Paleoanthropology, genealogy and the miracle of DNA. Part Five.

Sharon’s (mitochondrial & autosomal) & brother Willy’s (Y-chromosome) DNA results

Family Finder test (autosomal; Sharon)

This test identifies and matches SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) in the autosomal DNA which comes equally but randomly from both parents. It is thus a “gender neutral” test.

FTDNA Autosomal Database Matches

This can potentially match you with relatives descended from any of your ancestral lines from up to five or six generations.  Sharon got one confirmed 2^nd cousin on the “close/immediate” category with whom she has already exchanged emails.  There were also 27 pages of total matches, most of which are in the 3^rd - 5^th cousin or “distant/speculative” categories. 

Autosomal Population Finder

This compares the subject’s autosomal signature to a world DNA population database which reflects the last 100 to 2,000 years (about 4 to 80 generations).  This data is based on rapidly-emerging technology and will undoubtedly change over the coming years as the population definitions are further refined.

Region	Population	%	Margin of Error
Western European	Orcadian reference group. Poss. descendants of Picts (Iron Age “Celts”) & Vikings (Norse explorers from the late 8th  cent.).	94.57%	±1.67%
Middle East	Palestinian, , Bedouin, Bedouin South, Druze, Iranian, Jewish.	5.43%	±1.67%

Full genome mitochondrial test (MtDNA; Sharon)

This tests sequences of the HVR1, HVR1 and Coding Regions of the mitochondrial DNA. Due to the mtDNA slow mutation rate, the tests are more applicable to deep ancestry predictions than to more recent genealogical applications.

MtDNA Haplogroup

Sharon belongs to the mitochondrial haplogroup J2a1a.  J (Bryan Sykes’ clan Jasmine) is believed to have originated in the Near/Middle East about 45000 years ago and is thus one of the oldest in Europe and the Middle East.  J2 is thought to be associated with the spread of agriculture from Mesopotamia during the Neolithic period about 18,500 years ago.  J2 is also interesting because it has been detected in Turkey, Italy, Sardinia, Iberia, and Iceland. These are all populations with traditionally prominent fishing industries and thus this connection might suggest recent migration paths that are related to the economic opportunities offered by fishing. J2a is now found homogenously across most of Europe but seems to be largely absent elsewhere. In searching for famous ancients who are members of the J2 MtDNA haplogroup, I only came up with Francesco Petrarca (1304 –1374), known as Petrarch, who was an Italian scholar & poet and one of the earliest humanists.

FTDNA MtDNA Database Matches and Project Groups

HVR1 only.   There are 105 matches, all in the J or J2a1a haplogroups. Most have a maternal country of origin from Western Europe.

HVR1 + HVR2. There are nine matches, all of haplogroups J or J2a1a and with maternal ancestry from the British Isles.

HVR1 + HVR2 + Coding Region (Full Genome Sequence, FGS). Sharon has two matches. Of these, one is a J2a1a with a maternal origin from Ireland. No data on the other. However, MTDNA creates relatively few mutations and thus can travel the female descent line for many generations before a mutation happens. Consequently, paper-trail connections are often elusive and the relevance of random matches, even at the FGS level, can be low in genealogical terms although a shared geographic maternal origin can sometimes be indicated.  Nevertheless, matches on the Coding Region could be important; for an exact FGS match, there is a 90% chance that the MRCA is within 16 generations or about 400 years. Both matches were contacted and one responded but with no obvious genealogical links within the time-frame of the two documented pedigrees.

Y-DNA test (Willy)

This test identifies genealogical connections on the direct paternal lineage and also suggests paternal ancestral origins via the Y-chromosome short tandem repeats (STR) or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP).

Y-Haplogroup (STR prediction)

Willy belongs to the R1b1a2 Y-Haplogroup.  Haplogroup R is one of the two branches of the mega-haplogroup P and originated approximately 30,000 years ago in Central Asia. It has two main branches, R1 and R2. R1 spread from Central Asia into Europe while R2 spread east into the Indian subcontinent. Several of Willy’s matches (see below) are from the R1b1a2a1a1b5a sub-haplogroup which have a high occurrence amongst the Basque, French, Spanish and Portuguese. For Willy’s own sub-haplogroup to be determined, the FTDNA Deep Clade test would be required.

