CEU & the Spreadsheet of World9

So, there are a lot of new genetic calculators out there, and they do not all agree with each other.  That has to be said from the get-go, since if you go to Gedmatch with your DNA kit number and use the admixture page, you could find a calculator to say you are practically anyone.  There are recurrent themes, however, and plenty to indicate that SOMETHING is true about what you see.

(The fact that it is called "Oracle" -- another little interesting quasi-religious nod to a self-described genetic mystic.....although I'm not sure the authors and creators would agree.)

Anyway, ponder this as the components for the average "Central European from Utah".  (these are percentages)---

CEU30 - 22 participants sampled


Amerindian =  0.4
East Asian = 0.2
African = 0.3
Atlantic/Baltic = 75.3
Australasian = 0.2
Siberian = 0.3
Caucasus/Gedorosia - 11.1
Southern - 11.3
South Asian = 1

World9 Spreadsheet, Dodecad


So, some will say that the small numbers are noise -- they might be.  Noise is a concept I need to explore further.  There are plenty out there who believe 'noise' just means you cannot find an adequate scientific or historical rationale for a certain group showing up in your particular group.  Others say it is just a math problem.  I'm not sure, but I find this interesting to contemplate.

As you look at the spreadsheet, you can find some surprising places for Amerindian -- I will just put those that are above 0.4 -- (CEU level):

Russian_D @ 0.7

Irish_D @ 0.6

German_D @ 0.5

Finnish_D @ 0.8

Swedish_D @ 0.5

British Isles @ 0.4

Kurd D@ 0.7

 I am interested in Amerindian DNA occurring in groups where the average citizen would assume it doesn't "belong" for a variety of reasons.  Mormonism has a long, complicated and often overlooked relationship with Native Americans.  I have seen it described as a "colonializing" relationship, which certainly has a ring of truth to it, but I'm interested in another possibility.  Relationships that could perhaps still be called "colonializing", but on a more personal, one-to-one level, done through the institute of marriage.    While I realize it is premature and likely misleading to take the above numbers too seriously, I still want to know what is really being measured.  And, I have this hunch that certain of the founders of Mormonism had authentic Amerindian DNA.  The CEU sample would likely be a conglomerate of the early Colonial Americans, British, Danish and other miscellaneous countries that formed the original 'founding families' of Mormonism.  So, likely those who took the samples had no interest in focusing only on those with early American ancestry, which would give a better picture of who early colonialist Americans were, not just early Mormons.

One other possibility, probably more likely, is that those numbers reflect some very ancient relationship, before the proto-Native American crossed the Bering Straits.  Some of my calculators were showing a higher percentage for Native American for me than I thought possible, given my calculations for the genetic contributions of the persons in my tree with the most "American" of origins.

My dad's Harappa World percentages

 

I am related to early colonial Americans through both my mother and father.  My dad's side links to Joseph Smith.  The link goes through his paternal grandmother.  The remainder of his ancestors are recent immigrants from England or Denmark.  This means that only 25% of his DNA traces to America.  Of this 25%, much is known, or claimed to be known -- We have a line of Scots Irish, some Irish, Palatine Germans, French Huguenots, English and Scottish.  My theory is that Solomon Mack, Joseph Smith's maternal grandfather, would be one of those more likely to have some sort of Native American ancestry (for reasons I will continue to elaborate).  Solomon Mack is my father's 5th Great Grandfather. Presuming boldly and inaccurately that Solomon Mack was 100% Native American (which clearly is not true), he would still only contribute 0.78125% to my dad's DNA.

 It would be fun to assume that this somehow gives credence to the numbers shown in the percentages to the right, however, I found out something else is likely going on, and likely indicates what Harappa World is picking up on is an ancient affiliation with Native Americans.  At least for this stretch of DNA shown below -- which appears on my dad's 8th chromosome.


This stretch of DNA on my dad's 8th chromosome also registered as Native American when analyzed by Douglas McDonald, a retired professor who will most kindly analyze this
data.  He said the Amerindian that was appearing in his results was most likely not real.  It shows up on the same chromosome though -- chromosome 8. 

