Objective

The objective of this project is to match up individuals or families who share a common male ancestor with the Dekle surname and to trace the origins of the Dekle surname in America and back to Europe.

The Plan

The Dekle Surname DNA Project will perform a Y-chromosome test on any male descendant with the Dekle surname.  Women may participate by recruiting a brother, father, or other male relative with the Dekle surname.  The results will be maintaned to match future Dekle participants.  Current participants' results and genealogies can be viewed on this website.

To participate in the Dekle DNA study, please e-mail Peter Roberts at peterebay@yahoo.com. You should then order the Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA37 paternal test.  Next, send a genealogy chart of your known male Dekle ancestry to the project's administrator, Peter Roberts, at peterebay@yahoo.com.

A test kit and concise instructions will be sent to each male participant. The participant will in turn provide a mouth swab sample to be analyzed by FamilyTreeDNA.  This painless sampling technique, administered in the privacy of the home, involves simply the self-administered use of a swab to collect a small amount of cells from the inside of the cheek.  FamilyTreeDNA will forward results to both the participant and the project administrator about 5 weeks after the laboratory's receipt of the individual sample.  These results will include a report of the determination of a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) for the surname with a significant marker match.  Each participant will receive a report of his own results.  A summary linking individuals to the MCRA will be posted on this website.  Participants will be identified on this site by their kit number only.

Cost

FamilyTreeDNA provides a group discount for its registered surname projects.  The 25 marker Y-DNA test is $169 plus postage, a $40 savings over the regular price of $209.  This is a private, non-commercial project for Dekle genealogists, such as Peter Roberts, who himself receives no remuneration of any kind for coordinating this project.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is an important part of this study.  Only the participant providing the DNA sample will know his results, unless he decides he would like to share his information.  The small portion of the Y-chromosome that is analyzed does not contain genes that relate to medical issues.  All samples will be assigned an identifying kit number.  This kit number will be the only identifying information available for viewing by others.  No one other than the project coordinator and the testing laboratory will know who participates in the study or which result is from which participant.  The portion of the DNA tested gives a distinctive "signature" for a lineage rather than for an individual, so there is no risk of the data being applied to personal identity for misuse of any kind.

Benefits of Participation

1. Determine if two people with your surname are related (and descend from the same ancestor).
2. Identify the genetic genealogy profile of your male family line.
3. Identify your ancestry when traditional documentary genealogical research methods have failed (provide clues or solve brick walls).
4. Identify where to focus and pursue additional traditional documentary genealogical research.
5. Verify that your traditional documentary genealogical work is accurate and scientifically verified (confirm a family tree).
6. Get clues as to the place of origin of your immigrant ancestor.
7. Find genetic cousins you did not know you had.
8. Determine if other surnames are variants of your surname
9. Prove or disprove a research theory.
10. Be an early participant in a state-of-the-art project which is contributing to the world knowledge base for this new and exciting field, genealogy by genetics.
11. Your DNA will be preserved for 25 years at no additional cost and you will be entitled to reduced "add-on" prices for other tests.

Project Time Line

August 2003 - The Dekle DNA Surname Project was conceived and Web site was created.
 
 

Test Results

This Dekle participant does not have any close matches in the ybase or ysearch databases.  This is most likely because he is the first and only Dekle in the world to be tested.  Of the 18,000 or so people who have had a Y-chromosome test so far (and most of them are of European origin) his closest direct paternal male relative is with the HULL family.  They probably had the same ancestor about 600 or 700 years ago (before surnames were common).  This Hull does not know his ancestral country or origin.  This Dekle is also related to another Hull but they likely shared a common ancestor about 700 or 800 years ago.  One interesting thing is that this Hull knows his ancestral origin to be in Germany.  Also, the Dekle participant is more closely related to the first Hull than the two Hulls are related to each other.

That is about it for "recent" family history.  98% of Europeans descend from about 11 different males who lived about 40,000 to 20,000 years ago.  Their descendants belong to different Y chromosome haplogroups.  The Dekle participant matches 12 out of 12 markers with a man who belongs to haplogroup R1b1b2g1 (which means SNP tested S29+ and U198+).  On the ISOGG tree this is haplogroup R1b1b2a1a (formerly R1b1c9b).

If the two Dekle participants show a 25/25 match there is a 50% probability that the most recent common ancestor was no further back than 7 generations ago (ca. 193 years) and a 90% probability that the most recent common ancestor was no further back than 23 generations ago (ca. 633 years).
 