R1b is the most frequently occurring Y-chromosome haplogroup in Western Europe. One study determined its origin to be about 18,500 years before the present and are the direct descendants of Cro-Magnon man who dominated the Upper Paleolithic expansion into Europe.  R1b1a2 is believed to have expanded throughout Europe as humans re-colonized after the last ice age which ended approximately 10-12 thousand years ago. The Egyptian pharaoh, Tutankhamun (134 – 1323 BC) also belongs to the haplogroup R1b1a2.

FTDNA Y-chromosome Database Matches

Willy has a very high number level of matches, many with the same last name or a variant of it.  At the higher marker levels, the most-distant (chronologically) paternal country of origin as known by the subject, are all in the British Isles (plus one from Germany).

• 67-marker level.  12 matches.   1-7 step “genetic distance”. Six have the Isaacs last name (or variant).
• 37-marker level.  24 matches.  0-4 step “genetic distance”. Fifteen have the Isaacs last name (or variant).
• 25-marker level.  105 matches.  0-2 step “genetic distance”. Fifteen have the Isaacs last name (or variant).
• 12-marker level.  418 matches.  0-1 step “genetic distance”. Sixteen have the Isaacs last name (or variant).

At the 67-marker level, for men who share a common surname and who have matches of genetic distances of 0-2 steps, they most likely share a common ancestor within a genealogical timeframe. For an exact match (0 steps), this means there is a 50% chance that the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) is within three generations or less and a 90% it is within five generations or less. Willy does not have any exact (0 step) 67-marker matches but does have five matches at this marker level with genetic distances of 1 or 2 and the same last name. These should be the first people to contact to establish a genealogical relationship.

Paleoanthropology, genealogy and the miracle of DNA. Part Four.

Tests purchased from FamilyTreeDNA (Houston)

	Y-chromosome (STR)	Mitochondrial	Autosomal (Family Finder)
What is tested?	Y chromosome DNA mutations (short tandem repeats, STR). See note #3.	Mitochondrial DNA mutations.	Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) from 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes. See note #7.
DNA inheritance	Passed on by the father to sons only (hence only men can be tested)	Passed on by the mother to all children (& thus both men & women can be tested)	Inherited from both maternal and paternal lines (men & women can be tested)
Level of test	Four marker sequences; 12, 25, 37, 67. Highest level (111) was not included.	Full Mitochondrial Sequence (FMS) test which sequences the HVR1 region, the HVR2 region and the Coding Region. See note #4.	710,000 pairs of locations (SNPs)
Raw data	Number of sequence repeats (allele) at a given marker position (DYS).	Usually reported as differences from the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS)
Genealogical goals	Identify male relatives with a common paternal ancestor	Identify distant relatives with a common maternal ancestor	Identify relatives with a common ancestor
Genealogical/ historical timeframe	Recent to hundreds of years	Hundreds to thousands of years. See note #5.	Up to five or six generations (circa 100 – 150 years)
Close matches	The genetic “distance” between you and the match are expressed as “Steps”. See note #1.	Matches are likely to be very distant. See note #6.	Predicted relationships defined by autosomal DNA matched (in centiMorgans) & the longest matched segment. See notes #8 & #9.
“Deep ancestral” (archaeological) goals	Determine paternal line ancestral haplogroup (see note #2). Predicted from STR results. See note #3.	Determine maternal line ancestral haplogroup	Determine possible geographic origins by comparing results with world-wide type-populations. See note #10.
“Deep ancestral” (archaeological) timeframe	Usually tens of thousands of years	Tens of thousands of years	Hundreds to 2,000 years (up to about 80 generations).

Notes:

1)  For the various levels of  Y-chromosome STR test, the steps between the subject and a match equate to the number of markers that match as follows:

“Step” level	Number of markers used in the FTDNA tests
	12	25	37	67
0	11/12	25/25	37/37	67/67
1	12/12	24/25	36/37	66/67
2	NA	23/25	35/37	65/67
3	NA	NA	34/37	64/67
4	NA	NA	NA	63/67
5	NA	NA	NA	62/67
6	NA	NA	NA	61/67
7	NA	NA	NA	60/67

2)  Haplotype =  a set of closely-linked genetic markers which tend to be inherited together. Haplogroup = all of the descendants of a single individual who first showed a particular unique genetic characteristic. Haplogroups characterize the early migrations of specific population groups. Individuals with the same genetic mutation or "marker" can thus be linked back to the population where the marker first made an appearance.

3)  A Y-chromosome Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) test is available if either (a) the error in the haplogroup prediction from the STR test is high or (b) if more detail is required about the exact position within the haplogroup (aka “Deepclade”test).

