COURNEYA/COURNOYER SURNAME DNA 

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The surname Courneya originates from the French name Cournoyer. Most people in North America with those surnames descend from Paul Hus who came to what is now Quebec from France in the 1660s. The sons of Paul Hus took on "dit" names including (in addition to Cournoyer) Paul, Latraverse, and Millette, as well as others, so men with those surnames may have DNA results that match the Courneya/Cournoyer numbers.

A male relative of mine very kindly agreed to provide a DNA sample for testing for genealogy purposes. Family Tree DNA tested 67 markers on his y chromosome. The results are below. For the purposes of this discussion, I will call this relative Gentleman One.

      DYS#
Ysearch Lineage *
H
a
p
l
o		 3
9
3		 3
9
0		 1
9		 3
9
1		 3
8
5
a		 3
8
5
b		 4
2
6		 3
8
8		 4
3
9		 3
8
9
|
1		 3
9
2		 3
8
9
|
2		 4
5
8		 4
5
9
a		 4
5
9
b		 4
5
5		 4
5
4		 4
4
7		 4
3
7		 4
4
8		 4
4
9		 4
6
4
a		 4
6
4
b		 4
6
4
c		 4
6
4
d		 4
6
0		 G
A
T
A

H
4		 Y
C
A

I
I

a		 Y
C
A

I
I

b		 4
5
6		 6
0
7		 5
7
6		 5
7
0		 C
D
Y

a		 C
D
Y

b		 4
4
2		 4
3
8		 5
3
1		 5
7
8		 3
9
5
S
1
a		 3
9
5
S
1
b		 5
9
0		 5
3
7		 6
4
1		 4
7
2		 4
0
6
S
1		 5
1
1		 4
2
5		 4
1
3
a		 4
1
3
b		 5
5
7		 5
9
4		 4
3
6		 4
9
0		 5
3
4		 4
5
0		 4
4
4		 4
8
1		 5
2
0		 4
4
6		 6
1
7		 5
6
8		 4
8
7		 5
7
2		 6
4
0		 4
9
2		 5
6
5
  Paul Hus1, Pierre Hus-Cournoyer2, Paul Hus-Cournoyer3, Joseph Hus-Cournoyer4, Antoine Hus-Cournoyer5, Antoine Cournoyer6, Simon Courneya7 I2a 13 24 16 10 11 12 11 13 11 13 11 28 17 8 9 11 11 24 14 21 29 11 14 14 15 10 11 11 21 15 12 19 19 31 32 13 10 11 8 16 16 8 12 10 8 11 7 12 21 22 17 11 12 12 13 8 12 23 21 14 14 10 13 11 11 12 11

There is a match between Gentleman One's DNA results and those of an eighth cousin whom I will call Gentleman Two. He carries a different surname because his ancestor took one of the other "dit" names. The most recent common ancestor on the male line for these two men is the immigrant, Paul Hus. Gentleman Two has had only the first 37 markers tested, but of those 37, all of them match Gentleman One's except for 439 and 456, highlighted in blue above. In each case there is a one-step difference. There is also a match between Gentleman One's results and those of a third cousin's (Gentleman Three) who carries a slightly modified version of the surname Courneya. This man only tested the first 12 markers and again there is the same mismatch at 439, where Gentleman Two and Gentleman Three have the same result, which is off by one from Gentleman One's result. As Gentleman Two and Gentleman Three match at 439, it's clear that there has been a mutation on that marker on Gentleman One's line in the last few generations. Gentleman Three descends from the same great-great-grandfather as Gentleman One, so the mutation in Gentleman One must have occurred after that generation.

The Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation has an online database of DNA test results. That database includes the results of a man (Gentleman Four) whose surname is another variant of Cournoyer. There isn't enough information there for me to be able to calculate the relationship between this man and Gentleman One, but presumably it is seventh cousin or closer. Gentleman Four matches Gentleman Two and Gentleman Three on 439, but has had a mutation on his line at 390 as his results differ, again by one, from all three of the other men at that marker. Gentleman Four and Gentleman Two have the same result on 456, which indicates that it is Gentleman One's line which has had the mutation there.

These results are all consistent with paper trails back to the immigrant, Paul Hus. Their DNA results are unusual in that there are almost no matches other than known cousins.