Genealogists are often confronted with situations when records cease to exist.  What can a genealogist do? The classical answer usually involves studies of historical events and linguistics.  But relatively recent advances in molecular biology have created some new possibilities for further research.

    These possibilities branch in two different directions.  One involves "normal" genealogical research.  DNA testing can be used to connect distant branches of a family because DNA testing can show whether family branches have a recent common ancestor.  The common term that is used to describe these efforts is " Surname Studies". Currently there are over a thousand of these surname studies in progress. The second major use of DNA testing is determining one's "deep ancestry".  Genetic research when combined with cladistic analysis have yielded some spectacular results regarding the early prehistory of humankind.

    Two kinds of DNA testing can be performed.  The first is mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA) testing which is used for tracing one's deep ancestral maternal line.  Mitochondrial DNA is passed from a mother to all her children but only females can pass on mtDNA.  The other method is Y chromosome testing which is used to trace one's paternal lineage.  The Y chromosome is passed from father to son.  Only males can have the Y chromosome test performed while both females and males can have the mtDNA test performed.

    Since late 2001, Dr. Gary Kocurek(University of Texas) and I have been collecting data from both Czech American Y chromosome and mtDNA test results.  We are searching to see if specific patterns emerge from grouping this data. We are correlating Czech surnames with Czech villages.  While we have not located a study of mtDNA from the Czech Republic, we were able to compare the test results of Czech Americans to Europeans in general.  The following is a table showing the results of that comparison:

MtDNA STUDY RESULTS

   The column entitled "Dr.Sykes" indicates that the data on the distribution of European data was taken from the book  The Seven Daughters of Eve by Dr. Sykes. The term haplogroup is a basic division of mtDNA.  There are seven European haplogroups, ie, H, U, X, J, T, K, and V. Ninety five(95)% of all Europeans can be grouped in these seven haplogroups. Each of these haplogroups began with mutations that can be traced to one specific woman. So 95% of all Europeans are descended from seven women.  A look at this preliminary data shows that Czech Americans closely resemble the distribution of Europeans for haplogroups H, X, T, and V.  There are significant differences in haplogroups U, J, and K.  Since haplogroup J is a genetic echo of the Neolithic people who brought agriculture to Europe, this would seem to indicate that Czech Americans are nearly entirely descended(maternally) from the Paleolithic hunters/gatherers that originally settled Europe.  One unanticipated result concerned haplogroup K.  We have found that three Czech Texans have exactly the same mtDNA as the "Iceman".  This is the frozen mummy found on the border of Austria and Italy.  He is estimated to have lived over 5000 years ago.  We are not sure of the significance of this finding but it is a curiosity.  One other curiosity is the detection of one example of sub-Saharan mtDNA(haplogroup L2).

Our collection of Y chromosome data has yielded the following data:

Y CHROMOSOME TEST RESULTS

    Haplogroup designations are different for Y chromosome testing than they are for mtDNA. In fact the terminology for Y chromosome testing has changed.  The haplogroup designations used to be given by numbers.  The new haplogroup designations are now begin with letters as do the mtDNA haplogroups, but there is no direct correlation between the mtDNA and Y chromosome haplogroup designations.  A comparison between a relatively small Y chromosome study from the Czech Republic with our Czech American study shows some significant differences.  Haplogroup R1b is an indicator of Celtic or proto-Celtic "deep ancestry".  Additionally our Czech American data indicates more than twice the percentage of Neolithic ancestry than what the data from the Czech Republic shows.

The following is a list of Czech surnames that have participated in this study:

CZECH SURNAMES

    The Y chromosome data associated with these surnames will let genealogists match branches of an extended family.  If someone with a surname shown above has Y chromosome test results that match, then those two branches of an extended family share a common paternal ancestor. Purely by chance we had two participants from the Kocurek family of Hovezi, Moravia.  One branch of the family immigrated to Texas in the 1850s while the other branch left in 1880s.  The Y chromosome test results matched. Recently we've had a match between a central Texas Roeder line and a Roder line in eastern Moravia.  As more Czech Americans participate in this study, the number of Czech surnames will grow and the database will become increasingly useful for genealogical purposes.

    If you wish to learn more about these types of DNA testing, please take a look at the Oxford Ancestors website ( http://www.oxfordancestors.com) or the Family Tree DNA website( http://www.familytreedna.com).  If you wish to participate in this study, please email me at lbaca@comcast.net.  The cost of a 12 marker Y chromosome test is $99+$2 shipping. The cost of an mtDNA test is $139+$2 shipping is done separately.  If both tests are run concurrently, the cost is $189+$2 shipping.

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