Genetic Genealogy:  A New Tool for Mennonite Genealogists by Tim Janzen In the past six years, DNA analysis has been increasingly used by genealogists as a tool to answer genealogical questions or to confirm assumed relationships.  Up to this point most research has focused on the Y chromosome, which is only found in males and is passed down from father to son.  If two males share a recent common ancestor then their Y chromosomes should be identical, or at least nearly identical.  The more dissimilar any two males’ Y chromosomes, the more distantly related they are.  Genealogists have been analyzing the DNA samples from many men with the same surname to see if they share a common recent ancestor. The largest surname project in the world thus far is the Williams project which includes over 400 different males with the surname Williams.  In Mennonite circles, Glenn Penner has collected DNA samples from about 30 different male Penners who are not known to be related to each other.  The data from each of these people indicates that all but one branch of the Penners descend from a common ancestor who appears to have lived within the past 400 to 600 years.  Other Mennonite surname projects are currently underway for many surnames to see if all branches descend from the same male progenitor or if some of the surnames have multiple different progenitors. Based on the results available at this time, surnames Froese, Hiebert, Janzen, Schroeder, Penner, and Wieler all appear to have more than one progenitor—possibly due to either adoption or illegitimate birth, situations referred to as non-paternity events (NPEs).  These situations complicate research since it is often difficult, if not impossible, to determine precisely where the NPE occurred and/or who the real father was. Family Names of the Present day Low-German Mennonite Population Abrahams, Abrams Adrian Albrecht Allert Andreas, Andres Arends, Arent Bachdach, Bagdach Baltzer, Balzer Banman, Banmann, Bannmann Barckmann, Bergmann Barg, Berg, Barch Bartels, Bartholomaeu Bartsch, Bartz Bauer, Buhr Becker, Boecher Behrends, Behrendt Behrlen, van Baerlen Bergen, Bargen, van Bargen, von Bergen Bestvader, Bestvater Beuningen Bickert, Bueckert Blatz Block Boese Boettcher Bock Boldt, Boltz Bollee Born Boschmann, Buschmann Brand, Brandt Braun, Bruhn Breuel Brucks Buhler Buller Busenitz Casper, Kasper Claassen, Klaassen, Klassen Conrad Conwentz Cornelius, Cornelsen, Cornies, Knelsen Dacker, Decker Dahlen Daniels Dau Decker Dell, Dill, Doell Dellesky, Dollesky Derksen, Dircksen, Dirksen, Doerksen Dick, Dyck, van Djik, Dueck Dickmann, Dyckmann Diederich Donner, Donnet Drewke, Drewki Driedger Dunkel Eidse, Eytzen Elias Engbrecht, Engmann Enns, Enss, Ensz, Entz Epp, Epps Erdmann, Ertmann Esau Ewert Fademrecht, Fadenrecht Falk Fast Fehr, de Fehr, de Veer, Veer Feith Fieguth, Figut Fisch Flaming, Flemming Fock, Focking, Fokk, Fokking Frantz Frey Friesen, von Riesen Froese Funk Gerbrandt Giesbrecht Ginter, Guenther Gertz, Goertz, Gertzen, Goerzen Goosen Groening Hamm Harder Harms Heide Heidebrecht Heinrichs Hempel Heppner, Hoeppner Hiebert, Huebert Holtzrichter Hooge Horn Hildebrand Isaac Janzen Joost Kaetler, Kettler Kasdorf Kauenhowen Kehler Kliewer Klingenberg Klippenstein Koop Krahn Krause Kroeger, Krueger Kroeker Kropp Lehn Lemke, Lemke Lepp, Loepp Leppke, Loeppky Letkeman Loewen Mantler Martens Mathies Momber Nachtigal Neubauer, Niebuhr Neudorf Neufeld Neumann Neustaedter Nickel, Nikkel Niessen, von Niessen Olfert Pankratz Pauls Penner Peters Petkau, Paetkau Philipsen Plett Pries Quapp Quiring Rahn Ratzlaff Redekop Regehr, Regier Reimer Rempel Richert Riediger Rosenfeld Roy, von Roy Sawatzky Schapansky Scheffler Schellenberg Schmidt Schroeder Schultz Schwartz Siebert Siebrandt Siemens Spenst Sperling Sprunk Steen, van Steen Steffens Steingart Stobbe Stoesz Striemer Suckau Suderman Teichgrob, Teichgraef, Deichgraef Tillitzky Tessman, Thessman Tessmer Tgart, Tiahrt Thielmann Thiessen, Tiessen Thimm Thun Timmermann Toews Unger Unrau, Unruh van Almonde Viegut, Vock Vocking Vogt Voth, Foth Wall Warkentin Wedel Werner Westerwick Wiebe Wieler, Wiehler Wiens Wilcke, Woelke Winter Wolf Zacharias       Mitochondrial DNA Also of interest to genealogists is mitochondrial DNA.  Mitochondrial DNA is always passed down from mother to child; testing can trace the mitochondrial DNA sequence for any given individual’s maternal line.  Mitochondrial DNA mutates relatively infrequently;  on average only  3% chance of mutation in any of the bases in the mitochondrial DNA sequence in any given generation.  Thus, if two people share the same great grandmother on the maternal line of descent then they would have identical mitochondrial DNA sequences, or at the most one base that differs.  For example, I am currently having selected people tested who descend from the early Loewen families in the Chortitza Colony to help me learn which early Loewen family my great great great grandmother Maria Loewen (d. ca 1853)(Grandma #55831) was a member of. Since humans also have 44 autosomal chromosomes containing a total about 3 billion base pairs there is also a huge amount of information in these chromosomes that is potentially of interest to genealogists.  It appears that autosomal DNA will be of most help in determining relationships between people who share a common ancestor within the past 6 to 8 generations.  Each parent passes on ½ of their autosomal DNA to each of their children.  Siblings share 50% of the same autosomal DNA markers and first cousins share 12.5% of the same markers.  The more distantly related two people are to each other the fewer autosomal markers they would share.  In 2004, Amelia Reimer and Glenn Penner began a DNA project for Mennonites and Amish with the company Family Tree DNA (www.familydna.com).  