4)  Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has two major parts, the control region and the coding region. The control region is the hypervariable region (HVR) which is relatively fast changing. It may be further divided into two Hypervariable regions, HVR1 and HVR2. The coding region is the part of the mtDNA genome that contains genes and is believed to be slower mutating than the control region. Often, it is the mutations that are found in the coding region that are used to define the haplogroups

5)  Mitochondrial DNA mutations typically occur only once every 50 generations or about 1000 years.

6)  For an MtDNA match, the time window and confidence level increases with the higher resolution tests.

Matching Level	Maximum # Generations to MRCA	Confidence Interval
HVR1	52 (about 1,300 years)	50%
HVR1 & HVR2	28 (about 700 years)	50%
HVR1, HVR2  & Coding Region	16 (about 400 years)	90%

7)  Autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) tests are available but more often used in paternity testing etc. and are not normally offered to genealogists.

8) Autosomal matches are quantified using two measurements.

(i)  Shared cM - This is the sum of the autosomal DNA, given in centiMorgans (cM), that you and your genetic match share. When you share DNA segments with larger cM values with a match, your common ancestors are likely to come from generations that are more recent.

(ii) Longest Block - This is the largest DNA segment given in centiMorgans you and your genetic match share. A DNA segment (block) that is between 5 and 10 centiMorgans (cM) implies shared ancestry. A block that is 10 centiMorgans or larger indicates conclusive shared ancestry.

9) Matches are then grouped by predicted relationships:

(i) Relationship Range. This represents the upper and lower limits to the predicted relationship. The relationship is predicted with high confidence to fall within these limits.

(ii) Suggested Relationship. This is statistically the most likely relationship based on the amount of sharing between you and each match.

10)  This compares the subject’s autosomal signature to a world DNA population database which reflects the last 100 to 2,000 years (about 4 to 80 generations).  The test can detect small traces of genetic ancestry as low as 3% (about 5 to 6 generations) from a distinct Continental group. The continental groups and subgroups are based on genetic similarities and do not precisely match geographical regions. Similarly, the populations are strictly selected “type groups” designed to collectively represent the human genome. However these representative groups are not yet all-inclusive and more are gradually being added to the global database.

Some of the Women in My (Very Early) Life

Inevitably, documenting the lives of women in a family history project can often provide a challenge, especially prior to the 20^th century. In my forty-odd years of genealogical research, I have come across many women whose tales either have already been told or should be. This post is simply a collection of vignettes of some of these, whether genetically related or not. Fuller accounts of some of them can also be found in my other genealogical reports.

Lady Jane Fisher (née Lane; circa 1626 –1689)

Jane Lane played a heroic role in the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Both were exiled in France until the Restoration after which Jane was granted £1,000 a year for life. Jane was married to Sir Clement Fisher of Great Packington, Warwickshire in 1663 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In later life she lived rather extravagantly and became deeply in debt. When she died, her estate was valued at only £10.  Sir Clement was a cousin of Sir Edward Fisher of Mickleton who a direct ancestor of the Anglo-Irish Quaker branch of my maternal grandmother’s family.

Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (born Lady Anne Churchill; 1683–1716)

 With our Hudson family’s recurring middle name of Spencer and origins in Wolfhampcote, Warwickshire, speculation about a family connection to the Spencer-Churchill family was inevitable. Lady Anne Churchill was the second daughter of John and Sarah Churchill, Duke & Duchess of Marlborough. In 1700, Anne married, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland whose family was originally from Wormleighton, also in Warwickshire. Wolfhampcote and Wormleighton are only about ten miles apart and there is at least one intriguing connection with the Althorp family. The transcript of the earlier parish registers for Wolfhampcote make three references to the sponsorship of vicars in 1596, 1603 and 1606 by Thomas Spencer Esquire, 2nd son of Sir John Spencer of Althorp. So maybe Lady Di and I truly are cousins?

Elizabeth (Betsy) Early (née Waine; 1782 – 1864)

 One of my father’s Oxfordshire ancestral families are the Waines, blanket weavers of Witney.  There were several Waine marriages into another of the leading weaving family, the Earlys, the most significant of these unions being that between Elizabeth Waine and John Early in 1808.  Betsy Waine was a partner of her husband John Early in the complete sense of the word. From their letters that survive, it is clear that she actively participated in the running of the business in addition to being a wife and a mother to their nine children. Several paintings of John and Elizabeth survive and are illustrated in “The Blanket Makers” by Plummer and Early.

