Happy DNA Day!!

April 25, 2014 [DNAart]

I know I am a day behind with this post but I still wanted to publish it! DNA has truly changed the way I view myself, my culture, my history, and my view on the world. I wanted to share a bit why taking a DNA test was important to me.

Before taking my 23andme test, which back then was a hefty price ($500), I didn't really know what to think of myself. I knew that my history was full of multicultural ancestors, yet how much of me was actually native Taíno, African, or European? I had always been proud to be Puerto Rican and my tree was definitely helping me to realize more and more how deep my roots are on the island, yet I still had no idea what continents my lines ran back to.

Parranda en Puerto Rico [ElBoricua]

Taking the 23andme test and later the AncestryDNA test really helped to show how mixed our culture, my culture, really was. I learned about my Y-DNA, mtDNA, and my ancestral composition. I learned that my Y-DNA traces back to the area between Spain and France where the Pyrenees lie; this wasn't too surprising since many Spaniards came to Puerto Rico. I learned that my mtDNA traced back to the natives of the Americas and probably specifically to the native Taíno and/or Arawaks who lived in Borikén before the arrival of Cristóbal Colón. I also learned that while I am little over half European, I do carry about 15% and 12% African and Native American genes respectively. Other haplogroups in my family tie into various groups such as: West Africa, Middle Eastern/Jewish, Irish, English/French, and there is more to learn about.

Ancestry Composition - Luis Rivera [23andme]

I learned that even though my family has been on the island of Puerto Rico for at least 200+ years I have ancestors who immigrated to Puerto Rico from Martinique and Guadeloupe, bringing their own culture and identity with them to their new land. In that 15% Sub-Saharan African, I carry their names, their stories, their memories.

Many of us come from very complex and interesting backgrounds, we have to learn more from both a genetic and historic standpoint to understand who we are here today. I am a combination of curious explorers, friendly natives, and determined slaves. I have learned to view the world differently, that skin color doesn't make or break your identity and that there is more than meets the eye. My DNA results have made me proud of all aspects of my ancestry, to realizing that I am my own melting pot. 

So Happy DNA day: take your own DNA test, test someone in your family, or learn more about your results! I don't think you'll regret it!

Spanish, Taíno, Africans [TainoNationNews]

Exploring Maternal Haplogroups

In honor of International Women's day and because I was itching to write about a certain haplogroup, I decided that this was the opportune time for me to write!

So far with 23andme, I have been able to test 7 people in my family including myself and have been able to discover 4 different maternal haplogroups. What's interesting about our haplogroups is that they aren't from just one area- with the migration to Puerto Rico coming from many different areas and for many different reasons, our maternal heritage (just like our paternal heritage) tells many different stories. But the one I want to focus on mainly today is my great grandfather's European haplogroup U5b1b1b. First I'll talk quickly about the others.

My own personal maternal haplogroup came as a nice surprise to me when I first tested in 2009. When I got my results I was able to see that my maternal haplogroup was the indigenous C1b4. This group as you can see below is present in both Asia and the Americas. My guess is that somewhere along my maternal ancestress' line I descend from a Taíno/Arawak woman.

Similarly, another group found on the maternal side of the family that is also connected to Native Americans is called A2. A2 has a higher concentration up in North America near the Bering Strait. However, you can also see that it is evenly common and widespread throughout Central and Southern America. Again, this haplogroup was most likely introduced to my family through a Taíno/Arawak ancestress.

Found on my paternal side of the family is the only African Haplogroup I've discovered so far called L2a1. This haplogroup is found amongst African Americans seeing as how it is commonly found in Sub-Sahara Africa amongst the Bantu-speakers. Since it is so widespread it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where in Africa my ancestress would have originated from. Some speculate that its origin lies somewhere in Central Africa. Due to the Atlantic Slave Trade, many L2a1 carrying women entered areas such as the Caribbean, South America and North America which is why it is so commonly found there. I have not been able to figure out who my original L2a1 African born ancestress was, but hopefully one day I'll be able to know more about this line and haplogroup.

