CARNEY and WEHOFER DNA Results from complete sequencing

DNA can lead to the confirmation of your lineage, find lost links and also lead to surprising and unexpected results.  Jim was participating in the Carney DNA research project back in 2005 and had undertaken the 37 Y Chromosome marker test which were published here.   Jim's Y Chromosome test results back then confirmed many lineages but also led to some confusing results.  Over the next 17 years, as technology developed in reading and understanding chromosomes and as they dug up royal kings graves from 1000 years ago, tested ancient hunter gatherers from 11,700 years ago, Neolithic farmers from 6,000 years ago and plotted the DNA of the ancient Neanderthals, this led to a lot of new information. 

After that, two more DNA tests Jim were undertaken, each getting bigger and better.  While some tests (AncestryDNA, 23andMe, etc) decode only .02% of DNA, Jim had the whole-genome sequenced - 100%, ran 30 times for full accuracy.  Jim's wife Lois Wehofer followed with her mt-DNA mitochondrial genomics test in late 2022, and the results from our full genome sequencing now completed, we have a good idea where we came from and who we came from. 

Additionally, total sequencing also allows us to compare hundreds of health and behavior studies that tell us what gene we inherited does with what - for our health, some good and some bad.  Today, the human genome sequencing has identified just under 20,000 Protein Coding DNA and around 3 billion Nucleotides.  This work by scientists was finally finished in May 2021 and published in January 2022.  This allowed us to now take a full scope review with a sequencing lab and after my recent DNA sequencing test, I have a 100Gb electronic file copy of my genome made possible by this 2021 breakthrough.  The science is still ahead of the ancestral ties because for purposes of ancestry, there are only 111 genes currently being used to determine heritage of the 780 genes related.  But far better than only looking at 23 or 37 genes as was done in the early days - with labs differing on their results at times.

JIM'S 111 STR's chart below (usable in heritage tracing of the 780 STR's tested - which will be useful someday as more is discovered every year):

Y-Haplogroup: R-M269    MT-Haplogroup: V-b7 (mt-DNA subclade)

What does Jim's DNA tell us?

• The tests done in 2007 could only go back a few hundred years - with limited data, limited studies and with only 37 markers.  The original Haplogroup was assigned by what they knew at the time.
  
• The next test done in 2020 with 67 markers went back around 500-1500 years for a snapshot of where Jim came from.  There were errors likely and still not a lot was known from a single test run through the analyser.
  
• Now with 111 STR markers relative to heritage in 2022 tested, and retested 30 times, we have a picture back 1500 to 15,000 years ago with a lot of information filled in on recent (50-500yrs), intermediate (500-1500yrs) and the longer journey of my family history. 
  
• As a bonus, we now know there are 1000's of genetic variants that are impacting our health and longevity; for better or for worse and my subscription to this database will keep me updated. I know I have near 0% chance of Psychosis, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, some stroke types and I am naturally thin with a high testosterone tendency.  But, I have a few things where I do have genetic variants that may cause problems, such as inherited hay fever, chance of glaucoma and some other nasties.  Some studies have identified as few as 20 genes and others over 500 genes that impact a particular health item in these 300 current studies already out there.
  

 Jims Y-DNA male lineage is related to such surnames as: Stewart, Oliphant, Garton, Strauss, Fechter, Lawrenz, Gustke, Riggs, Varner, Williams, Holdaway, Anderson, Crose, Bunch and Laughlin in addition to the Carney/Kearney ancestry.  But what was surprising from these DNA tests was there was no confirmed link to the native American Indian that was supposed to be on Jim's maternal side.  Jim's GG Grandfather George W. Anderson was supposed to be 1/2 Cherokee or Osage Indian.  However, the test 17 years ago showed it could not be confirmed that Jim had an Indian bloodline strong enough to confirm GG Grandfather's Indian heritage.  At the time, the lab said there were not enough indigenous native North American Indians in the DNA database to know what to look for. 

Then, once again Jim took a new DNA test in 2020, 16 years later.  Now, they assured me - the new testing lab at Ancestry had plenty of data to come to a better certainty on the Indian lineage with a few thousand native American Indians had now submitted DNA for testing. What did this newest outlook tell Jim?  According to Ancestry and My Heritage ancestry sites who interpreted the new DNA, Jim's 2nd great grandfather George W. Anderson was 33% to 45% central African, from the upper area of the Congo - NOT Indian.  There was little Native Indian heritage enough to show up as a marker in Jim.  The only native American Native Indian now left in Jim's line was so far back to his 6th great grandmother Gi-Yo-Sti-Ko-Yo-He BIRD CLAN  which would make Jim only .3% Native Indian (plus some other scattered native American Indian portions of even lesser extent).

