A Y-DNA STUDY OF 60 RELATED FAMILIES WITHIN A

UNIQUE JEWISH CLUSTER

HOW DNA FOUND THE GENEALOGICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SEEMINGLY

DISPARATE FAMILIES

HERBERT HUEBSCHER, SAUL ISSROFF, MD,ELISE FRIEDMAN & ROBERTO HÜBSCHER

A JEWISH POPULATION CLUSTER DISCOVERED

• SEEMINGLY DISPARATE FAMILIES CONNECTED BY Y-DNA

• A JEWISH COMMON PATERNAL ANCESTOR SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AGO

• HOW THE PROJECT CAME TO PASS

• WHAT WE HAVE FOUND OUT

• WHERE WE GO FROM HERE

HOW IT ALL STARTED

• A CONVENTIONAL DNA BASED SURNAME PROJECT

• EXACT MATCH WITH ONLY ONE PERSON IN FTDNA DATABASE

• DISCOVERY OF SHARED ANOMALIES

• A FEW OTHER FAMILIES WITH THE SAME ANOMALIES

• A NAME: THE “WIRTH” GROUP

Y-DNA BASICS • BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS - NUCLEOTIDES:

– ADENINE, GUANINE, THYMINE , CYTOSINE– A, G, T,C

• REPEAT IN PATTERNS OF FOUR, E.G.:– AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTCAGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC– (8 REPEATS)

• CALLED “SHORT TANDEM REPEATS – STR”• EACH MARKER, OR LOCUS CONTAINS A NUMBER

OF REPEATS (FROM A FEW TO 30+)• NUMBER OF REPEATS IS THE VALUE AT EACH

LOCUS – E.G. 8

EXAMPLE OF MARKERS,VALUES, STR’s

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC.

X 23

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC,

X 14

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTC

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC,

X 14

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC,

X 15

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTC

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC,

X 15

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC

ETC,

X 14

AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTCAGTC AGTCAGTCAGTC

HERB’S 12-MARKER Y-DNAHERB’S 12-MARKER Y-DNA

• EACH VALUE REPRESENTS THE NUMBER OF STR’s AT EACH MARKER/LOCUS FOR EACH PERSON

• VALUE 23 AT MARKER 2 IS A MUTATION

NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

HERB 12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11 31

HERB’S 25-MARKER DNA

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11 31

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

15 9 9 11 11 25 15 20 29 13 13.1 15 16 1616 1616

NOTE THAT MARKER 23 VALUE = 13.1 AND

TWO EXTRA 16 VALUES AFTER MARKER 25

HERB & SAUL’S ANOMALIES

• TWO ANOMALIES:• MARKER 23 VALUE NOT 13 , BUT 13.1 • EXTRA 26TH AND 27TH MARKERS, COPIES OF 25TH,

VALUE 16

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11 31

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

15 9 9 11 11 25 15 20 29 13 13.1 15 16 1616 1616

WIRTH GROUP ANOMALIES

• TWO ANOMALIES:• MARKER 23 VALUE NOT 13, BUT 13.1 • EXTRA 26TH AND 27TH MARKERS, COPIES OF 25TH,

VALUE 16

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11 31

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

15 9 9 11 11 25 15 20 29 13 13.1 15 16 1616 1616

FIVE WIRTH FAMILIES WOLINSKY ISSROFF ROSSOFF TENENBAUM HUBSCHER

WOLINSKY ISSROFF ROSSOFF TENENBAUM HUBSCHER

FARKAS FINK GLAZER R. HERMAN SCHERERMOKOTOFF PALEVSKY ROSA RICKMAN RUSSLER SACHAR SINGER F. SPERTUS P. SPERTUS

GREENSPANBERGER CAPLAN FRIEDMAN NATHAN TOBINA. LOURIE L. LOURIE SINAI KAPLAN YORKSPERLEN TUERK DRUCKER MANN

SCHWARTZKRASNOF WEINGROD NITZ DAITCH FURMANSKYLEVY FEINBERG BERLANT WATERMAN SWANEYLUCK FLEISCHMAN WEISS SALOWE ISSEROWRUBIN POLACK HOLLANDER MILLER A. HERMANISSEROW GUSSOW LEVINE KANTOR KAISERROSARIOS METZENBERG