DYS Marker Numbers with Red Backgrounds

FamilyTreeDNA notes that it "...is obvious that  from our observation of 1000's of samples that some markers change or mutate at a faster rate than others. While that actual 'faster rate' has not yet been definitively calculated, not all markers should be treated the same for evaluation purposes."  The above marker numbers with red backgrounds have shown a faster mutation rate than average, and therefore these markers are very helpful at splitting lineages into subsets, or branches, within a family tree.  Explained another way, if a participant matches exactly on all of the markers except for one or a few of the markers that FamilyTreeDNA has determined as mutating more quickly, then such a mismatch only slightly decreases the probability that two people in a surname group who match 11/12 or even 23/25 do not share a recent common ancestor.

Possibly an altered spelling of German Deckel  see Deckelman.

Deckelmann from either Theodicho, and old personal name formed with Old High German diot 'people' or a short form of a personal name composed with Old High German Tac 'day' + man 'man'. Source: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, 2003.

Brief History of the Dekle Family in the Germany and North America

In Germany in the18th century there was a baron named Charles C. Deckel (Baron Von Deckel) who lived in the city of Hanover.  Baron Von Deckel served during the rule of Charles VI (1711-1740).... This Baron Von Deckel was the father of Charles and John Deckel.  When the sons, Charles and John, were nearing manhood they were faced with the ordeal of going through the severely harsh military training program that all German youths of that era were put through... Sons Charles and John with a cousin Friedrich all with the name of Deckel decided that they didn't want any part of the military training and left Hanover.  They stowed away aboard a sailing ship and eventually arrived in the harbor at Savannah, Georgia.  Shortly afterwards they jumped ship and excaped to the countryside.  After faining the safety of the countryside Charles and Friedrich decided they wanted to go north which they did.  John chose to remain in the south and settled in Effingham County near Savannah.

In the 1790 census of Chester County, Pennsylvania Friedrich Deckel is listed as head of family.  Nothing has been learned to date about what happened to Charles Deckel.

Source:  Dekle, Ansel III. Dekle and Dekle Descendants of the U.S.A. 1998 pp. i and ii.

Known Male Line Dekle Descendants  (under construction)

