Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
If a Berber Falls in the Forest...
I know I have not updated you much on the DNA front, but there hasn’t been much to share. I belong to a group at haplozone.net that has been gathering data on us (the artist formerly known as E3b) and doing some sub-clade predictions. All you really need to know is the prediction, which is E1b1b1b2 or M183 and you should also know that the work they are doing is completely voluntary and very super expensive and full of very amazing technology related items. This new name and predicted sub-clade doesn’t change our Berber-ness, it makes us more common Berbers, if there is such a thing among a group of people born in Michigan*. Wikipedia is saying that 80% of the Maghreb** can claim this sub-clade as well, which is substantial in a culture that is pretty much gone. I wonder what Juba would think of that? Well Juba II probably wouldn’t give a shit since he could not find anything wrong with being all kissy-kissy with the Romans. Juba Sr. was pretty serious about his loyalty so he would be really mad.
I just recently finished re-reading chapters one through four of The Berbers. The very first thing they do is beat to death the topic of what it means to be a Berber (or what it means to categorize someone as a Berber or what it means to speak a Berber dialect or what it means when you identify yourself as ohmygodshutup). So the decision seems to be made that there will be no decision or that the definition of a Berber could be one who speaks a Berber language (which as they point out actually defines them as possible variations of the words Tamazight or Imazighen but whatever, they’re the experts). They only touch on the dispute that the Romans (who would have liked to oppress Berbers but were only materially successful because the Berbers suffer some kind of weird self-oppression Xtreme complacency) called us Mazices, which could possibly have at some point translated into the words Free Man. This is only the most exciting discovery (for me anyway) since the results themselves came in. Anyway as much as I would like to get into how popular a past time it was to invade the North African coast I clearly don’t have the time or resources. I’m not sure how to research someone that nobody cares about. There are a few books available aside from my favorite so I’ll let you know what I find as I find it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=8Zcz91t29ukC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Berbers&client=firefox-a
Actual DNA non-discovery:
Originally I was going to tell you about the Gonzales’ from El Bierzo, Spain but
towards the end of this entry I began to check and double check my info and I realized that I missed one very important detail about them. I had to take my best paragraph out because of this oversight. I was going to tell you about these Gonzales’ and their kit number 30660/XJYA7 and how close of a match they were and how interesting that is and what it means for blah blah blah. To give you a better idea of distance and DNA within our haplogroup our Freeman matches hover around a distance of 3 at about 22 markers. Back to the important detail that I missed, the Gonzales’ have only tested 12 markers, which is no better than knowing your blood type, no better for DNA anyway. At 12 markers we now have 9 exact matches**** which sounds pretty neat but more common haplogroups (ah-hem R1b or whatever you are calling yourselves now) can have upwards of 100 of those exact matches. So at this point my opinions and the opinions of the psudo-science-mostly-genealogy community part ways. They think these 9 matches we have are totally insignificant. Well, easy for them to say when they have hundreds.
* That is going to be the name of my new quilting group, the Berbers of Michigan.
** I can’t find any other info on this statement aside from The Berbers since no one cares about Berbers except people who study DNA for family history purposes. There is pretty much no data for me to find…online.
***YSearch is a website database sponsored by (I believe) FamilyTreeDNA at which any person with their YDNA results can enter them for all the world to see (and compare).
**** Four Freemans, one Aviles, one Gonzales, one Lujan, one Lovato, one North African Test Group including 112 people from Algeria and one Magann.