So far, 158 members are participating in that project.  Of these, 101 people are of Low German Mennonite ancestry.  Recently, Glenn Penner and Richard Thiessen set up a web site at www.mennonitedna.com that is focused solely on the DNA results for Mennonites of Low German ancestry.  The long term goals are to determine the number of male progenitors there were for each Mennonite surname, to determine how many female Mennonite progenitors there were, and to use the DNA results to complement traditional genealogical research in determining relationships among various ancestors. The DNA results that have come in give fascinating insight into the geographic origin of various Mennonite surnames.  The Y chromosome results strongly suggest that progenitors with the surnames Epp, Loewen, Wiebe, and Hiebert, as well one line of Janzens and one line of Wielers, were Frisians, originally from Friesland in the northeastern portion of the Netherlands.  Progenerators with the surnames Fehr, Thiessen, Neufeld, Friesen, and Wall  were of Anglo-Saxon origin, suggesting that they originally lived somewhere in the vicinity of the Netherlands or northwestern Germany, while surnames Dyck, Bartsch, and Reimer suggest that their progenitors lived more along the coast of Europe, possibly as far south as Iberia.  Surnames Froese, Ratzlaff, as well as one line of Wielers and one line of Schroeders  were likely part of a common European variety called the Atlantic Modal Haplotype.  Family Tree DNA  is an excellent resource, but because of its high cost (the 37-marker Y chromosome test for males costs $259 USD and the mitochondrial DNA test for Hypervariable Regions 1 and 2 costs $189 USD), many genealogists use the free testing service provided by the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation in Salt Lake City, Utah.  This foundation was established in 1999 and is funded by philanthropist James Sorenson.  In December 2005, I discovered that one could readily extract ones DNA markers from the foundation’s online Y chromosome database at http://www.smgf.org/pages/ydatabase.jspx by changing the marker values on the search screen until all the correct values appear.  So far, at least 200 Mennonites have sent DNA samples to the Sorenson Foundation.  It usually takes at least 6 to 12 months for one’s results to appear in the foundation’s databases.  The Sorenson Foundation is currently testing 43 Y chromosome makers, the 3 hypervariable regions of the mitochondrial DNA, and 300 autosomal DNA markers.  Their mitochondrial DNA database was released in July and is available at http://www.smgf.org/mtdna/search.jspx.  Their autosomal DNA database will be released in about a year.  The foundation is comparing the autosomal markers found in the Mennonites who have sent in samples with the genealogical data in the Grandma database and other genealogical information to infer the various autosomal markers that each of our Mennonite ancestors carried in their DNA.  This information will then be used to determine relationships among people that can’t be determined through traditional genealogical research.  At this point a DNA sample from anyone of Mennonite ancestry, particularly older Mennonites, would be helpful.  (Ideally, it would be best to have all older Mennonites tested ).  If anyone has questions about DNA testing in general feel free to contact Glenn Penner at gpenner@uoguelph.ca and/or me at tjanzen@comcast.net.  To contribute a DNA sample to the project, order a free test kit at http://www.smgf.org/pages/request_kit.jspx; and enter “Mennonite project” in the “Additional Comments” section at the bottom of the form.  Please let Glenn and/or me know if you order a kit, since we are trying to keep track of the Mennonites who have sent samples to the Sorenson Foundation so that we can extract the results from the databases as they become available.  The test requires a sample of cells from the inside of your mouth that comes from rinsing your mouth with a mouthwash, and a copy of your pedigree chart. The archive of the MHSBC also has Sorenson Foundation test kits and will help you in collecting a sample. If you live in Abbotsford, Richard Thiessen is willing to come to your home to collect a  sample if you are unable to come to the archive.  Call him at (604) 853-3567, ext. 336 if you are interested in having him do this for you.   UCFV to present History of North American Mennonites course The Mennonite Historical Society of BC commends the University College of the Fraser Valley for scheduling a course on Mennonite history to be taught in summer of 2007.  “History 396G: The History of North American Mennonites” will be taught by well known local resident, Bruce Hiebert  (BA, University of Manitoba), MTS  (Vancouver School of Theology), MDiv (Mennonite Biblical Seminary), PhD Candidate. “This course will explore the Mennonite experience in North America from the late 1600s to the present day. Beginning with their roots in the Protestant Reformation, the course will explore how and why Mennonites arrived in North America over the centuries and what they experienced once here. Specific foci of the course will include Mennonite pacifism and the conscriptions of the 20th century; transformations in Mennonites from a rural to urban people; changing relationships between men and women; the current multiplicity of Mennonitisms; and the development of Mennonite Central Committee. While not the focus of the class, the course will pay special attention to the formation of the Mennonite communities in the Fraser Valley.” ( from UCFV course catalogue)  The class will take place in the late summer session, July 3 to August 2, 2007.