Be Careful What You Wish For....

I know someone who decided to do a DNA test.  I had already done her family tree(the paper trail)for her and a distant ancestor on the tree is supposedly Native American.

The reason she wanted to do the DNA testing was to "find" her Native American ancestry.  She wanted to find that ancestry so she could apply to a tribe and be among the folks who could reap some sort of benefit(casino monies, health benefits, etc.).

First off, there is no record of this NA ancestor recorded in any tribal roles that anyone can find.  The fact that she "is" NA is only through family stories-both in this person's family and I have found it attached to other family trees that this ancestor is in. 

This direct ancestor is a 3 x great grandparent of the person who wants to know and she was born circa. 1810.  Having a lone NA ancestor stretching back 200 or so years ago means that chances of having any of their actual DNA recombining into what got handed down over 4 generations to her is a slim chance at best.

The only sure fire(easy)way to know you have NA ancestry is if it's your Y DNA line(your father's father's father's on back line)or your mitochondrial DNA line(your mother's mother's mother's on back line)puts you into a NA haplogroup.  If you are lucky enough, being male and your Y haplogroup is Q or C with certain mutations or being a female and your mtDNA haplogroup is X2 then you have proof easily of NA ancestry even if your ethnicity breakdown doesn't show any % of NA ancestry.
Ok this is getting too complicated but you get my drift(I hope).

We can narrow down(if this ancestor was indeed Native)potential tribes she could have belonged to according to where this family in question was from.  Ancestor in question was born in North Carolina so she could have been  Chowanoke, Croatoan, Hatteras, Moratoc, Secotan, Weapemeoc, Machapungo, Pamlico, Coree, Neuse river, Tuscarora, Meherrin, Cherokee, Cape Fear, Lumbee, Catawba, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugeree, Waccamaw, Waxhaw, Woccon, Cheraw, Eno, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, Saponi, or Tutelo Indians.  Some of these tribes are extinct and only 8 are recognized by the state of NC(and only Eastern Band of Cherokee in NC are recognized federally).

Not being found in a tribal role means there is no way to know which tribe she belonged to either so even if her DNA test came back and found any NA ancestry there is no way to know which NA tribe she should apply to.

The only way at that point to pinpoint the ancestors tribe would be if another person was a DNA match to my friend AND they had NA ancestry too(and the match was on that line of her family)AND documentation for that other person's NA ancestor was available.  Add in the fact that very few people with Eastern NA ancestry have DNA tested and it becomes a real big crap shoot to find any information that would help my friend in her NA search.

"Belonging" to a NA tribe nowadays is more cultural and not just genetic, according to your DNA markers.  This friend did NOT grow up in any NA culture or on a reservation(much like Elizabeth Warren did not)so really her applying to a tribe, if she could find which tribe, to reap some sort of monetary(or other)benefit is IMHO inappropriate.

Anyway this person took a DNA test for this reason without me knowing about it until after the fact.

So I am on the phone with this person, she is, for lack of a better term, "very white" and she opens her DNA result while on the phone with me, and there is no NA DNA(but then again, it's the Ancestry company test which isn't thought to be very accurate by professional genetic genealogists).

Crestfallen, she reads off her % of each ethnicity and at the bottom she comes to an ethnicity that is 2% Benin/Togo.

Um, WHAT?!?!  She didn't even know what that meant so I had to break it to her that Benin and Togo peoples are from Africa.

Yep, I don't think she believes it even now, months later.  She went looking for her inner "Indian Princess" and found out she's a "Soul Sistah".  ;-)

Just a warning that if you go digging into your DNA and/or Ancestry be careful what you wish for and be prepared for anything!

Sluggy

My Genealogy Tests Came Back

My mitochondrial DNA test results, or mtDNA,  came back last Sunday night.
That's the test that delves into your maternal genes or your X side of the chromosomes.

It can tell you where in the world your mother's, mother's, mother's, etc. to your first female ancestor, where their DNA originated.

This geographic region and pattern of migration is called your Haplogroup.
You can be tested for both your mtDNA haplogroup and your Y-DNA haplogroup, which is the DNA from your father's, father's, father's, etc. back to your first male ancestor.

While these 2 tests only give you all the way back on your paternal male line and your maternal female line, it's a start to help prove or disprove your paper trail of ancestors.

