Category Archives: Genetic Genealogy

The Fall of 23andme/ La Caída de 23andme/ Rediscovering Latinidad Podcast

23andme, ancestria, arboldefamilia, consumerdna, data breach, discovery, DNA, DNA cousins, DNA matches, eugenics, family tree, FamilyTreeDNA, FTDNA, genealogy, Genealogy Research, Genetic Genealogy, Genetic Genealogy/DNA Testing, hispanic, hispanidad, La Caída de 23andme, Latino, LatinX, Lenapehoking, M23, M23 Haplogroup, Madagascar, Malagasy Roots, Malagasy Roots Project, mtDNA, Rediscovering Latinidad, The Fall of 23andme, Y-DNA

Kudos to the team at Rediscovering Latinidad—Edward Rueda, Briar Rose, Edward Fausto, Jellissa, and Matthew Sambolin—for inviting my cousin, Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, and me to join this important conversation. Rediscovering Latinidad podcasts are “made with  love and dedication to the art of family history. Too often, the search for our roots is framed through a Eurocentric lens, making the process feel inefficient and exclusionary for those who identify as Latiné, LatinX, and everything in between.” I highly recommend subscribing to their podcast. Our history is complex, rich, and diverse, and it deserves to be explored on our own terms.

The recent data breach at 23andMe has sparked widespread concern, with many predicting the company’s potential downfall. In this podcast episode, we discuss the challenges 23andMe currently faces as a company in flux, separating fact from fiction. We also examine the pros and cons of other major DNA testing companies, providing insights for those navigating the evolving landscape of consumer genetics.

Of course, we also reflect on why we chose to use DNA testing in the first place—how it has helped us break through brick walls in our family trees. For many people of color, DNA is often the only tool available to trace our ancestry beyond recent generations. The brutal legacies of slavery, genocide, and dispossession were designed to sever our connections to the past. In this context, consumer DNA testing has been nothing short of revolutionary. Yet, it comes with its own challenges, particularly for those of us with endogamous ancestry, which can complicate genealogical research.

Finally, we confront the risks and ethical dilemmas of DNA testing, including issues of privacy, the lack of strong legal protections, and the troubling resurgence of eugenics—junk science dressed up in modern discourse. As genetic genealogy continues to evolve, it’s crucial to remain both informed and vigilant about how our data is used.

Please click on the red link to listen to Rediscovering Latinidad, Season 6, Episode 1

The Fall of 23andme/La Caída de 23andme

Enjoy!

 

 

Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide

23andme, Absalom Money, Absalom Mooney, Admixture, African American Genealogy, Afro-Dutch, Afro-Indigenous, Afro-Indigenous historic erasure, Amey Mooney, Battle of Saratoga, Bedford, Bennington, Black Patriot, Black Patriots, Charles Sharp, Commercial DNA Testing Companies, Connecticut 2nd Regiment, David Sharp, DNA Tests and Indigenous Identity, DNA Tests and Native American Identity, DNA Tests and Native American Tribes, DNA Tests and Native Americans, Ethnic Admixture, Ethnic and Racial Classification, Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis, Fort Crown Point, Fort Ticonderoga, Genetic Genealogy, Genetic Genealogy/DNA Testing, Genetic Paper Genocide, Green Mountain Boys, Heman Swift, Henry Sharp, Hubbardton, Isaac Sharp, John Money, John Mooney, Kitchawan, Lenapehoking, Lenni-Lenape, LivingDNA, MyHeritage, Native American, New Hampshire Grants, New York 26th Regiment, Nichols, North Salem, Phillip Money, Phillip Mooney, Phillip Sharp, Plecker, Ramapo, Ramapo Mountain Indians, Ramapo Mountains, Ramapough, Ramapough (Munsee) Lenape, Ramapough Lenape, Ramapough Lenape Nation, Ramapough Lenape People, Ridgefield, Seth Warner, Southeast Dutchess County, Tioga County, Vermont, Virginia 1924 Racial Purity Act, Walter Ashby Plecker, Wappinger Federation, Zebulon Butler

 The names of Kitchawan (Wappinger Federation) Black Patriots, Isaac Sharp, Absalom Moony/Money, John Moony/Money, are ERASED NO MORE. We thank them, and their descendants,  for their service to this country. Decolonizing the archives is how we, the descendant’s of enslaved and Free People of Color,  repair historic accounts of our ancestors and write them back into history. It can be done.  Thank you, Cousin Billie, I am sharing your ancestral story with me and allowing me to pick up your research where you left off. I know your ancestors are rejoicing now. Praise be to them in the highest. 

This article is a more extensive version of the “Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide” webinar I gave on October 19, 2023, at the 2023 National Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society’s Conference Hiding in Plain Sight: Recovering the Erased Histories of our Ancestors in the United States and the Caribbean.

As a descendant of the Munsee Lenape, early Afro-Dutch settlers, and some of the first Africans hailing from Central, West Africa and Madagascar who arrived in New Amsterdam during the early 1600s, I’ve had the privilege of bearing witness to the systematic erasure of my ancestors from history, a tragic narrative that continues to persist throughout the ongoing settler colonial project. The overarching goal of settler colonialism has consistently revolved around replacing the original inhabitants of Lenapehoking with waves of settlers who, in substantial numbers, arrived in the early 1600s, solidifying and imposing their distinct national identity and notions of sovereignty. This nefarious process, marked by genocide, enslavement, dispossession, and coupled with the insidious practice of paper genocide, has tragically contributed to perpetuating the mistaken belief that the people of Lenapehoking were rendered extinct.

