DNA helps unscramble the puzzles of ancestry

Sacramento Bee ^ | August 3, 2003 | Stephen Magagnini

[farmfriend]

Almost from the time he was old enough to read the "whites only" signs on department stores in Montgomery, Ala., Ulysses Moore has been on a quest. Where did I come from? he wondered.

He knew he was more than just a "colored" child of the segregated South, that his legacy extended beyond the slave ships that brought 12 million Africans across the Atlantic. Was he descended from Shaka Zulu or the great Mandinka warriors, or the builders of the ancient world's greatest library in Egypt?

[farmfriend]

This doesn't have anything to do with politics so I don't know if you wanted to ping the list or not.

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[Dog Gone]

My father is obsessed with geneology, but I don't care in the least who my ancestors were, unless they died and left me money.

Which they didn't.

[MamaB]

I have been interested in genealogy for several years and have traced several of my different families back to the 1700's and in one case to about 1613. I have read that some have gone back to the single digit years. Now, how that is done, I do not have a clue. I feel lucky or blessed that I have gotten as far back as I have. It is a fascinating hobby. Some of the names I am researching are: Byars, Criddle, Gann, Gable, Long, McNeil, McRae, Parke, Ray, Shockley, Walden, and Wooten. I have always been interested in history so that has helped.

[Mike Darancette]

Would be interesting to see how many on my family tree are hanging. Only one I know of now.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

This is undoubtedly cool stuff, for just about anyone and especially if you have questions about where you came from.

[cyborg]

Now this is only going to tell us what the Bible already told us a loooong time ago... that we are all related through Adam and Eve. God is always one step ahead of the pencil pushers.

[muawiyah]

Someday when you need a transplant so you can stick around to count all that money your closer relatives left you, you will be quite happy to check up on your genealogy to see if there's a good match for you out there.

[muawiyah]

Hey, what about those wives from the East?

Adam was our first prophet; you can't tell us that he was some sort of rolling stone sort of guy.

[VadeRetro]

"Doesn't prove anything about common ancestry" ping!

[Dog Gone]

If my relatives didn't leave me any money, it's pretty unlikely that they left me a kidney.

[muawiyah]

Look, it's not necessary that the donor be a "close" relative, just that his blood factors match. This is much more probable within an ethnic group than between ethnic groups.

[cyborg]

Not sure if I understand your post, but if you want to FReepmail me, go ahead! I do not want to detract from the original point of the thread. How will this improve the lives of people TODAY?

"When I opened the envelope and started to read, I almost cried because it gave me a sense of wholeness," said Black, 63. "It tells me we didn't start here, my folks weren't always slaves, they didn't always have to step off the sidewalk and say, 'Yes sir, no sir.' In Mali, Greeks and Romans sent their sons to study at the feet of black scholars ... folks like me."

Personally, I've never heard of this and would find this debateable BUT that's another thread.


Yes a person can draw some inspiration from 'ancestors'. In my ethnic lineage, Italian, Spanish, just about every Western European country and also African and India so does this leave more inspired than most people? I do not need to look that far. My mother and father are my inspiration and give meaning to my life.

[muawiyah]

Glad your immediate relatives are your inspiration. My initial response to a different poster on this thread was a retort to his use of narrow economic interest as a reason to not care about genealogy.

You are bringing up an intensely spiritual reason for not being interested in it.

At the moment I am engaged in the continuation of a 50 year search into the whys and wherefores of what is called the charismatic, apostolic Church of the First Born, in the Fullness of Time, teaching Christ's Commandments, Army cross training (or the short version, Faith Assembly).

It's kind of a meaningless group ~ just a bunch of kin who have the highest infant mortality rate of any group in North America, and what appears to be one of the highest divorce rates ever registered for any group on Earth.

I think their infants deserve better. Unfortunately to track these people down it is necessary to do it through genealogy since they don't visit doctors, nor do they live in town (for the most part).

These guys don't even socialize with Gypsies all that much! The fact they were life-long members of this church is usually not revealed until the day they die.

I have had some luck using the internet to "intervene", and my tribe grows apace.

[decimon]

Great profit potential here. People who believe they've had past lives have always had glamorous past lives. No one was ever the guy who cleaned the stables or the chamber pots. Likewise, no one will want to hear that his ancestors were all the town or tribe funny boys. Everyone will be from royalty or great warriors.

[jacob allen]

Try www.familysearch.org Then enter the oldest name in each line. Good Luck.

[cyborg]

Regarding spirituality... I hear the Mormon Church has just about the finest records in the US.

[PJ-Comix]

And a Jewish schoolteacher from Oakland learned at least one of her forebears came out of China.

Chou En-Lieberman?