Geneology
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TV ClubHouse: Archives: Geneology

Squaredsc

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 07:35 am EditMoveDeleteIP
i really didn't want to start a new discussion but i couldn't find the other thread about tracing your roots.

anyhoo, interesting article i saw on one of the yahoo groups i belong to about help with finding your african roots.


August 4, 2003


Helping Find African Roots
By Jennifer Friedlin
Wired.com


Growing up, Jacqueline Pitts always felt a deep void in her knowledge of where her ancestors came from. As an African-American, she was frustrated that slave traders did not keep records to indicate where slaves were taken from or what tribes they belonged to.


"Most of us were not as fortunate as Alex Haley was to be able to trace our roots," said Pitts, a retired corrections worker from Far Rockaway, New York.

African Ancestry, a company based in Washington, D.C., has developed two DNA test kits for home use that can help African-Americans determine at least some of their genetic links to tribes in Africa. The company collects a user's DNA from a cheek swab, sequences a portion of the genetic material and then matches the sequence against a database that contains genetic information for about 90 African tribes living in West African countries such as Senegal, Mali and Nigeria.
Although all humans are nearly identical on a genetic level, the company focuses on the mutations that occurred over the past 10,000 years, causing variations between African populations that often lived in geographic isolation from one another. There are literally millions of places to look in human DNA to find minute differences.


Founded in February, the company has developed two tests to help African-Americans identify the lineage of their mother's maternal and father's paternal lines. The MatriClan test looks at mitochondrial DNA -- the genetic material from the cells' energy-producing mitochondria. Unlike regular DNA that is a combination of genetic information from the mother and father, mitochondrial DNA is passed unchanged from mother to child.

The PatriClan test studies the man's Y chromosome. Although this test can be performed only on men, it can uncover significant information since, like mitochondrial DNA, the DNA from the Y chromosome does not undergo recombination during conception. Each test costs $349.

Rick Kittles, the company's co-founder and scientific director and a co-director of molecular genetics at the National Human Genome Center at Howard University, said the tests generate identical matches for 85 to 90 percent of users. For the remainder, comparisons to other European or Native American databases can be made and statistical algorithms can be used to determine shared lineages.

Although the tests have a high probability for helping people trace some of their genetic links, experts caution that the tests provide only a small piece of a large puzzle.

"It should be kept in perspective that this is only part of your ancestry that you are discovering. You have lots of ancestors," said Pilar Ossorio, an assistant professor of law and bio-ethics at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison.

Yet, for people like Pitts, DNA testing offers a thrilling new opportunity to get a glimpse into the past. In July, after submitting her DNA to African Ancestry, Pitts learned that her mother's maternal line descended from the Bamileke tribe living in Cameroon.


"It's a small piece, but it's a big piece," said Pitts, who has spent years trying to cobble together information about her family's history. "Here I am, 51 years old and I never, ever uttered the word 'Bamileke.' When I finally said the word, I felt like my ancestors rejoiced. I got a chill."


Kittles said there are many implications for the tests. Over time, for instance, studies could be done that would shed light on whether certain groups of African-Americans are at an increased risk for particular diseases. African-Americans also might be able to use the genetic information to find out more about their relatives in America.


Since slaves often were traded among different owners, they might have had offspring they never knew and extended families they never met. Now, Kittles said, a database could be established that would help people track down their long-lost relatives, some of whom could conceivably live right next door.


African Ancestry is just one of several companies helping people in their quest to put the genealogical pieces of their family histories together. Oxford Ancestors in England uses mitochondrial DNA to help Europeans determine their ancestral links to the seven maternal clans believed to have given rise to all Europeans over the past 150,000 years.

And DNAPrint Genomics of Sarasota, Florida, offers a general test that can help determine whether a person has links to Asian, Native American, African or European populations.
In some cases, the tests may show unexpected findings, since many people who look like purebreds often turn out to be genetic mutts. Nearly 30 percent of all African-American males are believed to have European genes on their Y chromosome, a fact that attests to the wanted and unwanted conjugal relationships slave owners had with their female slaves.

