A Puerto Rican Look at: Y-DNA67 (Avilés/Magraner)

***Si eres descendiente de los Magraner de Sóller, Mallorca, especialmente a través de Damián Magraner Morell o uno de sus hermanos, me gustaría hablar con usted para ver si podemos establecer una conexión genética. Puedes dejar un comentario aquí en este blog para contactarte conmigo. ¡Muchísimas gracias!***

While in Puerto Rico for Spring Break, one of my goals was to test various family members through various companies. Since I don't have easy access to men who carry Avilés and Correa Y-DNA like I do the Rivera line (myself being a carrier of this Y-DNA group) since those members live in Puerto Rico, I decided I would focus on getting a male cousin from my Avilés family and my Correa grandfather to test. I decided to buy two Y-DNA67 exams for them from FTDNA. Recently, they had a DNA day sale and I decided to myself a Y-DNA111 exam to test my Rivera branch as well. So those are boxes I can check off on my genealogical goals for 2019! This blog will focus solely on my Avilés Y-DNA results.

Buying a FTDNA Y-DNA test is not cheap! I would recommend to get these tests if you are an experienced genealogist interested in learning more about your Y-DNA group or an amateur genealogist trying to crack a wall in your direct paternal family. I have been fortunate to test various branches and I have done so for genealogical purposes such as: Establishing whether I have an African or European Guadeloupean Y-DNA group (Charles family), potential Jewish/Arab Y-DNA group (Correa family), Mallorcan connection to the Magraner family (Avilés family), and trying to establish a stronger connection for a relatively uncommon haplogroup (Rivera family). 

Family Tree DNA Home Page [FTDNA]

Background

For anyone that has been following my blog (thank you kindly!), you have probably seen the surnames Avilés and Magraner various times throughout many old posts. My trying to solve this family's mystery dates back to the beginning of my blog in 2011, wondering about my 2nd great-grandfather's origins. I spent time researching and writing about José Avilés Magraner in 2014 for the 52 Ancestors Challenge. I learned the name of my potential 3rd great-grandfather, Damián Magraner Morell, and traveled to Sóller, Mallorca a year later in 2015, his hometown, to learn more about the man who made his way to Río Prieto, Lares, Puerto Rico. The closest I've gotten to confirming this on paper has been José's brother Lorenzo Avilés who mentions Damián Magraner  on his Social Security Application as his father. I stepped on Lares land for the first time in many years in 2017 but didn't make it up to Río Prieto. This year though I did! 

Also, having a DNA match with a fellow genealogist with a grandmother  from Sóller, Mallorca through various family members connected to the Avilés family helped me to help prove that genetically there is something there! 

Collecting DNA

With my grandmother and great-aunts in tow we headed over to Río Prieto by car, my great-aunt wasn't too comfortable driving up the steep and narrow roads so I took charge of getting us there. The ride ended up not being too bad and I got to visit a few members connected to my paternal grandmother and great grandmother, I was introduced to the family as "el nieto de Carmen" (the grandson of Carmen) since they had never met me before and my dad spent his childhood between San Juan and New York and not in the mountain town of Lares. The ride over was amazing and here are some photos of getting to and being in Lares, it was amazing to see the land transform as we made our way up the mountain! 

Driving up the mountain [Personal Photo]

Nature at its best! [Personal Photo]

The view from my cousin's land [Personal Photo]

The "two way road" near my cousin's land [Personal Photo]

Our first stop was the house of my 1st cousin 2x removed. After seeing his land, talking about the effects of Hurricane María, and being gifted many fruits, I gathered up the courage to ask if he was willing to take two DNA tests for me. I was a bit scared he would say "no" for fear of not knowing what the test would do, but he was very willing to help out. I collected his DNA, wrote down some important information, and when we got back to San Juan mailed off the DNA test. 

My reason to test this line was because I wanted to know where in the world it was connected to and whether or not it could prove that my family was related to the Magraner family. The test results came back pretty quickly and so I took a look at them!

Interpreting results

Magraner Haplogroup? [Personal Photo]

Getting a Y-DNA67 gave me basic results, in the sense that R-M269 is a fairly common group and doesn't give too many specifics into the smaller, more recent branches of this Y-DNA branch. My next step would be to upgrade the test to get more detailed results and potentially make more educated results of my connection in R-M269. Under matches, I currently have 2 matches at the Y-DNA67 level but at a genetic distance of 5 and 7, this would mean that our connection is much farther back in history versus having a genetic distance with a smaller number which would mean having a closer relationship in generations. My genetic cousin at the "genetic distance 5" reached out to me and we quickly chatted and noticed our relation was too far to discover at the moment but interestingly noticed that our surnames both had to deal with fruits - Magraner being a surname connected to the pomegranate tree! Lowering my markers to 37 for example gives me more matches but again, at a pretty far distance. The cousins seem to be wide spread across various countries in Europe, I do have some matches from Puerto Rico but they are at Y-DNA12 which is fairly distant as well. As you can see below my Y-DNA67 match has recent roots in the US but he said his family has older roots in southern France.

