Comments on: Personal genomics and adoption http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/01/personal-genomics-and-adoption/ Tue, 21 May 2013 09:04:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Naughtius Maximus http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/01/personal-genomics-and-adoption/#comment-39949 Naughtius Maximus Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:19:18 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/?p=15548#comment-39949 It's a pity they didn't mention states like NY not allowing 23andme kits to be mailed there (or at the very least making it very difficult). It’s a pity they didn’t mention states like NY not allowing 23andme kits to be mailed there (or at the very least making it very difficult).

]]> By: pconroy http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/01/personal-genomics-and-adoption/#comment-39948 pconroy Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:18:56 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/?p=15548#comment-39948 In terms of hitting a wall in research, my father-in-law was in that position, he could trace his direct paternal line back to Poland in 1840's, and then the trail went dead. As a Catholic, he had checked all the Catholic church records and cemeteries in Poznan (aka German Posen), and could find nothing, even though he knew the exact village where his family lived. I encouraged him to test with 23andMe, and to his surprise about 1/3 or more of his relatives are Jewish. When he showed me the documents he had, I noticed that the birth name for his GGGrandfather was different from his married name, the birth name was "Berger", and he said he had always assumed that it was a typo. But now it would seem that his Catholic direct male ancestor had once been Jewish, and like other Jews in Posen, had assimilated and converted in the early 1800's. It so turns out he also has Jewish Italian relatives, and a 1/2 sister of his Sicilian mother - same father, different mothers - also tested and she has none of these Jewish relatives from Italy. So it would seem that his maternal direct line was Sephardic Jewish from Sicily. In terms of hitting a wall in research, my father-in-law was in that position, he could trace his direct paternal line back to Poland in 1840′s, and then the trail went dead. As a Catholic, he had checked all the Catholic church records and cemeteries in Poznan (aka German Posen), and could find nothing, even though he knew the exact village where his family lived.

I encouraged him to test with 23andMe, and to his surprise about 1/3 or more of his relatives are Jewish. When he showed me the documents he had, I noticed that the birth name for his GGGrandfather was different from his married name, the birth name was “Berger”, and he said he had always assumed that it was a typo. But now it would seem that his Catholic direct male ancestor had once been Jewish, and like other Jews in Posen, had assimilated and converted in the early 1800′s.

It so turns out he also has Jewish Italian relatives, and a 1/2 sister of his Sicilian mother – same father, different mothers – also tested and she has none of these Jewish relatives from Italy. So it would seem that his maternal direct line was Sephardic Jewish from Sicily.

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