62 WIRTH FAMILIES WOLINSKY ISSROFF ROSSOFF TENENBAUM HUBSCHER

WOLINSKY ISSROFF ROSSOFF TENENBAUM HUBSCHER

FARKAS FINK GLAZER R. HERMAN SCHERERMOKOTOFF PALEVSKY ROSA RICKMAN RUSSLER SACHAR SINGER F. SPERTUS P. SPERTUS

GREENSPANBERGER CAPLAN FRIEDMAN NATHAN TOBINA. LOURIE L. LOURIE SINAI KAPLAN YORKSPERLEN TUERK DRUCKER MANN SCHWARTZKRASNOF WEINGROD NITZ DAITCH FURMANSKYLEVY FEINBERG BERLANT WATERMAN SWANEYLUCK FLEISCHMAN WEISS SALOWE ISSEROWRUBIN POLACK HOLLANDER MILLER A. HERMANISSEROW GUSSOW LEVINE KANTOR KAISERROSARIOS METZENBERG

A GENEALOGICAL PUZZLE

• DIFFERENT SURNAMES

• DIFFERENT GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS

• NO KNOWN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE 62 FAMILIES

• 51 PRESENTLY JEWISH – 11 NOT

• EIGHT KNEW OF JEWISH ANCESTRY

• ONE CASE A REAL SURPRISE: ROSA FAMILY FROM PUERTO RICO

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS TO THE PUZZLE

• WHEN DID THE COMMON ANCESTOR LIVE?

• WHERE?• ASHKENAZI OR SEPHARDI?• LEVITE OR ISRAELITE?• HOW ARE THE FAMILIES WITHIN THE

GROUP RELATED TO EACH OTHER?• HOW MANY OF US ARE THERE IN THE

WORLD?

SOME PUZZLE ANSWERS – OUR PRESENTATION TODAY

• HOW THE PROJECT STARTED• DNA ANOMALIES• THE WIRTH GROUP• DNA TESTS, RESULTS, MOST RECENT

COMMON ANCESTOR (MRCA) • EARLIEST KNOWN GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS• DNA/GEOGRAPHICAL CORRELATIONS

WITHIN THE GROUP• PHYLOGENETIC TREE• WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE MRCA, THE

GROUP, AND THE CLUSTER• WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

DNA TESTS & RESULTS

• ALL TESTING BY FAMILY TREE DNA

• Y-DNA TESTS OF 81 PERSONS MAKING UP THE 62 FAMILIES

• 67-MARKER RESULTS FOR 61 FAMILIES (ONE IN PROCESS)

• HOW WELL DO THE 61 FAMILIES MATCH?

•Let’s Look at the 67-Marker Results….

61 FAMILIES – 67 MARKERS

Red = Weird/unusual mutation Yellow = One step up mutation (increase in value) Orange = Two step up mutation

Aqua = One step down mutation (decrease in value) Dark Blue = Two step down mutation

WIRTH MODAL HAPLOTYPE MARKERS 1 THROUGH 67

12 22 14 10 14 15 11 15 12 14 11 31

15 9 9 11 11 26 15 20 29 13 13.1 15

16 16 16 ↔ 10 10 19 22 15 12 15 17

34 36 12 9 ↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 11 9 0 17 17 15 10 12 12 15 8

11 22 21 13 12 11 13 11 12 12 11

Red = Weird/unusual mutation Yellow = One step up mutation (increase in value) Orange = Two step up mutation

Aqua = One step down mutation (decrease in value) Dark Blue = Two step down mutation

61 FAMILIES MUTATIONS ONLY

DEGREE OF MATCHING – 61 FAMILIES AT 67

MARKERS• REFERENCE: WIRTH MODAL HAPLOTYPE• COMPARE EACH FAMILY’S MODAL

HAPLOTYPE WITH WIRTH MODAL• GENETIC DISTANCE (GD) IS THE NO. OF

MUTATIONS AWAY FROM WIRTH MODAL• CONSTRUCT TABLE: NO. OF FAMILIES AT

EACH VALUE OF GD

•Let’s Look at the Table….

DEGREE OF MATCHING61 FAMILIES AT 67

MARKERSGD DEGREE OF

MATCHNO. OF FAML’S

0 67/67 5

1 66/67 9

2 65/67 16

3 64/67 11

4 63/67 10

5 62/67 7

6 61/67 3

WHEN DID THE ANCESTOR LIVE?

• ESTIMATES ARE POSSIBLE, BASED ON Y-DNA MUTATION RATE DATA

• USED TWO INDEPENDENT MODELS TO ESTIMATE TIME BACK TO COMMON ANCESTOR (TMRCA):

– FTDNA TiP (TIME PREDICTOR)

– BEST FIT TO DISTRIBUTION OF GDs: (5, 9, 16, 11, 10, 7, 3)

FTDNA TiP • USING FTDNA TiP, COMPARED 57 FAMILY

MODAL HAPLOTYPES WITH WIRTH MODAL HAPLOTYPE

• EXAMINED 52 PAIRINGS• THREE ASSUMPTIONS:

– MRCA LIVED BEFORE 1700 CE– AVERAGE SEPARATION BETWEEN

GENERATIONS = 30 YEARS– DNA TESTED GENERATION DOB = 1940

• CALCULATED AVERAGE OF ALL RESULTS

52 COMPARISONS – RESULTS

• 50% PROBAB’Y WITHIN 321 YEARS• 75% PROBAB’Y WITHIN 384 YEARS • 95% PROBAB’Y WITHIN 510 YEARS

PROBABLITY MRCA LIFE DATES

50% BETWEEN 1620 AND 1700 CE

75% BETWEEN 1555 AND 1700 CE

95% BETWEEN 1430 AND 1700 CE

BEST FIT TO GD DISTRIBUTION

• ACTUAL GD DIST’N: 5,9,16,11,10,7,3

• AVG MUTATION RATE (PROBAB’Y) PER MARKER PER GENERATIONAL STEP = 0.0031 = 0.31% (Kerchner Data)

• BEST FIT OF ACTUAL GD DIST’N TO EXPECTED BINOMIAL SERIES

• USED AUTOMATIC TMRCA CALCULATOR (Whit Athey Model)

•Let’s Look at the Result....

TMRCA CALCULATOR RESULT (BASED ON BEST DIST’N FIT)

• MOST LIKELY TMRCA = 13.7 GENERATIONS

• MOST LIKELY LIFE DATE OF MRCA = ca. 1529 CE (FOR 61 FAMILIES)

• CONSISTENT WITH TiP RESULTS:

PROBABLITY MRCA LIFE DATES

50% BETWEEN 1620 AND 1700 CE

75% BETWEEN 1555 AND 1700 CE

95% BETWEEN 1430 AND 1700 CE

TMRCA CALCULATOR RESULT (BASED ON BEST DIST’N FIT)

• MOST LIKELY TMRCA = 13.4 GENERATIONS

• MOST LIKELY LIFE DATE OF MRCA = ca. 1538 CE (FOR 62 FAMILIES)

• CONSISTENT WITH TiP RESULTS:

PROBABLITY MRCA LIFE DATES

50% BETWEEN 1620 AND 1700 CE

75% BETWEEN 1555 AND 1700 CE

95% BETWEEN 1430 AND 1700 CE

WIRTH GROUP EARLIEST KNOWN GEOGRAPHIC ORIGINS

• UKRAINE: 18 • LITHUANIA:

10 • BELARUS:

8• POLAND: 7• MOLDOVA:

2• ROMANIA:2

• GERMANY: 1• CZECH REP: 1• HUNGARY: 1• PUERT RICO: 1• UNK/OTHER: 8

ORIGINS OF WIRTH FAMILIES

ROSA FAMILY ORIGIN ON PUERTO RICO

Santo Domingo

ROSA FAMILY ORIGINON P. R. – CLOSE UP

ORIGINS IN EUROPE AND PALE

Match Level

ASHKENAZI OR SEPHARDI?• EVIDENCE IN BOTH DIRECTIONS• ESTIMATED LIFE DATE OF MRCA

CONSISTENT WITH EITHER• FOR ASHKENAZIC CASE:

– EARLIEST KNOWN GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGINS PREDOMINANTLY IN PALE OF SETTLEMENT

– MOST FAMILIES HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF EARLIER ROOTS – ASHKENAZI OR SEPHARDIC

• FOR SEPHARDIC CASE:– ROSA FAMILY FROM PUERTO RICO– FOUR OTHER FAMILIES’ DEFINITVE ORAL

HISTORIES TELL OF SEPHARDIC ORIGINS

ROSA AND FOUR OTHER FAMILIES

• ROSA FAMILY EARLIEST KNOWN ORIGIN: SATURNINO ROSA B. 1869 IN AGUADA, P.R.

• UNTIL LATE 1800’s, VIRTUALLY NO DECLARED JEWS IN P.R.

• ANY PERSON WITH “JEWISH BLOOD” (OUR Y-DNA) MOST LIKELY A CONVERSO

• HIGHLY SUGGESTIVE OF SEPHARDIC ROOTS FOR ROSA FAMILY

• FOUR OTHER WIRTH FAMILIES WITH CREDIBLE ORAL HISTORIES OF SEPHARDIC ROOTS

ASHKENAZI OR SEPHARDI?

• THE JURY STILL IS OUT• LEANING TOWARDS SEPHARDIC ORIGIN• BASIS FOR SEPHARDIC HYPOTHESIS:

– COMPELLING EVIDENCE OF ROSA CASE– FOUR OTHER FAMILIES’ ORAL HISTORIES

• TEST SEPHARDIC HYPOTHESIS BY RESEARCHING ROSA ANCESTRAL TRAIL BACK IN TIME

NEXT QUESTION: LEVITE OR ISRAELITE?

• 8 FAMILIES KNOW OF THEIR LEVITE STATUS

• OTHERS HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF LEVITE STATUS

• LEVITE STATUS FOLLOWS EXACTLY SAME PATH AS Y-DNA: FATHER TO SON TO SON…

• IF ONE FAMILY IS LEVITE, WE ALL SHOULD BE LEVITES!

• How Can This Be Explained??

POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS• SHORTAGE OF LEVITES CAUSED SOME TO

BE “APPOINTED” • SOME FALSELY CLAIMED TO BE LEVITES• LEVITE STATUS FORGOTTEN OR FADED

AWAY OVER GENERATIONS IN MAJORITY OF CASES

• HÜBSCHER FAMILY ONE CASE IN POINT: STATUS FORGOTTEN, THEN REMEMBERED

• A Quick Look at Some Evidence…

MARRIAGE CONTRACT

SAM’S MARRIAGE CONTRACT

SHULEM BAR MORDECHAI HALEVI

TWO RECENTLY DISCOVERED LEVITES

LEVITE EXPLANATIONS – CONCLUDED

• SHORTAGE OF LEVITES CAUSED SOME TO BE “APPOINTED”