Y-DNA67 Match [Personal Photo]

My goal is that by hopefully writing about this branch and taking a Y-DNA test I'll be able to confirm my connection to the Magraner family of Sóller, Mallorca. If you descend from this branch, I'd love to chat and see if we can figure out our potential connection!

Conclusion

Though in a sense my results were "inconclusive", there still is hope! Y-DNA usually takes longer from what I know to establish stronger connections because it's such a specific group that is being tested versus for example autosomal DNA. 23andme has given me a bit of a deeper glance into the R-M269 group and hopefully as I upgrade to Y-DNA111, I will have stronger/clearer results and hopefully a Magraner descendant tests as well. This will in turn allow me to make a genetically educated guess about my Avilés family and whether our roots really are in Mallorca. 

Haplogroup R-Z209 [Personal Photo]

Here's to hopefully solving a 128 year mystery in the making! 

Sóller, Mallorca [Google Images]

Chromosome 7 - An African American Connection

Chromosome 7 - Myself [Personal Photo]

With the continued use of DNA Painter, I have been able to see (in a sense) my results through a more magnified lens. Being able to break down genetic cousins via a comparison to my other tested family members has allowed me to better parse down a bit from which branch of my tree they come from. To learn more about DNA Painter you can read my previous post. As I continued to add cousins to my DNA Painter, I noticed that on Chromosome 7, I matched up with a few cousins via my mother's side of the family that had no known connection to Puerto Rico. Intrigued I decided to continue exploring this specific segment and set of cousins, two of which were African American.

European Ancestry - Spanish & Portuguese [Personal Photo]

Above you can see the highlighted segments in my Chromosome 7 that are attached for example specifically to Spanish and Portuguese DNA. My focus however are to the smaller segments that are cut up and distributed more unevenly across Chromosome 7 - amongst those pieces of DNA you can see Native American, Congolese, Senegambian & Guinean, and Ashkenazi Jewish. Knowing where these segments lay and where your cousins fall amongst them may be helpful to better understanding the genetic diversity of your ancestor from which you descend. Keep in mind that this doesn't mean that ancestor was 100% Native American, for example, but carried those genes in that chromosome which allows you to match with other cousins.

Mixed Ancestry - Indigenous, African, and Jewish [Personal Photo]

Simple Generational DNA

Remember that just because you match with someone on a certain segment of DNA doesn't mean that all of your siblings for example will match them as well. Each sibling may receive a range of combinations that might be similar or a bit different to your own. In a "simple generational" comparison, looking at my brothers and myself on Chromosome 7, you can see there is a difference in inheritance on that section. Below you can see exactly what I mean:

Chromosome 7 - Myself  [Personal Photo]

Chromosome 7 - Older Brother [Personal Photo]

Chromosome 7 - Younger Brother [Personal Photo]

My older brother for example received a Congolese + Senegambian/Guinean segment towards the end of his Chromosome 7, we both share the Congolese bit while my little brother seems to have received a mix of Native American and Senegambian/Guinean but no Congolese DNA in that segment. Notice however that he does share the Ashkenazi DNA segment with me while my older brother does not. DNA is crazy, huh?!

To strengthen my theory here a bit more, I searched both of my brothers' DNA relatives on 23andme. My younger brother does not share the African American cousins while my older brother does share them on his relative list. Analyzing this on a deeper level would probably show us that my younger brother received a different segment from a different maternal ancestor compared to my older brother and I who received this same bit from the same maternal ancestor.

Complex Generational DNA

Looking backwards a few generations, you can see where these segments come from. I knew going in that these African American cousins matched me via my mother, I have been fortunate enough to have tested my mom along with her parents which allowed me to easily make this distinction. The question now was: Would my mother, and one of her parents also have Congolese DNA on this segment? See below to see where the Congolese DNA segment can be found: 

PARENTS' GENERATION

Chromosome 7 - Mother [Personal Photo]

Chromosome 7 - Maternal Uncle [Personal Photo]

GRANDPARENTS' GENERATION

Chromosome 7 - Maternal Grandmother [Personal Photo]

Chromosome 7 - Maternal Grandfather [Personal Photo]

GREAT-GRANDPARENTS' GENERATION

Chromosome 7 - Maternal Great-Grandfather [Personal Photo]

As you can see, my mother and one of her brother's inherited the Congolese DNA (there's another sibling but currently he is not tested). At the next level you can see that this piece of DNA was inherited from their mother (my maternal grandmother) and not their father (my maternal grandfather). At the 3rd generation you can see that my maternal great-grandfather did not have this Congolese DNA, which would mean that they inherited it from my great-grandmother. Testing my grandmother's siblings would probably give me a better idea as to who inherited which DNA from my great-grandmother amongst them. 

