Mitochondrial DNA

[darkerhorse]

Do DNA tests report ethnicity estimates for mitochondrial DNA?

[darkerhorse]

Same question on Y DNA.

[MarcuccioV]

Do DNA tests report ethnicity estimates for mitochondrial DNA?

So for my U3b2 mtDNA subclade, the Eupedia site lists these locations: U3b2 : found in Hungary, Sicily, Kurdistan (Turkey), the Levant and the Arabian peninsula.

Unfortunately, no percentages.

In one of the Phylotrees, there is a listing of countries where U3b2 has been found (with a number of how many examples). Highest percentage was Sicily, distantly followed by Turkey. There were other countries not listed in the above example, but these are most likely migrants from these origination points. Most of them were 1 or 2 individuals, supporting that theory. I suppose you could get a percentage from those numbers, but I think the margin of error would be pretty high (and no way to know which were natives & which were migrants).

In theory, the Y-DNA would follow the same patterns.

[darkerhorse]

What is a phylotree?

Have you searched your maternal surnames in records from Sicily?

[MarcuccioV]

What is a phylotree?

Have you searched your maternal surnames in records from Sicily?

A phylotree is all of the clades & subclades of either mtDNA or yDNA. You can find them online fairly easily. Since you know your Y haplotype, google it and you should find the phylotree eventually.

The only name I can search is my grandmother's maternal GGm. That surname is Topani (which would have been her FATHER's surname), although it does show up in a few small concentrations in Lazio (where she was from); the ONLY other location (in all of Italy) for that surname is a little WNW of Messina in NE Sicily.

I'm not sure how to take that as I don't yet know her mother's maiden name. It's very possible that's where the Sicilian migrated from. I just wish I could prove something -- ANYTHING. But it still eludes me.

[MarcuccioV]

As far as other non-mtDNA-related surnames on her side, several do occur in Sicily, but also in other locations, so that's a dead-end. To really trace the mtDNA line, I'd have to follow only that direct maternal line, which at this point has hit a brick wall unless I find something in the future. There's always hope...

[MarcuccioV]

I just looked her up on MH to see if I could find any new info. Only birth locations for the Topani surname were Rome, Catania (Sicily) and a couple in the north which don't coincide with the Roman paper trail & Sicilian DNA...

[darkerhorse]

Do you have birth documentation for Francesca, Domenico, and Valentino?

[MarcuccioV]

Do you have birth documentation for Francesca, Domenico, and Valentino?

I do not. I only have Domenico and Valentino's names from a catasto list from the 1840's for the town. That's another reason I'm not certain the Topani's are much of a help.

If I knew Francesca's mother's maiden name (I think she was also Francesca, but I'm not sure where I found that, maybe from another family tree), that would be a better trail to follow.

It's very possible the Topani's did have Sicilian roots, and maybe that was the attraction. But without further info, I'm basically blowing into the wind...

[darkerhorse]

I suppose the spelling of the surname might have been changed along the way.

[MarcuccioV]

I suppose the spelling of the surname might have been changed along the way.

That's of course a possibility, but the only thing I can find close is "Tofani", but it's mainly of northern origins.

I don't put much stock into the Topani name as it was her father, so it doesn't follow the mtDNA line.

Without the maiden names of all the direct female ancestors I'm at a standstill.

[darkerhorse]

By paper trail, I can trace my maternal line back 10 generations. Gen 1-2 born in US, Gen 3-10 born in Canada.

Can MTDNA tell me anything specific about the ethnic composition of this maternal line during those last 10 generations?

I'm especially interested in Native American ancestry.

[MarcuccioV]

By paper trail, I can trace my maternal line back 10 generations. Gen 1-2 born in US, Gen 3-10 born in Canada.

Can MTDNA tell me anything specific about the ethnic composition of this maternal line during those last 10 generations?

I'm especially interested in Native American ancestry.

It's only going to follow that maternal line, so it will only give you insight on the furthest generation back (on that line) that you have uncovered. As the gens progressed, they continued the same mtDNA subclade (unless by chance there was a mutation in the interim, which would be extremely rare), so all you would learn (dependant upon the subclade, of course) is its origins (at least as far as that particular mutation goes). Those origins could go back a thousand years or more, as mtDNA especially mutates very rarely and slowly.

Using my U3b2 as an example, its origins are Sicily, Turkey, Arabia & Hungary, but its parent, U3b is found in Israel, the Caucasus and Jordan (including some Romani peoples). So if my U3b2 originated in Sicily (as I assume), it could have been there for centuries before migrating north sometime during the 19th century. If it had migrated earlier, chances are it would have been "crowded out" by mainland Italian DNA (in my ethnicity makeup) & not show up (but it does).

Therefore, if the First Nation or NA ancestry was the source of the mtDNA haplotype, then you'd have your answer. If it was "married" in, mtDNA would not be able to separate it out (since any male ancestor in your line stops it).

You would simply have to hope to find it in your ethnicity makeup from a relatively recent generation.

[darkerhorse]

If the parent line came from Israel, the Caucasus and Jordan (including some Romani peoples) then your line must have been in one of those places before Sicily - so it didn't really originate in Sicily. No?

[darkerhorse]

In other words, it was brought to Sicily from some other place and then changed there.