#DNA Ancestry Tests - Family tree DNA

[twistingtreeancestry]

Happy National DNA Day!

As a hobby genealogist, DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is an invaluable and fun tool.

I was lucky to have a head start on my family tree, but taking a genetic test through 23andMe (psst, their kits are on sale!!) has allowed me to take my research further.

After submitting my DNA, I connected with relatives that I otherwise may have never known existed. I've filled in branches of my tree that were sturdily brick-walled due to a distant cousin and I putting our heads together to figure out our MRCA, or most recent common ancestor.

It's also given me insight into my ancestry composition! Though Ancestry's database is larger, 23andMe and Ancestry have comparable accuracy rates for their ethnicity estimates. My results have shifted since I took my test in late 2020, but it largely stayed the same.

Image Description: An image of a colorful strand of DNA. It is illuminated with a glow and has soft bubbles flowing from it. My DNA results are typed through the center of the image. Image from BeFunky stock images. Edited by Keekee Smith with BeFunky.

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Everything outside of my Northwestern European percentage came as a shock to me. The exception is the trace ancestry of Indigenous American DNA, as my family claimed this ancestral ethnicity for generations. The shock with the Indigenous DNA was mainly that it was true to any extent (check out this article from Harvard University's Native American Program to learn more about the "Cherokee Princess Myth"). That's a story for a different post, though!

Initially, I wasn't sure where the Spanish & Portuguese DNA could be from, but I've since learned about an 8th great-grandfather born in Jamaica who allegedly had a Spanish father or mother. I haven't yet verified his information, so it's still unclear if that's my Spanish/Portuguese link but time will tell!

The Asian and Broadly Arab, Egyptian & Levantine DNA blew my mind. There were no family rumors or other inklings that would have ever led me to believe those would show up in my DNA. A quick Google search says that 23andMe goes back about 8 generations, so these bits of DNA likely come from within that range. Wherever it is, though, I've yet to find it!

While some of my branches are fleshed out as far back as a 12th great-grandparent, I still have many lineages brick-walled 3-4 generations back. Truth is, there's just no telling until that ancestor decides to reveal themself.

Until then, I'll keep up the familial work and enjoy the fun little things DNA has to offer. I'm taking a short hiatus from genealogy research to catch up on other responsibilities, but I'll be back to reporting my family's shenanigans in no time.

In the meantime, tell me about your ancestors and their lives! What are some interesting discoveries you've found?

[emilytopaz]

[homunculus-argument]

Actually if I remember correctly it’s a third of every Chinese man that’s an ancestor to him. I think for the world in total it’s one in ten. Which is also pretty impressive.

Also Khan liked planting trees so much that you can actually calculate how much he has decreased global warming from that alone.

Ah, I remembered the numbers wrong. It is indeed still an impressive number nonetheless. My family were the kind of white people to do ancestry research, and got DNA tests done on the whole family, and while I know how extremely likely it was just the company doing their "throwing in 2% of whatever To Upset The Racists uwu" thing that they apparently did to white peoples' DNA tests, but mine did have like 3% or 5% of Mongol in there.

Also PSA to everyone thinking of getting one of those DNA tests done: Do not. They'll store your DNA in a database and sell their info to the highest bidder. I can never leave traces of my spit or cum at crime places again.

[ignisgalaxia]

With the release of Prodigy season 2, the Trek fandom finally has an answer to what Chakotay's native ancestry is. He's Nicarao, a tribe from the western region of Nicaragua who actually share a common ancestry with the Nahua Aztecs of Mexico. The show even mentions the island of Ometepe specifically, which is the largest island in Lake Nicaragua made up of two volcanoes.

The reason this is so important to me is because my dad and his family are from Nicaragua. I’ve been getting more in touch with those roots over the last year or so, and I’ve found it very frustrating how there seems to be no Nica representation in media, at least not in the mainstream. But when I found out that Chakotay was a fellow Nica, I was literally bouncing off the walls. To think, one of my favorite characters has the same ancestry as me (well, almost, but I’ll get to that later)! When I told my dad, he laughed so hard because he never would’ve imagined.

But I haven’t seen a lot of people talking about this aspect. I get it, it’s a minuscule part of the wild ride that was season 2. But I’d really like us as a fandom to discuss this more. I mean, we literally don’t have to guess what tribe he’s from anymore!

So since nobody else has come forward, I am going to claim myself as the only member of the Voyager-Prodigy fandom with actual Nicaraguan ancestry, and am making this post to give firsthand information about the Nicarao and the nation as a whole.

Firstly, some context. My dad was born in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, and lived there with his family until he was 7. Then they fled the country due to the Contra War that was going on. My grandfather was born and raised in Bluefields, a city on the country's Carribean coast, then went to college in Mexico where he met my grandmother. Neither of them are Nicarao, and are in fact very European (the DNA tests proved it). However, when they were all living in Managua, my grandparents had a handful of maids that worked for them (they had six kids they needed some help), and a couple of them were Nicarao. Specifically, they were natives from a village in the nearby mountains. So while I don't have info on natives from Ometepe, I do have some on the people in general.

The maids lived with my dad's family during the week and would go home to their village on the weekends. They primarily spoke Spanish, but he would occasionally catch them speaking in their native tongue which I assume is Nahua.

My dad recounted a time when the maids invited the family to their village for a day trip. He said they were living in Adobe houses and had lots of livestock (cattle, chickens, goats, etc) as well as horses, which he apparently rode for the first time there. He also said most of the natives had two primary weapons: a machete to cut crops and other vegetation, and a 22 single shot rifle. They used the rifles to shoot iguanas off trees. Iguanas and iguana eggs are a delicacy in Nicaragua that the natives are experts at making.

