June 29, 2008
Rebuilding The Family Tree
Lesley Stahl Reports On The Hopes And Limitations Of Genetic Genealogy
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Play CBS Video Video Finding One's Roots Lesley Stahl reports on the new field of genetic genealogy, which uses DNA to trace ancestry back hundreds of years. (This story was first broadcast on Oct. 7, 2007.)
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Marion West, left, and Vy Higgensen. (CBS)
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Interactive Genetic Journey Using DNA samples, the Genographic Project tries to map humanity's trip through the ages.
Not on Thanksgiving, but she did go to Missouri. Marion drove two and a half hours to the airport to meet her and her daughter.
"And he grabs us, throws his arms around us. And he said, 'This is a day I have prayed for. I'm so glad you came. Thank you,'" Vy remembers.
"I grabbed her and hugged her, said, 'You're part of my blood. You're mine--cousins, God's put us together.' Exactly what I told her," Marion remembers.
"When you started this, in your wildest imagination, did you ever think you'd end up in a white family?" Stahl asks Vy.
"No," she replies.
Asked if it's funny, bemusing or weird, Vy, says, "All of it. …But there's some joy in the discovery. Who am I? Why do I look the way I do? It's like discovering American history through yourself."
The American history Vy discovered is a common one it turns out. Geneticist Rick Kittles runs a company called African Ancestry that specializes in DNA testing for black Americans. He says a full one third of the men he tests find out they have a white male relative somewhere back in time.
How do people who find this out react?
"Some black men get upset and say, 'Look, I'm black. Look at me, I'm black.' And you know and I say, 'Yeah, you are. But this small segment of your DNA doesn’t go back to Africa but to Europe,'" Kittles says. "We are a mosaic of many different ancestors. We can go back several generations and there are hundreds of people who, thousands of people who actually contributed to our DNA."
And that's the rub. This business of genetic genealogy is fraught with limitations. For one thing, it can only provide information about a tiny fraction of our ancestry. Because we get half our DNA from our mothers and half from our fathers, almost all of our DNA gets shuffled and remixed every generation, making it impossible to trace what comes from whom. There are just two bits of DNA that remain pure - the "Y" chromosome, which passes directly from father to son, and something called mitochondrial DNA, which passes unchanged from mother to child.
Hank Greely, a law professor at Stanford University, has studied this new field. He worries that people don't realize just how many ancestors they actually have.
"Eight generations ago both you and I had 256 great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents," Greely points out. "It doubles every generation. So you've got two parents. You have four grandparents. You have eight great grandparents. Sixteen great-great grandparents. And it adds up fast. It adds up so fast in fact that if you go back 20 generations you've got over a million grandparents."
1,048,576 to be exact. And in each generation, DNA testing can provide information about only two of them.
"So you could be Peruvian on your mother's mother's mother's side, Japanese on your father's father's father's side. Swedish on everything else," Greely explains.
"And you'll never know?" Stahl asks.
"And you'll never know the Swedish from the 'Y' chromosome or the mitochondrial DNA," Greely says.
"We don't oversell. I mean, we just say, 'Look, we provide a service.' If you're interested in exploring a tiny bit of your DNA and trace it's ancestry we can do that," Kittles says.
"When you say it's a tiny little amount…," Stahl says.
"It's less than point one percent," Kittles explains.
"That's pretty teeny," Stahl remarks.
"Yeah, but for people who know nothing about any of them, I think it's very important," Kittles says.
Kittles' company has amassed the largest database of DNA sequences from countries in Africa, particularly those from which slaves were taken. His goal is to help American blacks trace their ancestry back to Africa, a history totally lost to them.
To Vy Higgensen, the prospect of tracing even a tiny fraction of her ancestry back to Africa was enthralling. 60 Minutes sent her DNA to African Ancestry, as well as several other genetic genealogy companies, to see what they could tell us about Vy's maternal lineage.
Produced By Shari Finkelstein
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 82 CommentsI couldn''t tell from what you wrote whether Harold L. West is your brother. If he%u2019s already been tested, you can learn something about your family''s origins by comparing it with other Wests. If there is a match, you will know that you share some family history with them. You%u2019ll be able to see whether your West line matches any of the 28 West families that have been identified, or with one that hasn''t yet found a match, on this West surname project page: http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/west5.htm
The test they%u2019re using to look at the West surname is the Y chromosome, which is found only in males and is passed down father-to-son. It won%u2019t be possible to use it to learn about your maternal ancestors using the Y chromosome.
You could find out about the maternal lines by having someone test mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). If you could find someone who descends directly from mother to daughter from the possible Native American ancestor, then the result should tell you whether the person in question really was Native American or not.
The price of these tests starts at about $99. To get more useful info you might need to spend a little more. Why don''t you first see if any male relatives in your West family have already been tested, and if not, whether they would like to be. Maybe they%u2019ll even pay for it! You can get more information from the administrator of the West DNA project here:http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/
Good luck!
I couldn''t tell from what you wrote whether Harold L. West is your brother. If he%u2019s already been tested, you can learn something about your family''s origins by comparing it with other Wests. If there is a match, you will know that you share some family history with them. You%u2019ll be able to see whether your West line matches any of the 28 West families that have been identified, or with one that hasn''t yet found a match, on this West surname project page: http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/west5.htm
The test they%u2019re using to look at the West surname is the Y chromosome, which is found only in males and is passed down father-to-son. It won%u2019t be possible to use it to learn about your maternal ancestors using the Y chromosome.
