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From: "Dra. Ana Oquendo Pabón"<>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Unable to estimate haplogroup even at 37 markers
Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 22:00:51 -0400
References: <13c.34bef0d.2e9c456f@aol.com> <6.0.3.0.0.20041011154105.0581f8a0@mail.usernet.com>
In-Reply-To: <6.0.3.0.0.20041011154105.0581f8a0@mail.usernet.com>


Thanks to all of your responses.

... and Max I will let my participants know of the new "challenge" since
they probably gave up and stopped checking those tabs awhile ago.

To answer John's question (to which I do not take offense by the way)
and which I probably did not answer adequately, suffice it to say that
in our specific project we are very aware of what the makeup of our
ancestry should primarily consist. We expect to see three different
ancestries: European (mostly Spaniard, but also from Corsicans,
Conversos/Marranos/Jews, French, Dutch and Irish to name a few), the
supposedly extinct Taíno Indian (Columbus Day is a day which is not
celebrated by all peoples, whether he be my direct ancestor or not) and
the African. These ancestries may come from either the patrilineal or
matrilineal side. We honor all of them and we can say that we carry all
of them in our bloodlines. Some people have only an oral history of
their heritage passed down from generation to generation. For instance,
historically and educationally, it has been a tenet to teach that the
Taíno Indian became extinct after the colonization and no remnants exist
to this day. Many individuals were laughed at or scoffed at as they grew
up because no one believed their oral history that they descended from
specific Taíno Caciques or Cacicas (chiefs or chieftesses). Many of us
have certain customs in our families which have been passed down from
generation to generation, sometimes doing them without a second thought
and not even knowing why we do things a certain way. They are customs
which were handed down by Converso or Marrano descendant families who
immigrated to our island after changing their names after the
Inquisition. Therefore, yDNA is equally as important as mtDNA in our group.

However, for those individuals whose ancestors' lines are closed doors
to research because they have NO genealogical records to speak of
because maybe they were a church doorstep baby called a 'Portalatin' or
their Indian ancestor was registered with only a first name on a sugar
plantation or an African mother off some ship five hundred years ago,
the Haplogroup is of paramount importance. Why? Because by virtue of
DNA testing some of our individuals will finally be able to say without
a doubt and for the first time that they have something concrete and
special that was passed down to them and was an integral part of their
ancestor. So, ultimately, it comes down to not what use would I have
for a Haplogoup determination but that they will finally have an answer
to a part of their ancestor that they can hold to be true and that
wasn't and can't be taken from them.

So, John, with the utmost respect, I do read, appreciate and follow the
discussions about Haplogroup frequencies, migrations and the number
crushing as well as the next person but sometimes for some people the
final results for either yDNA or mtDNA is more like DNA for the soul,
you know?

Best regards,
Ana



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