This is a direct quote from my grandmother when I asked her about what she remembered of them:

The people I knew, they were good and hard working people. Smart, happy, funny… they really are sociable, like to talk and say jokes invented with their mind and history. The women were skillful, knew how to survive. They cooked, cleaned, planted crops and vegetables. Good merchants, they really knew how to sell and buy.

I wish I had more info to share, but unfortunately season 2 could not have been released at a worse time because my grandfather has recently begun developing Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia and has been losing his memory over the last few months. Even when my dad and I were with him in May and I asked him to recount his earlier life, he repeated himself a few times since he evidently had forgotten he'd already told us those parts. If I had known how fast he’d be deteriorating, I would’ve started my work sooner.

If I do end up learning anything more from my relatives, I’ll update the post. For now, I hope this is of some use to people. And if anyone has questions about Nicaraguan culture in general, I’ll be happy to pass them along to my dad.

[intuitive-revelations]

I've got a kind-of crack theory about Ruby's mother...

Back in The Church on Ruby Road, Ruby is invited onto Long Lost Family, a genealogy TV program hosted by Davina McCall, with the hope of finding some information about her bio family. Unfortunately, they come up with nothing.

[ID: 6 gifs showing Ruby and Davina McCall talking to each other on the phone from The Church on Ruby Road. Davina apologies to Ruby, who tries to hide her upset at the news.

DAVINA: "There is no trace of your mum or dad. I'm sorry. It happens sometimes." RUBY: "No, that's fine... Thanks but, um, could you keep looking?" DAVINA: "No, there's nothing more we can do. If your parents aren't on some kind of database, we can't find them." RUBY: "Ok, um... isn't that unusual though? There's not a single trace anywhere? I mean... in the whole wide world, my mother's never left a blood sample or anythin'?"]

Now obviously, I know tracking down family is hard and, especially for orphans and adopted children, there's no gurantee that you'll be able to get the information you need. But I do find it odd there's seemingly "no trace" of Ruby's parents.

The section where I go on an odd tangent about genealogy

Speaking as someone who isn't a genealogist, but does enjoy researching family history in what little spare time they have... in my experience, close DNA matches aren't that hard to find. Especially if you're of white european descent, as Ruby is (presumably).

(It's generally harder for other ethnicities, as most research resources are white english/american focused. I know this is especially tricky for people like african-americans, where many of one's ancestors may have been enslaved. I've personally also found it tricky with Jewish communities as historically many of them used patronymic names prior to the 1800s, plus you have to account for immigration name changes, pogroms etc.)

For example, as someone who is white, with a mix of various british, mainland european, and ashkenazi ancestors, I actually have thousands of DNA matches, just from an autosomal test on Ancestry alone, let alone something like an mtDNA, xDNA or yDNA test:

[ID: Edited screenshot showing maternal and paternal DNA matches on my AncestryDNA profile. There are 16279 maternal matches and 9745 paternal matches.]

Obviously, due to the way family trees work, most of these are distant matches, however it does include plenty of close ones too, which I've been able to trace to real records and identify relationships with. Personally, my matches even already include many 1st and 2nd cousins, albeit usually a one or two degrees removed, especially as the userbase tends to swing older on these websites. This includes a few people close enough for me to have already known them from family functions and shared annecdotes. Meanwhile, where I did have blank spots, from immigrations, estranged family members, early deaths etc, I've been able to fill in a lot of information.

So what does it mean that there's "no trace" of Ruby's family?

Deliberate or not?

The big question I've had since The Church on Ruby Road is: just how untraceable is Ruby's family?

On one hand, I feel like if this was real life and professional TV genealogists were helping you, you'd get a bit more information than a quick phone call saying they've got zilch. If they're sharing nothing... do they literally have nothing?

On the other hand, this also feels like a writing shortcut. We don't really need 3 hours of Davina McCall sat with Ruby at a computer breaking down every question and theory about possible family members. Ultimately, this was probably just a way to quickly get some major exposition out there, plus throw in a Christmas celebrity cameo for casual viewers. The fact they only talk about Ruby's "parents" being in a DNA database, and no-one else, doesn't give me a lot of faith in the care for accuracy RTD took with this plot point tbh.

Indeed Davina does say 'it happens sometimes', which could indicate it's not as extreme as having zero close relatives...

...but Ruby also asks if it's unusual for there to be no trace of anything, which Davina doesn't answer. If we're asking that question, it sounds like things really could have turned up that blank.

It may not be easy for orphans and adoptees to find family, but I assume it must be quite rare to have zero possible leads? Especially if you're a younger person, and thus may have a good number of people of the right generation to know/remember your family members still alive. Worst case scenario, I can imagine having some leads, only for someone to be uncontactable, or lack the information that would be useful. That being said, maybe I'm being too optimistic, as someone who had the priviledge of never having as much difficulty.

The weird sci-fi parallel (TW: incest (kinda), intersexism)

This is where we get to my theorising. Because in a science fiction context, and specifically a time-travel one, there is one quite famous short story that has a protagonist with zero family connections: '—All You Zombies—' by Robert A Heinlein.

(Fun fact: "All You Zombies" is also the name of a planned Class Ongoing story, once I get the time to resume that.)

You may also be familiar with the movie adaptation: 'Predestination'. It's also seemingly the inspiration for all sorts of similar stories, from 'The Man Who Folded Himself' to Red Dwarf and Futurama.