I just recently finished re-reading chapters one through four of The Berbers. The very first thing they do is beat to death the topic of what it means to be a Berber (or what it means to categorize someone as a Berber or what it means to speak a Berber dialect or what it means when you identify yourself as ohmygodshutup). So the decision seems to be made that there will be no decision or that the definition of a Berber could be one who speaks a Berber language (which as they point out actually defines them as possible variations of the words Tamazight or Imazighen but whatever, they’re the experts). They only touch on the dispute that the Romans (who would have liked to oppress Berbers but were only materially successful because the Berbers suffer some kind of weird self-oppression Xtreme complacency) called us Mazices, which could possibly have at some point translated into the words Free Man. This is only the most exciting discovery (for me anyway) since the results themselves came in. Anyway as much as I would like to get into how popular a past time it was to invade the North African coast I clearly don’t have the time or resources. I’m not sure how to research someone that nobody cares about. There are a few books available aside from my favorite so I’ll let you know what I find as I find it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=8Zcz91t29ukC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Berbers&client=firefox-a
Actual DNA non-discovery:
Originally I was going to tell you about the Gonzales’ from El Bierzo, Spain but
towards the end of this entry I began to check and double check my info and I realized that I missed one very important detail about them. I had to take my best paragraph out because of this oversight. I was going to tell you about these Gonzales’ and their kit number 30660/XJYA7 and how close of a match they were and how interesting that is and what it means for blah blah blah. To give you a better idea of distance and DNA within our haplogroup our Freeman matches hover around a distance of 3 at about 22 markers. Back to the important detail that I missed, the Gonzales’ have only tested 12 markers, which is no better than knowing your blood type, no better for DNA anyway. At 12 markers we now have 9 exact matches**** which sounds pretty neat but more common haplogroups (ah-hem R1b or whatever you are calling yourselves now) can have upwards of 100 of those exact matches. So at this point my opinions and the opinions of the psudo-science-mostly-genealogy community part ways. They think these 9 matches we have are totally insignificant. Well, easy for them to say when they have hundreds.
* That is going to be the name of my new quilting group, the Berbers of Michigan.
** I can’t find any other info on this statement aside from The Berbers since no one cares about Berbers except people who study DNA for family history purposes. There is pretty much no data for me to find…online.
***YSearch is a website database sponsored by (I believe) FamilyTreeDNA at which any person with their YDNA results can enter them for all the world to see (and compare).
**** Four Freemans, one Aviles, one Gonzales, one Lujan, one Lovato, one North African Test Group including 112 people from Algeria and one Magann.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Thomas Cooper
Bad News, I got my second "rejection letter" from the National Archives. Thomas Coope of the 11th Ohio Cavelry was not our guy. There was no Thomas Cooper in the 8th MI Cal and no Thomas Cooper in the 3rd Ohio Cal. I'm not sure what the next step is.
I have not heard anything back about Milo's records but I am keeping my fingers crossed and hopin' and prayin' and all that. I'm not sure where to go from here if he doesn't work out. There is a Freeman Family in Pennsylvania that is looking good these days.
I'm waiting for Ancestry to make some changes to their DNA ordering system so that we can upgrade to the next set of Markers (I think it's 48). I heard a rumor that will happen soon.
I have not heard anything back about Milo's records but I am keeping my fingers crossed and hopin' and prayin' and all that. I'm not sure where to go from here if he doesn't work out. There is a Freeman Family in Pennsylvania that is looking good these days.
I'm waiting for Ancestry to make some changes to their DNA ordering system so that we can upgrade to the next set of Markers (I think it's 48). I heard a rumor that will happen soon.
Monday, May 12, 2008
For Those Of You Just Tuning In
Depending on who you are:
Grandpa Russell (Vern, for most of us) was born in April of 1929 to Milton Jerome Russell and Judith Rogers (The Real Grandma Russell, for most of us). Milton was the fifth son of Cordy Russell and Maude Smith and he was born in Oakland county on 17 FEB 1910 and died in 1969 in Michigan. Cordy Alvin Russell was born on 04 APR 1881 in Oakland and died 01 FEB 1965. He was the last child of Frank Russell and Lydia Powell.
After the Russell Genealogy Team established those facts they were unable to move forward. It was as if someone was lying about who they were. A Y-chromosome DNA test was done and confirmed the life long suspicion of many that indeed, we are not Russell's. Although nothing is 100% in DNA (no really, it's true) some things are known. What I mean is, we may not be able to prove who we are through DNA alone but we can prove who we are not.
