President Monroe & DNA Research by Mark Monroe
The following article by Mark Monroe, another of our DNA experts, appeared in the Munro Eagle
. Morse (1791 – 1872)
By Mark Monroe
President James Monroe’s great-great grandfather and immigrant paternal ancestor was Andrew Monroe. Many have researched the ancestry of Andrew and much has been written on the subject. The noted Monroe researcher, George Harrison Sanford King, wrote, “It is certain that he was a scion of the House of Foulis.” The connection of President James Monroe’s ancestors to the Foulis-Munro line is the traditional view, however, proof of that connection has been elusive.
The Munro DNA project is able to confirm the connection of President James Monroe to the Foulis-Munro line because the project has 67-marker Y-DNA test results from two participants who have proven their genealogy to George Munro of Obsdale, the son of Robert Mor Munro the fifteenth Baron of Foulis.
The 67-marker Y-DNA test for Temple Monroe was only 1 mutation different from one participant and 2 mutations different from the other participant. Based upon the estimated mutation rates for the 2 markers that were different and adjusting for the fact that the most recent common ancestor of Temple and the other participant must have been earlier than the immigrant Andrew, there is a roughly 80 percent probability that the most recent common Munro ancestor was either Andrew’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, or great great grandfather. For the connection to have been within those generations based upon the genealogy of the participants, the most recent common ancestor would have been Robert Mor Munro or a descendant of his within two or three generations.
Assuming Temple Monroe and the deceased President share the same Y-DNA, then there is roughly an 80 percent probability that President James Monroe’s most recent common Munro ancestor with the other participants would have been from Robert Mor Munro or a near Descendant. However, there is a 20 percent chance that the most recent common Munro ancestor extends back to Robert Munro the fourteenth Baron of Foulis or his near ancestors. So while it can be celebrated that through DNA research there is proof that President Monroe was of the Foulis- Munro line, the identity of the most recent common ancestor is still unresolved. As more participants join the Munro Y-DNA Project, we hope to be able to acquire more information to help identify the generations where the mutations occurred and, possibly, someday identify the Scottish ancestors of President James Monroe with much more specificity.
Special thanks go to Temple for agreeing to provide a DNA sample for the Munro DNA project, and also to all the others who have participated in the Y-DNA project, helping all of us find clues to our ancestry. The Munro DNA project now has evidence confirming the belief that the past President was a descendant of someone in the Foulis-Munro line. The evidence is a 67-marker Y-DNA sample from Temple, a male descendant of William Monroe, the great-grandfather of President James Monroe. Our CMA clan genealogist, Allen Alger, has verified the pedigree of Temple.
As each male receives his Y-DNA from his father, who inherited it from his father, and so on, Temple’s 67-marker Y-DNA test results would be expected to be essentially the same as the 67-marker Y-DNA of the deceased President James Monroe. The term “essentially” is used because the markers in the Y-DNA test occasionally mutate, roughly 1 marker in the total of 67 would be expected to mutate every 7 generations on average. The use of Y-DNA markers to identify distant ancestors is relatively new and such things as the rates of marker mutations are still being studied.
King, George Harrison Sanford; “President James Monroe’s Scottish Ancestry”; Clan Munro Magazine, # 6, 1959. (It is greatly appreciated that Chief Hector Munro of Foulis shared this article.)
Editor’s note: Many thanks for the participation of Temple Monroe in the Munro DNA Project. Additionally, Allen Alger’s help has been invaluable