You could find out about the maternal lines by having someone test mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). If you could find someone who descends directly from mother to daughter from the possible Native American ancestor, then the result should tell you whether the person in question really was Native American or not.
The price of these tests starts at about $99. To get more useful info you might need to spend a little more. Why don''t you first see if any male relatives in your West family have already been tested, and if not, whether they would like to be. Maybe they%u2019ll even pay for it! You can get more information from the administrator of the West DNA project here:http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/
Good luck!
I couldn''t tell from what you wrote whether Harold L. West is your brother. If he%u2019s already been tested, you can learn something about your family''s origins by comparing it with other Wests. If there is a match, you will know that you share some family history with them. You%u2019ll be able to see whether your West line matches any of the 28 West families that have been identified, or with one that hasn''t yet found a match, on this West surname project page: http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/west5.htm
The test they%u2019re using to look at the West surname is the Y chromosome, which is found only in males and is passed down father-to-son. It won%u2019t be possible to use it to learn about your maternal ancestors using the Y chromosome.
You could find out about the maternal lines by having someone test mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). If you could find someone who descends directly from mother to daughter from the possible Native American ancestor, then the result should tell you whether the person in question really was Native American or not.
The price of these tests starts at about $99. To get more useful info you might need to spend a little more. Why don''t you first see if any male relatives in your West family have already been tested, and if not, whether they would like to be. Maybe they%u2019ll even pay for it! You can get more information from the administrator of the West DNA project here:http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/
Good luck!
I couldn''t tell from what you wrote whether Harold L. West is your brother. If he%u2019s already been tested, you can learn something about your family''s origins by comparing it with other Wests. If there is a match, you will know that you share some family history with them. You%u2019ll be able to see whether your West line matches any of the 28 West families that have been identified, or with one that hasn''t yet found a match, on this West surname project page: http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/west5.htm
The test they%u2019re using to look at the West surname is the Y chromosome, which is found only in males and is passed down father-to-son. It won%u2019t be possible to use it to learn about your maternal ancestors using the Y chromosome.
You could find out about the maternal lines by having someone test mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). If you could find someone who descends directly from mother to daughter from the possible Native American ancestor, then the result should tell you whether the person in question really was Native American or not.
The price of these tests starts at about $99. To get more useful info you might need to spend a little more. Why don''t you first see if any male relatives in your West family have already been tested, and if not, whether they would like to be. Maybe they%u2019ll even pay for it! You can get more information from the administrator of the West DNA project here:http://web.utk.edu/~corn/westdna/
Good luck!
DNA DID NOT prove Thomas Jefferson to be the father of Sally Hemings''s children. I assisted Dr. Foster with the test.
The problem: He tested a known Sally Hemings male line descendant of Eston Hemings whose family had ALWAYS claimed descend from a "Jefferson uncle" meaning Randolph Jefferson, the Presidents brother. Dr Foster failed to notify Nature Journal, Monmticello or other researchers and thus there was surprise when the DNA''s matched. Having been forwarned they could only assume that the result would naturally happen because of thje long family claims. There was no match of Jefferson-Woodson, a long held family claim. Final analysis: NOTHING proves that TJ fathered Hemings children. Be careful of your own DNA studies and gather ALL family history.
Herb Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
you easily go into the trillions.
Charles
I was watching the newscast about tracing your family roots. I saw the story of "Vi Higginson", and tracing her family tree to "Marion West". My last name is West also. I know that I have "Blackfoot Indian" in my family tree. I know that my Great Grandmothers name was "Addie Howell". She lived in the Tennesse area. Around Knoxville, Danveridge, New Market, and Nashville area. I have been trying to tace my roots through "Ancestory.com", but that has been taking forever. I also noticed that the names on the paper that was shown contained a name of a living sibling of mine, by the name of "Harold L. West", which showed he has the "Y25" cromosone to trace male decendents. Is there any type of help anyone can give me to help in my quest to find my heritage? Money is a big obstacle for me at this time. I have been laid-off since February of 2008. Dispite the obstacle, I would still like to find my roots no matter how minut it may seem to some. PLEASE HELP!!
If you had done your homework you would have mentioned that the reason it is so hard for for women to match is because each generation we have a different female. And when we get an X chromozone a women does not know which X chromozone she is getting from her mother. She could be getting her 6th great-grandmother''s chromozone or she could be getting her 12th great-grandmother''s X chromozone. In any case it gets confusing.
Men are lucky they don''t have this problem.
I thought the report was good, but it did not account for the history of the African American slave story. I thought it would have been a better presentation if it had included some perspectives of history. We do know that everything, to include science, has limitations. Next time, Including some historical explanations can give us a better picture of what DNA science concluded.
This is like finding in a DNA of a french citizen from Marseille that he has italian, greck, spanish portuguese ,syrian and algerian ancestry in his DNA.In that case, we will have heard in the same time that it is normal because so and so. But when an African-American has multiple encestries on her DNA ,no one seems to know why.
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