tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post3257973500859733335..comments2024-01-23T05:27:55.611-05:00Comments on Roots Revealed: A Blog Interview with my African DNA CousinMelvin Collierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08804123091302875176noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-7920974462928158382018-04-24T18:28:51.535-04:002018-04-24T18:28:51.535-04:00Wow, that’s cool! Thanks for sharing.Wow, that’s cool! Thanks for sharing.Melvin Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08804123091302875176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-15955825993565801922018-04-24T17:52:47.100-04:002018-04-24T17:52:47.100-04:00That's pretty cool! I made a similar discovery...That's pretty cool! I made a similar discovery. One of my greatest discoveries was me discovering a common African ancestor who arrived in the French colony of Louisiana from the Senegambian region in the early 18th century. Her name was Marie and she was born around 1698. Through combining DNA research and an extensive paper trail, I was able to discover her as the common ancestor of my dna cousins on gedmatch and 23andme. I had two things on my side: Marie was emancipated by the 1770s, she lived a long time and was part of a Catholic culture that valued record keeping. The original French language of her baptism in 1756 gives her nation as "Nation de Senegal".<br /><br />What's amazing is that a new match sharing the same segment I was able to determine likely came from Marie is from a Belgium woman. She told me her mother is Moroccan. Turns out her Moroccan grandfather was the descendant of a freed Saharan slave who married a Berber woman! We share 9.2 cms with 1,115 SNP. That at least tells me our MRCA existed before 1698 on the continent of Africa(likely in the Senegambian region). We'll never know the identity of the shared ancestor, but they could have been either a Saharan African or even a Berber tribesmen whose family were sold in slavery at some point in history. Funny how history repeats itself on two different continents.<br /><br />Rodney Samrqs79https://www.blogger.com/profile/02270313236929397286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-27862139651190269112018-03-11T10:41:33.583-04:002018-03-11T10:41:33.583-04:00My Mom also has a match from Lesotho, three from U...My Mom also has a match from Lesotho, three from Uganda, and one from Zimbabwe. Since a small percentage of Africans were taken from Mozambique/Zimbabwe, my guess is that an ancestor may have been taken from there, and the ethnic group is related to people in southern Africa....or someone in your match's family was from Zimbabwe/Mozambique. Melvin Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08804123091302875176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-48254249799312304012018-03-11T10:35:31.064-04:002018-03-11T10:35:31.064-04:00Hi Melvin maybe you will be able to answer this qu...Hi Melvin maybe you will be able to answer this question. Recently on Ancestry.com, i discovered i had a distance cousin in the (5-8) range from the country South Africa. She is from a area called Thaba 'Nchu or Free State. The thing is, i was always taught or from my studies, that no slaves were taken from Southern Africa, hence the Oprah Winfrey debacle. She thought she was Zulu, but she was corrected by DNA and the facts of our history by professor Henry Skipp Gates. My question is there historical evidence of people taken from South Africa? I ask her about her DNA, she said nearly all her regions is Central and Southern Eastern Bantu and Hunter and gathers. I know Cameroon/Congo is a proxy for bantu speakers throughout Eastern and Southern Africa, because many Southern Africans, and people from Madagascar get that in their results. I know she has Mali as her trace region, which is 1 percent. What is interesting enough Mali is one of my highest regions about 11 percent which is followed by North Africa which is a mere trace region about 1 percent.(i think that a indication of fula ancestry) However the Cameroon and Congo is the bulk of my ancestry 33percent, followed by South Eastern Bantu only 3 percent. I wonder where me and my African match meet, Is it from her trace region "Mali" or the other possibility the bulk of my ancestry is from Southern Africa. What do you think?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06540989976526971313noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-51853164076971293732018-03-07T14:47:50.466-05:002018-03-07T14:47:50.466-05:00By the way, I purchased your great book several ye...By the way, I purchased your great book several years ago!Melvin Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08804123091302875176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-72856298703847000302018-03-07T14:47:05.075-05:002018-03-07T14:47:05.075-05:00Wow! 29 cM is one of the highest I've seen. Th...Wow! 29 cM is one of the highest I've seen. That's amazing! My mother shares 24 cM with another person from Ghana, who lives in London. Thanks for your message.Melvin Collierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08804123091302875176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-68460378617997185952018-03-07T12:00:13.856-05:002018-03-07T12:00:13.856-05:00Hello Melvin, My name is Franklin Carter Smith, I&...Hello Melvin, My name is Franklin Carter Smith, I'm the co-author of, "A Genealogists Guide to Discovering Your African-American Ancestors". I work at the Clayton Genealogy Library in Houston Texas. Not only do we share a love of genealogy but Mississippi roots. I admire the work you're doing in African-American genetic genealogy. I started my journey into DNA and like you have had some exciting finds, My most prized connection is an DNA match my brother share with cousin that lives in The Gambia. I share 29 cM's with her and my brother 17 cM's, she is of the Jola ethnic group. We talk several times a week and I hope to visit her soon. I know of how excited you are and feel and feel the same way.<br /><br />Congradulations,<br /><br />Franklinfcs77040https://www.blogger.com/profile/00052898907190152518noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-25520860411146105832018-02-28T08:25:54.930-05:002018-02-28T08:25:54.930-05:00Oh...my...goodness! I love every bit of this! Oh...my...goodness! I love every bit of this! Linda Simmshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17167766654119787394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3124937133380979208.post-86318778875348936332018-02-27T19:20:24.162-05:002018-02-27T19:20:24.162-05:00Amazing.Amazing.Kristinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06413795611563683135noreply@blogger.com