GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

From: Pamela Berger <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Finland?
Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 19:38:33 -0500
References: <bb.133403da.28c0d09c@aol.com>

Mary,
What a fascinating story! I may also have had ancestors involved at least
peripherally with New Sweden, as well as some 1500s Finnish ancestry I did not
learn of until recently via conventional genealogical research. The Finns and
Estonians were some of the last Europeans who were "Christianized" so it is
generally accepted, at least among contemporary American Pagans, that
pre-Christian customs have survived thinly disguised in one form or another,
including the practice of folk magic, a particular topic of interest to me. Some
interesting ideas came down on my Swedish line, which partly originated in
Finland. I recently read the "History of Pagan Europe," which you may find of
interest, as it speaks about Pagan survivals in northeast Europe. If I recall
one author had the surname Jones--I can check if you are interested. Mail me
off list if you care to discuss further, the scientific types here will roll
their eyes on this topic. I have not yet sent in my mtDNA for analysis, but now
I am more interested than ever in seeing where it leads. Tell me what you do
know about this ancestress of yours and I will keep an eye our in my own
research, if you
like.
--Pam Berger

wrote:

> Dear Listers,
>
> I wanted to report my theory of my mystery ancesstress as indicated by my
> mtDNA from Oxford Ancestors (which took a VERY long time to receive, by the
> way). Some of you may recall I was excited to get the results because my
> farthest back female line grandmother was "Sarah _____" in the 1700's in VA.
> I had hoped she would not prove to be English, but would be the American
> Indian which my family legend has originating on this line. Oxford
> Ancestors, however, said she was not American Indian, but also was not one of
> the 7 Western Eurpean Daughters of Eve. She was a rare "Ulrike" with modern
> day descendants peppered very sparsely in the Eurasian area.
>
> Thanks to Ann, our List wrangler, I was able to read the matching examples
> out on the Internet (the URL for which I have misplaced right now). A tiny
> but clear grouping was from the Finland area--a couple from the Karelian
> ethnic subgroup.
>
> Anyway, my mind started cranking. Most people from Finland or even the rest
> of the Eurasia did not migrate to the USA until the mid 1800's. How would a
> Finnish woman get to the USA area in the 1600's or so?
>
> The answer is "New Sweden," a small and faltering colony (area now called
> Wilmington, DE) mostly governed by the Swedes in the 1600's. There were not
> enough Swedish volunteers to populate this colony so the Swedes forced people
> they wanted to get rid of to become colonists. This included Swedish prison
> inmates and Finnish families (then controlled by the Swedes) who were
> practicing slash-and-burn agriculture and witchcraft so were generally
> amnoying the Swedes. Many of the Swedes returned to Sweden after years of
> struggling, but eventually some colonists were released to intermingle and
> settle other areas. These released families moved on to other areas like VA
> and MD. (Source: The Colony of New Sweden by Bill Abensi, 1987)
>
> So, this is how Sarah ____ could have married in VA in the 1700's. New
> problem to solve--how to find her Finnish surname? Of course, this is just
> my theory...perhaps she was an Eurasian female pirate or something...
>
> A final curiosity: This line of my family was known for its interest in the
> Occult going way back at least into the early 1800's. Could that Finnish
> "witchcraft" be wending its way through all these generations?
>
> Cheers,
> Mary Mallett
>
> ==============================
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• Re: [DNA] Finland? by Pamela Berger <>