'Faces of America' reveals family ties

Reporting from New York - When Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. started his latest genealogical project for PBS, which used historical archives and cutting-edge genetic research to trace the ancestry of a dozen famous Americans, he already had one hoped-for outcome in mind.

"I wanted to pick someone who is Jewish and someone who is Muslim and pray we get the same result in their DNA," he said.

Sure enough, genetic testing revealed that director Mike Nichols, of Eastern European Jewish heritage, and surgeon and television host Mehmet Oz, the son of Turkish Muslim immigrants, had a common paternal ancestor thousands of years ago.

"That is like affirming the story of Abraham," Gates said delightedly.

The finding is one of the discoveries featured in "Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates Jr.," a four-part series premiering Wednesday night on PBS. The spinoff of Gates' series "African American Lives" seeks to tell the story of American immigration by unearthing the heritage of the likes of comedian Stephen Colbert, writer Louise Erdrich, actress Meryl Streep and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

Producers relied on local genealogists as well as the extensive records kept by the Mormon Church to ferret out birth certificates, land deeds and shipping manifests. But perhaps more powerful was the genetic road map in each subject's DNA. With the help of some of the country's top geneticists, Gates' team used technology developed to determine genetic risk for disease to identify each person's ethnic makeup.

Technological advancements made in the last two years now allow scientists to capture the ancestry of each person's great-grandparents, rather than just following a person's maternal line and paternal line, said Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of the genetic testing firm 23andMe. That means distant cousins can be identified. In fact, 11 of the program's subjects discover they are related.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-faces-of-america10-2010feb10,0,1477516.story

of white Americans and Black Americans from the same area would probably discover shared ancestors from just 200 years ago.

Genealogy is so interesting.

It is fascinating to finally have a country and a tribe instead of just saying "somewhere in Africa." For some people it may even be psychologically jarring.

he said, to his horror, he gets whiter every time he gets tested. lol

Who did you use, AspenRose? I'd like to get mine done. We always have said we're Heinz 57 but I'd like to do it before my mom passes so she can enjoy it, too.

They'll test anyone, but they have the largest database for matching black dna genetic factors.

The white genetic markers in my family came as no surprise and confirmed what we already knew (though Spain was a surprise).

ETA: They're offering a discount this month. To do one side (maternal, paternal) it's only $275. That's a lot less than I thought it would be!

but my only Aunt has been dead for over 15 years and her only child, my cousin, was adopted. That line is lost to us forever now. I'd still be interested in seeing what can be found regarding my matralineal line and perhaps I can talk my brother into doing it for our father's patralineal line.

My maternal family had been dead 25 years when I started. An Aunt by marriage gave me info from her marriage license. That was the only info I had when I started.
My Father was raised by Foster parents. It wasn't easy, but eventually I found his birth Mothers family.

Start with the Census. Feel free to PM me with questions. I'll be happy to help as much as I can.