DNA Testing

I have been working recently to characterize my heritage (and by extension yours as well.)

All of you who are related to the Jones know that we have Choctaw blood. That was our family story, which we could “prove” by pointing to the Dawes rolls and our relatives that registered there. We do not really know the actual quantum of blood, although for most purposes, we accepted that Impson Jones and Jincey James Jones were full blood Choctaws.  A new Y-DNA test of an Impson Jones descendent now has shown we are directly related to an English Jones family. More specifically Jones families residing in VA & NC during the 1700’s. The Jones family lineage  has undoubtedly some other northern European component, since we know from family lore that a French family (Baptiste) was also probably in our line. With no native American Y- DNA in the male Jones line,  all our Choctaw came from the female side. Even though I cannot show how much Choctaw we all inherited, I have done the mtDNA (Mitochondrial DNA) test on myself as well as on a female cousin and the results show that our mtDNA is Native American. The mtDNA is inherited only from your mother, while (if you are male) your Y-DNA is inherited only from your father. So The mtDNA is passed from mother to daughter (and son). But my mtDNA was not passed down by me to any of my children. The FTDNA autosomal test showed I am 6.5% Mayan or Columbian, which is the closest population match for Native Americans that they currently have in their databases.  I have since tested or submitted samples to 3 other companies. All have shown from 6 to 12 % Native American DNA. My mother and her mother, grandmother, etc., were all of  Native American descent. (Which we were sure we already knew.)

So although not new information; these results certainly prove it without a doubt. For those that need more info, we are in the MtDNA D1 haplogroup, a small group that came originally from Africa through Asia and crossed over to the Americas about 25,000 years ago. There are currently 5 Native American haplogroups related to different migrations. See this map:

https://www.familytreedna.com/img/certificates-and-reports/mt_migration_lg.jpg

At this time, it cannot be more specific, but as more people are tested, it might be possible to identify which tribe or groups of related tribes one was descended from. But because of the large interaction of the various tribes in the Southeast, a lot of mixing is probable, whether voluntarily or by captives taken from the various tribes during wartime. So Choctaws may not be a genetically distinct group.

On other fronts I have tested a Lane and a Bell cousin. But at this point none of the matches in the databases are very close to say that we have found other families that are related. They are all, as are the Jones, of the Y-DNA Haplogroup R-M269. It does point to Mostly Irish, Scottish and English ancestry which is what we would have expected. Of course I have also done work on my Dad’s Boucher line and hope to work on the Hudgins, Wright and Leonard families.

The Boucher Bunch sponsored a Boucher Y-DNA project and a number of the group have participated in the Y-DNA testing. The preliminary results show that a number of them are closely related, even though we have not found the common ancestor as yet. We are still working on that. My Boucher family Y-DNA, which is I-M170, is a specific haplotype also called I2b2.

My Boucher family also had a story about being of some Choctaw blood as well and maybe I can confirm that. We’ll see. Ancestry ThruLines which is based strictly on other people’s trees, show me as having several NA ancestors at the 4th and 5th grandparent level from the Hudgins and Davis lines on my paternal side. Also Duke relatives said my great grandmother was part Choctaw as well. All conjecture at this point.

So please let me know if you have questions (or answers). I will try to keep any results up to date on my website.

Finally I also have now tested at FTDNA, 23&me, Ancestry and moved my FTDNA results to My Heritage and Gedmatch. As a result, I have already found a number of  3rd, 4th and 5th cousins. Many more have matched portions of my DNA, but due to not having a more complete family tree I have not been able to show a relationship. Unfortunately a number of the users may have been adopted or do not have a family tree to compare. As this gets more popular it will become more useful in helping to find lost ancestors or side branches of the families.

Apr 3, 2023

Copyright © Michael L. Boucher, Sr, 1997-2023