Correcting My Previous Blog Post on Irish mtDNA Haplogroup U5/ And some additional information

Beakers National Museum of Archaeology Dublin. 2019 Trip 

Corrections to my previous blog post about my Aunt's mtDNA Haplogroup U5 or as the author of the The Seven Daughters of Eve would put it Ursula Clan. I had put forward the theory that maybe our Irish maternal line came during the Viking era because this haplogroup is most prevalent in Finland. It may have been there long before the Vikings arrived. It likely came to  Ireland many times through invasions and migrations over the centuries. . 

The Ice Age scattered the haplogroups as humans moved south out of ice covered regions. 

Invasions replaced entire populations, and the decimation of populations through disease would result in a change in the makeup of certain areas bringing in new haplogroups  to the area. Subclades of the introduced haplogroups would form due to mutations. 

U5 was in Ireland very early. It likely came in with the first waves of settlement in Ireland after the Ice Age. 

Here is a list of migrations and invasions into Ireland (likely U5 carriers came in on every wave). 

1. "The Neolithic and Bronze Age transitions were profound cultural shifts catalyzed in parts of Europe by migrations, first of early farmers from the Near East and then Bronze Age herders from the Pontic Steppe." ... "The oldest Gaelic literature describes the origins of the Irish people as a series of ancient invasions." (From PNAS January 12, 2016 113 (2) 368-373; first published December 28, 2015; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518445113)
2. The first Viking Raids began in Ireland in AD 795. 
3. The Norman invasions began in AD 1169.
4. The Ulster plantation began around AD 1609.

The earliest U5 haplogroups found in Ireland date back to a little over 5,000 years ago. You can see a list of these in Roberta Estes blog post  "Ancient Ireland’s Y and Mitochondrial DNA – Do You Match???".

Our family is particularly interested the subhaplogroup U5a1a2a which may have originated around 2,500 years ago or less. 

Here are the earliest instances or our haplogroup:  

1. U5a1a2a: 4050-3650 years ago (older than some estimates?). A similar mitosubclade U5a1 previously had some women belonging to the Baden culture." (Proceedings of the Academy of DNA Genealogy Boston-Moscow-Tsukuba Volume 13, No. 2 February 2020)
2. Ua1a2a Neolithic Germany, Benzingerode-Heimburg Sex F. Age BC 2287 -2041 Beaker?
3. Ua1a2a Bronze Age (Beaker Culture) Great Britain, Hasting Hill, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England Sex M. Age BC 1930 -1759
4. Ua1a2a 900 AD Female Norland, Norway
5. Ua1a2a 1000 AD Female Demark

Looking at the evidence so far it looks like Beaker Culture people may have spread our subhaplogroup around Western and Northern Europe before the common era. Beaker people were likely Yamnaya people who migrated from what is now Ukraine. After the common era Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and Normans likely spread this subhaplogroup. 

More about the Beaker people from the publication Nature: "However, migration had a key role in the further dissemination of the Beaker complex. We document this phenomenon most clearly in Britain, where the spread of the Beaker complex introduced high levels of steppe-related ancestry and was associated with the replacement of approximately 90% of Britain’s gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the east-to-west expansion that had brought steppe-related ancestry into central and northern Europe over the previous centuries."(The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe). 

Around 2,000 BC we know that the exact subhaplogroup of your maternal direct line was in the locations with pins on this map in what is today Germany and the UK. 

The subhaplogroup Ua1a2a may  may also have already been in Ireland round 2,000 BC brought by Bronze age Beaker people? "Beakers arrived in Ireland around 2500 BC and fell out of use around 1700 BC." Wikipedia  "Bell Beaker culture".

From Beaker folk burials Ireland. National Museum of Archaeology Dublin. 2019 Trip 

Maybe some day it will be possible to identify which wave of migration each subhaplogroup is from? It would be nice to know when our direct maternal line ancestor first arrived on a beautiful shore in Ireland. They just need to keep digging up those Bronze Age skeletons. 

