R-L44 and R-L48

Those are the two paternal haplogroups that I’ve seen.

Every man got his paternal haplogroup (his Y-haplogroup) from his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his father, who got it from his father, and so on. Over many generations, there can be small, modest mutations/variations, but all straight-line male descendants of a man are going to have the same Y-haplogroup — or something pretty darned close to the same.

Folks who do autosomal DNA testing with the company 23andMe get a bonus: They learn their paternal and maternal haplogroups. Whoopie! Only a few days ago did I realize that fact means there is more data to mine. 🙂 I found Y-DNA information for three men who are known paper-trail descendants of Casper Hoffert (1762-1825), son of the immigrant Christian (1716-1788):
One descends from Andrew Hufford (1827-1881), grandson of Casper: R-L44
One descends from Emanual Hufford (1831-1913), grandson of Casper: R-L48
One descends from Henry Hufford (1836-1908), grandson of Casper: R-L48

A fourth man carries the HUFFORD surname and shares plenty of autosomal DNA with those three men and with other identified Hufford descendants; however, I do not know who he is, and he does not respond to my queries. But the fact that he shares autosomal DNA with known Hufford descendants and carries the Hufford surname makes clear that he’s a Hufford descendant. His Y-haplogroup: R-L44

Because of that R-L44 Y-haplogroup, three days ago I sent an email to a man with a last name very different from HUFFORD: “I don’t know who your biologicial father is, but I can tell that your biological paternal grandfather was Clarence Hufford.”

The man was carrying that Hufford Y-DNA, and he shared enough autosomal DNA with two known grandchildren of Clarence Hufford that it was clear he was their first-cousin. That meant that Clarence had to be his grandfather also, and that he had to be the son of one of Clarence’s sons. Within 12 hours, the man had enough information to know which of those sons of Clarence was his biological father. Because there are living people involved, I’ll share no more, other than to say that the newly found Hufford descendant is one to be proud of: Served as a U.S. Marine, and has been a fireman for 25 years. He descends from Casper’s son Michael William Hufford, Sr. (1804-1875).

Thus, we have four known descendants of Casper. Two are R-L44; two are R-L48. And we have another obvious Hufford descendant who is R-L44, but I do not know his descent.

If any straight-line male Hufford descendant has done a Y-DNA test, I’d love to hear from you.

My knowledge of Y-DNA haplogroups is limited. There is information of interest here:
2019 Haplogroup R Tree
That is found at ISOGG’s page on the Y-DNA haplogroup treeic Genealogy. (ISOGG is International Society of Genetic Genealogy.)

This graphic is a screen shot from that page, showing the differences between R-L44 and R-L48: