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Category Archives: Famous DNA

Family Tree DNA Discovers Y-DNA Signature That Might Represent the Prophet Mohammed

An article in the United Arab Emirate newspaper The National (wikipedia) does a terrific job of highlighting recent research from Family Tree DNA.  The story - “DNA could illuminate Islam’s lineage” – discusses research that has attempted to elucidate the Y-DNA signature of Mohammed.  Although Mohammed did not have a son, he had [...]

Personal Genome Project Begins Releasing Information

The Personal Genome Project (PGP) was established to analyze and publicly share the genomes and personal information of up to 100,000 volunteers in order to advance understanding of “genetic and environmental contributions to human traits and to improve our ability to diagnose, treat, and prevent illness.”  In the first phase of the PGP, [...]

The Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee Rejects DNA Testing

See the new article at Seed Magazine “Inheriting Confucius,” which discusses efforts to generate a family tree containing the 2 million+ descendants of Confucius.
Kong De-Yong, a 77th(!) generation descendant of Confucius, has been compiling the tree for the last 10 years.  Although the Committee is accepting submissions from women and other previously excluded groups, [...]

TGG Interview Series V - Whit Athey

The name Whit Athey is undoubtedly very familiar to many genetic genealogists. Whit’s Haplogroup Predictor, used to predict an individual’s paternal haplogroup based on DNA test results, is one of the most valuable online (and FREE) tools for genetic genealogists.
Among Whit’s many contributions to the field, he is also the Editor (and frequent [...]

DNA Testing of New York’s New Governor David Paterson

As of Monday the 17th of March, David Paterson will be the Governor of New York State.  Lt. Gov. Paterson recently sat down with Susan Arbetter of WHMT’s NYNOW to discuss the results of his genetic genealogy test results.  Paterson is probably the first governor in the United States to have undergone genetic genealogy testing, [...]

Famous DNA Review, Part IV - Jesse James

Jesse Woodson James, born September 5, 1847 and died April 3, 1882, was an infamous American outlaw. Despite strong evidence that James was killed on April 3, 1882, some theorized that his death was staged and that he in fact survived to father additional children.
In 1995, researchers set out to use relatively [...]

Famous DNA Review, Part III - Niall of the Nine Hostages

As many as 3 million men worldwide might be directly descended from a single Irish warlord named Niall of the Nine Hostages who was the High King at Tara from 379 to 405.
In February 2006, researchers at Trinity College in Dublin released a paper that studied that Y chromosome signature of men throughout Ireland. [...]

Genetic Genealogy Eliminates Two As Descendants of Joseph Smith

Update: Ugo Perego is not affiliated withh the website mentioned in the last two sentences.
Did Joseph Smith father children with any of his plural wives? The Deseret News has a lengthy article about recent efforts by a geneticist to answer the long-debated question about the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Ugo Perego, [...]

True ‘Roots’ - Update on Chris and Alex Haley’s Y-DNA

The 24-7 Family History Circle has an update on a story I wrote about few weeks ago (Chris and Alex Haley’s DNA). Chris Haley, the nephew of author Alex Haley, recently agreed to submit DNA for a Y-DNA test. Like his uncle, Haley is very interested in genealogy and his ancestry.
According to [...]

DNA Analysis of 5 People Who Helped Create America

1. Benjamin Franklin - mtDNA Haplogroup V

In addition to being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Franklin was a politician, printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, and author. DNA testing has elucidated the origins of Benjamin Franklin’s mitochondrial DNA through his mother Abiah Lee Folger, who had six sisters. [...]