Jewish Descent

[Charli3283]

Hi,

My Grandmother is convinced that we must have Jewish blood on her side somewhere, because she has the surnames Amos, Isaacs, Abraham and Salmon (her maiden name, a derivative of Solomon) in her family.

Does anyone have any information on these names? Does it sound likely? I am very interested.

Thanks

Charli (Uk)

[ilyse]

Hi,

My Grandmother is convinced that we must have Jewish blood on her side somewhere, because she has the surnames Amos, Isaacs, Abraham and Salmon (her maiden name, a derivative of Solomon) in her family.

Does anyone have any information on these names? Does it sound likely? I am very interested.

Thanks

Charli (Uk)

Hi,
Did you get mtdna testing? If so, and there are matches w/similiar names or comments indicating Jewish ancestry, that is a good starting point. You might want to look into surname projects. I'm not familiar w/what exactly family tree tests, but I know that have a test to determine Jewish ancesty. hope that helps.
Ilyse

[josh w.]

The surnames could be Jewish but not necessarily. There are no uniquely Jewish genetic lines and so one cannot identify Jewish ancestry from haplogroups alone. (there may be an exception to this conclusion with some yet to be identified post-Diaspora subclades or fine branches). However some haplogroups are common among Jews. For male Ydna lines the most common haplogroups are Eb3, J1, J2, G, R1a and to some extent R1b and Q. For female mtdna lines the most common haplogroups are K, N, H, and J or T. If most of your genetic matches were Jewish this would further support your hunch. Is there any family history consistent with a Jewish background.

[Charli3283]

Thanks for the help! Haven't had testing, really would love to though, I'm fascinated by all this stuff! There's a Spanish link also! Well, re: jewishness, I don't know any more, depends on if you believe there is a Jeiwsh 'look' or not which stereotypically, alot of people in my family have. Family is huge, but I hope to find things out! testing is the first step! Altho, is it expensive? x

[tomcat]

Join a surname or geographic project and it will be less expensive. There are no limitations on your use of your data outside a surname or geographic project, so it is a good deal. Or go through the Genographic Project for basic tests of both y- and mt-DNA for U$ 200 dollars.

Tom