Piecing Together the Deepest Patrilineal Roots of Those with the Vick Surname

In my November 18, 2008, blog I discussed the deep roots of the clan of Vicks who are descendants of Joseph Vick of Lower Parish, Isle of Wight County, Virginia. In the blog I said

'Looking at even deeper roots we have found that Joseph1’s Y-DNA signature matches those found in a couple of men with ancestry from Norway. These men lived in Shetland and Orkney off of mainland Scotland. Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University examined James Larry Vick’s Y-DNA signature and compared it to the small number of research samples that had the same Y-DNA signature. In an e-mail on February 18, 2007, Professor Oppenheimer said, 'While, with these very small numbers, it is impossible to date the movement to from Norway to Shetland/Orkney, the information is nonetheless very specific and places your male ancestor most likely as an invader from northern Norway and ultimately from Asia.'”

Professor Oppenheimer also looked at the Y-DNA signature of a descendant of Elihu (christened in 1759 in Standish, Gloucestershire, England). Professor Oppenheimer said the Elihu clan’s patrilineal ancestor “arrived in the British Isles from the Basque Ice Age refuge between 15,000-13,000 years ago with the first hunter-gatherers.” He also said that Elihu’s Y-DNA matched that found in men whose patrilineal ancestors expanded from North Wales and Ireland some 5,000 years ago.

The Joseph1 clan and the Elihu clan are just two of the nine major Vick clans we have identified so far. Each of the clans traveled a different route (and none shared a common patrilineal ancestor in the time surnames have been used) but they all ended up with the Vick surname.