Not so Black and White

DNA and genealogy has made national headlines!

President Barack Obama is descended through his "white" mother from one of the first African slaves in Virginia, John Punch.  The report was issued by Ancestry.com, which you can read here.  Then head over to The New York Times article by Sheryl Gay Stolberg.  The line of descent was established through document-based research as well as Y-DNA testing.  Let me explain.

President Obama's Y-DNA was not tested for this proclamation.  If you are not a direct male descendant of the ancestor in question, you need a relative who is a direct male descendant to take the Y-DNA test.  The President's line of descent from John Punch is through his mother, so we know right away that the direct male line from John Punch to President Obama was broken somewhere.

Biology lesson:  You have 23 pairs of chromosomes- one from each parent.  The 23rd pair determines sex.  Women have XX as their 23rd pair while men have XY.  The Y chromosome passes from father to son almost unchanged.  This is useful in genealogy for tracing direct male lines, especially because children in the United States usually use the surname of their father.  This is why only a man can take a Y-DNA test and why you see Surname Projects.  [For clarification, males and females can take autosomal DNA tests to capture DNA inherited from all ancestors.]

The New York Times article introduces us to Mark Bunch, a "fifth cousin twice removed" of the President.  Fifth cousins have a common set of 4th great grandparents.  "Twice removed" means that one line is two generations earlier or later than the other.  Follow the link provided by the New York Times and you will arrive at the Y-DNA chart for the Surname Project Bunch.  [John Punch's descendants altered the name to Bunch.]  Y-DNA is categorized into haplogroups based on the migratory patterns of humans tens of thousands of years ago.

The top haplogroup for Bunch is E1b1a, which is found predominantly in Africa, hence the claim that President Obama has African descent through his mother.  Most participants at the Bunch Y-DNA site share almost identical Y-DNA.  A mutation can occur in any generation.  Over time, when enough mutations occur, a new haplogroup arises; hence, we are able to trace migratory patterns of humans for hundreds of thousands of years.

The E1b1a African paternal haplogroup of direct male descendants of John Punch is consistent with written records that he was of African origin.  Conversely, you can be of African origin but have a "European" haplogroup.  The haplogroup is determined by one line of ancestry only and tells us nothing about any other ancestor.

The nearly identical results of analysis of the participant's Y-DNA indicates that all of their direct paternal lines merge at some point back in history.  Each participant lists the most distant direct male ancestor, which is discovered by document-based research.  Please note in the Bunch Y-DNA chart names of ancestors whose surname was not Bunch.  This can be caused by children not carrying their father's surname, or a name change, or a "non-paternal event."

To trace back to a Bunch ancestor in President Obama's line, you must travel through six generations of women.  President Obama's most recent male ancestor with the surname Bunch was Nathaniel, born 1793 in Virginia, and died 1859 in Arkansas.  The President is descended through Nathaniel Bunch's daughter, Anna, hence breaking the Y-DNA path.  To obtain the Y-DNA of this Bunch line, we need to turn to a direct male descendant along this same line.  Mark Bunch, the President's fifth cousin twice removed, is descended from Nathaniel Bunch's brother Charles Bunch down a direct male line and thus carries the Bunch Y-DNA.  Charles Bunch and Mary Bellamy, the parents of Nathaniel and Charles, were the most recent common ancestors of President Obama and Mark Bunch.  This couple was the 4X great grandparents of Mark Bunch and the President's maternal grandmother, making Mark Bunch and the President fifth cousins, twice removed.  [Note:  Mark Bunch confirmed this relation in an email to me.]

It's a Small, Small World

Over a year ago, I wrote about my quest to locate a second cousin of my paternal grandfather.  Some more information has come my way and I would like to share with you because it is amazing.

James Kittson died in September of 2003 and his last benefit was in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey, according to the Social Security Death Index.  A few people with this last name or a close variant live in Montclair currently.  I sent them hand-written notes explaining how I was related to James and that I was looking for his family.  From old phonebooks, I found an address for James Kittson and sent a note to that location as well.

One person called me.  She and I worked together a few years ago.  James Kittson was a boarder in her home for over twenty years!  She said that he was quiet, kept to himself, talked very little, and gave her no information about himself.  After he died, a friend collected his sparse belongings, as he had no family that anyone knew about.

And here is the kicker:  he was a customer at our place of business!

When I heard this, I was shocked!  My mind raced back in time to so many people, names, faces.  I couldn't remember him.  I still can't.

This is so weird learning that our paths crossed- and I had no idea that he was related and that years later I would look for him.

Unburying the Ancestors

These pictures of the Zingg family plot at Woodland Cemetery (Newark, Essex County, New Jersey) illustrate the hard physical work required in genealogy.  (Thank you R.B.)  These appear to be stones forming a border.  Any surviving gravestones may be within the borders and below several feet of dirt and tree roots.

Capturing All Involved Parties

I love the index at Fold3 because all names on a document are recorded.  Finding a mention of a person of interest in a document that you would have never found otherwise opens up so many possibilities.

My ancestor Stephen C Duryea worked as a government clerk in New York City in the 1840s until the 1870s.  His name appears on a few index cards for naturalizations in the City as a witness.  I am not sure if he witnessed the event in his capacity as a clerk.  I think that his name would appear on lots of naturalization documents if this were the case.  So this leads me to the next question:  Does Peter Stewart of England have a family tie to Stephen C Duryea?  Every bit of information creates more questions to explore.

Here is Stephen's entry in the New York City directory by Doggett for 1848.  Back in the day, I photocopied the city directories from microfilm at the New York Public Library.  Fold3 has digitized them and indexed the directories, so you may view them from your own home.

1848 Doggett City Directory for New York City.
Note the variant spellings Duryea/Duryee.  This is the same (growing) family.

I do not have to return to New York City to start gathering some information on Peter Stewart.  Here he is in the 1848 city directory.  Knowing his occupation, sailmaker, will help narrow him down in the sea of Stewarts.  We can look at the other Stewarts to discover that nobody else is listed at 223 Varick.  Someone in the sailing business may be more mobile than your average elusive inhabitant of the 1800s, so be prepared to search far and wide.

1848 Doggett City Directory for New York City at Fold3.

Family History, Adoption, and DNA

When you have a moment, please go over to the blog The Legal Genealogist and read Judy G Russell's article "Blown away with DNA."  This is a moving passage about a person who was adopted and is now using genetic analysis to find relatives.

Several of my genetic matches in the database at 23andMe were adopted.  The only genealogical information they can offer is their own date of birth and location, which does not help when you are looking at connections from the 1700s.  By triangulating and clustering my matches, I can usually provide a possible branch in my documented family tree where the common ancestor could be.  Seeing the names, locations, and dates of possible ancestors means so much to someone who had no family history before taking the DNA test.

I manage two DNA accounts for people with no family history.  One was formally adopted and the other was not.  I do not have results yet for the person who was formally adopted; they are pending through Ancestry.com's new autosomal DNA service.  The results of the person with no official adoption was through 23andMe's Roots into the Future program.  No very close matches were discovered yet, but seeing and exchanging information with distant genetic cousins provides a glimpse into her family's history.