my mormon dna

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Hutterite Cousins Possible?

23andme sent me an automated email today, saying my daughter had fifteen new cousins.

I have ceased actively trying to make new genetic connections, since the searching is often futile and I am not sure what my real objective in looking is, or should be.

However, I found something interesting in the new cousins which I am not going to use to make grandiose religious genealogies. It's just cool to learn about new people.

Anyhoo, some of these new cousins have the rare mitochondrial DNA of X2C1. I found out this gene, which is rare in Europeans is found commonly in the friendly-sounding German religion known as Hutterites. Apparently they are Anabaptists and as such have a link to the Amish and the Mennonites.

23andme article can be found here.

I think this is most likely a link to my husband. He has members in his family tree who were Amish or Mennonite. At some point at least one, maybe more, became Mormon. Also this individual has J man-DNA. Which is interesting since I have also heard there may be a Jewish link to Mennonites. ( Need more sources.)

Confusingly, the J grandpa is an adoptive grandparent. So we aren't sure if my husband has a genetic link to the Anabaptists or not.

Maybe this piece of information indicates that he does. Or maybe it is just a fun and fabulous coincidence, further illustrating the connectivity of the human family.

Friday, July 12, 2013

William Wines Phelps --

One thing I did like growing up in the LDS church was the music. I enjoyed singing with a group and the feeling of belonging that brings. I am sure many people stay in their respective churches more from the spiritual feeling you get from singing as part of a group than from the rhetoric and tall tales you are expected to digest as reality. I think I probably stayed in church longer than most persons with a similar agnostic bent, because I accompanied the singing on the piano frequently during various church meetings.

One of the songs I actually really liked that my husband informed me just now is "creepy" is one of the songs written by William Wines Phelps, a man with a pretty interesting life story, who went in and out of allegiance to Mormonism. (I still like the song and do not feel it is at all dogmatic -- just full of friendly wonder.)

The song is called "If You Could Hie to Kolob". Kolob being the planet God lives on, according to Mormon theology as dictated by Joseph Smith. Rereading the lyrics while thinking about the possible genetic origins of Mormons gave new life to the tune for me:

There is no end to matter

There is no end to space

There is no end to spirit

There is no end to race.

There is no end to glory

There is no end to love

There is no end to being

There is no death above

Husband thinks I am reading too much into the "race", and must think that means we are all little hamsters on our running wheel, forever trying to get ahead of everyone else. Well, Mormonism sometimes feels like that, but I don't think that's what the line means.

Here's a photo of the author of those lines:

I am interested in his pheno-genotype just based on his picture, and also on his biography. I was chatting with a poster on a 23andme forum with a fellow of mostly British origins who studied genealogy and DNA for a career, and who lives in Canada with the Mohawk nation. While I was wildly speculating about the genetic origins of Mormons, I brought up a photo of W.W. Phelps. He informed me that there was an individual by the last name of Phelps who temporarily joined the Mohawks in Canada, but then returned to English society in America. Whether there is a true link there or not, I do not know. But, I can tell you some interesting facts I learned about him reading Wikipedia.

Born in Hanover Township, New Jersey, his father Enon Phelps and mother Mehitable Goldsmith moved the family to Homer, New York, in 1800.

In 1827 he relocated to Canandaigua, New York, where he began publishing and edited the anti-Masonic newspaper Ontario Phoenix through 1828. Phelps has been referred to by Dean Jessee as "one of [the] founders" of the anti-Masonic movement in New York.^[1]^:650-51
^{(Interesting that he is anti-Masonic, given the presumed Masonic bent of the Mormon faith.)}
^{a I suppose I am just highlighting these facts and omitting other details because they hint more at ideological, political, genetic and religious identity. I am interested in the synergistic nature of Mormonism, and I believe that can be evidenced through struggles between conflicting ideology. I'm curious about the name Goldsmith. I wonder why he's Anti-Masonic. I know he has mostly English heritage. And I am continuing to explore the tension that gives rise to the formation of a "new race", if such a thing is possible, or was desired by early Mormon pioneers. Curious why people feel the need to break away, and why others decide to join them......}

Monday, July 8, 2013

Photo-- Almira Mack Scobey Covey

This is my 4th great grandmother, Almira Mack. She was Joseph Smith's first cousin.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

23andMe Voted me off the Native American Island

So, I first got tested with 23 and Me.

I am happy with their service, for all the information I learned from a very talented and informed group of commenters in their community forums. I still would recommend them, despite the fact that they appeared to make a decision, based on my chatter on aforementioned forums about the possibility of Native ancestry for Joseph Smith. There could be some other explanation, but since they didn't provide me with one, I'm not going to bother to have them explain themselves.

They originally assigned me a Native American segment on chromosome 17. The same segment appears on my dad's Doug McDonald painting. It also appears on my daughter's 23 and Me painting.

So they assigned it to me, and then they took it away, and I have screenshots to prove it. I do feel I was targeted, since they failed to remove it from my daughter. It seems pretty silly, because I am asking these questions out of genuine curiosity, motivated by questions brought up from growing up Mormon, and not out of disrespect for anyone. I know there could be some other explanation, but if the other explanation is about new information found, then they are a bit remiss in their thoroughness. To wit, my daughter's DNA.

Original painting --

New chromosome painting, no longer showing 0.1% Native American:

It looks like I now have more Scandinavian.....They also seem less certain about my Southern European. Maybe they were trying to give me credit somehow for what I found out about my dad's 8th chromosome being Finnish. The problem is, I was talking about the 8th chromosome segment on my dad who was tested with Family Tree DNA, not the segment three generations share on chromosome 17 that has yet to be fully explored.

Oh well.....I don't suppose any of this is "gospel" just yet....that includes all of my speculation and all of theirs. This was the "speculative" view.