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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-04 > 1176958784


From: Bonnie Schrack <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Malaspina et al (2001)'s Cohens -- an answer ?
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 00:59:44 -0400


Al wrote:

> Thank you Ellen. I think I was just being overly sensitive when I read
> your email. Yes, stepping back would be good and necessary. I'm
> rereading Bonnie's post too. I was a little wary because we were talking
> about 4 markers in Malaspina et al (2001), but it is clear that Bonnie
> is doing some very good detective work! As I went through Bonnie's post
> the main thing that I wondered about was your recent comments, and
> Bonnie's comment in the post, about the surnames indicating Cohanim and
> that one of the Ysearch candidates Bonnie found had the surname Cohen. I
> was thinking someone needs to go through the Ysearch J2 database and
> look for Cohanim indicating surnames. This is something you suggested to
> do I think, and it seems a very interesting thing to do, for someone
> with knowledge and background in these surnames!
>
> I read but otherwise try to stay out of the hot Bibical and Religious
> topics.

Just wanted to thank you, Al, for your kind words! I appreciate the
nice things you've said! :-)

It's a big help if you do reread my past postings instead of needing me
to rewrite them, as I put a lot of effort into writing them in the first
place, and my time is very occupied with so many things to catch up on.
(I always have a ton of unfinished business!) So I appreciate your
having done that.

Here are some random thoughts . . .

I finally got finished some heavy things I had to get through this week
-- my taxes and an exam. Now I know how much I made from consulting
last year, and have a rudimentary overview in my mind of
Australopithecus, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and archaic Homo
sapiens. So, these things were a pain to take care of, but there was
some benefit. Also my papers are a little bit better organized now.

What a relief. Now to have a little chance to get back to all the
exciting new things that are developing in this research.

We have a great little group who have come together to research this
Cohanim question, and I feel excited and positive about what we can
achieve. There is a vacuum of information for the public right now --
"Nature abhors a vaccuum."

Yesterday I received an email from a pioneer in the field of medical
genetics reseach, who has in the past year or so gotten quite interested
in genetic genealogy. He invited me to help him initiate a project
which is something I've dreamed of for years. Everyone please keep
your fingers crossed that this can come to be a reality.

Anyway -- it's true, as friends have pointed out, that having the
surname Cohen doesn't necessarily mean a person comes from a traditional
Cohen lineage. It was just, in the case of the J2 cluster I just found,
the combination of that surname with their haplotype being very close to
some known, definite Cohanim that gave me a strong suspicion that they
were part of the same cluster who might share common ancestry farther back.

The friend who has organized a considerable number of closely related J2
Cohanim is pretty familiar with their surnames & their history &
meanings, I think. We'll be looking into these folks who I've found to
be close to her family group, to see whether they have a Cohen tradition
as well as their surname.

I am concerned about the problem some have raised, that Cohanim would
self-select and appear in the databases preferentially in some clusters
rather than others. That is, as I understand the concern, that Cohanim
might prefer not to make their haplotype public if they are not in the
main CMH cluster.

What do you think, Sean? (If you're reading this.) Is that likely to
be happening, in your experience?

I wonder whether we should go to some other genealogy forums and solicit
new Cohanim to volunteer, who have never been tested before. Then we
could get a fresh, unbiased sample, especially if there were a
sufficient number of them.

Just some brainstorming here, late at night.

Bonnie







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