My Updated Haplogroup

Today I had a very nice person contact me to tell me that we are mtDNA matches on Family Tree DNA. Isn't that awesome!? We had a nice chat sharing family trees, etc. During our chat she told me which haplogroup she belonged to and I told her my haplogroup was B4'5. I logged into Family Tree DNA and my haplogroup had changed. It was no longer B4'5.

I had my mtDNA tested at Family Tree DNA in 2013. At that time I ordered the mtDNA Plus test. That test result gave me my mtDNA Haplogroup as B4'5.

Last month I upgraded to the full sequence mtDNA test at Family Tree DNA. It was completed on June 8, 2021. Interestingly, my haplogroup has been updated from B4'5 to B2.

According to Family Tree DNA, Haplogroup B2 is found in Brazil and "is seen among Native Americans." My mom was from Brazil so this makes sense. Interestingly, my ethnicity estimates have pretty consistently included Native American ancestry. My maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was from Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.

Here's my latest Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Estimate. Of course, as the title says, this is just an estimate. But it is still interesting.

One of the college courses I'm taking this semester at BYU-Idaho Online is Introductory Genetic Genealogy - FHGEN 352. It's an interesting and informative class. This week we have been learning about autosomal third-party tools.

I'm taking three more classes this semester: U.S. Geographic Specialization - FHGEN 351, Visual Media - COMM 130, and Career Development - GS 170.

As you can imagine, homework is keeping me pretty busy these days. 😀

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2021 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

My Updated Family Tree DNA myOrigins Results

Family Tree DNA recently updated myOrigins. The update changed my previous myOrigins map and ethnic makeup percentages.

Here's my previous myOrigins map as of 6 May 2014.

And here's my updated myOrigins map as of 7 April 2017.

Notice that the reference populations have different colors assigned to each one. And, the assigned colors in the Ethnic Makeup chart match the colors on the map.

Iberia is purple in the chart and on the map. Check out what happened when I hovered my cursor over Iberia in the chart (see below). Spain and Portugal remained purple on the map and every other reference population on my map turned gray. 

That same kind of thing happened as I hovered my cursor over the other reference populations in my Ethnic Makeup chart. Each reference population on the map stayed the same color as the corresponding color on the chart, and the rest of the reference populations turned gray.

With the recent update, my Ethnic Makeup percentages changed too. The previous Ethnic Makeup percentage chart on the left is from 2014 and the one on the right is the updated chart.

In case these charts are difficult to read, here's the breakdown of the results:

Previous myOrigins Ethnic Makeup Results

Jana Last - Ethnic Makeup - 6 May 2014
European	85%
European Northlands	36%
European Coastal Plain	17%
North Mediterranean Basin	16%
European Coastal Islands	16%
New World	7%
Bering Expansion	7%
Middle Eastern	5%
North African Coastlands	5%
East Asian	2%
Asian Northeast	2%
Central/South Asian	1%
Eurasian Heartland	1%
African	1%
Niger-Congo Genesis	1%

Updated myOrigins Ethnic Makeup Results

Jana Last - Ethnic Makeup - 7 April 2017
European	80%
Scandinavia	45%
Iberia	23%
West and Central Europe	12%
New World	10%
North and Central America	10%
Middle Eastern	6%
North Africa	3%
West Middle East	3%
Trace Results
East Central Africa	<2%
Southeast Asia	<2%
West Africa	<2%
British Isles	<2%

The updated British Isles result is surprising. My research shows that my maternal great-grandfather’s ancestry is from the British Isles.

The New World result isn’t surprising. Family Tree DNA states that this cluster includes Native populations. My AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate also lists Native American ethnicity at 10%. I attribute this result to my Mexican ancestry through my maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, who was born in Arriaga, Chiapas.

I realize that these are just estimates, but they are quite interesting.

Have you had your DNA tested? Were you surprised by your results?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2017 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

My Family Finder DNA Results Are In ~ Grandma Was Right!