So, now we know that George had claimed to his friends and family descendants that he was part Indian, but in reality he was probably the result of a black slave and white Irish offspring (thus the dark skin, darkened red hair) with a father and mother he refused to speak of.  I surmise, being the son of a black interracial relationship was not popular in the South and it was better to explain your dark skin by claiming Indian heritage.  He assumed the name Anderson it is speculated, when he rode at 16 and 17 years old with Bloody Bill Anderson during the Civil War.  In his striving for acceptance among his peers, he participated in the scalping in and killing of prisoners it is alleged.  George and his cousins Frank and Jesse James are listed with another vicious unit belonging to the Qantrill Unit, early in the war.  Unfortunately, war can bring out undesirable traits in many who participate.

The violence continued in the family when George was killed by an intruder with and axe in 1899 as reported in the newspapers 24 years after the war, and his son William Anderson was arrested for the murder.  It couldn't be proven his son killed him and he was released.  Unfortunately later, his son committed suicide.  Another person eventually confessed to killing George, who tragically was hired by Georges daughter herself for $300.  George's other son, James W. Anderson - my Great Grandfather, also hanged himself on Christmas day, 1951; which is why my mother said she was always sad on Christmas day reflecting on the tragedies of the past.  Examples of a troubled and unfortunate outcome to Jim's maternal line.  But, don't we all have secrets, even if you don't know about them?

So, to get back on track - Jim's line:

• England & Northwestern Europe 23%
• Germanic Europe 20%
• Norway 15%
  
• Scotland 13%
• Eastern Europe & Russia 8%
• Ireland 8%
• Baltics 6%
• Sweden & Denmark 5%
• Cameroon, Congo & Western Bantu Peoples 1%
• Wales 1%

With newer technology and DNA studies of many ancient peoples uncovered around the world from ancient kings preserved from 1000 years ago to persons caught in the snow of the Alps 5000 years ago, an even EARLIER estimation can now be obtained of Jim's heritage closer to 800 to 3000 years ago:

• Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Denmark) 65%
• Greece & Balkans (Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia) 12%
• Baltic (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) 10%
  
• Central Europe (Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Netherlands) 8%
• Ireland 2%
• Italy 1.6%
• Magyar (Hungary, Slovakia) 1.4%

Your genetic heritage is relative to what era you look at it.  Be it the past 200 years, the past 500 years, 1000 or even 3000 years ago.  My DNA links back to various ordinary and extraordinary people.  You can see some of the royal lineages Jim is linked to on this Royal Lineages and Links page.

Lois' DNA looks most like DNA from these 6 world regions

They compared Lois' DNA against a worldwide reference panel to see which populations her DNA looks most like.  We will look at the 200-500 year results:


• Eastern Europe & Russia (#1 Russia, #2 Northwest Poland, #2 Central Poland #3 Ukraine) 47%
  
• Germanic Europe (Germany & Austria) 32%
• The Balkans (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia) 8%
• Sweden & Denmark 5%
• Baltics (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) 4%
• Scotland 2%
• Ireland 2%
  

Another surprise in the genetic lineage: When my son married some 20 years ago, I checked the lineage of his new bride to be.  Even though our families in the US were barely ever in the same state and didn't know of each other, my son Eric Christopher Carney's bride Abby (Caroline Abigail Gruver) had a common Great Grandfather to myself and my son.  My 18th great grandfather and grandmother were also the great grandparents of Abby and her Gruver family.  Another 20 years passed, and since then I have found other connections that bring them to 15th cousins with the same grandfather those 15 generations back.

Not to be outdone, my son Sean Carney's wife Serene is linked to her 8th great grandfather is Augustine Washington.  He is the father of George Washington the "Father of the United States".  Because of my link also to the Washington line, this means Sean married his 2nd cousin, 10 times removed.  I could go on and on about DNA and family lines that bind you with examples from my research and testing, linking me to unknown relatives and even often your friends.  You should discover it for yourself though.

Honestly? You probably do have royal ancestry too

Here�s the whole truth: it�s actually pretty unlikely that you don�t have royal ancestry.

It�s simple math. Each generation you go back, the number of ancestors you have doubles. If you go back 10 generations, that�s already 1,024 ancestors. If you go back 20, you�re at 1,048,576! Yale statistician Joseph Chang showed that when you trace ancestral lines back far enough (for example, 32 generations or 900 years), you�ll find that everyone alive today has at least one common ancestor. He also showed that in Europe, you only have to go back 600 years to reach that point.

Don�t forget non-European royalty

Europe was not the only place with powerful rulers! If you have roots elsewhere, such as central or east Asia, South America, or North Africa, you could be related to such figures as Genghis Khan, King Tutankhamen, or one of a number of Chinese emperors.

A genetic study published in 2003 found that one in every 200 men all over the world are directly descended from Genghis Khan, the 12th-century Mongolian emperor who founded what became the largest contiguous empire in history. Research has also found that many people in Peru are descended from Atahualpa, the last Incan emperor. Scientists at iGENEA, a DNA genealogy center based in Zurich, reconstructed King Tut�s DNA and found that half of all men living in western Europe are related to him � including 70% of men in Great Britain!

I hope you enjoy some examples here and are fascinated by your genealogy exploration!

Let me start!   Click here for Search of Ancestors

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