Part 167d – Brunhammer Doherty Genealogy – mtDNA Results Back – X2e1a1

Morning,

Attention all Brunhammers and Dohertys, Andy’s mtDNA results are back. And they could all be Greek… that is, Greek the expression, not of Greece the country. His Haplogroup is X2e1a1. And if I could look through this monitor and see your expression I would see an expression just as confused as mine. So, let’s take this a step at a time.

(Image of Chart from Bassett Family Association website.)

We began the process by testing the Y-DNA; the Brunhammer paternal DNA. Check out Part 122b to see those results.

The next stage of the testing is the mtDNA or his maternal DNA. Based on the information, documentation, and family history, the passing of mtDNA would be to Andy from his mother Myrtle Frances Gertrude (née Doherty) Brunhammer; from her mother Myrtle H. (née Holmes) Doherty; from her mother Hannah (née Gallagher) Holmes; and so on back.

But who and where is back? How far back in time can we determine and from where did the maternal line come from?

From my readings to date this Haplogroup of X2e1a1 is very unique, and from the Family Tree DNA records Andy has only matched to one other person in their database. This means that there is a 50% probability that a most recent common ancestor lived no longer than five generations. This increases to 75% and 90% in 9 and 16 generations, respectively.

And what is a Haplogroup? One way to think of the term is that a haplogroup is a branch on the tree of Homo Sapiens and a haplotype represents the leaves of the trees. All the haplotypes that belong to a haplogroup are leaves on the same branch.

The X Haplogroup, based on research and study, originally branched off the N Haplogroup. It then further divided about 20,000 to 30,000 years ago to two sub-groups or subclades, X1 and X2. Then, following, X2 sub-divided to X2a, X2b, X2c, X2d, and X2e… and further to X2f, X2g, X2h. And Andy is at the fork on the branch on the tree at the X2e. We don’t stop there. It continues branching to X2e1, then X2e1a, then X2e1a1.

But where do the X2e’s come from? The main occurrence of X in Asia has been discovered in Altai in South Siberia. (See Wikipedia Haplogroup X (mtDNA).) The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together.

Map of Russia – Altai Republic (in red)

Then as time would have it, the family line somehow made it from Altai to Ireland and then to the United States and Delaware.

Based on this information and on these results, this means that every one of Andy’s sisters and brothers, his sisters daughters and their children, his mother’s brothers and sisters – his aunts and their children should all be of the same X2e1a1 Haplogroup.

And please remember based on current data, research, and information results are always evolving and changing. If you have any questions and comments please feel free to contact me.

Enjoy,

Jim