Did some DNA testing to trace ancestry

[suginami]

After watching the PBS series "African American Lives" that was shown on TV in February (Black History month), I decided to submit my Y DNA for testing to see what it would tell me about:

1. My recent ancestral origins by comparing my DNA against a large database of other men tested around the world. Your results are displayed by the number of matches by country. If you are of European ancestry, but are living in a country like the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc., then you go by your most distant known ancestor, if known.

2. My ancient ancestry by determining what my Haplotype is. There is an article on Haplogroups here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup

3. My BioGeographical Ancestry. By scanning your entire human chromosone, the test determines your genetic heritage among the four anthropological groups: Indo-European, Native American, Sub-Saharan African, and East Asian heritage.

I found that I had a perfect 37 out 37 marker DNA match with four (4) other men living in the U.S. with my last name. I learned through contacting them that I was a direct descendant of a man who immigrated from England to the Plymouth colony in 1635. This man was born in 1600 in Bideford, England, and died in 1664. His descendants were among the original settlers of Cape Cod, where a large number still live today. My family had really no idea who our immigrant ancestor was, so this was very satisfying to finally know. I was able to piece together our missing links connecting our last known ancestor, who was living in Putnam County, NY in the 1740's to my immigrant ancestor in Cape Cod. We were only missing 3 generations to fill in the gaps.

I learned that my Haplotype is R1b1b2g, which means that approximately 2,000-3,000 years ago, my English ancestor was living amongst one of the Germanic tribes in Europe. There is a "hot spot" of men with this haplotype living in modern day Austria, Northern Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Southwestern Sweden. By looking at the breakdown of the 67 markers on the Y DNA of men within this haplotype, mine is most similar to men in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. So, by looking at the history of England, my ancestor was likely one of the invader populations of the Angles, Saxons, or Danish / Swedish Viking groups that invaded England.

Saturday, I got the results of the Ancestry by DNA test, and it showed that I am 94% European and 6% Native American. The results proves our oral family history that our great great grandmother was full blooded Blackfoot Indian...not the Blackfoot Indians of the Algonquin tribe in Montana, but the Blackfoot Sioux Indians of the Lakota nation.

Has anyone considered having their DNA tested to discover your paternal or maternal origins?

[Chad300tdt]

Very cool ... I'll have to look into this myself.

My great grandmother was a full blooded Blackfoot (not sure from where).

[BENZ-LGB]

I don't want to know where I came from, I want to know where I am going.

Besides, who knows what evil lurks in the old family tree.

[Dee8go]

That's interesting, Paul. Where did you send your DNA to get all of that done?

[Palangi]

Originally Posted by BENZ-LGB

Besides, who knows what evil lurks in the old family tree.

When we asked the family old-timers about that, their answer was "You don't want to know".

[kerry]

How much does it cost and how do you do it? My cousin's genealogical research showed we are descended from Capt. Henry Morgan, the Welsh pirate and his slave. It'd be interesting to know if that is confirmed genetically.

[Botnst]

My Father's maternal line: http://www.clanhendersonusa.org/dna_goals.htm

[suginami]

The best website to test your Y DNA is:

www.familytreedna.com

The test you want to take is the Y DNA 37 marker test. You can test 12 or 25 markers, but it isn't enough to find close matches. The 67 marker test isn't needed beause you'll only have a 67 marker match with your father, son, Uncle, Grandfather, etc.

The 37 marker test is $259, but you get a huge discount if you join a Surname project, like I did.

If you click on the "projects" link at the top of the page, you will likely find a Surname project for your last name, and this will compare your results with other men that have your last name. The price for the 37 marker test in a Surname project is $119.00!!!!!!!

This test will also tell you your basic Haplotype. Mine was R1b, which means my ancient ancestors were "wintering" is Southwestern Europe 20,000-30,000 years ago during the last Glacial Maximum.

I then paid an extra $70 to for a "deep clade" test to find out what my sub-haplotype is, which turned out to be R1b1b2g, formerly known as R1b1c9.

To find out your percentages of European, Asian, Native American, and Sub Saharan African ancestry, go to:

www.ancestrybydna.com

and take the AncestrybyDNA 2.5 test.

[suginami]

Originally Posted by Botnst

My Father's maternal line: http://www.clanhendersonusa.org/dna_goals.htm

What a coincidence. My father's maternal line is Campbell and his grandmother's maternal line is Henderson.

Both of those lines immigrated from Scotland.

[suginami]

Another thing about this DNA testing:

It is painless!!!

They send you several fancy Q-tips to swab your cheek, just like on CSI.

[Botnst]

Originally Posted by suginami

What a coincidence. My father's maternal line is Campbell and his grandmother's maternal line is Henderson.

Both of those lines immigrated from Scotland.

My Mother has been tracing my maternal and paternal ancestry for about 60 years. She has found some really interesting people including a few despicable clowns. But mostly they were just normal people living normal lives. My Mother's ancestry, also Scottish (McConnell/MacDonald) were mostly sedentary clerks and sometimes lawyers and sometimes blacksmiths while my Father's were wanderers, seafarers, soldiers and frontiersmen.

I guess given that I'm on the MacDonald side and you're on the Campbell side that if we see each other we should commence to murder and thievery of each others families. Gotta maintain the family traditions.

B

[John Doe]

Not much for computers, both of my parents have spent hundreds of hours at several state archives in VA and NC and also in SLC. My mother has published a pretty extensive tome on her ancestry (no, not descendant of kings) and my father is working on his.

That said, when my dad was traveling a lot, he had a habit (in the '70s & early '80s) of picking up a phone book where ever he found himself, looking up our name (pretty unique) and calling up whoever he found for a drink, ect... to see if there was a story.

Bit him in the ass when he ran into a guy in Dallas, who claimed to have a fabled "XXXXXX" family sword. The guy actually flew to Augusta, GA and tried to run a con on my dad. I don't know the whole story on what ultimately happened to the fellow (it wasn't good for him), but it was a big deal at the time, so I have been wary about contacting folks like that for a while. Seems like the cons are getting braver recently (hell, Sarcozi(sp) just had that Rocancourt ******* to the Pallais of Versailles!!!!!)

Although it is tempting to want to know, and I am not making any judgments on your discoveries, Sug, just my anecdote.

[suginami]

Originally Posted by John Doe

Although it is tempting to want to know, and I am not making any judgments on your discoveries, Sug, just my anecdote.

No problem, bud.

I really didn't care what the testing uncovered, I just wanted to know. It is what it is.

In your test results at the familytreedna website your results show matches at 12 markers, 25 markers, 37 markers, etc. You are given the persons name and e-mail address.

To give you an idea, I have 1,498 men I match with at 12 markers. At 25 markers, I match with 20 men. At 37 markers I match with 4 men.

[suginami]

Originally Posted by Botnst

I guess given that I'm on the MacDonald side and you're on the Campbell side that if we see each other we should commence to murder and thievery of each others families. Gotta maintain the family traditions.

B

lol, that's funny.

I have one other known person of Scottish ancestry.

My immigrant from England, Edward, arrived with his oldest son in Plymouth, MA. He left a wife and a number of other children in England. His son married a woman with the last name Leighton. That doesn't sound stereotypically Scottish to me, but her parents were born in Glasgow.

[AdvisorGuy]

My fiance did it here....
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/