Yep! My Grandma Willis Webster was right! Many years ago, she told my mom that my mom had Mayan ancestry. Grandma Willis was my mom's step-mother. My mom's mother died when my mom was four years old.  Grandma Willis was the only grandma I ever knew on my mom's side of the family, so to me she was simply Grandma. And she was a very sweet and loving grandma.

Anyway, as I was saying, Grandma Willis claimed that my mom had Mayan ancestry through my mom's father (my grandfather) Debs Webster. Debs' mother, Esther Matus Villatoro (pictured below) was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico on September 18, 1893. She was the wife of my "Traveling Dentist" great-grandfather, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, who was born in Coolville, Athens, Ohio on February 14, 1864.



According to History.com (The History Channel's website),

"…the Maya were centered in one geographical block covering all of the Yucatan Peninsula and modern-day Guatemala; Belize and parts of the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas; and the western part of Honduras and El Salvador."

So, while it's true that my great-grandmother was born in Chiapas, and the Maya had lived in parts of Chiapas, and my grandmother claimed that my mom had Mayan ancestry, I still wouldn't have known for sure if part of my ancestry was, in fact, Mayan. Until now. You see, I took Family Tree DNA's autosomal DNA test called Family Finder. And I'd like to share my results with you.

Family Finder DNA Test Results

Here's the Pie Chart from my Family Finder DNA Test:

See that Native American slice? That's where the Mayan ancestry is listed.

Here we have the breakdown of the results by Continent, Population, Percentage and Margin of Error.




It's kind of hard to read, so here's the transcription:

• Europe (Finnish, French, Orcadian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tuscan) – 79.50% – Margin  of Error:  ±1.84%
• Middle East (North African) – 12.83% – Margin of Error:  ±1.61%
• Native American (Colombian, Maya) – 7.66% – Margin of Error:  ±0.67%

My Native American ancestry is populated by both Columbian (which I don't understand) and Mayan ancestry.

And here's a handy map that was provided with the results as well:

So, what about the rest of my DNA test results?

The Europe Result

I'm not surprised by the large European percentage. My father, Jan Albert Iverson, was half Norwegian and half Swedish. His ancestors go back for generations in both Norway and Sweden. And my great-grandfather on my mom's side, Watson (Frederick) Emory Webster, a.k.a. "The Traveling Dentist," was of English ancestry.

What is intriguing is that Sweden and Norway are not listed in the population list for Europe. Hmm. Orcadian is listed and Orcadians came from the Orkney Islands. According to Wikipedia, "Orkney was invaded and forcibly annexed by Norway in 875 and settled by the Norse."

Finland borders both Sweden and Norway. According to another article in Wikipedia, "From the 12th until the start of the 19th century, Finland was a part of Sweden."

Do these facts explain how my Norwegian and Swedish ancestry is listed in this DNA test?

The Middle Eastern Result

I have to say that at first I was quite surprised by the Middle East (North African) test result. But, after doing some research, I'm not quite as surprised. My grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira (my mom's mother who passed away when my mom was four years old) was of Portuguese descent.

I have Portuguese ancestors from the Azores and Madeira. It's interesting to note how close those islands are to North Africa, especially the Island of Madeira. It's quite close to Morocco, which is in North Africa.



According to an article about the Portuguese Empire in Wikipedia, sailors from Portugal started to explore the coast of Africa in 1419. And the Portuguese colonized several areas around the world, including parts of Africa. Could this explain my North African DNA result?

Conclusion

So it turns out that my Grandma Willis was correct about our Mayan ancestry. Unfortunately, I can't tell her that she was right because she passed away in 1991. I am left to wonder how she knew this interesting bit of information about our family history. Did she discover this when she and my Grandpa Debs visited relatives in Chiapas, Mexico in 1955?

DNA testing is quite fascinating. But, it's just one piece of the family history puzzle. More traditional research is still needed to find and put together all of the puzzle pieces of our family histories.

By the way, I've emailed Family Tree DNA to see if they can answer my questions about why Norway and Sweden were not listed in my Population List for Europe. And I also asked them about the Middle East test result and if that was representative of my Portuguese ancestry. We'll see what they say.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last