You might see where i'm going from that last one...

(Again disclaimer: if you seek it out, that this story may be quite triggering. It also was written in 1959. While it's actually somewhat respectable of a trans (kind-of, you'll see what I mean - I'll generally use the pronouns used in the text below) protagonist, it includes sexism, intersexism bordering on medical horror, and selfcest/incest.)

In 1963 (funnily enough), a lonely, orphaned 18 year old woman named Jane has a sexual encounter with a man in a park which ends up leaving her pregnant. When complications arise, the doctor discovers during a successful caesarian she's actually intersex, with a form of ovotesticular syndrome, with her immature, partially developed organs "a mess". He removes the now damaged womb, ovaries etc and, without consent, 'rearranged things so that [they] can develop properly as a man".

A few weeks later, the baby is stolen from the hospital by a man.

Despite all this tragedy, they do decide to complete their transition, restarting life as a man. He struggles to find work, but eventually finds himself making a living selling fake confession stories to magazines as "the Unmarried Mother".

Years later In a bar, he tells his story to a Bartender. After it all, the Bartender reveals he's actually a time agent and offers the chance to see his baby's father again. He drops him off in 1963 to find the man.

Meanwhile, in 1964, the Bartender steals a baby from a hospital, and drops her off at an orphanage in 1945.

The Bartender returns to the Unmarried Mother a month later in 1963, just in time to see him leaving a lonely young woman he met with in a park...

"Now you know who he is", the Bartender says, "—and after you think it over you’ll know who you are... and if you think hard enough, you’ll figure out who the baby is... and who I am.” He drops the Unmarried Mother off in 1983, where he can be recruited by the Temporal Bureau.

The Bartender, Jane, the Unmarried Mother, the kidnapper, the Father, and the Baby are revealed to all be one person, a family tree onto themself. The perfect time agent, causally disconnected from the rest of humanity and thus safe from Faction Paradox - if they are truly human at all (possibly explaining their biological bi-sexuality).

Thus, literally, having no relatives.

NO, OF COURSE I don't think this is what's up with Ruby!

But...

A lot of people have suggested that the woman who drops off Ruby could be herself. Obviously this doesn't necessarily mean Ruby is her own mother - let alone her own intersex father, child, and recruiter too!

But the story did come to my mind watching the Christmas special, and I do think the less squicky side of it, the 'perfect time agent' angle is worth considering. Could Ruby really be causally/genetically disconnected from the rest of humanity? Could she literally have no close relatives?

Assuming her DNA is not taken from any other person, but some semi-random mix of genes, she really may not match with anyone. At most, she would have some distant false matches, who share very small portions of DNA with her just by statistical fluke.

"BUT", I hear you say, "Didn't she get rewritten by the literal butterfly effect in episode one? She must be connected to humanity!"

Yes she did. But you know else happened?

She was still there.

Seriously think about it. Time travel fiction often doesn't think about the full consequences of time being altered even slightly, especially for a gag, but think about it literally. If all of human history was changed and a whole new species, possibly descended from Silurians, became dominant on the planet...

... why would the Doctor still happen to be travelling with someone with a name beginning with 'Rub-' who looks like Millie Gibson? Remember her name comes from Ruby Road... so does 'Ruby Road' exist on Rubathon's Earth? The Church presumably doesn't, unless there's a lizard Jesus...

At the very least we can point to the Web of Time being particularly reinforced around Ruby for some reason, even after all the damage it's taken between Flux and now, letting Ruby persist into the new timeline. This is explicitly confirmed in the last episode, with the Doctor calling it a fixed point.

At worst, it may imply whatever 'designed' Ruby just needs her to meet the Doctor, no matter what the dominant species on Earth is.

Mind you, both of these do open questions about what happened in the timeline where Ruby was eaten by the Goblin King. Maybe targetting her after her birth left her temporally vulnerable? Or maybe it was a necessary event, to bring the Doctor to Ruby Road...

Add this to some other things we've seen this season:

In Space Babies, we're introduced to the concept of 'baby farms', allowing people to be loomed born without a parent.

We also know, at least, that Ruby registers as human to the TARDIS (though given Sutekh's influence, who knows how trustworthy that scan was now!).

In The Devil's Chord, Ruby is not erased by Maestro destroying humanity. Granted we can put this down to the Doctor/TARDIS, and how time travel effects people's biodata, but I think it could be a misdirect.

(Interestingly there was a very similar plotpoint in "City of the Daleks", the Eleventh Doctor adventure game, which saw the New Dalek Paradigm invading Earth in...1963. Unlike Ruby, Amy eventually actually does start to fade, needing a 'chronon blocker' to stabilise her. Hey remember how we just heard the word 'chronon' used a bunch in the show.)

In Boom, the Ambulance is entirely unable to find a next of kin for Ruby, despite seemingly having her in its records. This is a little hard to dissect, as you could take a lot of different interpretations away from it. At the very least, it suggests Ruby doesn't have any living descendents in the 51st century. Carla probably doesn't either (which makes sense with her not having any bio-kids, and Ruby seemingly being the only child she fully adopted rather than fostered?) But for its extensive records, it's notable it still couldn't find anyone after that, even presumably with access to Ruby's DNA like the genealogists had.

Everything in 73 Yards.

Between the snow falling in each episode, plus context in The Legend of Ruby Sunday, we know that Christmas Eve on Ruby Road, while fixed, is also uniquely vulnerable and 'raw'. With the woman's changing reactions to the Doctor, it's also flexible enough to change, somewhat.