Jane Fisher (née Moor; 1789 – 1877)

Jane Moor whose father was from a Yorkshire Quaker family, married Abraham Fisher of Youghal. She was very active in all Quaker social causes and “supported the Temperance campaign when it was neither popular nor very safe to do in Ireland”.

Jane vigourously participated in the running of the Women’s’ Meeting in Youghal and frequently attended the Quarterly Meetings in Cork. She was a zealous supporter of the West Indian anti-slavery movement, boycotting sugar that was produced by slave labour.

Sarah Goble (1820 – 1837)

Monday 30th October 1837 was a sad day for the Goble family. For it was then that Sarah Goble was buried at St Egbert’s parish church in Bicester at the tragically young age of seventeen.  The silver lining was the baptism of her infant son, William who miraculously survived her. This was a good thing as he was my father’s grandfather. The fact that the time of birth was recorded on William’s birth certificate is an indication that this was probably a multiple birth.  His twin, if indeed he/she existed, was presumably stillborn.  The “inflammation” that Sarah died from was most likely serious hemorrhaging or massive infection after childbirth. Multiple births dramatically increased the risk not only to the mother but also to the children.

Anna Haslam (née Fisher; 1829–1922)

Anna Maria Fisher was an aunt of my maternal great-grandfather.  She was a committed advocate of women’s rights in Ireland and was also very involved both in famine relief and in the international peace movement.  Anna was able to offer valuable help to Marie Stopes with her research on the history of birth control but was not given much credit in Stope’s subsequent books on the subject. In later years, however, Stopes did acknowledge Anna’s important role. In her 2009 essay on Anna Maria Haslam, Mary Cullen writes:  “Anna Haslam's contribution to the development of Irish feminist activism was enormous, as was that of the suffrage association she founded. She combined strong and effective leadership with an ability to win the respect and admiration of many who disagreed with her on various issues”.

Martha Clapham (née Handley; 1830 – 1921)

 Martha Clapham came from sound Yorkshire farming stock. Her obituaries said that she had been of great interest to students of the Yorkshire dialect, as she “spoke it pure and simple”.  Apparently Martha was also able to play a good many tunes on the mouth organ!  When she died in 1921 she was the oldest inhabitant of North Rigton (near Harrogate). 

Marie Fisher (née Clapham; 1863 – 1950)

Marie Fisher, my great-grandmother was radical for her time and was an active member of the women's suffragette movement.  She was a frequent speaker at the Women's Social and Political Union. According to her obituaries; she was stoned by a hostile crowd during a meeting in Leeds while supporting the most prominent member of the movement, Emmeline Pankhurst.  As a secularist and freethinker, Marie attended the Rome International Freethought Congress of 1904 as a delegate of the British Secular League. She was elected as the first woman president of the Leeds Philatelic Society in 1923 and in 1926 she sat on the committee of the prestigious Yorkshire Naturalists’ Society.

In spite of her espoused liberal views, Marie does not appear to have been a particularly tolerant woman, castigating most members of her family at various times.  She had a high intellect and great strength of character but these qualities were often used to further her own agenda, sometimes at a cost to others.

Annie Wilhelmina Hudson (née Goble; 1866 - 1954)

Annie Wilhelmina Goble became the wife of Robert Spencer Hudson in 1894. Thus when he was elected Mayor of Rugby in 1935, she assumed the role and responsibilities of Mayoress. Endless official functions, including the royal visit of Princess Mary, daughter of King George V, would have required her active participation and inevitably she was also expected to fill the role of mother to their six children.

Flora Jane Thompson (née Timms; 1876 – 1947)

William Wain Goble, my father’s maternal grandfather and Flora Jane Thompson, author of the Oxford trilogy, Lark Rise to Candleford have no shared ancestry but they do have several Waine cousins in common, several of whom were used as models for characters in her hugely successful books. Flora probably traveled to Bicester while working for Fringford Post Office and it was there that she visited with these Waine cousins. 

Lester Rowntree (born Gertrude Ellen Lester; 1879-1979)

Gertrude Ellen Lester was born in northern England to a Quaker family. In 1889, when Nellie was ten, her father decided to give up his grocery store and bought, sight unseen, a farm in Kansas in the United States. His farming venture failed and Mr. Lester and two of his children died of typhoid from contaminated well water. A Mrs. Charlotte Rowntree, my great-grandfather’s second wife, read of the family's plight in a Quaker newspaper, felt compassion for the family and offered them a home in her Kansas City house. It was here that Nellie first met Charlotte's son, Bernard Rowntree. They married in 1908 when she assumed the name Lester Rowntree. After their subsequent divorce, Lester achieved fame as a pioneering botanist in California, becoming a passionate advocate for the preservation of the state’s native flora.

