Tuesday 25 January 2011

German relatives on both sides!

I have just discovered that we have German ancestors via the same German family on HIR but on both sides of their family! The Dad and son share on Chr 5 in the same place but the father's segment is longer and the Mum and other brother on Chr 18 again with the mother's segment being slightly longer!
Geographic areas:
Bohemia, Germany, Weimar, Neustadt an der Orla, Neunhofen, Wettin, Arnshaugh, Lobenstein, Schwerstedt, Buttstädt, Querfurt, Gross-Ellguth, Ligota Wielka, Silesia, Schlesien, Neuhof, Frankenstein, Bohemia, Germany, Weimar, Neustadt an der Orla, Neunhofen, Wettin, Arnshaugh, Lobenstein, Schwerstedt, Buttstädt, Querfurt, Gross-Ellguth, Ligota Wielka, Silesia, Schlesien, Neuhof, Frankenstein, Ząbkowice Śląskie, Apolda, Jena, Leipzig, Bremberg, Żarek, Taltitz, Plauen , Apolda, Jena, Leipzig, Bremberg, Żarek, Taltitz, Plauen.

Sunday 23 January 2011

History Lesson!

Ok so my history of Europe is rubbish for anything before World War One. But doing my research into Galicia it says that it was part of the Austrian Empire. Having no real idea where that covered, I resorted to Wikipedia (not the best source I know) and it says that the Austrian Empire lasted from 1804-1867 and covered Galicia, Hungary, Croatia and Montenegro to name a few countries.
Why is this significant? Because we also have a 6th cousin who is half Croatian/Montenegran! Ok so the other half of their ancestry is unknown, so I can't go jumping the gun here, but what if there was a connection thanks to this? Although given the link would probably be about 500 years ago I guess that stuffs that theory, BUT Croatia is next door to Hungary and I'm sure migrations must have happened. Frustratingly, there is also on Ancestry Finder, someone who is probably a 4th cousin who is half US half Austrian....how nice it would be to find out about them!

Monday 17 January 2011

A bit of geography!

After discovering two relatives sharing on an X chromosome lived only 400 miles apart, it seems to me feasible that our common ancestor would have migrated around the region and their descendants would have done the same. I have looked into Ukrainian migrants to North America to see when they arrived and where they came from. One website, "Every Culture", states that between 1891 and 1914 170,000 Ukrainians settled in Canada from the provinces of Galicia and Bukovyna. Galicia is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine, not far from Bialoboki. The area has had a turbulent past and between the 13th-18th centuries it was controlled by Tatars and peoples of Altaic and Uralic stock from Central Asia.
In America, 350,000 began to arrive in 1877 and came from Lemko (which was part of Galicia) and the Transcarpathian region. Galicia, Bukovyna and Transcarpathia are all the same same region of south west Ukraine bordering Poland and Hungary!

Tuesday 11 January 2011

At last! Some proof across DNA tests?


I have just discovered that using the Decodeme Genome Browser, one of my relatives' X chromosomes shares a segment at 10Mb with the Granddaughter of one of her top matches at HIR search! The segment length at HIR search would be the 23andme equivalent of around a 5th cousin...(Gedmatch suggests 4th cousin once removed) but they do not appear as relatives on 23andme because the SNPs they share are below 1000. This HIR match shares at two locations on the same chromosome too for a total segment length of 14.5cM. The family is Ukrainian. I am thrilled because my relative only shares with two other people on this region of the X and one is Polish and the other part Slavic. No other friends out of the 300 at Decodeme share in that region at 10Mb. A total of four people share with my relative at 10Mb. The 4th crosses over the end of the segment length and is of Colonial (including German), Finn and recently discovered Jewish ancestry. So do they cross where a past German or Jewish ancestor is shared?
So it would seem that whilst the Grandmother gave her Granddaughter no segments of DNA that are in common with my relative on any other chromosomes, she did pass on some shared information within her X chromosome.
*Update-I have been in touch with the person from Poland who matches on the X chromosome.
They tell me that they come from a place called Bialoboki close the the Ukrainian border! I have checked the locations of our Ukrainian relatives family, and they lived about 480 miles away!
Even more bizarre is looking at the location, it's not that far from Hungary where we have a 5th cousin-Budapest is only 332 miles away!

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Matches above 800 SNPs at HIR search

It seems to me that anything over 800 SNPs is pretty suggestive so let's see what matches my relative gets above 800 SNPs....
Colonial
Colonial
British 5th cousin at 23andme
Colonial 5th cousin at 23andme
German/Finn
Colonial
Jewish/German/English
Jewish/Adopted
German
Czech/Jewish/German/Colonial
Colonial
Unknown
German
Unknown
German
Colonial
British
Colonial
British
Unknown
German/Polish/Swedish
Colonial
Irish/Hungarian
Unsure
British
Ukrainian Jewish
British
Unknown
Irish
Colonial
Colonial
Colonial
Dutch
The rest are below 5cM.
So what should I make of this? Well, I think I should discount all the Colonials because they are a mix of nationalites including British, so I am left with:

British
German/Finn
German
German
German
British
British
German/Polish/Swedish
Irish/Hungarian
British
Ukrainian Jewish
British
Irish
Dutch

Nearly half have German ancestry, 4 of which have segment lengths that 23andme would classify as 5th-10th cousins, so in theory the shared ancestry would be after the Saxon invasions of England (which is always at the back of my mind with these tests). But I suppose if you have American ancestry then German ancestry is almost to be expected!