Lastly, my great grandfather is the only one in my family tested so far to carry a European haplogroup yet with an interesting history. His maternal haplogroup is known as U5b1b1b and can be found amongst the Basque and even amongst the Saami population in Northern Scandinavia.

U5b1b1b is part of the branch U5 which "arose among early colonizers of Europe around 40,000 years ago". But what's more interesting about this group is that is seems to have made its way back into Africa via Northern Africa where it can be found amongst people in Morocco and even as far south as Senegal. The big question for me is: Where did my U5b1b1b ancestress come from herself? Did she live in southern Spain before heading off to Puerto Rico? Was she a Moroccan woman who's family found their way to Spain and settled in Al-Andalus? Or was she just a European woman who's husband decided to head to the Caribbean and she agreed to the journey?

So far any of these stories and many others are possible. What's interesting is that my great grandfather does carry, according to Ancestry Composition, North African genes. Pictured below is his Chromosome 4 on "Standard Estimate" and the dark blue on the top is the North African he carries. There is a smaller chunk of it as well on Chromosome 7. Who he receives these genes from is still a mystery to me! Also in Ancestry Finder he receives a match with all 4 grandparents born in Morocco.

Chromosome 4- North African Genes

Chromosome 7- North African Genes

Chromosome 2- Moroccan Match

Hopefully one day I'll be able to name who these women were and talk about the lives they would have lived!

Tracing Eglantine Lautin

Ever since I discovered the document for Julienne Malvina Lautin and her mother Eglantine Lautin (as well as Pauline Lautin) in Rivière Salée, Martinique I can't stop thinking about this family! I was super lucky to find Julienne's and Pauline's birth records in Trois Bourgs despite them being slaves and I also discovered that Eglantine was originally from Africa.

A couple of days ago, after finishing "Texaco" I began to read "Women and Slavery in the French Antilles, 1635-1848" by Bernard Moitt. Despite the fact that this was actually the last book in the sequence of books I purchased, I decided to bump this one up the list because I wanted to learn more about Eglantine's life as a woman on Martinique with the job of a cultivatrice or farmer. The book has been very informative with both statistical information and descriptive information of what their lives would have been like. For example, many field slaves began their work at 5AM and didn't finish until 11PM depending on the cycle of the crops they were tending to. I could never imagine working those hours, especially with very minimal rest in between and the constant stress on my body from lifting, digging, etc. The book is definitely putting a new perspective to what women went through in the French Antilles during slavery and also providing a nice factual background to "Texaco" as well.

The reason I named this post "Tracing Eglantine Lautin" is because I want to do just that; I'll explain:

With the recent advances of DNA tests, we can see where a person's ancestral line originated from through Y-DNA (males only) and mtDNA (both females and males) exams. Since Eglantine was a woman she passed down her Mitochondrial DNA to her female and males descendants, yet since many of her male descendants are deceased by now it is only the females who continue to pass down that line of mtDNA. For example my 3rd great grandmother, María Paulina Gustavo Lotten, would have had Eglantine's mtDNA seeing as how that's her grandmother. Julio Correa Rivera, my great grandfather also had Eglantine's mtDNA; yet because Julio married Amalia and had children with her, they in turn inherited Amalia's mtDNA rather than Eglantine's. So by tracing Eglantine's female descendants I would be able to find what maternal haplogroup Eglantine belonged to. Why is that important you ask? Well, because we know that Eglantine was from Africa, by having the mtDNA tested we would be able to see which haplogroup she belonged to from Africa and potentially even be able to pinpoint a certain part or even ethnic group which she would have belonged to.

Since I trace colateral lines when I do genealogy, it was easy to just check my tree and find who was a female descendant of Eglantine Lautin. I'll post them here so hopefully through the graces and cosmic wonders of genealogy I'll be able to find one of them still alive or even their daughters who would be willing to help me out!