The best British TV period dramas?

So ….. which are the best British TV period dramas?  The best Dickens I have seen were two of his lesser-known works, Bleak House and Little Dorrit which were superior to the better-known Great Expectations and Oliver Twist.

My favorites would definitely include Elizabeth Gaskell’s Wives & Daughters and North & South.  I thought that Cranford was just too “soap opera” and dragged on rather. As did Lark Rise to Candleford though it must be mentioned that some of Flora Thompson’s characters were based on cousins of mine (the Waine’s of Oxfordshire).

John Galsworthy’s The Forsyte Saga certainly gets a nod but I much preferred the newer (2002) version to the “classic” Nyree Dawn Porter original ….. but then the later production has Gina McKee in it which explains all.  If we extend the comments to later in the 20^th century then of course Brideshead Revisited is absolutely superb.

What?  No Jane Austin? What heresy is this?  Too many titles, too many versions so they all morph into one storyline. George Elliott? Her stories were way too sugary for me, especially Mill on the Floss and Silas Marner. The exception of course was Middlemarch but I am not sure the 1994 production has stood the test of time. Maybe I should give it another shot.

And the Bronte’s?  I do not think that any of the TV versions have done justice to the originals but then, I’m a Yorkshire lad.

What is the perfect muesli recipe?

Cost and quantities.  Homemade muesli is not necessarily a cheap breakfast but it’s nutritious and very tasty. I have not specified quantities because it’s fun to experiment.  A starting point might be cereal/dried fruit/nuts in the ratio of about 8/3/2 cups.

Cereal.  Always use organic cereal whenever possible. Usually the basis of muesli is oats. It’s also good to add a combination of barley, wheat and rye flakes if you can get them. Alternatively, a lot of quality stores will sell a “five-grain” combo already mixed.

Dried Fruit. Raisins are usually the staple but do add something else for interest.  Dried cranberries (which come slightly sweetened) are a good extra. Dried blueberries or cherries are both quite expensive and the difference in taste might be lost in the mix anyway. Mix up the raisins and cranberries (or whatever) with some finely ground flax seeds or similar to prevent “clumping”. Chopped dates are also good: they can often be bought already chopped or minced and lightly dusted in flour.

Nuts. Sliced/slivered almonds are the norm. A good second nut is the hazelnut (chopped of course), also known as

Seeds. I am not sure whether it matters whether you use pumpkin seeds or melon seeds. Either way, they should be toasted in the oven at 350 degrees until brown. This should take about 30 minutes.  Check them every five minutes so they do not burn. Some people lightly toss the seeds in canola oil or similar before toasting but I am not sure that is absolutely necessary.

Healthy additives. There are many choices. Here are five alternatives:

Wheat germ.  A good source of various nutrients including Vitamin E and folic acid. Note that wheat germ can become rancid if not properly stored in a refrigerator. This is obviously still true even after it’s been added to the muesli.

Flax seed. Sometimes comes across as the modern “snake oil”. Still, it is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids amongst other things. It should be ground before use.

Chia. Cultivated by the Aztecs and can be used as an alternative to flax. I see no convincing reason to add both.

Psyllium. This is claimed to be effective in reducing blood cholesterol levels. Note that it can be a choking hazard if taken without adequate fluid!

Hemp seed. This is high in essential fatty acids, including omega-3 and omega-6.

Whatever you use, all should be quite fine and so do not add too much. Otherwise the final product will taste distinctly “dusty”.

Sugar?  Of course this is pure heresy to purist muesli eaters. For many people the dried fruit will provide enough sweetener. However, if you do have a sweet tooth and your diet can accommodate a soupcon of extra sugar, add a couple of tablespoons of soft brown sugar to the mix. 

Road Menders

Eons ago, a little boy who liked ice-cream also used to like digging holes. And so, from a very early age, he used to go down to the dirt lane at the bottom of his garden and play “road menders”. 

That consisted of digging up some of the smaller rocks in the lane and then filling in the resulting hole again, smoothing things out as he proceeded.

Years later, this same little boy married this little girl.

The little girl liked plants. Plants need holes.

And so, the little boy gets to play “road menders” again. Digging the holes and filling them in again.

I think there is an expression “what goes around comes round”.  What a truism this is.