DNA Painter

Using my DNA matches from 23andme I began to set out which cousins I received from my maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother - here on out just referred to as "grandmother/grandfather" seeing as how this is all on my maternal side. From there I was able to see who matched my great-grandfather and any cousins who might match anywhere in between. Below you can see that the yellow bit inherited is from my grandfather while the rest of the chromosome is from my grandmother. The light green denotes my great-grandfather while the darker green my grandmother, these dark green segments I imagine are from my great-grandmother. The beige color is for a cousin who matches me with 2nd great-grandparents via my Meléndez-Sánchez great-grandfather while the purple segments are cousins I match via my Dávila-Orozco great-grandmother. As more cousins match me on these sections with a paper-trail the better I will be at figuring out from which great-grandparents and further this DNA came from.

DNA Painter- Chromosome 7 [Personal Photo]

Chromosome 7 - Luis Rivera [Personal Photo]

Looking at where the Congolese DNA is, you can sort of see that it falls where the dark green chunk of DNA my grandmother passed onto me in Chromosome 7. Expanding the matches, you can see where various of these cousins fall. 

Expanded DNA Matches - Chromosome 7 [Personal Photo]

Above you can see that the 2 African American matches fall in the square of matches inherited via my grandmother. In that same box are 3 more segments on top, these being Puerto Rican cousins. Usually when matches fall under one another, it means that they probably share DNA and are related to you via a same ancestor as they are to those cousins as well. The question now was: Could these African American matches also share DNA with those Puerto Rican matches on Chromosome 7? Would they also match each other? It was time to test out my question!

Taking the cousin who shares 15cm with me, I compared that cousin to my Puerto Rican cousins and to my other African American cousin match within that shared segment. Below you can see that YES! they do share DNA with one another, both the African American cousins and to the Puerto Rican cousins. This mostly likely means that somehow on my grandmother's side of the family we all descend from a shared ancestor(s). With the ranges being between 11-16cm, this would mean that the relationship would be rather far back. DNA Painter estimates that at those CM the match lies at a ~60% chance of being anywhere between a 4C2R (4th cousins 2x removed) to as distant as 8C (8th cousins) - there are other scenarios such as 3C3R, 6C2R, or 7C1R. We would have to triangulate using everyone's results and family trees to be able to start to figure out and narrow down from where exactly we match. 

Chromosome 7 Comparisons [Personal Photo]

Taking a look at Chromosome 7 for my Puerto Rican cousins, you can see that they also inherited the Congolese DNA in that area as well.

Puerto Rican Cousin #1 [23andme]

Puerto Rican Cousin #2 [23andme]

African American Cousins

These two cousins have roots in the South and towards the mid-West respectively which makes it a bit harder to say exactly where they might match me since they don't overlap in similar states. However, these are probably recent states of residence and going further back might show an overlap in family both being from a certain state in the south, for example.  A look at their Chromosome 7 shows one cousin with "Broadly West African" and another with Congolese DNA in that general area. It is possible that they might have other cousins themselves tested who can help narrow down which side of the family I would match them on. 

African American Cousin #1 [23andme]

African American Cousin #2 [23andme]

You can also see that there is no European DNA in those areas for both cousins which would mean that our match is likely through an either mixed ancestor or ancestor directly from Africa. It is kind of amazing to see that amongst these 10 people, 9 of us have a classified Congolese DNA piece there. 

Many slave ships made their way first to the Caribbean and later made their way to either North or South America. It is very possible that along one of those routes a slave or various slaves were left in Puerto Rico and another, genetically related either as a parent, sibling, cousin, etc., was brought to the south in the United States. Take a look at "The African-American Migration Story" from PBS to learn more about the journey from Africa to the Americas. There are many sources that talk about the transportation of slaves to the New World, the various journeys taken, and the various stops the slave ships made. 

"Lehrbuch der Weltgeschichte oder Die Geschichte der Menschheit", William Rednbacher, 1890 [Wikipedia]

Further Research

I was both surprised and not surprised when I came across these DNA segments. For starters, I knew there were slaves in my family which was not surprising, but to be able to narrow it down to a Congolese segment inherited through various family members and traced back to my grandmother and shared by two African Americans was surprising. It's interesting to see how much can be discovered with the advent of genetic genealogy - these types of discoveries were only considered dreams back in the days. I'm lucky to live in a time where this type of genealogical work can be completed. 

My next step would be to try and figure out how we are related, though this task is quiet a big one. I have reached out to these cousins and have already started conversations with one, who equally was surprised to see our match. It might be easier to see how these two cousins are related and see how I am related to the other Puerto Rican cousins and then go from there. Though seeing as how these matches are through an ancestor from Africa, it is possible that we might not, at least for now, know exactly how we are related. 

The fact that we have been able to get this far has been nothing short of amazing!