MTDNA case study from 2024

A bonus post for this blustery Saturday - while looking in the issue archives for the Journal of Genetic Genealogy, I found a recent article mentioning a familiar name from my tree. Jeffrey A. Wright published a case study in the Spring 2024 issue titled "Identification of the Mitochondrial Haplogroup of Elizabeth Martiau" [full article, PDF]. Well that's really cool. Elizabeth is my 9th-great-grandmother. I visited her gravestone at Yorktown in 2016, and posted about her father Nicolas Martiau in September 2015 (see also here).

This is a very fascinating case study, and it makes me wonder if a similar mtDNA study might help resolve the question on the wives of John Carter. I wrote about this question last February. Wright's case study approach gives me some ideas.

Mitochondrial DNA update

 

FTDNA. 3 Jan 2025.

In late November I submitted the samples to FamilyTreeDNA for the Big Y-700 and mt Full sequence DNA tests. The kit was received on 3 December, and yesterday afternoon I received a notification that my mt Full sequence results were ready. As I shared in 2018, my previous mtDNA test as part of Nat Geo's Geno 2.0 ancestry kit returned a mtDNA haplogroup of A2d. The newest results from FamilyTreeDNA have me in mtDNA haplogroup A2d2, but there's a possibility these results will get more refined once the new Mito Block Tree launches as part of the Million Mito Project.

I've submitted a request to participate in the A2 mtDNA haplogroup project on FTDNA. I am curious to see what else can be learned through this route. More to follow-up on in future posts.

An unexpected find

 

FamilySearch. Sevier County, TN Court Records. 1867.

While searching for records on the Thornhill family using FamilySearch Labs, I stumbled on a surprise record of court costs for a case filed in Sevier County, Tennessee from 1867. The case is called State vs P. C. Rutherford, and is related to the Grainger County case from 1866 that I found in mid-December. The page shows that the defendants were acquitted of murder, and this case is part of the larger set of actions involving the men who killed Captain John Thornhill in June 1865.

The bottom portion of the page shows how far the witnesses had to travel to the court in Sevier County. Richard Thornhill was an uncle of John, and brother to my 4th-great-grandmother Elizabeth Thornhill. Sarah J. Ryan was also Richard's sister. Emily Bowers was John Thornhill's sister (Margaret Emily Thornhill).

FamilySearch. Sevier County, TN. 1867.

Research Progress January 2025

Next week marks the fourth month of the current DNA Study Group course, and it is time for a progress check on my research questions. Since last month's update, I've also started a new online course on the What Are the Odds (WATO) tool from DNAPainter. With this additional course underway, at least one of my initial research questions from the DNA Study Group is moving over to the questions I am trying to resolve with WATO.

DNA Study Group research questions

1 - Identifying the parents of Bridget, my 3rd-great-grandmother, using my Dad's DNA matches. There is not much new since last month.

2 - Determining the generation of connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens. I am going to try to address this question through the WATO course. Question #2 will likely evolve to encouraging male O'Brien descendants to take a Y-DNA test so we can confirm the link between John O'Brien (1793-1901) and James John O'Brien of Pittsburgh.

3 - Verify the father of Cora Belle Medcalf using DNA matches. This one might also use the WATO approach, along with the Leeds Method.

4 - Identifying siblings of my 3rd-great-grandfather Gabriel Vasquez and building out the DNA matches descending from Gabriel. I am making progress adding DNA matches descending from Gabriel, but so far have not yet found any siblings. I do have inquiries in with the Chilean National Archives, but this is separate from the DNA study group.

5 - Identifying living descendants of Jose Jesus Amado and Gertrudis Palomino (my 5th-great-grandparents). I want to encourage a direct male descendant of Jose to take a Y-DNA test so we can potentially link the Amado family back to Portugal, prior to their arrival in Mexico.

WATO course research questions (I'll be using these as I work through the modules of the course).

1 - Determining the generation of connection with the Pennsylvania O'Briens.

2 - Determining the generation of connection with a group of Rivas-Leyva mystery matches on my Mom's side of the tree.

3 - Creating a WATO chart using the presumed father of Cora Belle Medcalf.

FamilyTreeDNA research questions

1 - Interpreting Big Y-700 DNA results (expected by early March 2025). I don't know what it's going to tell me, but I am hoping it will provide some answers on my distant Jones line. Currently based on the FamilyFinder autosomal results, I have a Y-DNA haplogroup of R-L2, linking me to an ancestor circa 2600 BCE. 

2 - Interpreting mt Full sequence mitochondrial DNA results (expected by early March 2025, if not sooner) and how these results fit into the Million Mito Tree.

3 - Identifying matches in FamilyFinder (autosomal DNA results) for the tests I administer that might help with the research questions using the lessons from DNA Study Group

Following the path

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Portugal. 13 Oct 2023.

Happy New Year! The shot above is from the beautiful Rota Vicentina in southwestern Portugal. The photo also represents the path toward Portuguese roots, something I am hoping to achieve as a long term goal.

Looking back ten years ago, my New Years post from 2015 is a useful reminder for how far things have come with my family history finds. Five years ago I just shared a New Years postcard.

Tomorrow I'll have a progress check on my research questions for DNA study group and the WATO course. For today, we'll be enjoying the college football playoff games while putting away the Christmas decorations.