Part 447s – Smith Genealogy – mtDNA Results – Olton, Smith, Abraham, July, Merle, Castex

Greetings,

Great news this morning, and thank you Miss Z.

Today we have another piece of our family puzzle in place. Grandmother Jeanne Lucie Ernestine (née Abraham) Smith (and Mann) identifies as Jasmine, one of the seven daughters of Eve. (See The Seven Daughters of Eve, 2001, by Bryan Sykes.)

In the search for the answers to our genealogy and ancestral origins, we have received notice that our Smith, Abraham, July, Merle, and Castex lines is of the J Haplogroup. This is the preliminary result of the mtDNA testing from Family Tree DNA.

From Eupedia.com, Haplogroup J originated in the Middle East 45,000 years (ago), making it one of the oldest mitochondrial haplogroups in Europe and the Middle East. During the Neolithic Era, that is, 8,000 to 10,000 years or so ago, this J Haplogroup, which appears to have been previously derived and lived in the Near East or Caucasus, may have been associated with the spread of farming and herding in Europe. (See Wikipedia.)

This news means that Zoë, Toni, David, Paul, Leigh, Julie, Andrew, Sophia, Rachel, Jeffrey, and Cailey all share the same mtDNA. My father Frederick Kenneth Lloyd Smith, my aunt Cécile Esme (née Smith) Olton, and their brother, my uncle, Desmond Lloyd Smith shared the same mtDNA as their mother, grandmother Jeanne Lucie Ernestine (née Abraham) Smith (and Mann). It is their maternal mitochondrial DNA.

Beginning with Grandmother Jeanne, I have constructed a quick ancestry of my grandmothers who all should have had the same mtDNA.

• Jeanne Lucie Ernestine (née Abraham) Smith/Mann – My grandmother – Born circa 1890, Georgetown, British Guiana; Died – circa 1967, Georgetown, British Guiana
• Catherine Marie Antoinette (née July) Abraham – My great-grandmother – Born 2 Jan, Île de Gorée, Sénégal; Died – 25 Jan 1940, San Diego, California, USA
• Catherine Cora (née Merle) July – My great-great-grandmother – Born 2 Nov 1836, Bordeaux, Gironde, France; Died – 13 Sep 1886, Cayenne, French Guiana
• Jeanette Etienette/Elinore (née Castex) Merle – My great-great-great-grandmother – Born – unknown, France; Died – unknown

Stay-tuned for more details and results as I receive them.

Enjoy,

Jim

Image of Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin (1992)