A couple few more photos Bronze Age from National Museum of Archaeology Dublin

Bronze Age Canoe from my ancestral area in Addergoole, Galway

Our Irish mtDNA Result/Collecting Haplogroups at 23andMe

 

I upgraded my Aunt Loretta's Family Finder test at Family Tree DNA to include a full sequence mtDNA test. I received the results of her test yesterday which was just short of 5 weeks from the time they began processing her kit.

The main outcome of the test was learning what my Aunt's mtDNA haplogroup is. It's U5a1a2a. Haplogroups can be specific to certain areas. The U5 haplogroup is widespread in Europe, but thankfully not as common as the H haplogroups. U5 is found in low frequencies throughout Europe. 

You can watch a video about her results at this link: https://www.familytreedna.com/mtdna-journey-videos/5fd3f3cac9e77c0001d6bf09

One of the things I hoped to accomplish with this test was to find some matches from the area my Mullen/Huvane family came from in Ireland. Sadly because of record losses in Ireland it's very difficult to trace families back beyond a few generations. I was hoping that my Aunt might have some matches from the area where her maternal Grandmother Helen Mullen-Mason was born.

My Aunt does have matches who have have identified their maternal direct line as Irish, but they are not from my familys area. It's very likely that few women with roots from south Co. Mayo have tested.

The map feature at Family Tree DNA is very helpful for sorting matches out because I'm looking for matches from the area my family lived.

This map shows full sequence matches who have identified a place in Ireland where their direct maternal line traces back to. The yellow pins show where 2 step mismatches' ancestors are said to be from. My Aunt doesn't match anyone closer than 2 steps. Our common shared ancestor could have lived over 1,000 years ago. Since I don't recognized any of the surnames of places that is possible. Three step mismatches are green pins. Those could be even farther back in time.



The matches closest to the area the Huvane/Rhatighan family lived would be those with a perfect match on HVR1 only, they have ancestors from Co. Galway. The Huvane family lived on the border between Co. Galway and Co. Mayo.

More on the Haplogroup

According to Eupedia my Aunt's haplogroup can be found in the following countries:

"U5a1a2: found in England, Scandinavia, Central Europe and Turkey / found in Bell Beaker Germany, in the Unetice culture, in EBA England, in MBA Wales, and in Bronze Age Poland.

Since my Aunt and I tend to get Scandinavian atDNA predictions it could be that her direct female line goes back to the Viking invasions since her haplogroup appears to stem from Finland?

Here is a heat map from Eupedia showing the distribution of the U5 haplogroup. The darker colors show the highest concentrations of this haplogroup. I'm leaning toward thinking there is a Scandinavian Viking link somewhere?

Here is an illustration of my Grandmother's mtDNA U5a1a2 line of descent:

Cousin matches 23andMe Haplogroups

I've looked at my 23andme close cousin matches and collected their haplogroups. A first cousin once removed has tested at 23andMe. Her haplogroup HV6 is very interesting because the highest concentration of this haplogroup is in Eastern Europe. This match's maternal Grandmother was Mary Kurta-Kappel, she was my Great-Grandmother. Mary was born in what is now the eastern border area of Austria; in what is now Inzenhof, Burgenland, Austria. This area used to be in Hungary. 

Eupedia lists the following countries where this haplogroup can be found:

HV6 : found in Iran, Russia, Slovakia and Britain / found in Bronze Age Poland and among the Tian Shan Huns.

I've had Slovakian predicted as one of my admixtures on the atDNA test. There were Huns in Hungary so that could be another possible source?

Below is a heat map showing the distribution of the HV6 haplogroup:

Here is an illustration of my paternal Great-Grandmother Mary Kurta-Kappel's direct maternal line:

Mary Kurta-Kappel's haplogroup is very useful because it narrows her maternal origins to continental Europe, and leads to eastern Europe. Unlike a haplogroup such as H1 thru H3 which are found all over Europe, and the British Isles, this haplogroup is found in fewer places. I didn't know where this line came from this would be a good hint.

