ISOGG Newsletter August 2008

Vol. 1 No. 5 Aug 2008

From the Director
In the last newsletter, I wrote about the contributions and untimely death
of genetic genealogy pioneer, Leo Little. On July 18, Family Tree DNA
announced a new line of SNP tests that begin with the letter "L" in honor
of Leo. To quote Vincent Vizachero, it is indeed a "wonderful gesture" -
kudos to Family Tree DNA! The initial SNP offering runs from L2 to L14.
For more info on the new L series SNPs, contact Family Tree DNA.
In this newsletter, we debut a new feature "DNA in the Mainstream" to
recognize the use of ancestry genetics in the mainstream world. Previous
instances of DNA in the mainstream include: CSI Miami - Episode:"116 -
Bloodline" The killer is mitochondrial DNA haplogroup B. The episode
mentions that he used his DNA results and family artifacts to apply for
Native American tribal membership. Yet another instance occurred with
comedian Paul Mooney's mention of Stephen Oppenheimer's show
"The Real Eve".
Be on the lookout for more sightings of DNA in the Mainstream!

-Katherine Borges
ISOGG Director

DNA in the Mainstream
DNA Play
That's right! The first known use of genetic genealogy in the theater! The new play, "The DNA Trail" opens in Chicago in the Fall of 2009, and is being written by a group of playwrights who have DNA tested. Bassett DNA Project Administrator, Jeffrey Bassett, mentioned in the Bassett newsletter about the play and that he gave a DNA presentation to the Silk Road Theatre Group of Chicago. Other genetic genealogists, like Debbie Kennett, have also contributed assistance to the playwrights as well.
(Thanks to Kathryn Bassett for sharing this item)

Going for DNA Gold
The Girl Scouts equivalent to the Boy Scouts Eagle Award is called the Gold Award. Sarah S. (pictured here on the right in black) spent two days working at the ISOGG booth at the 2008 Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank, CA. Sarah answered questions and had attendees fill out DNA testing questionnaires. Sarah's DNA Gold Award Project is the first instance we know of where genetic genealogy has been used in scouting. Congrats to Sarah and best wishes on her Gold Award!

Girl Scout DNA Gold Award Project

DNA Success Stories

Paul West: A Slave’s DNA Story
by: Francene Vincent

     This is about a man who was born in Slavery with only a first name, until his freedom in 1865, and how DNA testing connected his descendants to his heritage.
     This slave is my ancestor and great-grandfather. The American Slave is difficult to research because they were considered property, had no surname, in most cases left no oral history with their descendants and vital records were not required or kept until the early part of the 20th century. Neither my mother, who was born in 1905, nor my father, who was born in 1898, had a birth certificate.
     My mother knew her grandfather, Paul, who was born in Slavery, but my mother never spoke about his slavery experience. I don’t know if my mother had any information or not about Paul’s life as a slave.
     Several documents have been found concerning Paul. We have Paul’s death certificate, census records from 1880 to 1930, marriage licenses to Mary Pink Baker and Georgian Campbell, a tax record, and three mortgages. The earliest document is the marriage license dated December 27, 1866 but nothing before or during slavery. This document is assumed to be the first document that shows our current surname of “West.”
     Paul’s year of birth ranges from 1840 to 1848 and his place of birth could be one of three states, Kentucky, North Carolina or Virginia. Family oral history states that Paul was sold for $250.00. Paul had three wives. The first marriage is unknown and is assumed to have been during slavery. The second wife was Mary Pink Baker and my great grandmother. Paul West and Mary Pink Baker had seven children. My grandfather, Jack West, was Paul’s youngest son. The first West male who donated DNA was the youngest son of Jack West. Paul’s third wife was Georgian Campbell and they had one son, Lucien, who died as a young man.
     After researching for several years with no further progress, I turned to DNA testing. This story is about a fascinating journey and in our case a successful one. Enjoy the journey.
     The brick wall of slavery for my family was cracked by the use of DNA. The grandson of this slave, now age 93, donated a DNA sample to Family Tree DNA, and the results were compared to the participants in their database. The DNA results did not match any person who carried the surname of “West” but it did closely match more than once with participants with the surname of “Pugh”. The results also showed that our West ancestry on the male side was not African but European.
     I requested permission to join the Pugh DNA Surname Group. I explained that the surname carried by descendants of former slaves did not reflect the heritage from father to son. I pointed out that the surname that was used by my great-grandfather, Paul West, was selected by him; after slavery had ended in this country.
     Three great-grandsons of Paul West have tested since then and our closest match in the Pugh DNA Group is 66/67. We still have no matches for the surname of “West.”
     The Pugh DNA Group has been divided into subgroups representing the sons of the common ancestor, Lewis Pugh. Our family, due to the mutation of “18” at marker 570, has been assigned to subgroup 1C; which represents Lewis’ son Henry Pugh.
     One of Henry Pugh’s descendants mutated at this marker, and all of his descendants that have been tested have this mutation at this marker. This unique mutation identifies this lineage, within the 1C subgroup. No other subgroup except subgroup 1C has this unique mutation.
     Due to DNA testing, my family has learned that we share a common ancestor with the Pugh Surname DNA Group. This common ancestor can be traced back to the year 1650 in Wales. Currently, research is being done to find a paper trail to our Pugh heritage.

