating to America in the 1600s.

At www.gedmatch.com my kits are T203534 & A693287. Dave is T545037, which is not strictly my atDNA match at the default cutoff of 7cM. Nevertheless, we have several potentially interesting In-Common-With persons.

My proposed 8^th great-grandfather Abraham Walker (b. 1629) married Ann Langley (b. 1643). At AncestryDNA I have an atDNA match with Phaedra, who has Langley of West Yorkshire ancestry. Thus, my own atDNA has matches to a large number of people with these West Yorkshire ancestries: Walker, Langley, Mortimer, & Haigh. All consistent with the formulation at http://kittybrewster.com/ancestry/walker.htm & very difficult to explain if this is not the case.

In the Leeds Intelligencer of 4 January, 1785, Mary Jagger of Southowram was convicted of violation of the Worsted Act. The magistrate was William Walker. This magistrate may have been William Walker JP (1713-1786), grandfather of Mary’s child William Jagger (b. 1781) by his son William Walker (b. 1749). This latter William Walker was a brother of John Walker (b. 1753) father of Ann Walker (b. 1803) who married Anne Lister, who was “Gentleman Jack” of Shibden Hall. The HBO production of “Gentleman Jack” included in its music soundtrack contributions by my known Jagger & atDNA cousin Chris, who would be distant kin to Ann Walker. Ann was likely my 1st cousin 5 times removed.

My 7^th great-grandfather William Walker (b. 1665; m. Sarah Mortimer) had a brother Richard Walker (b. 1672). Richard’s daughter Ann married Abraham Sharp. Jack Sharp, my probable distant kinsman & all-around despicable character, appears to have been the inspiration for Heathcliff in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights”. In 1837, Emily Brontë taught for 6 mos. at Law Hill House boarding school at Southowram. At that time my John & Mary Hardiman Jagger were probable living at Gardeners Square Halifax, where they were found in the 1841 census. Did our John Jagger know that his father William Jagger (b. 1781) was a genetic Walker? And that he was a cousin of Ann Walker of Shibden Hall? Perhaps not. Also in 1837 the Halifax Union Workhouse opened; our James Jagger (b. 1843) landed there when he was age 8, after the deaths of his parents. Later in life, his Smith friends in Batley wrote to him that while his early life was hard, eventually he had a good family & good life in Illinois.