Similarly, the possible connection between the woman who dropped Ruby off and the woman in 73 Yards, between her face not being visible and the CCTV camera being around 73 yards / 66.6 metres away. And if that woman really was Ruby, then maybe the parallels to All You Zombies may not be as insane as they sound.

[placeinthemiddleofnowhere]

I love your Reign series (multiple re-reads and insanely nervous what Major Kelly had to say)

I was curious about Pup's bloodline. Was there a hybrid in the bloodline a ways back? Or was the mother unfaithful? Can hybrids be born to parents without that genetic predisposition (like a random mutation)?

Sorry for all the questions, lol. The wheels are just spinning in my brain about it.

Aw, love hearing that the series has gripped you! The major Kelly cliff hanger is a nail biter 👀 also I love when I get questions through, shows you’re really into the story 💕

Pup’s mum did not cheat on their dad, however given they are both assholes you can bet he would’ve had pup tested the first moment he could to make sure they were actually his to double check he had to take responsibility 🙄 Pup has a hybrid in their ancestry, thinking that one of the parents has a hybrid parent that they’re ashamed of and Pup would’ve never met them.

In the Reign universe hybrids can only be born if there is hybrid DNA in the family. Most commonly they occur when one of the parents is a hybrid, but it’s not rare to have heritage from further back in the family tree influence the baby’s species like Pup. The hybridism isn’t a mutation so babies cant be born with hybrid features unless they have the DNA passed down. That’s why earlier on in the series, in the flashback where the parents are dropping Pup off at Branhaven, they mention the family has hybrid DNA with gritted teeth. It’s not something most people want to own.

[fickleminder]

I had one really big question about your (AMAZING, SHOWSTOPPING, ASTOUNDING) demons will be demons AU: is MC still the descent of Lilith? And if so, how would the brothers find out with the plot being so different and how would they react? Thank so much for all your writing, I genuinely really love this AU!!

Aahhhh thank you, I’m really glad you’re enjoying it so far! 💕

To be honest I haven’t really thought about the whole Lilith thing in this AU, mainly because I wanted to remove any bias when it came to how the demon bros viewed MC. But now that you mentioned it, the reveal is definitely gonna cause a lot of chaos!

So let’s suppose MC is still a descendent of Lilith. Suppose there’s some ancestry magic being advertised in town which MC decides to check out just for fun. They’re curious if it works like those family tree DNA tests back in the human world. The witch performing the spell hands them a little crystal ball at the end of the session, which randomly shows the different people in their bloodline like a digital photo frame.

MC takes it back to the HoL and displays it in their room, not surprised that they don’t seem to recognize any famous historical figures in their ancestry. They end up leaving the crystal ball on a shelf and more or less forgets all about it.

Until one day, Lucifer enters their room for some reason and catches a glimpse of a very familiar face—

Now remember, the first born is the only one who knows what really happened to Lilith. After learning what that crystal ball is, he calls in a personal favor from Barbatos and, with Diavolo’s permission, gets him to trace MC’s roots. What he discovers leaves him at a loss.

Does he tell his brothers? Admit that what they believed for centuries was just a lie? What if they turn on him for not revealing the truth after Lilith’s time in the mortal plane was over, when there was no longer any risk of them violating Diavolo’s terms by making contact with her?

BAD ROUTE: It’s their second chance to have Lilith in their lives again. Lucifer’s brothers may be furious about being deceived at first, but then he rallies them to focus their energy on getting her MC back. By blood, MC belongs with them, and they won’t take no for an answer. MC goes from polite caution to outright fear/rejection at their dogged possessiveness. Any trust that had been painstakingly built up during the begging for forgiveness arc instantly evaporates. Cue identity crises, “stop calling me Lilith”, and all that good ol’ post OG Lesson 16 angst. For the sake of the exchange program, Diavolo and Barbatos will eventually intervene because MC is straight up not having a good time.

BETTER ROUTE: Lucifer decides to just… keep his discovery to himself. What’s one more secret on top of a centuries-old lie, anyway? He knows what will happen, how his brothers will react to the truth, how MC will suffer— No, they’ve been hurt by his family enough. If you love someone, let them go. While it’s not a complete 180, something definitely changes in the way Lucifer interacts with MC. His softer, more brotherly approach ends up working in his favor, helping him to mend his relationship with them the fastest. In time, the rest of his brothers come to follow his lead, and the knowledge of Lilith’s blood in MC’s veins stops burning at the back of his mind. MC is MC, and that’s all that matters.

?? ROUTE: Barbatos sees all. He sees a reality where Belphie is locked up and MC makes pacts with the brothers instead of lesser demons; a reality where the brothers imprison MC in the attic and force immortality upon them; a reality where MC is not an exchange student but a devil-sitter lost in time; a reality where MC and the brothers don’t get along at first but slowly make their way towards a tentative friendship…

All these realities exist at once, and yet not at the same time. There is only one Barbatos after all, and while he cannot simply pick and choose as he pleases, he can at least nudge certain fates.

When he reports his findings to Lucifer later, he’ll have to choose his words very carefully.

[krikeymate]

Fictober 2023: Day 4: “Do you even know what this means?” - Sam isn't as alone as she thinks she is. Featuring Mindy. Fandom: Scream Rating: T Warnings: None.

➖

Sam frowns at her laptop screen, confused. It doesn’t make any sense. Why are there so many branches on this tree? Eugh, she knew doing this genetics thing was a mistake. The last thing she should be doing is putting her DNA out there for anyone to trace back to her. All it takes is one more vindictive cop and then…

Curse Tara’s heartbreakingly effective sad expression. She’s mastered the disappointed “oh, okay then” too. Sam may have taught her sister how to use all her skills to her advantage, but that didn’t mean she should get to use them against her!