I.  John Leonard Dekle, Sr. (born 1737 Hanover, Germany, died 8 Jan 1828, married Sallie Grissom)
---A.  Charles Dekle (born 1775, died 1820 Alabama, married Bettania G. Ross)
--------1. John G. Dekle (born 1803, died 1888, married 1st Nancy Kizer, married 2nd Sarah Dekle)
---------- a)  George C. Dekle (born 1831, married Mary A. Alderman)
---------- b)  William T. Dekle (born 1832, died 1863)
---------- c)  Emily Dekle (born 1835, married Aurin Goodgame Dekle)
---------- d)  Mary Dekle (born 1837)
---------- e)  Thomas Sersion Dekle (born 1843, died 1917, marrid Emma J. Braswell)
---------- f)   John Mitchell Dekle (born 1845, died 1929, married Molly Millen, no children)
---------- g)  Edwin Charlton Dekle (born 1846, died 1864, no children)
---------- h)  Sarah Margaret Dekle (born 1848, married William Beverly)
----------  i)  Ansel Ziber Dekle (born 1850, died 1916, married Molette (Lettie ) Olynthus Gause)
------------- (1)  Nellie Ethel Dekle (born 1889, died 1969, married Robert M. Rabb)
------------- (2)  Robert Egbert Dekle (born 1891, died 1966, married Gwendolyn? no children)
------------- (3)  Joseph Guthrie (Gus) Dekle (born 1892, died 1961, married 1st Marguerite Lilliot, 2nd Lucille Culpeper)
------------- (4)  Thomas Ansel Dekle (born 1894, married Jessie Ophelia Allison)
------------- (5)  John Charles Dekle (born 1896, died 1965, married Jessie F. Chamberlin)
------------- (6)  Mary Addie Dekle (born 1898, died 1963, married Frank Seals)
------------- (7)  Ralph Gause Dekle (born 1900, died 1953, married Maude Thomason)
------------- (8)  Ruth Dekle (born 1904, died 1904)
------------- (9)  Glennie O. Dekle (born 1907, married Ralph A. Cooper)
---------- j?)  James Grissom Dekle (born 1852, married Alise Carter)
---------- k?) Henry Ernest Dekle, Sr.  (born 1854, died 1917, married 1st Sarah A. Mitler, 2nd Essie Turner)
------------- (1)  Elmer Eugene Dekle (born 1879, died 1948, married 1st Frances Talley, 2nd Evalyn Melton)
------------- (2)  Ernest Clyde Dekle (born 1885, died 1886)
------------- (3)  Henry Ernest Dekle, Jr.
------------- (4)  Estelle Dekle
----------  l?)  Daniel Dekle (born 1856)
---------- m?) Victoria Martha Dekle (born 1861, died 1918, married Robert E. Lee)
--------2. Daniel Dekle
--------3. Ziber Dekle
--------4. Sallie Dekle
--------5. Elizabeth Dekle
--------7. Lucreis Dekle
--------8. Bettania Dekle
---B.  George Dekle (born 1781, died 10 May 1846, married Nancy Rountree)
-------1. Sallie (Sarah) Dekle (born 1803, died 1874, married Elijah Neel)
-------2. Grissom Dekle (born 1806, died 1833, married Emma Lee Futch)
--------- a)  Thaddeus Dekle (no children)
--------- b)  Littleton Eddie Dekle (born 1833, died 1889, married Mary Ellen McDaniel)
------------ (1)  Palestine Eula Dekle (born 1868, died 1904, married Ben Waller)
------------ (2)  Cora Bell Dekle (born 1871, died 1889, marred Ben Waller)
------------ (3)  William Henry Dekle (born 1874, died 1949, married Mattie Murddock)
----------------- (a)  Louie Linwood Dekle (born 1899, married Maeron Dunbar)
----------------- (b)  Willie Beatrice Dekle (born 1904, died 1954)
----------------- (c?) Shirley Leon Dekle (born 1907, died 1992, married Bessie Hayes)
-------3. William Dekle (born 1808)
-------4. Littleton Dekle (born 1811, married Susan Warren)
---------  a)  Pollie (Mary) Dekle
---------  b)  Ellen Dekle (married 1st Jessie Sutton, 2nd Elder Swain Marsh Anderson)
---------  c)  Jane Dekle (born 1835, died 1921, married 1st William Calvin Sutton, married 2nd Mad Holland)
---------  d)  Caroline Dekle (born 1837, died 1894, married William Rountree)
---------  e)  George Washington Dekle (born 1839, died 1898, married Susan Lanier)
------------  (1)  John L. Dekle (born 1868, died 1919, married Maggie Trappnell)
------------  (2)  George Littleton Dekle (born 1869, died 1932, married Ida Alice Poston)
------------  (3)  Willie M. Dekle (born 1872, died 1922, married Mollie Durden)
------------  (4)  Robert Lee Dekle (born 1874, died 1953, married Daisy Eleanor Cobb)
------------  (5)  Emma Dekle (born 1876, died 1926)
------------  (6)  James Ivey Dekle (born 1878, died 1957, married Bessie Irene Smith)
----------------- (a) James Roger Dekle (born 1903, died 1981, married Geneviere Baxter)
----------------- (b) Bessie Laurene Dekle (born 1906, died 1991, married John Wesley Johnson)
