The surprising outcome of a DNA test

[Little Star]

Have you heard about the DNA testing being done by many researching their roots?
If not see here:http://www.dnaancestryproject.com/


Then read this other totally amazing story here:
http://www.alternet.org/story/16917/

Black Like I Thought I Was

By Erin Aubry Kaplan, LA Weekly. Posted October 7, 2003.
<snip>
The surprising outcome of a DNA test proves a man's race while throwing his blackness into question. Wayne Joseph is a 51-year-old high school principal in Chino whose family emigrated from the segregated parishes of Louisiana to central Los Angeles in the 1950s, as did mine. Like me, he is of Creole stock and is therefore on the lighter end of the black color spectrum, a common enough circumstance in the South that predates the multicultural movement by centuries. And like most other black folk, Joseph grew up with an unequivocal sense of his heritage and of himself; he tends toward black advocacy and has published thoughtful opinion pieces on racial issues in magazines like Newsweek. When Joseph decided on a whim to take a new ethnic DNA test he saw described on a 60 Minutes segment last year, it was only to indulge a casual curiosity about the exact percentage of black blood; virtually all black Americans are mixed with something, he knew, but he figured it would be interesting to make himself a guinea pig for this new testing process, which is offered by a Florida-based company called DNA Print Genomics Inc. The experience would at least be fodder for another essay for Newsweek. He got his kit in the mail, swabbed his mouth per the instructions and sent off the DNA samples for analysis.<snip>

Cool stuff Huh? Genealogy has been my hobby for years. What I wouldn't give to be able to afford that testing!

[sybylla]

1. $600 for generalities? That's tough to cough up.

If you do the research, you can find out enough to have a pretty good idea where your ancestors came from without the test. On the other hand, it might tell you if one of your ancestors was not what they said they were or generally believed to be.

I'm not sure I want to know at this point. It's gonna have to get a lot cheaper before I'll even think about it. I can't imagine it will come back as any less than 95% indo-european.

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. I'm trying for the basic paternal lines stuff...

but I have to get a volunteer first.

In our huge 3000 member plus tree, most of the lines go through women. I have very few sons of sons of sons I can ask to do this. I've already asked one, and he turned me down. My brother would be a candidate, but we are completely estranged, so that's out.

I have found a DNA group that is tracing the origins of all the Smiths and Schmidts that settled in northeastern states like PA and NY, where ours originated. I am SO eager to get more information to help us get back to the old country.

My problem right now is trying to figure out who our "Ancestor Zero" was-- the first Schmidt to hit American shores and found our dynasty.

The basic kit I found is about $200, I think. I'm even willing to cough up the bucks the minute I find a volunteer, but no dice yet.

[Momgonepostal]

3. VERY interesting! Here's his photo, BTW

I can certainly see why he thought he was of African descent. He looks it to me.

I don't have the cash to take a test like this, but it's fascinating. For me, it would be a bit silly to shell out a lot of money to hear I am mostly white...my mirror can tell me that!

Of course, Mr. Joseph's experiences should show us things aren't always as they seem.

[jwirr]

4. It was DNA that finally proved that at least one of Sally Hemmings

children was fathered by Thomas Jefferson and not his nephew.

[Cybergata]

5. The last I read was . . .

that they weren't sure if the DNA was Thomas's or his father's.. How latest is this latest news. This is a subject I'm really interested in. In my heart, I believe Thomas was the father of Sally's children, it just would be nice to have the proof.

[jwirr]

6. I had a newspaper article that I stuck somewhere and cannot find

back. It said that the DNA proved that it was not the nephew that everyone was claiming it was and that it was definitely Thomas. I will look for it and get back to you. I to believe it was Thomas. These children were let "free" and no one chased them. I believe that some of them ended up living in Ohio. I could find that also if you are interested.

[jwirr]

7. Hi I found the article tucked away in my book case. It was from

Duluth News-Tribune Sunday, November 1, 1998. During Clinton's impeachment and talking about the similarities. By Robert S. Boyd of the News-Tribune Washington Bureau. The gist of the genetic data was:

"developed by Eugene Foster, a retired University of Virginia pathologist, who collected blood samples from 19 men and had them analyzed by a team of seven British and Dutch scientists at Oxford University in England.

Five of the samples were from living male-line descendants of two sons of Jefferson's paternal uncle, Field Jefferson. Five came from relatives of two sons of Thomas Woodson, Hemings first child, who took the name of his later slave-owner. One came from a descendant of Eston Hemings Jefferson, her last son, who adopted the president's last name. Three were drawn from descendants of three sons of John Carr, grandfather of Jefferson's nephews, Samuel and Peter Carr. Five other samples were "controls", taken from Virginia families unrelated to Jefferson or Hemings, for comparison purposes.

In each sample the scientists analyzed the Y-chromosome, a piece of DNA that is passed unchanged from father to son, except for a occasional mutation. (No Y-chromosome was available from the President because he had no surviving sons.)

In their tests, the scientists discovered a rare variant in the Y-chromosome of the descendants of Field Jefferson, the president's uncle. The variant, which has never been observed outside the Jefferson family, also appeared in Eston's relatives, but not in the Carr brothers' progeny. The Woodson group also had a different variant.....The probability of such a match arising by chance is low - safely less than 1 percent. Together with circumstantial evidence, it seems to seal the case that Thomas Jefferson was Eston Hemings father."

In the case of Thomas Woodson the evidence neither supported not ruled out the possibility.

I do not know if there have been further tests with newer methods but I doubt that they would negate what was found in this test.

[Cybergata]

10. Thanks

I've been telling my 8th grade students for years that Jefferson was the father, so I'm glad that I now have the backing evidence. :headbang:

[jwirr]

8. Thomas Jefferson's father Peter, died in 1757. Years before Sally's

children were born.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. I have a book I bought....

where one of the black descendants brought everyone together for a reunion. The descendants also include the kids and grandkids of the WWII general Lucian Truscott.

Most of the relatives were so kind and gracious, but one or two absolutely refused to participate, KNOWING that they could never be related to a NEGRO. It was fascinating reading all the stories and perspectives, and seeing all the photographs of the modern day cousins-- some of whom are black, some more caramel-toned, others could pass for white, and then there is the totally white branch.

I believe the book is called "Jefferson's Children" or something like that.

[XemaSab]

11. "Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball's another good book about

the search for Black relatives by a white guy.

[Bitwit1234]

12. There is a place where you do it for free they use it for research

but the catch is, it takes over a year to get it on their site. They don't mail you the results. But the give you the kit and return postage. You have to provide four generations along with the test.

I got mine the other day and am going to send it back, but I ran out of black ink cartridge, bought a new one and don't have it in yet. I am culling the generations to included just my immediate line not any of the other branches. It is too extensive. I hope it satisfys. Now they can't do the good thing, like with the male, but the female test, does give you and idea of where you came from, where you relatives branched out to, so I think it is worth it.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. I have the kit too, didn't know it took a year.

Yeesh. I'm probably going to the National Geographics one after the holidays, as that's only $100, I believe.