Quite a bit of fuss has been made lately with TV programs showing celebrities discovering their recent (last 400 years or so) ancestors. These programs, usually sponsored or supported by Ancestry.com, have attempted to dramatize the "holy cow!" ("eureka!!!" for those who prefer Greek and extra punctuation) feeling that amateur and professional genealogists get when they come across some crumb of evidence that an ancestor actually did something worth recording, usually after hours or days of sweat-equity in some poorly ventilated library, eyes bloodshot staring at microfilm, microfiche or pixels on a computer screen. Who better to channel these moments of triumph than some attractive actress, handsome actor or other famous person, none of whom have ever come close to doing the exacting and often tedious work that precedes the climactic moment.
Less attention has been paid to the use of DNA analysis to determine, very generally, the haplogroup of an indiviudal's really ancient ancestors -- 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. Markers of the "Y" chromosome (father's line) can be used to demonstrate the probable migration route out of Africa. The DNA device can also be used to locate MRCA's, meaning "most recent common ancestors" of those who submit DNA samples for analysis. This may turn up unknown genetic "cousins" within 5 generations or so by comparing the haplotype with others submitted through a matching device on the Ancestry,com website.
So here are the results and the explanation offered for the analysis. The "X" chromosome analysis will be onthe next posting.
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