By way of María Luisa Alvarado Correa (daughter of my 2nd great grand-aunt, Senovia Correa Gustavo) and her husband Marcelino Santana:

• Carmen Francisca Santana Alvarado
• Born: 8 March 1929, Rio Jueyes, Salinas Puerto Rico
• Ana F. Santana Alvarado
• Born abt 1930, Salinas, Puerto Rico
• Raquel Santana Alvarado 
• Born abt 1935, Salinas, Puerto Rico

By way of Francisca Correa Gustavo (my 2nd great grand-aunt, sister of Senovia) and her husband Juan Bautista Velasquez Negron:

• Inocencia Velasquez Correa
• Born: 14 September 1921, Jobos, Guayama, Puerto Rico

This one is a long shot since I don't know anything more recent, but still none the less a female descendant of Eglantine

By way of Marie Boudré Lautin (my 4th great grand-aunt, daughter of Eglantine herself) and the child's father Gaëtan Cellia:

• Lucie Cellia Boudré/ Lucie Boudré (she was born out of wedlock):
• Born 1 June 1873, Rivière Salée, Saint Esprit, Fort de France, Martinique

Equally, the only potential Y-DNA carrier of the potential father (who appears as Pedro in Puerto Rican records) to Julienne Malvina, that is if they share the same father would be: 

By way of Jean Lautin (my 4th great grand-uncle, son of Eglantine herself) and his wife Cunégonde Mérida:

• Jean Gualbert Lautin Mérida
• Born 12 July 1890, Petit Paradis, Saint Esprit, Fort de France, Martinique

Hopefully I can discover more about the Lautin family through a genetic aspect, which I think would be very cool to learn their stories through genes!

Finding Your Roots: Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice, and Ruth Simmons

This was probably one of my favorite episodes from the Finding Your Roots series so far! Mostly because it helped three African Americans find some roots in certain Africa tribes. Granted, some could have other mixtures from other African slaves brought to the US which married into the family through other lines, seeing as how this only tested the mtDNA which is present in both males and females having been passed down from their mother's mother's mother's line.

With the 23andme testings I have done I have gotten some interesting results for my mtDNA Haplogroups in my family. A study was conducted in Puerto Rico which states that many Puerto Ricans carry Taino Haplogroups, Taino being the originally people to the island before Columbus got there later in 1493. Not everyone carries a maternal native group as you'll see in some of my examples. Provided below are the various maternal Haplogroups from my family. These include: two Indigenous Haplogroups (A2, C1b4)- most likely from Taino/Arawak ancestors, one European (U5b1b1b)- from the Basque area in Spain or the Saami in Northern Scandinavia and then finally one an African Haplogroup (L2a1)- commonly found in Bantu speakers. Here are the Haplogroup maps provided below:

My mother's maternal's grandmother haplogroup

My own maternal Haplogroup

My paternal grandmother's haplogroup

My maternal great grandfather's maternal haplogroup

What was really cool about the show was the exams they took pointed toward exact tribes in Africa, I don't know too much about the process/ science they used to reveal these African tribes but none the less I found it very interesting and amazing! Not every family is able to 'jump the pond' with paper trail, and it isn't too common in African American communities as well in communities effected greatly by diasporas (Jewish, African, etc.) and chattel slavery where slaves had no name or identity.

With Samuel L. Jackson, Condoleezza Rice and Ruth Simmons they were able to trace back to a tribe in Africa. Ruth Simmons was an interesting case, her maternal Haplogroup was ACTUALLY an indigenous haplogroup which Henry Louis Gates Jr. mentions isn't too common among African Americans. Yet they tested Ruth's Y-DNA through her brother (Y-DNA is only passed down through the males in the family) and found her connection to Africa through her paternal line. 

Connection to the Kota tribe from Gabon

Connection to the Tikar tribe in Cameroon

Connection to the Benga tribe in Gabon

Hopefully one day I'll be able to connect myself to my other ancestors, the ancestors who either made their way to Puerto Rico looking for new opportunities, where there from the beginning or were brought over against their own will. Which tribes from Africa contribute to my family? What Spanish towns did my ancestors live in and dream of a new or better world? What did my native ancestors think as they saw the boats reach the shores of Puerto Rico filled with White "Gods"? And who's stories have I yet to unravel.