Kittles said he learned his mother's maternal line came from the Hausa people of northern Nigeria, while his father's male line descended from Germany.

While some people may find such surprises unpleasant, most say they feel a sense of completeness in learning where they came from.

Through maternal and paternal tests done on her brother, Okella Trice of Los Angeles learned that her mother's maternal family came from the Hausa people of northern Nigeria while her father's paternal line descended from the Fulani, a nomadic people that roamed western Africa. After learning this, Trice, a 59-year-old operations manager for a large HMO, said the stories she heard from her maternal relatives when she was a child finally made sense.


"I remember hearing stories that the person in my family who was captured and brought to America as a slave was captured when they were out watering their animals. I always wondered where that might have been," said Trice. "Now I know that would have been Lake Chad."

Twiggyish

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 03:03 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I think this is fascinating and as the article says.. it will give people a sense of completeness. I'm glad the technology is now available to help people make this connection with their past.

It's also funny that anyone would consider themselves a pure bred anything..LOL (I am very happy to be a mutt)

Aus10

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 05:30 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I've been doing geneolgy for about 2 years now after watching my grandpa do it for years. It's absolutely fasinating! I came to a halt when we got to the native american side of hubby's family and unfortunately haven't been able to verify any of the information we have gotten through word of mouth in the family. Perhaps after BB is over this summer I should seriously starting working at it again.....

Squaredsc

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 06:34 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
twiggy, woof woof.

aus, my dad did a family tree but didn't get to far, only got to a great-grandmother or great-great grandmother who was a native american from the eastern shore but don't know from which tribe. my aunt on my moms side also tried to do a tree too but only got so far. its hard when your elders are deceased and didn't talk about where they came from and also if no one asked or wrote it down. there is supposed to be a family bible that my aunt saw somewhere but now we don't know where it is.

Cathie

Monday, August 11, 2003 - 08:42 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I am so glad they are coming up with some tools to help those with a history of slavery in their families find their lineage. I was shocked as a child when we went several times a year to "cemetary day" at the rural cemetary where my grandparents were buried. This was a day when families went out to mow, edge, plant flowers, generally clean up the cemetary (now under the care of a cemetary association because most of those buried there have no family left to personally care for the upkeep). We kids would explore the cemetary while the grownups worked, at least until they realized we were goofing off and made us come pull weeds.

In the far back area of the cemetary there were dozens of sandstone rock markers, most only 6-8" high. They had no names, no inscriptions. We were told they were the graves of the slaves of the people buried in the rest of the cemetary. I cried then as I do now just thinking about it. At the time I hadn't even thought of the implications of geneology, heck I didn't even know what it was. It is so heartbreaking to know that there are families out there who are descendents of these people but have lost the link to their past.

Cathie

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 12:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
No more typing when my brain is weary...cemetery, not cemetary.

Squaredsc

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 05:00 am EditMoveDeleteIP
lol cathie.

Jeep

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 05:30 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Cathie, I remember going to the cemetery, too. Mom and Dad would take us in the late spring to cut grass and weed and then we'd go again at Christmas to put flowers there. It was quite a ride out in the country.

Now, I take my elderly Mom there to place flowers. The ride doesn't seem as long now. Last year, she helped me go thru the markers and I was able to trace back her mother's family into the mid 1700's. There's a wealth of info in that place and I want to make sure I get it all before Mom is gone. She's the last one who remembers all the stories.

There are also unmarked graves there. Mom can also remember some of her family being buried in a place that is now just a very big bush. She said they were poor and only had metal grave markers, but she said they were buried by the bush. Maybe some of the historians will have a cemetery plot and we can get a marker there. That would be nice. I'm not sure where to start looking, though.

Ladytex

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 06:09 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Squared, I have a CD called the Freedman's Bank records. This is a record of a bank that alot of freed slaves used right after emancipation. It has some birth/death dates and other records.

Squaredsc

Tuesday, August 12, 2003 - 07:03 am EditMoveDeleteIP
oh kool ladyt. i would love to try the process above, but its kinda pricey. of course i already know that im decended from the great kings and queens of egypt or kemit(sp).