When comparing ourselves to other Russell's it must be noted that we have few genetic similarities. When comparing ourselves to all other surnames floating around in various DNA, Surname and Family Projects the family we matchis the Freeman's with the haplotype E1b1b (or the Haplotype Formerly known as E3b).
That is where we are with our research.
Grandpa Russell (Vern, for most of us) was born in April of 1929 to Milton Jerome Russell and Judith Rogers (The Real Grandma Russell, for most of us). Milton was the fifth son of Cordy Russell and Maude Smith and he was born in Oakland county on 17 FEB 1910 and died in 1969 in Michigan. Cordy Alvin Russell was born on 04 APR 1881 in Oakland and died 01 FEB 1965. He was the last child of Frank Russell and Lydia Powell.
After the Russell Genealogy Team established those facts they were unable to move forward. It was as if someone was lying about who they were. A Y-chromosome DNA test was done and confirmed the life long suspicion of many that indeed, we are not Russell's. Although nothing is 100% in DNA (no really, it's true) some things are known. What I mean is, we may not be able to prove who we are through DNA alone but we can prove who we are not.
When comparing ourselves to other Russell's it must be noted that we have few genetic similarities. When comparing ourselves to all other surnames floating around in various DNA, Surname and Family Projects the family we matchis the Freeman's with the haplotype E1b1b (or the Haplotype Formerly known as E3b).
That is where we are with our research.
Friday, March 28, 2008
DNA
DYS19A=13
DYS19b=-
DYS385A=13
DYS385b=15
DYS388=12
DYS389I=14
DYS389II=30
DYS390=23
DYS391=9
DYS392=11
DYS393=13
DYS426=11
DYS438=10
DYS439=10
DYS441=15
DYS447=23
DYS448=20
DYS449=32
DYS454=12
DYS455=11
DYS458=17
DYS460=11
DYS461=13
DYS463=18
DYS464a=14
DYS464b=16
DYS464c=16
DYS464d=17
DYS464e=-
DYS464f=-
YCAIIa=19
YCAIIb=22
Y-GATA-h4.1=22 (7 for YSearch)
Haplogroup E3B
DYS19b=-
DYS385A=13
DYS385b=15
DYS388=12
DYS389I=14
DYS389II=30
DYS390=23
DYS391=9
DYS392=11
DYS393=13
DYS426=11
DYS438=10
DYS439=10
DYS441=15
DYS447=23
DYS448=20
DYS449=32
DYS454=12
DYS455=11
DYS458=17
DYS460=11
DYS461=13
DYS463=18
DYS464a=14
DYS464b=16
DYS464c=16
DYS464d=17
DYS464e=-
DYS464f=-
YCAIIa=19
YCAIIb=22
Y-GATA-h4.1=22 (7 for YSearch)
Haplogroup E3B
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
DNA Companies
DNA Heritage is the same company that brought us the best (and only) tutorial available. Here is a page with their rates. They answer many Frequently Asked Questions in this section and this test would tell us enough about who we are to know if we are Russells or not.
Family Tree DNA is another group also available for tests. The FAQ is here and the prices are here. You can view information about the Surname Projects they host here.
Ancestry also has their own DNA test and it's cheaper than the others but price isn't the most important thing, accesibility is. If you have results for another company you can enter them here on ancestry. Their FAQs are available here. They even have the Ancestry DNA Blog! This is a blog entry about the number of markers available and what the differences are.
Family Tree DNA is another group also available for tests. The FAQ is here and the prices are here. You can view information about the Surname Projects they host here.
Ancestry also has their own DNA test and it's cheaper than the others but price isn't the most important thing, accesibility is. If you have results for another company you can enter them here on ancestry. Their FAQs are available here. They even have the Ancestry DNA Blog! This is a blog entry about the number of markers available and what the differences are.
Friday, February 8, 2008
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