Little shit.

 “I don’t know what I’m looking at,” she declares, leaning back on the couch with a sigh.

Tara abandons her phone to lean over and tilt the laptop toward her.  Sam watches as her sister’s face goes from exasperated – a common expression when Sam tries to interact with technology – to confused.

She almost regrets speaking up when Tara begins to frown. Sam hates seeing her frown. The “this doesn’t make any sense” she mutters under her breath is more than a little vindicating at least.

Tara slides the computer into her own lap to analyse the screen. Unfortunately, her appropriation of the device does not go unnoticed by Mindy, who was supposed to be cleaning up the mess she had made in their kitchen.

If Sam catches anyone doing another 4am baking session in a house they don’t even live in, they’re gonna catch her hands instead. Or a knife, as someone recently – almost fatally – learnt for herself.

“Come on now,” Mindy jeers, “how hard can it be?”

Mindy of course, being the one who convinced Tara, who convinced Sam, that they should send off their very private DNA to this big and famous ancestry company. Oh it’ll be interesting, she said. You’ll get to see where you come from, she said. You'll be able to connect with anyone else in your family tree who’s done it too, she said. As if that one was something appealing.

Unfortunately, Tara’s whispered confession of wanting to know whether their father had another family out there was damning to Sam’s ability to say no. Having basically grown up without any family other than each other, Tara’s desires were all too understandable.

But Sam will get her own back on Mindy for suggesting this, mark her words.

“Are you discovering that your mom isn’t actually your mom? Cause that would make so much sense to be honest, ‘cause I’ve said it before, that lady far too white to be birthing two Latinas like yourselves.”

Tara’s eyes dart from the screen to meet Sam’s as they share a look they’ve come to master over the past year. Disbelief, amusement, a silently screamed are they serious? passing between them.

Mindy doesn’t notice it.

“I mean, how do two basically white people end up making Sam? Answer me that!” she continues, leaning her arms against the back of the couch. “Heck, I bet the only Mexican in your mom was your da-“

“OH MY GOD MINDY!” “WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?”

“What, am I wrong?”

Sam groans into her hands while Tara, who has years of experience learning to overcome Mindy’s colourfully unfiltered mouth, silently holds the laptop up for her to see.

There’s a moment of silence as Mindy takes in the information, before she claps her hands excitedly.

“Do you even know what this means?” she exclaims, bouncing on her feet, both hands slapping down on the couch.

Mindy doesn’t wait for a response before she barrels ahead, unable to keep it in for even a second longer.

“It means ho~o~oly shit Sam, your dad was a slut!”

Sam wishes she never had to hear those words. She wishes she’d never done the stupid swab test.

She snatches the laptop back and slams the lid shut without even a second glance at the contents.

It was hard enough to learn that Tara was her half-sister. The knowledge that she has 12 other half-siblings out there burns in the back of her throat.

She has a family; she doesn’t need more.

What was she thinking.

[punkitt-is-here]

do people realize that like just about anyone could potentially be in a relationship with someone who has a shared ancestor that far removed, bcuz that is very much a reality. they are constructing a world where all dating requires dna ancestry tests to trace family trees back at least 20 generations just to be safe

isnt crazy what people worry about when they cant just go outside on a nice walk

[saintmeghanmarkle]

I call BS on madam being 43% Nigerian with research. by u/Technical_Ant_7466

I call BS on madam being 43% Nigerian, with research. You can get a DNA tests and results from Family Tree, Genealogy & Family History Records which show heritage, or where a family originated from.Markles mother Doria, was born in the USAMarkles grandparents Jeanette and Alvin were born in Sandusky Ohio and South Carolina in 1929.Markles great grandparents Nettie Mae and James were born in South Carolina in 1897 & 1909.Markles great great grandparents Gertrude Elizabeth and Hunter Allen were born in Georgia in or around 1882.So, considering her father is of Dutch/Irish/American descent, how can she claim to be 43% Nigerian?These percentages provide a location(s) where your family came from, not who you are.It demonstrates what madams ancestry is made up of mainly Irish/Nigerian/English/American background, but it DOES NOT mean that she is that percentage ( 43%) Nigerian. I would be interested to know how she can claim 43% when for over 200 years (I stopped looking back any further )her family has been American born?The fact that this woman even had her profile from early 2000, where she never stated she was biracial and, that even some friends she had back then did not even know she was biracial, and that she lived in a very privileged “white life” to now claim her heritage is disingenuousIt must be a way for her to make headway into Nigerian business deals. There are a great many shady deals going on in Nigeria and the crime rate is high.Like in the Congo , where AFRICAN PARKS has been under fire for not taking action against the atrocities going on, I believe that this kind of abuse of indigenous peoples is happening on a grand scale throughout Africa.Africa is ripe for stripping natural resources including land by other nations, or wealthy businessmen from wealthy nations, eager to enslave, mistreat and pillage the continent of Africa.Hank & Skank are pretending to be on a royal tour, but Hank being a royal is in a position to wheel and deal with the Nigerian Government.It was the government that had a message on X saying they were pleased that both Meghan’s agreed to travel to Nigeria.They’re using the guise of Invictus as their “official excuse “.No way. I don’t believe this for a moment. There’s something bigger going on.https://ift.tt/bpmQfo7 appears that some sort of white colonialism is being perpetrated on the indigenous peoples.https://ift.tt/OlB3QxY post link: https://ift.tt/bV2HXxY author: Technical_Ant_7466 submitted: May 01, 2024 at 12:25AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit disclaimer: all views + opinions expressed by the author of this post, as well as any comments and reblogs, are solely the author's own; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrator of this Tumblr blog. For entertainment only.