K2a2a Haplogroup 

Another interesting haplogroup from a 23andme match is K2a2a. This match is a second cousin and is a direct maternal line descendant of my Great-Grandmother Isis Browning-Forgey. This maternal line of my family shares the K2 haplogroup with Thomas Jefferson.

The K2a haplogroup is common among Ashkenazi Jews. My my Great-Grandmother's direct maternal line likely goes back to Germany. It is possible she had Ashkenazi ancestors? 

This is what Eupedia says about the mtDNA haplogroup  K2a2a:

"Ashkenazi Jews are the ethnic groups with the highest percentage of K lineages today : 32% in average, and up to 50% among Ashkenazi Jews from Germany. There are only three typically Jewish subclades of K: K1a1b1a, K1a9, and K2a2a." 

Here is an illustration of my Great-Grandmother Isis Browning's maternal direct line:

My mother's atDNA admixture predictions sometimes show trace Ashkenazi Jewish. It is possible we had some Jewish ancestry in our German lines. 

Concluding Thoughts

So far our mtDNA haplogroups have been the most informative pointing to possible areas of origin of our direct maternal lines. As far as my Aunt's full sequence mtDNA test we need closer matches in order to use the test to confirm our paper trail and extend our tree. I think the mtDNA test results are interesting and recommend testing if you're interested in delving deeper into your family history. 

My collected haplogroups recorded at DNA Painter:

Family History Related Stocking Stuffers/ Plus Personalized Greeting Cards from the 50's

 Stocking Stuffers

I love family photos so I love to find unique ways to display them. I hate to hide old photos away in albums which I only occasionally take out and look at. There are many interesting products which photos can be printed on ranging from coffee mugs to photo blankets (now you can even buy photo masks). I generally use Snapfish or Shutterfly. I also sometimes order from my local drugstores. 

Since I'm in the process of downsizing photos magnets have caught my interest. I first discovered them a couple months ago when I had some old photos enlarged and received an offer for 4x6 magnets. I decided to print one with a photo of a house my Forgey family lived in during the 1930's. It came out so well I decided this is the way to go in the future because framed photos take up so much space and buying frames can be expensive. The magnets make great stocking stuffer gifts. The magnets are space savers and neater than taping photos or using a magnet to display them on the refrigerator because they tend to warp over time and can't be easily cleaned. The full magnet backing makes them more durable and less likely to shift as you open and close the doors. 

These magnet on my refrigerator are of a photo chart I made with photos of my parents and ancestors, and my Forgey family's house in 1930's Glendale, California. I ordered them from a local CVS Drug Store. The size is 4x6. That size is the largest I've seen online. I would have liked the chart a little bigger so the smallest photos are a bit larger. I used the DIY Picture Pedigree Chart template from Family Locket for the chart below. 

If you want to make larger magnets you can order larger sheets with adhesive on them. A 12x24 sheet is for sale at Amazon. You cut it up to fit any size photos you have and stick the photos on. 

Potholders are also nice photo gifts. You can have a family tree printed on them with or without photos. 

Water bottles are another way you can share family history with your family. 

Personalized Greeting Cards from the 1950's

I was surprised when an Aunt sent me some photo Christmas cards my Grandparents received in the 1950's from friends. I didn't know they had those in the 1950's? 

Lawrence Holman pictured in this one below was a neighbor of my Forgey family in the 1930's in Glendale, California. An interesting fact about him is he debated Richard Nixon when they were college students and he beat him in the debate. He became a Nazarene Minister and his church is pictured on this card. Even though my Grandfather Forgey was a non believer, and my Grandmother Graciela was Catholic, they remained friends even after they were no longer neighbors.  

Chester and Belle Powell sent my Grandparents this card in 1950. They lived not far from my family in El Monte, California and they also lived in Glendale, California in the 1930's. 

This hand drawn card is a work of art. This one was sent to my Uncle Cecil in the 1950's I believe? Merry Christmas is written in Greek, apparently from Greek friends. My Uncle spent time in Greece while he was in the Navy. 

Uncle Cecil Forgey looking tanned and good in Greece. 

Happy Holidays!