Posted on 05/05/2007 2:28:21 PM PDT by blam
Native American DNA found in UK
By Paul Rincon
Science reporter, BBC News
Doreen (left) with daughter Rebecca and granddaughter Anais
DNA testing has uncovered British descendents of Native Americans brought to the UK centuries ago as slaves, translators or tribal representatives.
Genetic analysis turned up two white British women with a DNA signature characteristic of American Indians.
An Oxford scientist said it was extremely unusual to find these DNA lineages in Britons with no previous knowledge of Native American ancestry.
Indigenous Americans were brought over to the UK as early as the 1500s.
Many were brought over as curiosities; but others travelled here in delegations during the 18th Century to petition the British imperial government over trade or protection from other tribes.
Experts say it is probable that some stayed in Britain and married into local communities.
Doreen Isherwood, 64, from Putney, and Anne Hall, 53, of Huddersfield, only found out about their New World heritage after paying for commercial DNA ancestry tests.
Mrs Isherwood told BBC News: "I was expecting the results to say I belonged to one of the common European tribes, but when I got them back, my first thought was that they were a mistake.
"It rocked me completely. It made think: who am I?"
Ancestral home
The chartered physiotherapist studied for a degree at the University of North Carolina, but had no idea she possessed Native American ancestors. She said she came from a long line of Lancashire cotton weavers.
Raleigh brought Indians from the Jamestown area to England
Mrs Isherwood added that she was "immensely proud" of her newfound heritage, which has renewed a long-standing interest in Native American culture.
Anne Hall, who works as a private educational tutor, commented: "I was thrilled to bits. It was a very pleasant surprise. To have Native American blood is very exotic."
She said she now aimed to investigate her family history in an attempt to track down the source of her rare genetic lineage.
Mrs Isherwood says her American antecedent must have arrived in Britain in the 18th or 17th Centuries. She has traced her maternal ancestors back to 1798 and has found no sign of New World progenitors.
Maternal clans
The tests taken by both women were based on analysis of DNA inside the "powerhouses" of our cells: the mitochondria.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from mother to daughter more or less unchanged; but changes, or mutations, accumulate in the DNA sequence over successive generations.
Pocahontas was the daughter of a Native American chief
Scientists can use these changes to classify mtDNAs into broad types (called haplogroups) which, to some extent, reflect a person's geographical origin.
Mrs Isherwood and Mrs Hall possessed haplogroups characteristic of the indigenous people of the Americas, which are referred to as A and C.
"It's very unusual. Most of the people we test belong to one of the European maternal clans," said Professor Bryan Sykes, whose company Oxford Ancestors carried out the tests for Doreen and Anne.
Professor Sykes, also a professor of human genetics at the University of Oxford, said: "There are matches between [Doreen and Anne] and particular Native American tribes, but that doesn't necessarily mean those are the tribes their ancestors came from."
Trickle of immigrants
This month marks the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, the first permanent English-speaking settlement in North America.
Alden Vaughan, a professor emeritus at Columbia University, in New York, has written a book on American Indians in Britain. He said indigenous peoples from the New World began arriving in Britain as early as the sixteenth century.
"It started earlier than Jamestown. A number were brought over through the 1500s, mainly as curiosities," he told BBC News. Others were taken to Britain to learn English and go back to the colonies as translators.
"Sir Walter Raleigh brought back several individuals from the Jamestown area and from the Orinoco valley. Pocahontas went to England in 1616 and died there the next year.
"She was accompanied by several of her tribal associates. Some of them stayed in England for several years. I don't know of any marriages or even relationships between those women and Englishmen, but it is certainly possible.
"Later in the 17th Century, Native American slaves were brought over. I don't know much about them, because all the evidence I have are ads in London newspapers for runaway bond-servants, described as being Indians."
Anyways, I still got them in a box and just looked at them. I got one root on the top ones and two roots on the bottom ones.
Oh, by the way...the 2 big molars on top, I forget what they are called, are different on Caucasian males than everyone else in the world. Only caucasian males have an extra little bump on the front inside corner of the two big molars. I have these extra little bumps.
So I have hybrid caucasian-chinese teeth.
No!
I never heard of that! What is it?
Lamb??? Check the upper right....http://www.familytreedna.com/
There are 15 members already.
Does that dental trait fit any group?
Hi Blam. This is very strange. Laplanders? English Indians?
How much trouble was it to find that out?
Would be very nice if this could somehow end racism, but I doubt it.
Hmmmm. I wonder why the sent that email. I'm going to see if I can find it. Thanks.
I have no idea. Maybe blam has an idea
You know what though? I just remembered something. My little sister had ONE of those buttock marks. It was just a birth mark to us. But looking at that photo I’m fairly certain her birthmark was one of those marks.
Thank you for transferring your record from the Genographic Project to Family Tree DNA.
While we have the largest Y-DNA database in the world, with over 95,000 records, we have noticed that you are the first person with your surname to join our database. We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to start a surname project for your name so that you can further your genealogical research. Starting a project is very easy to do and involves no additional cost. In fact, we offer discounted test prices for the project's participants.
Currently we have over 4,000 surname projects underway at Family Tree DNA - about 85% of all projects to date worldwide. We receive over 100,000 visitors a month to our web site, which means an increased chance for individuals to become aware of the existence of a project with your surname (and variants), join it and from there perhaps open new doors to your genealogy.
We have no project set up fee, we offer free analysis of the results, and provide comparative tools for calculating genetic distance between group members. The group administrator page includes access to the surname project at our Family Tree DNA website, where you can easily order kits, track participants and download results. We also preserve the DNA for 25 years because we know this technology is in its infancy and new testing options may be developed. This way you and your members do not have to provide another sample.
Please feel free to email us at support@familytreedna.com or call us at 713-868-1438 with any questions you have. We will be happy to give you additional information and to set up your surname project whenever you are ready.
We would like to take the opportunity to ask you to encourage family or friends that have tested with the Genographic Project to transfer their results to Family Tree DNA as well. It will help strengthen our database and increase its genealogical usefulness for you. Thank you!
Remember, DNA is the gene in genealogy!
Click on the link 'Sindodont Teeth' in my post #38 for the answer.
To many teeth, crowding, is left over from when we had bigger mouths. Not everyone has the problem.
I can picture a toothless Mick wagging his tongue at the Queen.(GSTQ)
They fade away with age.
Yeah well, most people get their wisdom teeth pulled for that. I still got my wisdom teeth. And I got gaps in my front teeth because there’s too much room in my mouth. So I guess I didn’t need those teeth pulled.
I’d say my dentist was a nut.
Not any, a swab in the mouth and $107.50 at the National Geographic Genographic Project. Do a search using that high-lighted title.
BTW, the Sa'ami view being called 'Laplander' as Blacks do being called the N-word. I found that out in my searches on haplogroup V.
LOL. It's probably comfortable for you to chew two pieces of gum at once, huh?
Not a big fan of Wilma, heh?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