----------------- (c) Cecil Kermit Dekle (born 1908, died 1964, married Emma Bird)
----------------- (d) Carlton Smith Dekle (born 1914, died 1993)
----------------- (e)  Sibyl Leta Dekle (born1918, died 1974)
-------5. Minton Dekle (born 1813)
-------6. Ellen Dekle (born 1815, died 1876, married 1st Hardy B. Heath, 2nd Aurin G. Horn)
-------7. Thomas Cummings Dekle (born 1817, died 1860, married Nancy Williams)
---------- a) Loduska Dekle (born 1841)
---------- b) Sophronia Dekle (born 1842, died 1923, married 1st Berrien Sutton, 2nd Charlton Green)
---------- c) William W. Dekle (born 1844, died 1908, married America Beasley)
------------  (1)  Nancy E. Dekle (born 1871, died 1945, married William Chauncy Alford)
------------  (2)  John Rensselear Dekle (born 1872, married Essie Lou Walls)
------------  (3)  Thomas Cummings Dekle, II (born 1876, died 1948, married Ellean Jones)
------------  (4)  Julia F. Dekle (born 1878, died 1918, married Benjamin R. Oliff)
------------  (5)  William Edgar Dekle (born 1880, married 1934, married Laula Anderson)
--------- d)  Floyd Henry Dekle (born 1846)
--------- e)  Shepard Dekle (born 1848)
--------- f)  Henry Dekle (born 1848?)
--------- g)  Sarah Dekle (born 1853)
--------- h)  Agnes Dekle (born 1856)
--------- i)  Abigail Dekle (born 1859)
-------8. Cynthia Dekle (born 1819, married Moses Warren)
-------9.  John (Squire) Dekle (born 1821, died 1896, married Mary Mercer)
--------- a)  Julia Dekle (married Alfred Kirkland)
--------- b)  George M. Dekle (born 1851, died 1907, married Mayne Cynthia Moore)
------------  (1)  Eric Dekle (born 1891, died 1891)
------------  (2)  Cecil Carlisle Dekle (born 1892, died 1976, married Ruth Rustin)
------------  (3)  Rufus Reginold Dekle
------------  (4)  George Wadley Dekle (married Evelyn Price)
------------  (5)  Wayne Moore Dekle (no children)
------------  (6)  Laura Lucile Dekle (married Hovas Madry)
------------  (7)  Paul Edward Dekle (no children)
--------- c)  Ivey Dekle
--------- d)  Remer Dekle (born 1858, died 1902,  married Mary Jane Brown)
------------  (1)  DeRoy Dekle (born 1880, died 1958, married Levie Williams)
------------  (2)  Laura Pearl Dekle (born 1882,  married Hershel Victor Franklin)
------------  (3)  George Adams Dekle (born 1884, died 1970, married Eva Kennedy)
----------------- (a) Cecil Herbert Dekle (born 1907, died 1911)
------------  (4)  Carl Dekle (born 1886)
------------  (5)  John Harvey Dekle (born 1888, died 1971, married Minnie Eva Deloach)
-------10. Theresa Dekle (born 1823)
-------11. Nancy Dekle (born 1825)
---C.  Mary Dekle (born 1784, died 1855, married William Durden)
---D.  Sara (Sallie) Dekle (born 1786, married Henry Miller)
---E.  Thomas Dekle (born 1791, died 1848, married Wealthy Canaday)
--------1. Elizabeth Dekle (born 1813)
--------2. Sarah Dekle (born 1814, died in infancy)
--------3. Edward Dekle (born 1815)
--------4. Loucina Dekle (born 1817)
--------5. Sarah Dekle (born 1819, died 1888)
--------6. Ansel Dekle (born 1821, died 1905)
--------7. Mary Dekle Millen (born 1823, died 1888)
--------8. Thomas Irwin (Ervin) Dekle (born 1824, died 1908)
--------9. John William Dekle (born 1826, died 1886)
-------10. Philip Dekle (born 1827)
-------11. Daniel Dekle (born 1829)
-------12. Wealthy Ann Dekle (born 1831, died 1902)
-------13. Isaiah Dekle (born 1833, died 1918)
-------14. Peter Dekle (born 1836, died 1863)
---F.  Sophia Dekle (born 1793, died 1836, married A.G. Horn)
---G.  William Grissom Dekle, Sr. (born 1796, died 1841, married Bethany Hollingsworth)
--------1. Sophia Dekle (born 1818, died 1904)
--------2. George Austin Dekle (born 1820, died 1876)
--------3. Elder William Allison Dekle (born 1822)
--------4. Parizade Dekle (born 1824)
--------5. Thomas Jackson Dekle (born 1826)
--------6. Aurin Goodgame Dekle (born 1827)
--------7. Matthew Dekle (born 1829)
--------8. Henry Milton Dekle (born 1830)
--------9. William Grissom Dekle, Jr. (born 1832, died 1862)
---H?  John L. Dekle, Jr. (born 1798, married Sarah Durden)
--------1. Charles Baston Dekle (born 1818, 1896)
--------2. Owen F. Dekle (born 1830)
--------3. Thomas Dekle (born 1840)
--------4. Elizabeth Dekle (born 1841)
 

About Y-DNA Genetics and Genealogy

• DNA 101: Y-Chromosome Testing
• Genetics & Genealogy - An Introduction With Y-DNA Case Study Examples
• FamilyTreeDNA

• Dekle.net