I received an invitation to join an mtDNA Project and I accepted. I sent the information on my maternal lineage
to Lucie LeBlanc Consentino who sent it to Stephen White for verification. After fewer corrections than I expected,
I can now lay claim to being a 16th generation descendent from a daughter of Acadia – Jeanne Motin de Reux. I am
fortunate to descend from such a distinguished line, because at sixteen generations it gives me the longest female-line
lineage to date. For the complete story of Jeanne Motin de Reux:
At least eight participants have discovered
that their maternal ancestor was of Amerindian origin. This is due to their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) test results
that placed them in haplogroup A, B, C, or D. Several others have results indicating possible Amerindian heritage.
They have haplogroup X or U in the case of mtDNA test results and haplogroup Q or Q3 in the case of Y-DNA test
results.
Contrary to all the information given
in her genealogy, Marie Rundquist discovered through the results of mtDNA testing that her haplogroup was a type
"A", typically Amerindian; her ancestral or matrilineal mother was therefore an Amerindian. That discovery
prompted her to revisit her genealogy and she subsequently discovered documents confirming that one of her first
Acadian ancestors married an American Indian.
"I have been tested in the National Geographic Genographic
project; my results have been transferred to Family Tree DNA. I am a member of Haplogroup A. My lineage is French/Cajun
(through my mother's line); my Ancestral/Native routes are found in Nova Scotia, where a French settler, Rene Rimbault,
married an Amerindian woman, known only as Anne Marie. It is through this union, that occurred in the mid-1600s,
that my Native American and French lineage can be originally traced. I had no knowledge of my Amerindian lineage
before participating in the Genographic project; I was totally knocked out of my chair when I read the results
on line.
Mind you, I NEVER knew anything about the female line of my family until my mtDNA results came in as "Native
American". This revelation caused my dad (and others) to get their DNA tested. I've learned alot about my
background since; and thankfully have met others who have helped me solve all these mysteries in my own family's
background." (Contributed by Marie Rundquist - 26 Jan
2006). For the complete story
Many European Americans whose names were
modified or whose great grandparents had taken new family names at the time of their immigration to the USA, are
rediscovering their original family names by comparing their DNA signature to that of distant cousins who remained
in Acadia, Quebec, or France/Belgium/Switzerland. This is the case of Stone (Lapierre), Nugent (Bernier), Beno
(Benoit) Caple (Caplette), Sherbondy (Charpentier) and many others whose names had been Americanized
Others discovered that they were not the
biological descendant of the ancestor which their genealogy indicated. There are many possible explanations:
- An incorrect genealogy. The genealogies put together by amatuer genealogists
are most unfortunately not always done with great care and accuracy. Many errors are made including clerical errors
and they are taken up by other amateur genealogists happy to profit from the work of others. Therefore you must
always verify and document your work.
- An ancestor could have been mistaken for someone else or simply have
been forgotten. For example, the Daigles of North America, according to the "official" genealogies, all
descend from Olivier D'Aigre, born in France (Aigre region, Charente-Poitou) about 1643 who settled in Acadia.
His descendants were dispersed, some to Quebec, some to Louisiana (Cajun), and others to Belle-Isle in France.
But, there were other "Daigle"s who immigrated to Quebec later (3 brothers of St. Malo apparently the
sons of Olivier and M. Blanche Robichaud who had returned to that country), as well as the Dedge/Degme's (aka Lallemand
from Vienna, Lower Germany-Austria) who all have the name Daigle today. At least two of those Daigle lines have
different Y DNA signatures and belong to different haplogroups (I and R1b). Genetic Genealogy will be able to tell
us if any of the other Daigles have different origins.
- A non-parental event as an adoption, a quiet assimilation, a change
of name or identity.
Participant Alice Fairhurst after years
of researching had reached a roadblock in her pursuit of her maternal Raymond lineage. She could not identify which
of the Raymond lines her ancestor belonged to. We already had a Raymond with YDNA results in our project who could
document his ancestry back 200 years to France and so Alice convinced her Raymond cousin to DNA test. Guess what?
The results show that her Raymond cousin was an exact match to the other so now she can be sure that her line traces
back to 1640 Angouleme, France. Her Raymond relatives were ecstatic!
Boucher is a surname that has various
origins: French, English, German. Prior to the start of our French Heritage project there was an "English"
Boucher project. A participant in that project was a J. Boucher whose DNA signature did not match any of the other
Bouchers. One of the first members of our French Heritage DNA project was Marc Boucher, a documented descendant
of Marin Boucher and Julie Baril. The "English" Boucher project administrator discover that her J. Boucher's
DNA signature matched Marc Boucher's exactly and so through YDNA testing, J. Boucher has found the home of his
paternal ancestor. He is now proudly of "French" origin!
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