How DNA has helped me in my search for an ancestral village
Jul 15, 2019 6:12:54 GMT -5
Post by sally2154 on Jul 15, 2019 6:12:54 GMT -5
If your ancestors, like mine, have not left a good paper trail and little in the way of Chinese characters, DNA can be a very valuable tool in narrowing down an area where your ancestors may have come from.
Let me share my experience with you.
I have two different and unrelated Chinese ancestors, Harm Goong and Leung Mang Yee. I have characters for Leung’s name (梁文裕) but not Harm Goong. I have no village for either.
Their paper trail is very scant, as the Australian records for the 19th century often do not contain characters, and usually Canton is all you get for their place of birth. I have given up hope of ever finding out more about exactly where they came from. This is where DNA has been invaluable.
My mother has a total of 3 4th cousin DNA matches who are 100% ethnically Chinese. I have written to all, only one has wanted to communicate (which is fine - everyone can choose whether to correspond or not!)
This particular match was descended from a paper son, his original clan name was Yee. He very helpfully sent over a transcript of his paternal grandfather’s gravestone which indicated the exact village - Namshancun in Dik Hoi Heung.
The question was, was I related to his father? Or his mother? I couldn’t tell for certain. If his parents met in the US then his mother could be from anywhere else.... meaning I may have no connection with Dik Hoi at all.
The match didn’t know anything about his maternal side at all, other than her maiden name was Tom and her parents never came to the USA. Rather than let it frustrate me, I decided to do my own genealogical research into his family in the US to see what I could find out.
Fortunately there are some good records available for migrants coming to the US in the 20th century, so I was able to find out that his mother’s place of birth was Changsha in Kaiping.
While his parents did marry in the US, it seemed likely that the marriage was somehow arranged long distance style as his parents were married only days after his mother stepped off the boat. She also listed her contact in the US as her fiancé on the passenger list.
So it was likely that Changsha wasn’t far away from Dik Hoi and indeed it isn’t - Changsha is just south of Kaiping city. Further investigation into Changsha Heung reveal that it is full of either Leung and Tom villages - Good news for me! I have both Leung and Tom/Tan/Hom/Harm.
So I have been able to go from “Guandong” down to a much smaller search area as a place of origin for at least one of my ancestors.
Of course it is possible I connect with this DNA match through a maternal ancestor meaning I may not have a village of origin in Changsha exactly, but I can say at least it is quite likely someone in my family tree did come from the Dik Hoi/Changsha area.
I have since traced another DNA match to Dik Hoi as well so I think I’m on the right track! All I need are a few more good matches that I can research...
My DNA match was thrilled wth the info I had found about his mother so it was a mutually beneficial relationship.
Let me share my experience with you.
I have two different and unrelated Chinese ancestors, Harm Goong and Leung Mang Yee. I have characters for Leung’s name (梁文裕) but not Harm Goong. I have no village for either.
Their paper trail is very scant, as the Australian records for the 19th century often do not contain characters, and usually Canton is all you get for their place of birth. I have given up hope of ever finding out more about exactly where they came from. This is where DNA has been invaluable.
My mother has a total of 3 4th cousin DNA matches who are 100% ethnically Chinese. I have written to all, only one has wanted to communicate (which is fine - everyone can choose whether to correspond or not!)
This particular match was descended from a paper son, his original clan name was Yee. He very helpfully sent over a transcript of his paternal grandfather’s gravestone which indicated the exact village - Namshancun in Dik Hoi Heung.
The question was, was I related to his father? Or his mother? I couldn’t tell for certain. If his parents met in the US then his mother could be from anywhere else.... meaning I may have no connection with Dik Hoi at all.
The match didn’t know anything about his maternal side at all, other than her maiden name was Tom and her parents never came to the USA. Rather than let it frustrate me, I decided to do my own genealogical research into his family in the US to see what I could find out.
Fortunately there are some good records available for migrants coming to the US in the 20th century, so I was able to find out that his mother’s place of birth was Changsha in Kaiping.
While his parents did marry in the US, it seemed likely that the marriage was somehow arranged long distance style as his parents were married only days after his mother stepped off the boat. She also listed her contact in the US as her fiancé on the passenger list.
So it was likely that Changsha wasn’t far away from Dik Hoi and indeed it isn’t - Changsha is just south of Kaiping city. Further investigation into Changsha Heung reveal that it is full of either Leung and Tom villages - Good news for me! I have both Leung and Tom/Tan/Hom/Harm.
So I have been able to go from “Guandong” down to a much smaller search area as a place of origin for at least one of my ancestors.
Of course it is possible I connect with this DNA match through a maternal ancestor meaning I may not have a village of origin in Changsha exactly, but I can say at least it is quite likely someone in my family tree did come from the Dik Hoi/Changsha area.
I have since traced another DNA match to Dik Hoi as well so I think I’m on the right track! All I need are a few more good matches that I can research...
My DNA match was thrilled wth the info I had found about his mother so it was a mutually beneficial relationship.