Haplogroup E1b1a
The obvious question for this Y-DNA Surname Project is how did one of the Ivey/Ivie/Ivy family lines in the Americas "acquire" an E1b1a Haplogroup and yet have most of its participants today appear to be White or Caucasian. Any proposed explanation must present an hypothesis as to how and when such a paternal line might have first arisen. Since we know that the first obviously mixed-race Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a appeared about 1700 AD in Colonial America, we have some time constraints.
Several plausible scenarios are:
1) WESTERN EUROPE ORIGIN: The Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a might have arisen in Western Europe in the 1400-1600 AD period where there was a reasonably significant number of West Africans imported to Western Europe as slaves, house servants, etc. This Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a would have occurred as a result of a male African having an union with a Caucasian female. The male offspring would have the E1b1a Haplogroup, and on the average be lighter in skin color than the father. Over a period of ~50 - 100 years it is reasonably easy for some descendents to become significantly lighter in skin color to the point where they can function as Caucasian (also known today as "passing"). A good example of this is described in Robert Baird's work Ivey Families of Bladen County & Vicinity, where over a period of time the "Race" of even the same individual can be referred to differently in different records. This hypothesis might explain the fact that some of the descendents of ancestors who were also E1b1a have reported family histories of direct immigration from Western Europe. It should be noted however that these histories are not (at least yet) well documented. There are other family Y-DNA surname projects who appear to have stronger documentation of such a scenario.
2) CARIBBEAN OR WEST INDIES ORIGIN: The Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a could have arisen in a somewhat later 1500-1650 AD period in the Caribbean area where even more West Africans were imported to serve as slaves. By this later period there were more men of African ancestry who came to assume positions of greater importance within the "slave society" as trusted assistants, slave-overseers, or even direct participants themselves within the slavery trade. This would have allowed them to begin to acquire sufficient wealth to function independently within the larger society. Some of the documented Ivey/Ivie/Ivy family lines in early Colonial Virginia were extremely active in the slavery trade, including owning ships and importing slaves from the Caribbean to Colonial Virginia. This business might easily have produced such an Ivey/Ivie/Ivy with an E1b1a Haplogroup but functioning within the larger society as a somewhat darker-skin Caucasian. It should also be noted than not only a lighter skin but a sufficiently high economic status is required by a society to allow persons of a relatively darker skin the same benefits and treatment.
3) COLONIAL VIRGINIA ORIGIN -> ADAM IVIE, CHARLES CITY/PRINCE GEORGE CO, VA : The Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a could have arisen in a somewhat later 1620-1700 AD period in Colonial Virginia in roughly the same scenario as described in the above Caribbean hypothesis. It is actually about the same as the Caribbean hypothesis but within a different time period. It is an attempt to understand how Adam Ivie (c1640-1710) of Charles City/Prince George Co, VA, one of the first Ivey/Ivie/Ivys in Colonial Virginia, and his first-generation offspring might have had an E1b1a Haplogroup and still existed, transacted business, married, wrote wills and bequeathed estates to descendents, and otherwise appeared to function at all times as White Caucasians within a society which was so strongly aware of "racial" differences. For this to have been our explanation, there is a serious time-frame issue since Africans were first introduced to the Virginia colony in 1619 at the Jamestown Colony. It does not appear plausible that Adam Ivie born ~1640 could have been the son or grandson of one of these Africans and still functioned as a Caucasian with all social rights. The fact that some of his sons were literate also would tend to argument against it.
4) COLONIAL VIRGINIA ORIGIN -> FAMILY OTHER THAN THAT OF ADAM IVIE, CHARLES CITY/PRINCE GEORGE CO, VA : The Ivey/Ivie/Ivy E1b1a could have arisen in a somewhat later ~1700 AD period in Colonial Virginia as the offspring of a union between an African and a white female Ivey/Ivie/Ivy. For this scenario, it is necessary to suggest a list of the more likely females from the lines of the early Ivey/Ivie/Ivy immigrants. One plausible candidate might be Elizabeth Ivey (c1678 – aft1695), daughter of George SR, and grand-daughter of Thomas Ivey of Norfolk Co, VA (see section 2.7 of this document). The likely mixed-race offspring of such a union could have been Adam of Edgecombe Co, NC, Thomas, and Joseph as documented by Paul Heinegg as well as Robert Baird. One point in favor of the "Elizabeth Hypothesis" is the petition by George Ivie and others who signed a petition to repeal a 1691 Virginia law against interracial marriages. This would have been George JR who would have been the brother of this Elizabeth.
A second candidate might be a daughter of Gilbert Ivie, son of Adam of Prince George/Charles City Co, VA. This Gilbert has long been a mystery to researchers as he appeared to disappear in the northern counties of North Carolina but in the same approximate area where the first mixed-race Ivey/Ivie/Ivys appear. This suggestion has arisen from the observation that early family researchers such as Robert Allison Ivey connected the lines of Henry and Charles of Granville Co, NC, to Gilbert. Perhaps the connection was closer to the truth than some of us have previously believed (since Robert Allison Ivey furnished no documentation) but to a female descendent of Gilbert. Several of the participants in the Y-DNA Surname Project descend from Charles of Granville Co and have the E1b1a Haplogroup.
5) COLONIAL VIRGINIA ORIGIN-> ARBITRARY ASSUMPTION OF THE IVEY/IVIE/IVY SURNAME : It cannot be ruled out that at some point a male with African ancestry and an E1b1a Y-DNA Haplogroup but no direct connection to an Ivey/Ivie/Ivy arbitrarily assumed the Ivey/Ivie/Ivy surname. This was commonly done by many individuals within Colonial Virginia (as well of course by many African-Americans at the end of slavery in 1865). The first African-Americans in Colonial Virginia are believed to have been more nearly similar to others who were indentured servants and who worked their way to free status. At this point they could have assumed the name of a family, an employer, or someone who was admired in the community or had been of assistance in some manner.