I was able to do a segment analysis for that piece, and found out that my dad shares it with a woman from Finland -- meaning we likely have Finnish ancestry, and this is probably not through any of our colonial American ancestors.  However, it doesn't prove anything about whether or not Solomon Mack has Native American ancestry, because Solomon Mack didn't give all of his DNA to my dad....

Comparing me to my dad on Chromosome 8, where he has his highest incidence of "Native American".  I only inherited a portion of this segment.  His chromosome is the first, and mine is the second. The third bar shows what we have in common.

   

My dad's chromosome painting from Doug McDonald.  Yes, the African stands out more than the American, and the American is probably Finnish.  Yes, I plan on discussing what I have found out about that soon.  No, Mormon mythology doesn't claim any sort of African identity.  Yes, Mormons have a strong history of verbal bias against Africans.  Yes, I think other persons of Mormon ancestry would be surprised if they had DNA tests done.  Yes, there is a tiny slice of green on chromosome 17, and I think THAT is real Native American.

  

P.S.

I found this from Davidski of Eurogenes and GEDmatch fame in relation to the ancient relationship of Amerindians and prehistoric "upper" Europeans-- he is helping someone else understand their results--

"Keep in mind that Europeans, and especially Northern, Central and Eastern Europeans, apparently share prehistoric ancestry with Amerindians...."

CEU & You

So....getting started here is proving to be a little tricky.  I'm going to go at this journal style, and just sketch some different ideas out.  I have quite a few topics for discussion that I think will prove to be interesting.

The first thing -- one of the reasons I hit upon the name for "my mormon dna" is not because I believe in some cosmic, preexistence-determined genetic religious identity.   I grew up on genealogy, as most faithful LDS do.  Many hours were spent at the genealogy library, combing through microfiche for little tidbits of data about ancestry. At the time, I found this about as dull as the Book of Mormon, although for some reason my family and culture were in great earnest about it.  It seemed to mean so much to be able to find out who these ancestors were.  Yet the bulk of what we found, as far as I could see, was just names, dates and places.  I suppose it was left to me to fill in the inspirational bits about how lucky we were to be guided to the great state of Zion, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.  It did not work that way, however.  Mostly I just felt like I was reading a phone book and waiting for someone to call me.

Fast forward a bit.  I became interested in science and biology in high school.  The strong hold on reality provided through this medium was comforting.  I think my interest was almost more cosmic, or mystical, however - in retrospect.  Mostly because I didn't follow the field and make it a profession.  I have always tended to view nature in a spiritual way, so any deeper understanding I could gain was that much more reassuring.  So I've always flirted with the biological sciences and genetic theories, as well as evolution.  I read Brian Syke's book -  seven daughters of eve- which even sounds like a melding of religion and science.

After having a child, genealogy suddenly became interesting again.  My daughter is beautiful, and also some might even say exotic looking.  Coming from such an anglophilic society, I wondered about her origins and mine, as well as those of her father.  We tend to think of human 'races' or ethnicities as neatly definable by the country of origin.  My exploration has proven that in so many ways, these definitions are limiting and the nomadic human likes to 'trespass' on geographic boundaries.  The challenge to science and genealogists now, I think, is to put all the pieces together from all different fields - anthropology, genetics, history, language, culture, etc.

What I can offer is insight from my own history and culture, as well as insight from new services available to consumers through genetic testing.  I used the testing services of 23andme, one of the leaders in DNA testing to find out more about my ancestral origins.  The field is nascent and there is still a lot they are learning and piecing together, I think.  Just because it is scientific, doesn't mean the answers are omnipotent or conclusive.  But being there for new discoveries is what is so exciting.

Anyway, again, I never before would have coined a term like "my mormon dna" before going through this testing process.  However, what I have had to accept is that the majority of my ancestors, as well as those of my husband, came from some similar background and mindset.  The challenge is to find out those commonalities.   (And, yes, there are still challenges -- to all those out there of a Mormon background who think all their genealogical trees are complete....)

There is an anthropological blog that is leading the way on these studies, led by a fellow named Dienekes -- in these studies, a mysterious ethnic population is used as a reference -- "CEU".  Come to find out, this stands for "Central European from Utah."  Mormonism segregated a group of people for a long enough time, that their genes are now iterative of each other -- there is a signature there in the genes, enough to say you may be related to a Mormon, if only tangentially - if your genes match with these "CEU" samples.