For more DNA success stories or to submit yours, visit:
http://www.isogg.org/successstories.htm

May 2008 - Second sighting of citing: "Cluster analysis of extended Y-STR haplotypes leads to discovery of a large and widespread sub-clade of Y Haplogroup J2" by Schrack B.E., Athey T.W., Wilson J.F. cited in the May 2008 publication "Differential Greek and northern African migrations to Sicily are supported by genetic evidence from the Y chromosome" by Di Gaetano C. et al. Also noteworthy is
the reference to ISOGG on page 3: "Data are referred to terminal mutation and according to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy nomenclature."

June 2008 - Personal genome testing company 23andMe published an article in their Spittoon blog that they used over 4,000 full genomic mitochondrial DNA sequences from GenBank in compiling age estimates of haplogroups. They state that their "study is the first time all the haplogroups on the tree (or at least over 550 of them) have been dated all at once". The significance of this to the genetic genealogist is that many of the GenBank sequences utilized were donated to science by Family Tree DNA customers. View the 23andMe haplogroup poster.

New website address for "Whit's Predictor":
For those of you who have ever used "Whit's Predictor" you will need
to change your bookmark to the new site below. For those of you who
have never tried Whit's Haplogroup Predictor, you need to try it out so
you can see what you have been missing! Dr. Whit Athey (the same
TW Athey referenced in "The Armchair Geneticist") used algorithms
along with DNA data to compile a free and easy to use haplogroup
predictor.
So grab your Y-chromosome DNA results and try it out!
http://www.hprg.com/hapest5/index.html

DNA in the News
Mummified remains from Alaskan glacier identified - Times Online - 17 Aug 2008
Inheriting Confucius - Seed Magazine - 13 Aug 2008
Rock Stars to Send DNA Into Space - MarketWatch - 12 Aug 2008
Genealogy Gets More Precise - Technology Review - 11 Aug 2008
Neandertal Mitochondrial DNA Deciphered - Science News - 7 Aug 2008
Remembering new-found kin - The Chronicle-Herald - 1 Aug 2008
Poland says no to DNA testing of Chopin's heart - AP - 25 Jul 2008

For more articles:
http://www.isogg.org/newsarchives.htm

ISOGG Sitemap
http://www.isogg.org/sitemap.htm

Careers in Genetic Genealogy
http://www.isogg.org/careers.htm

Need a DNA Speaker?:
http://isogg.org/speakerslist.htm

For upcoming DNA Presentations:
http://isogg.org/meetings.htm

The ISOGG newsletter is a membership benefit of the world's first society founded for the promotion and education of genetic genealogy, ISOGG - The International Society of Genetic Genealogy. Membership is FREE! Members automatically receive the newsletter to share the latest news and happenings in the world of genetic genealogy.

Newsletter online - printer friendly version

Past editions - (RSS feed instructions available)

To subscribe, send e-mail:
isoggnewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

To unsubscribe, send e-mail:
isoggnewsletter-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Questions?:
isogg@msn.com

To translate the newsletter into other languages:
http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en