Deep Origins

 Deep Origins

For this week’s prompt, I’m going way back in time. I’ve always been fascinated by deep ancestry and human migrations, so following my maternal mtDNA, I wanted to know where my mother’s “clan” originated. My first foray into deep ancestry started way back before DNA tests became popular. I took the National Genographic Project 1.0 and 2.0 tests, which revealed that my maternal haplogroup was U5b1c.

 

The Genographic Project told me that my maternal ancestors settled in in southeastern Europe and then expanded north into Europe. Her clan were essentially hunter/gatherers, with the main trunk, haplogroup U, originating about 47,000 years ago and U5 originating in a major split about 30,000 years ago. One branch of U5 heading out to Scandinavia, particularly Finland and the Saami people, and another branch towards the Iberian peninsula and western Europe. The next split, U5b, ending up in Ireland and other European location.

 

My Mom’s maternal genealogy is Irish. So, when new DNA tools came out and testing became more ubiquitous, I took the LivingDNA test, which gave me an basic mtDNA haplogroup, essentially matching what National Genographic had.  Mom was a U5b1c with deep roots in Europe before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Her clan eventually made it to Ireland.

 

When Family Tree DNA (ftDNA) came out with the mtDNA Full Sequence, I had to take that one and find out more. Since the early Genographic tests, DNA analyses had made enormous strides in accuracy and details. The ftDNA tests further refined my mtDNA to be U5b1c2b.  Pretty much still confirming my maternal U5b1c origins.

 

ftDNA’s analysis has U5 origins at between 24,900 and 35,600 years ago, likely originating in Asia. When the last ice age came to an end (Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), about 26,000-20,000 years ago,  those U5’s in Europe ended up hiding out in refugia. Mom had an ancient haplogroup, originating before the last ice age, survived the ice age, and was eventually pushed further into western Europe by more recent farmers from the Asian steppes. The U5b1c2b subclade was formed about 6733.2 years ago +/- 2804.7 (Malyarchuk, et al., 2010).

 

My maternal genealogy lineage extends at least 4 generations to Ireland. My mom was the daughter of Gertrude E. McDonough (1891-1979) and Asa Clark Rogers, Jr. 

• My grandmother was born in the U.S. in Greenwich, Connecticut.
• Her parents were Frank McDonough and Mary Doris/Dooris (1860-1951), both of Clonbroney Parish, Co. Longford, Ireland.
• My g.grandmother’s parents were Catherine Lackey (1828-1898) and James Doris/Dooris, both of Co. Longford. 
• My g.g.grandmother’s parents were Isabella Wallace (1784?-1864) and William Lackey, both of Co. Longford.

 

How far back does my mom’s U5b1c2b lineage go back in Ireland? Who knows? It is estimated that about 13% of the Irish population today belongs to haplogroup U5 (Mallory, 2013). And archaeological discoveries has that haplogroup in Ireland probably well before builders of Newgrange (7,300 years [Mallory, 2013]), so it could be that mom’s origins in Ireland are very deep indeed.

 

Sources:

Behar, et al. ‘A “Copernican” Reassessment of the Human Mitochondrial DNA Tree from its Root,’ Journal of Human Genetics, v. 90 (4), 6 April 2012.

 

Malyarchuk, et al. “The Peopling of Europe from the Mitochondrial Haplogroup U5 Persepective,” PLOS One, V. 5 (4) April 2010.

 

Mallory, J.P. (2013) The Origins of the Irish, (Thames & Hudson, London, 2013), 215-242.

 

Estes, Roberta. (2013) What is a Haplogroup? ‘Online.’ Available at: https://dna-explained.com/2013/01/24/what-is-a-haplogroup/

 

Estes, Roberta (2019) Mitochondrial DNA Resources – Everything You Need to Know ‘Online.’ Available at: https://dna-explained.com/2019/09/04/mitochondrial-dna-resources-everything-you-need-to-know/

 

Family Tree DNA, Description of mtDNA Haplogroup U5 (https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/u-5b/about/results.