“Repairing Erasure: Indigenous Identity and Paper Genocide ” can be read here: VegaTeresaRepairing ErasureIndigenousIdentityandPaperGenocideAAHGSJournal 2024_Winter_

 

 

The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Fairfield County, CT, Part 2

Abraham Hammond, Aesop Moses, African American Loyalists, Afro-Indigenous Loyalists, Alexander Stewart, Andrew Bush, Andrew Izzard, Annapolis, Anthony, Anthony Barton, Benjamin Marston, Benjamin Stanton, Benjamin Thompson, Birchtown, Black Settlements in Canada, Brindley Town, Bush-Holley House, Canada, Captain James Hughston, Captain James Lyon, Catherine, Cato Cannon, Charity Morris, Charles Francis, Charles Richards, Colonel Perry, Connecticut Loyalists, Connecticut Merchant Marine families, CT Loyalists, Cuff Bush, Cuff Fairchild, David Bush, David Coley, David Raymond, Digby, Dr. Francis Forgue, Dr. William Bush, Eanus Deaton, Ebenezer Coley, Edward and Mary Ann Morris, Edward Godfrey, Edward Lloyd, Edward Morris, Emmanuel Jarvis, Enslaved People, Francis Clements, Free Blacks, Fyler Dibblee, Gabriel DeVeber, General Birch Certificates, General William Howes 1777 Order, Genetic Genealogy, George Fairfield, George Leonard, George Stevens, Glasglow Griggs, Guysborough, Henry and Phebe Lyon, Horseneck, Hoyt, Hubbard, Hyde, II, Indigenous Loyalists, Isaac Johnson, Ishmael Coley, Jack Coley, Jack Hide, James Grayson, James Jackson, James Legree, James Nicols, Job Bartram, John Cannon, John Ketcham, John Lloyd, John Prior, Jonathan Buckley, Joseph Cromwell, Joseph Taylor, Judith Griggs, Judith Stewart, Kate and daughter, Kemble Manor, Ketcham, King American Dragoons, Liverpool Slave Trade, Lloyd's Manor, Long Island, Lord Dunmores Proclamation, Loyalist Transporters, Malagasy Diaspora, Malagasy Roots, Malagasy Roots Project, Mary Legree, Michael Cox, Milkish Settlement, Morris-Bush Family, Moses, Nancy and Flora Bartram, Nathaniel Hubbard, Nathaniel Hubbell, Native American Loyalists, Ned Morris, New Brunswick, New Castle, New York City, Nova Scotia, Peter Cock, Peter Cox, Phillip Nichols, Phyllis Ketcham, Phyllis Lyon, Polly Dibblee, Port Mouton, Preston, Prince Buckley, Prince Perry, Revolutionary War, Robert Gibson, Rogers, Rose Fortune, Samuel Brothers, Samuel Ives, Samuel Ketchum, Shelburne, Sierra Leone, Silas Holley, Simon White, Sir Guy Carlton, Sir Henry Clinton's 1779 Phillipsburg Proclamation, Slavery in NJ, Slavery in NY, son of Charity Morris, St. John, Stephen Kemble, Suffolk County, Sukey, The Black Brigade, The Black Pioneers, The Book of Negroes, The Byram African-American Cemetery, The Ethiopian Regiment, Thomas Francis, Thomas Lagare, Thomas Marren, Thomas Rogers, Titus Cornelius, Tom Hide, Toney Barton, Toney Bartram, Tracadie, Transatlantic Slave Trade, Treaty of Paris, Unus Deaton, Venus Legree, War of Independence, West Indies Trade, William and Diana Carden, Zimri Armstrong

Here is Part 2 of a 2-part article on The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Fairfield County, CT. Part 1 of this article series lays the groundwork to understanding the position that Black Loyalists found themselves in while serving the British Crown. Part 2 tells the individual stories of what happened to some of the Black Loyalists from Fairfield County, Connecticut, after they arrived in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada, and Sierra Leone. I approach this topic as a family historian-genealogist and a descendant of enslaved/formerly enslaved African and Indigenous peoples who served as Black Patriots and Black Loyalists in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. I believe that their remarkable contributions to both the United States and Britain have been overlooked. It is important to recognize that their acts of resistance and agency positioned them as the
“Founding Fathers” in the US and Canada.

While this article does not provide a comprehensive overview of Connecticut Loyalists’
involvement in the War, it offers a snapshot of the significant events that Black Loyalists of Fairfield County faced. Their fates highlight how the promises made to them by the Loyalists ultimately turned out to be grand gestures that led to a false sense of freedom. While some may view Black Loyalists as “the losers’ losers,” we regard them as heroes for pursuing liberty, freedom, and justice in the face of great odds. The decision they all made to ta The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Fairfiled County, CT Part 2ke a chance on freedom is perhaps the most American of all stories.

The full article can be read here: The Fate of the Black Loyalists of Fairfield County, CT Part 2