[blorbologist]

If a child inherits 50% of their dna from their parents, and their sibling also inherits 50%, the siblings share 50% with each other. But if, for example, one child’s ancestry results are different from their sibling’s, what happens to the non inherited ethnicites(?)? Like, if one parent is mixed race and the other is full, I know the children receive a randomized half of each, but what happens to the rest? Is it passed down or is it in the junk dna? I took a test with my sib and I’m confused :/

Hi anon!

Before we start, I'll clarify that my speciality is animal behavior, ecology and evolution, with some neurobio thrown into the mix - so any geneticists are free to correct me if I stumbled on any of this!

Walk with me, here:

You get 50% of your DNA from one parent, and 50% from the other. Right? Pretty standard. What DNA this is will vary wildly, because you're only getting one of any two alleles each parent has. During Meiosis, your parent's chromosomes are duplicated, mix things up a little, randomly* assort, and split to form gametes with half of that parent's alleles. Due to the sheer numbers at play, roughly half* of the DNA in each gamete will end up being the same (so 25% the same from the sire, 25% the same from the dam). But the gist of it is you'll end up with a roughly 50% overlap with what your sibling got... but half their DNA is different, remember.

For instance, I have blue eyes and my brother's are brown. Due to our knowledge of our family tree, we know this is due to a coinflip with our dad's eye color alleles - he got that blue allele from his blue-eyed father, and the brown allele from his mother. Which means I have one of my grandfather's blue eye alleles, but not my grandmother's.

Does that mean I have less of my grandmother's DNA? No! The eye color gene is just one of many, many, many, and a more obvious visible marker than a mutation midway through some random protein that doesn't give me lovely baby blues. Iirc my blood type is more in line with hers, but I'd need to check.

Where am I going with this?

Well, the way a DNA test decides who you're related is by zeroing in on very specific genes that are commonly found in X populations. It's not a 100% match, because humans migrate and mingle a lot, but it offers an educated guess based on probabilities. It's looking for the obvious blue vs brown eyes in your DNA, so to speak.

DNA tests are not looking at *all* your DNA, just at specific areas with known associations. You both likely have roughly the same total % of DNA from those ancestors, it’s just that some of the many coinflips didn't favor keeping those genetic markers used to identify these ethnicities in simple tests. You and your sibling likely each carry a host of traits from those same ancestors that aren't simple brown/blue markers, so to speak. Maybe your sibling inherited an allele commonly seen in X population, but you’re the lucky one who got the toenail shape or what have you.

However, if you don't have that specific allele, it's gone for good. My dad's brown eye allele he got from his mother is not hiding in my back pocket, or in another patch of DNA. It was not included in that original gamete, so I just... flat out do not have it. It ended up in some other sperm cell that didn't get quite so lucky. Likewise, if you don't have X genetic markers, you just don't have them. There have been generations of these coinflips, on top of chromosomal crossover events, and it just so happens that these markers stuck around until this generation - it's luck they made it far enough to be in your parent! There's still ample DNA in you from that ancestor, just less obviously linked to that branch of your family tree.

TLDR: you likely inherited more than what the test is telling you, because it's just looking at obvious makers associated with those populations. However, what markers you didn’t get you flat out do not have (because they ended up in different gametes).

I hope that was a bit of help anon! <3

Also obligatory disclaimer, DNA ancestry tests can and will sell your genetic data to anyone on the market, including informing insurance companies of predispositions to certain illnesses among other things. I recommend people keep their genetic info under lock and key so it does not get used against you or your relatives. Said brown-eyed brother o mine did a test before we knew how shady these companies are, so the best I can hope for is that our overlapping 50% doesn't include anything they'd care to hold against me 🙃

Anon, maybe check the TOS of the service you used and see if you can opt out? I'm not optimistic but you never know! ;; Just be careful going forward. It's not the end of the world, but it might bite you and your parents in the butt going forward.

*The DNA you get from each parent is not completely random, because some alleles are linked due to being very close on the chromosome and thus less likely to be swapped around. Plus some recessive combinations might be nonviable and so those gametes never end up producing viable zygotes. And sex-linked genes. It's fun :D

[neechees]

Do you think it’s ok for Mexican people to call themselves indigenous? I don’t call myself a Native American, as I have no tribal affiliation, but I know for a fact that my family has strong indigenous roots. I’ve known that my whole life as we are darker complected and have more indigenous features than European, and this was recently confirmed by DNA tests that we had decided to take for fun. I also know my family tree has stayed here in Texas for centuries, and we’ve been able to trace that back to Natives on the texas census back in the 1800s. I also don’t like calling myself Mexican bc that is a nationality, one I am also not part of. But currently I resort to calling myself that bc idk what else to say. Hispanic or Latino also don’t seem right as I don’t speak Spanish. Idk. I just wanna be able to have words for my identity without someone getting offended/thinking I am making it up. Being a mixed person sucks; at least the older generations of my family don’t have to deal with people assuming they’re liars or posers, that struggle is reserved for me bc i am much more “white passing” than them.