Since I am female, I can only have my mtDNA tested, as I don't carry a Y chromosome.  To get my Y-DNA tested I need to have a male relative, either a brother, father, uncle or grandfather on my paternal side of the family tested too.  Having my sons tested won't help, as they carry their father's Y-DNA, not my father's Y-DNA.
I paid for and my only male relative agreed to take the test but he hasn't sent it back yet.  Until he does I won't have a complete picture of the possible Y-DNA information for my genealogy research.

Anyway, back to my mtDNA test results.
Aren't you excited? lolz

My haplogroup is........ J*

Any other Js out there??

About J........it arose from the larger group called JT, and T also broke off and became it's own Haplogroup.

I fellow named Sykes wrote a book a bit ago, in which he says that though we all came from 1 woman, the first "Eve" located somewhere in Africa, the "daughters of Eve" gave rise to the Haplogroups around the world.  These early women each experienced mutations in their mtDNA combined with their migration around the planet gave rise to the differences in humankind around the world.

J or "Jasmine" as Sykes calls her, was a female who lived about 45,000 years ago in the Near East or the Caucasus who developed a mutation in her DNA.  Further mutations occurred in this J Haplogroup at various time frames between 27,000 to 5,800 years later which led to "subclades" or further subgroups of J---- J1a1, J1a2, J1b, J2a, J2b1, J2b2, J2b3.

Haplogroup J mtDNA humans migrated from the Near/East/Caucasus to colonize Europe during the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras.

Using the variations in mutations among the J mtDNA persons, scientists have been able to separate the "Jasmines" into 2 groups migrating into Europe---those that took a southerly route via water and the Mediterranean Sea into Europe and those who took the land route through the Balkans and up through central Europe.
My mutations indicate that I am a "Land Route Jasmine" who went to Europe the hard way.
Figures......I seem to do everything the hard way. 8-)
"Jasmines" are associated with and figure prominently into the Neolithic era spread of agriculture, or farming superseding hunting/gathering as a lifestyle around 10,000 years ago.

Distributed over the entire world's population, J Haplogroup has it's highest distribution in the Near East(12%), followed by Europe(11%), the Caucasus(8%), and North Africa(6%).
Within Europe, J Haplogroup is quite low, at only 12% of all native Europeans.

Here is a chart with the breakdown of percentages of Js and it's subclades in Europe.....

J* = Ireland — 12%, England-Wales — 11%, Scotland — 9%, Orkney — 8%, Germany — 7%, Russia (European) — 7%, Iceland — 7%, Austria-Switzerland — 5%, Finland-Estonia — 5%, Spain-Portugal — 4%, France-Italy — 3%

J1a = Austria-Switzerland — 3%

J1b1 = Scotland — 4%

J2 = France-Italy — 2%

J2a = Homogenously spread in Europe. Absent in the nations around the Caucasus. Not known to be found elsewhere.

J2b1 = Virtually absent in Europe. Found in diverse forms in the Near East.

It is theorized that some of the recombinations/mutations among J humans produced higher body temperatures, thus some subgroups of J Haplogroup populations do better in colder climates.
This might help to explain how Js adapted to all that Northern Western European climes like Ireland, Switzerland, and Scandinavian countries and why I like to walk around barefoot in the snow..... ;-)

Medically, Js are thought to be less susceptible to diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.  They have also found that some isolated groups of J populations tend to be longer lived than the general population.
On the other side, Js are MORE susceptible to the HIV virus so if exposed, they are highly likely to develop AIDS and do so rather quickly.
Js are associated with a fairly rare hereditary disease called Leber's hereditary optical neuropathy.
Try saying THAT 10 x real fast!

I saw a study where they are studying how a woman's mtDNA can cause her partner's sperm to lose mobility, making for infertility problems with the couple.  They suspect that women with mtDNA of Haplogroup T may have this condition.  Interesting stuff genetics.......

So what does all this mean?
It just confirms that once again, the evidence comes back to support that I am the whitest woman on the planet! lolz

Anyway, that's my earth shattering genealogical news for today.

Next time I'll enthrall all of y'all with my HVR1 and HVR2 mutations.
I know you can't wait!! ;-)

Until then, enjoy this silly video....



Sluggy