• SOME FALSELY CLAIMED TO BE LEVITES• LEVITE STATUS FORGOTTEN OR FADED

AWAY OVER GENERATIONS IN MAJORITY OF CASES

• HÜBSCHER FAMILY CASE IN POINT: STATUS FORGOTTEN, THEN REMEMBERED

• GUSSOW FAMILY ANOTHER EXAMPLE• MRCA WAS A LEVITE

• Next: DNA and Geographic Correlation

DNA AND GEOGRAPHIC CORRELATIONS

• TUERK AND PERLEN FAMILIES– SERNIK & LAHYSHIN NEAR PINSK, BELARUS

• LEVY, WATERMAN, AND MILLER– WARSAW AND A LEVITE STORY

• HÜBSCHER AND FARKAS– GALICIA AND NEARBY ROMANIA

• ISSROFF AND ISSEROW– LITHUANIA

• LITVAKS AND GALITZIANERS

USE WIRTH MODAL HAPLOTYPE AS REFERENCE12 22 14 10 14 15 11 15

12 14 11 31 15 9 9 11

11 26 15 20 29 13 13.1 15

16 16 16 ↔ 10 10 19 22

15 12 15 17 34 36 12 9

↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 11 9 0 17 17 15 10

12 12 15 8 11 22 21 13

12 11 13 11 12 12 11

• MODAL VALUES IN BLACK

• ON FOLLOWING SLIDES, VALUES OFF MODAL SHARED BY FAMILIES SHOWN IN RED

TUERK & PERLEN FAMILIES: MATCHING DNA AND ORIGINS

12 22 14 10 14 15 11 15

12 14 11 31 15 9 9 11

11 26 15 20 29 13 13.1 16

16 16 16 ↔ 10 10 19 22

15 12 15 17 34 36 12 9

↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 11 9 0 17 17 14 10

12 12 15 8 11 22 21 14

12 11 13 11 12 12 11

PERLEN

TUERK

LEVY, WATERMAN, MILLER

12 22 14 10 14 16 11 15

12 14 11 31 15 9 9 11

11 25 15 20 29 13 13.1 16

16 0 0 ↔ 10 10 19 22

15 12 15 17 34 35 12 9

↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 11 9 0 17 17 15 10

12 12 15 8 11 22 21 13

12 11 13 11 11 12 11

• ALL ORIGINS WARSAW• ALL SHARE VALUE 25 AT

MARKER #18• ALL SHARE “POST-WIRTH

ANOMALY”: 16, 0, 0, 35• WATERMAN 16 AT

MARKER #6• MILLER 11 AT MARKER

#65• LEVY AND WATERMAN

KNOW OF LEVITE ANCESTRY

HÜBSCHER AND FARKAS

12 22 14 10 14 15 11 15

12 14 11 31 15 9 9 11

11 25 15 20 29 13 13.1 15

16 16 16 ↔ 10 10 19 22

15 12 15 17 34 36 12 9

↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 11 9 0 17 17 15 10

12 12 15 8 11 22 21 13

12 11 13 11 12 12 11

FARKAS

HÜBSCHER

Match Level

Baia Mare

ISSROFF AND ISSEROW

12 23 14 10 14 15 11 15

12 14 11 31 15 9 9 11

11 26 15 20 29 13 13.1 15

16 16 16 ↔ 10 10 19 22

15 12 15 17 34 36 12 9

↔ 10 7 15 15 8 11 10

8 12 S

9 0 17 17 15 10

12 12 15 8 11 22 20 13

12 11 13 11 12 12 11

ISSROFF

ISSEROW

Match Level

Zeimelis

o

Linkuva

Ziemelis

LITVAKS AND GALITZIANERS

• DIFFERENCES?• DNA DEBUNKS THE

LITVAK/GALITZIANER DIVIDE

• THE TWO FOUNDERS OF THE WIRTH GROUP ARE ONE GALITZIANER AND ONE LITVAK

• MRCA WAS NEITHER A LITVAK NOR A GALITZIANER – DNA JOINS US ALL!

• Next: Phylogenetic Tree

Match Level

PHYLOGENETIC TREE• Family tree developed from Y-DNA results• Visualize relationships between the WIRTH

families, in lieu of paper trail• 67-marker phylogenetic tree• Correlation between genetic proximity and

geographic proximity• Software:

– Y-Utility:http://www.mymcgee.com/tools/yutility.html?mode=ftdna_mode

– Network by Fluxus Engineering:http://www.fluxus-engineering.com/

PHYLOGENETIC TREE67 MARKERS - 2007

Modal plus 2 families. 2 families.

1 family.

MODAL+5 FAMILIES:

Tenenbaum, Berger,

Sinai, Feinberg, Weiss

3 FAMILIES:

Krasnof, Scherer, Yorks

2 FAMILIES:

Hübscher + Farkas

Perlen + Tuerk

Rubin + Rossoff

1 FAMILY

PHYLOGENETIC TREE67 MARKERS - 2008

THE WIRTH GROUP WITHIN A UNIQUE JEWISH CLUSTER

• FAMILIES WITH CLOSELY MATCHING Y-DNA 67-MARKER HAPLOTYPES

• SHARED UNUSUAL DNA ANOMALIES– 1/10,000 CHANCE OF RANDOM EVENT

• COMMON PATERNAL ANCESTOR– RELATIVELY RECENT JEWISH MRCA

• GROUP HAS GROWN FROM 5 TO CURRENTLY 62 FAMILIES

• HOW BIG IS THE OVERALL CLUSTER?

HOW MANY WIRTH ON EARTH?

• HOW MANY MEN?• HOW MANY FAMILIES? • ORDER OF MAGNITUDE ESTIMATES:• WIRTH GROUP IS ROUGHLY 1% OF

JEWISH MEN IN FTDNA DATABASE• CA. 6.5 MILLION JEWISH MEN ON

EARTH, THEREFORE ROUGHLY 65,000 WIRTH MEN ON EARTH

• PERHAPS 3,000 FAMILIES

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE MRCA AND THE CLUSTER

• MRCA WAS A FRUITFUL/PROLIFIC PROGENITOR

• A GENGHIS KHAN?• A GENGHIS KOHEN?• A GENGHIS LEVI !! • WIRTH GROUP REPRESENTS ONE OF

THE FIVE LARGEST JEWISH POPULATION CLUSTERS CONFIRMED (TO DATE) BY Y-DNA

CLUSTER DEEP ANCESTRY• WHAT ABOUT THE CLUSTER’S DEEP

ANCESTRY – THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO?• CLUES LIE IN THE NON-REPEATING PART

OF THE Y-CHROMOSOME: SNPs• EXAMPLE SNP:

…GCCGATCTGTGATACTGGCG… becomes:…GCCGATGTGTGATACTGGCG…

• SNPs ARE MUTATIONS THAT OCCUR VERY RARELY (THOUSANDS OF YEARS APART, AND ONLY ONCE AT ONE LOCATION)

DEEP ANCESTRY: SOME ANSWERS

• SNPs DEFINE HAPLOGROUPS AND ALSO SUB-HAPLOGROUPS (“CLADES”):

• WIRTH GROUP IN HAPLOGROUP J2 AND IN CLADE J2a4b1 (FORMERLY CALLED J2a2a)

• J2 ORIGIN IN MID-EAST FERTILE CRESCENT CA. 20,000 YRS AGO

• J2a4b1 FIRST APPEARED IN NORTHWEST TURKEY SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS AGO

• BEST ESTIMATE: 2,300 TO 2,900 YRS AGO• 5%-95% ESTIMATE: 1,650 TO 4,200 YRS AGO

J2 (M172) HAPLOGROUP ORIGIN (O. Semino et al. 2004)

J2a4b1 (M92) CLADE ORIGIN(O. Semino et al. 2004)

WIRTH AND J2a4b1 CLADE• ARE THE WIRTH CLUSTER AND THE

J2a4b1 CLADE SYNONYMOUS? – NO! WIRTH AND NON-WIRTH J2a4b1

MODAL HAPLOTYPES ARE VERY DIFFERENT

– GD = 20 AT 67 MARKERS

• WIRTH IS A SEPARATE, UNIQUE, HOMOGENEOUS CLUSTER WITHIN J2a4b1

• WIRTH IS 400-500 YEARS OLD – J2a4b1 IS 2,000-3,000 YEARS OLD

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?• WHAT IS OUR ORIGIN? WHO WAS OUR

MRCA?• BIGGEST OPEN QUESTION: WAS THE MRCA

SEPHARDIC OR ASHKENAZIC?• HOW CAN WE FIND OUT?• ONE OPTION: PERHAPS A FAMILY WILL

COME ALONG WITH A PERFECT PAPER TRAIL BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES, AND MUCH OF OUR PUZZLE WILL BE SOLVED…..

• ANOTHER OPTION: RESEARCH ANCESTRAL TRAIL(S) BACK TO TIME OF MRCA

• HOPE FOR OPTION (1), PURSUE OPTION (2)

THE TRAIL BACK TO THE MRCA• ROSA FAMILY IN PUERTO RICO IS KEY• PLAN TO RESEARCH ROSA ANCESTRAL TRAIL BACK

TO TIME OF MRCA• RESEARCH STEPS/TASKS:

– Y-DNA TESTING OF OTHER ROSA FAMILIES IN PUERTO RICO– IDENTIFY OTHER ROSA FAMILIES WHO MATCH WIRTH DNA– TRACE ANCESTRIES OF MATCHING ONES BACK IN TIME– RESEARCH ARCHIVES IN SPAIN FOR DUPLICATE VITAL

RECORDS AND ANCESTRAL TRAIL BACK IN TIME

• OBJECTIVES:– IDENTIFY EARLIEST ANCESTOR, HOPEFULLY OUR WIRTH

MRCA– FIND OUT ALL WE CAN ABOUT OUR ORIGINS

CONCLUSION• FROM 5 FAMILIES WITH UNUSUAL DNA, TO A

GROUP OF 62, TO A CLUSTER• WHAT WE KNOW:

– Y-DNA OF OUR MRCA – THE WIRTH MODAL DNA– APPROX. LIFE DATE OF MRCA AND LEVITE STATUS– THROUGH DNA, FOUND A UNIQUE JEWISH POPULATION

CLUSTER, WITHIN CLADE J2a4b1 OF HAPLOGROUP J2 – CLUSTER SIZE NOW: IN THE ORDER OF 60,000 MALES,

PERHAPS 3,000 FAMILIES

• PLAN TO RESEARCH ANCESTRAL TRAIL BACK TO MRCA, TEST SEPHARDIC ORIGIN HYPOTHESIS, HOPEFULLY IDENTIFY MRCA

• DNA AND JEWISH GENEALOGY GO TOGETHER….☺