I feel like I'm not really the right person to ask this, I'm from Canada, I'm not Mexican and I have never been to Mexico. The race dynamics & stuff regarding Indigeneity are different in Mexico than here in Canada. I can give you a brief answer, but I'd just be repeating what I've heard other Mexican ndns say, in that having some Indigenous ancestry or being Mexican doesn't necessarily automatically make you "Indigenous". It's more complicated than this, but again, I'm not entirely qualified to answer so I won't. You're better off going and asking Indigenous Mexicans

[chaotic-archaeologist]

I'm sorry for asking you for how to find some one. it was late at night and I wasn't thinking well. I'm sorry to put it on you. I just knew in any anthropology field people know how to look up family trees and stuff. I've just kept loosing family these past few years and my brain isn't good late at night.

I appreciate that you recognize that the way you asked your questions didn't come off quite the way you intended. My intention is for this blog to be a learning space, and so I'm going to do my best to answer your question in this response in good faith.

The summary of your questions (at least the way I read it) is: with the rise of antisemitism, I'm worried for the safety of any potentially unknown Jewish family members I might have. How can I find them through genealogical records?

I get where you're coming from in asking this question. Antisemitism is real, it is scary, and you are right to be worried. However, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to show your concern. If I had a non-Jew (family member or not) reach out to me in this way, my response would be something like this:

Respectfully, it's nice that you're worried for my safety, but where were you when my synagogue was the victim of three separate hate crimes during the Trump era? Where were you when there was the shooting at that synagogue in Texas? Why are you reaching out now to tell me you're worried? I know it's a problem—I've known for years. Your concern is functionally meaningless unless you act on it. What are you going to do to support your local Jewish community? What are you going to do the next time you see someone do/say something antisemitic? What are you doing to actually educate yourself on the reality of antisemitism? What can do to help me address the antisemitism in my life?

I say all of this politely, because this is a safe environment and you are learning, so please don't mistake this as hostility. It's just the blunt truth. Reaching out to a Jewish person to say you're concerned about antisemitism is like reaching out to a Black person to tell them you're worried about racism.

If you want to get in touch with this part of your family, do it because you're curious about your relations and you want to make a connection. Plenty of people find out about unknown relatives through a DNA test, and your situation isn't that unusual, especially if you're looking for connection after losing relatives. They may or may not be receptive to you making contact, and that is their decision, just like it is yours to seek them out in the first place.

Keep your worries about antisemitism to yourself unless they purposefully bring it up. In the meantime, work to educate yourself on antisemitism wherever you live—do not expect Jewish people to be your teachers.

Finally, in your original question you ask for genealogy resources that aren't ancestry because ancestry is run by Mormons. This is a popular misconception. Ancestry.com is not affiliated with the Mormon church. Here's an article that provides a rundown of the company's history. There are also ethical concerns arising about DNA and information ownership. Here's a snopes article about how Ancestry handles your data.

Honestly, I use ancestry all the time. Is it sometimes problematic? Yes, but I try to engage with it in ways that satisfy my own ethical boundaries. You can feel free to do the same, or not. It's up to you.

I think we've all said things late at night that we wince at in the light of day—I certainly have. You asked your question with good intentions, and I'm trying to honor that with my response. I'd like everyone to be kind in the replies and notes. There are no such thing as bad questions, just inappropriate times/places to ask them. This blog is a place where questions can be asked without judgement.

-Reid

[manicato]

Daka Taíno y estoy aquí.

I was the blogger Triguenaista/Inaruri who was stalked and harrassed for 10+ years, while homeless, by Keyla Rivera and her anti-indigenous group “This-is-not-taino". Keyla Rivera, of Florida and Orocovis, PR, a white Puerto Rican, was mostly responsible for this racist behavior.

Since in the last ten years, I have CONTINUED to see my name thrown around as a "validated pretendian/fraud" because of the now-exposed Keyla's behavior- We're just going to need to address it. And since I was doxxed by them, and my full name has been shared with you all, I'm going to go ahead and show you some documents that that hate-group wasn't willing to show.

Let's start with a family tree- ya?

Avelino, was born into slavery in Puerto Rico, approximately 1865, in Arecibo Puerto Rico. To the best of my knowledge (and factoring in the DNA test), he was Afro-Taíno, with strong Nigerian/Western Bantu roots. As noted on the last published Registro Central de Esclavos of 1872 (page 3, 9th person recorded), he was a natural-born Puerto Rican (Natural de Oto Rico).

 After abolition in 1873, like many others, Avelino was forced to continue working for 3 to 5 more years. Do Barbara Balseiro (the indicated slave owner) had a working relationship with Felix Marengo y Poggi, and was known to send slaves to work at his plantations.

Through research (1910 census), I found that Maria Baerga y Rivera De Quiñones was a "Mulatto" housekeeper for the Felix Marengo y Poggi in the 1910’s. It is likely that this is where Avelino met her daughter Maria Quiñones Baerga and developed a relationship.

They had son Felix (recorded as negro on census documents, until adulthood/WW2, where he is then recorded as blanco/brown toned (on his Draft card), who married Carmen Martinez.

This is Carmen’s Acta de Nacimiento which indicates race as “Mestiza”, clearly indicating not only direct Taíno heritage/ancestry, but a connection to an existing community as that was the only circumstance in which this term was legally used in PR when they started to write Taínos out of the country. It was and is currently illegal to list someone's race/ethnicity in PR as indigenous. Mestiza and Trigeño is the ONLY exceptions for those with concrete connections.

A Close-up:

On the naciemnto form above her mother is cited as “Vincenta/Vincenda”, from/born in Jayuya. There is a note about her grandparents in part 3. “Ambos de raza mestiza”, Ajiubro Martinez and Juana Martinez from Morovis.

According to family oral history, Carmen Martinez came from a community/family that took care of the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial site of Utuado before the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña took over with formal protections in 1955.

There may be a relationship between her and one of the 60 Puerto Rican indigenous children taken to the Carlisle Indian School in 1901. Three Martinez children were enrolled there, Provindentia, Levia, and Miguel. My best-informed guess is Provindentia Martinez may be my 2nd great-grandmother as “Vincenta” could be a derivative of the name. If it was Provendentia, she would have been the right age to have a child, settling down in PR after traveling to NY for a few years after her time at the Carlisle School, as recorded in their records. Until better clarification can be obtained, this is just speculation.

Carmen would make and maintain small bohio-like structures in the backyard of the family Utuado home (many were destroyed after Hurricane George, and the rest after Hurricane Maria), to house Semisakis and Opias.

My grandfather, Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr. was extremely proud and vocal of our rich Taíno heritage and culture. He made sure that we knew our roots and how precious our indigenous ancestry is, and taught us all he could remember.

In terms of direct lineage, my direct Taíno lineage can be traced from my 2nd great-grandfather Avelino, my great-grandmother Carmen Martinez (whom I had the honor of knowing and having a relationship with as a child living in Puerto Rico), and my own grandfather Luis Alfonso Quiñones Sr (who I grew up with).

If "cultural connection"/"growing up in a continuously connected family" was your issue with my indigenous status- clearly I did and have the documentation to show my family's continuous connection.

If it's blood quantum/documented indigenous status- I'm between 3/8th and 7/16th according to my DNA. With the documents I have here, if Tainos were a federally recognized tribe in the US, by the BIA standards, I'd be eligible for enrollment.

And this is all without discussing how history and the laws affect lineage recording or the "Whitening of PR". My family's oral history should have been believed to start with, but now the documentation can be found online. You have your "proof" on the two points yall bring up the most.

So you see why the younger me couldn't figure out why everyone just believed the lies being told? How even now that this hate group was exposed, I don't get why I am the scapegoat for people trying to make a point. Like, I wasn't and am not an educator, nor was I trying to make money in any way (and I was homeless- I needed money and yet DID NOT ASK). I was literally just existing on this hell site and became a target. But yall handed over your cash really quick to this hate group, validated them, and were so shocked when they ended up being frauds and provided yall with NOTHING.

You all believed a white puertorrican that BIPOC's could not be trusted to be indigenous (look at the list, it is EXCLUSIVELY Black and Brown peoples and anyone who stood up for them. It wasn't a "frauds list" until after we all left the platform. That was added AFTERWARDS. And yes, some of us are STILL friends because we were here for the community, not cash or fame). You continue to keep that belief every time you defend it. In the end, ya'll are just being racist and need to stop hurting an already small af community.

Taínos exists. We are here. We are NOT recognized by the US gov't yet. To imply our self-determination takes away from indigenous people is to fundamentally not understand what it is to be indigenous. And, it implies you see the indigenous status as money and not actually living people with complex needs and issues.

I'm glad the rest of the internet has unlearned what this group put into the world about Taínos, but now I'mma need yall on here to minimally stop throwing my name around. Stop it. I am exactly who I have been telling you all I am, whether you accept that or not is NOT my problem. I have the documentation, which is more than can be said about anyone yall have believed in the past.

At least I know who my people are, grew up knowing, and can live happily knowing there are people who disagree in our community because we aren't a monolithic group. Yall just need to treat us as humans.

For those reading for the history of it all- I'm glad to help. If you're trying to figure out your family's documentation- I got great info on how to find the information and who to contact. If you're looking for cultural resources- tainolibrary is LITERALLY the best source and it's free (Note: I have no affiliation with them. I genuinely believe they are a healthy and safe resource for those seeking reconnection/validation).

For those realizing they fucked up in believing my stalker- I accept my apologies in cash.

[dogesterone]

went to a museum today and like. it was super fun and cool!

but also at one point, amidst the cultural artifacts and exhibits, i couldnt help but be reminded that my connection to my own heritage is almost completely severed. like. yeah i know i have irish and scottish and german ancestry but. thats just. words on paper. data collected from my dna and my family tree. that heritage doesnt live in me. my ancestors gave up their culture for the sake of white american assimilationism and all im left with is the ability to point out hesse and ayrshire on a map, and if it werent for a dna test i wouldnt even know i had irish heritage at all

i know there are definitely people who have had even more taken from them in more horrible ways, and im not trying to detract or distract from that, im just. talking about my own personal feelings and experiences.

[a-student-out-of-time]

We also need to track down the ancestors of Kiko, Himiko, and Rantaro. We've already been made aware of two of them, but the Amami's are still out of reach, fittingly enough

Yeah, any new info on them? Anything at all?

Do you have, say, a DNA profile of any of them?

________________________________________________

The problem is that we don't know where exactly to start looking. Most everyone we can get in touch with for this sort of thing in that time period is either dead or in hiding.

________________________________________________

Hmmm...well, mathematically, there's bound to be people out there who we can trace back to them. For every parent, you have grandparents, and for every grandparent you have great-grandparents.

Maybe you could try looking through the family tree and seeing who else we can track down? Maybe their genetic information and family records are still available by 2070, and you can cross-reference with what we've got?

________________________________________________

...You know, that just might work!

________________________________________________

Holy shit, dude.

What? I've done paternity and maternity tests before. I know how heredity works. M-DNA is inherited purely through your mother and Y-DNA purely through your father. It can be an effective way of tracking someone's ancestry.