The discovery of how and why Lynette Reis and I are related
I next asked him to communicate to me Lynette’s mtDNA haplogroup, and if possible also her father’s or brothers’ Y DNA haplogroup. Fortunately he had both and they were completely different from mine. Clearly, therefore, we were not related directly through either of her parents, the relationship would have to be an indirect one.
Lynette’s maternal grandmother was her favourite and she knew that she was from Aldona and her maiden name was de Sousa. Was there perhaps a connection? I advised her husband upon his request to contact the Parish priest of Aldona for a baptismal certificate and a second option would be to apply for one from the archives at the Patriarchal House in Altinho, Panaji. Aldona’s Parish priest ignored his request - why am I not surprised? - but with some difficulty he managed to obtain a copy from the Panaji archives, a digitalised version of poor legibility but good enough for our purpose. We discovered that her maternal grandmother was from Dauzavaddo, a part of Aldona’s Quitula ward. So far so good.
I had a hunch and to check this out, I would need the assistance of an expert who was were familiar with the old records of Aldona’s Comunidade Fraternal. I turned to my good friend Hector Fernandes, the highly knowledgeable president of Aldona’s Comunidade Fraternal. He confirmed very rapidly that Dauzavaddo had about ten homes that belonged to a de Sousa/D’Souza/de Souza and all belonged to the comunidade’s fourth vangad, just as I do. One of those houses had been Lynette’s maternal grandmother’s home.
Eureka! That was the explanation for why Lynette and I shared DNA segments and are genetic cousins. As I have explained in my book, genetics proves that all the members of a specific vangad are descendants of the founder of this vangad, in our case a Prabhu. Thus, all members of Aldona’s 4th vangad and their descendants share his DNA and that includes me. As the daughter of a 4th vangad gaunkar, Lynette’s maternal grandmother had inherited some of the 4th vangad founder’s DNA through her father, and Lynette's mother and through her, Lynette as well.
Thus, a combination of approaches i.e. genetics, the family tree and old documents/records together enabled us to find an answer to how and why Lynette Reis and I are related.
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ReplyDeleteDear Dr.Bernardo,
ReplyDeleteApologies for the late reply and thank you for the kind words about the Sinais.Posting here since my reply on your coment isn’t going through
There is evidence of the Xennois and the other groups having intermarried freely for many generations before the meaningless squabbles of the Smarta-Vaishnavs started.
It is likely that as a community,we have very many common ancestors through intermarriage over the centuries like you and Lynette Reis and so Im going to (shamelessly) bask in the glory of the Sousas/Prabhus of Aldona and hope you will have the same sentiments for your Sinai cousins.
I am aware of the 96 village (Salsete and Ilhas) tradition of the GSBs but I think there is more to it that just that-the Gauncars of Cortalim and Quellosim have started with three Kanyakubja Brahmin males who are late entrants to Salcete but they too call themselves Sinai.
Have you read Dr.Mascarenhas’ study?Here is a link: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2015/651415/
I hope the old Gauncar families of the various villages in Goa get interested in genetics and conduct similar studies
Its likely that many of your readers that contact you are so inclined but don’t know where to start or feel lost doing it alone.If you are aware of other individuals from the community that are interested in discovering their roots,please connect them and me –I will be very grateful.
Your good wishes on my journey mean a lot.Thank you again.
Siddharth
Dear Siddharth
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. As I have explained in my book, each vangad was initiated by a family/clan that belonged to a specific gotram. According to the laws of Manu, that are scientifically very sound, they were required to marry outside their gotram to individuals belonging to other gotras and therefore other vangads. Thus, intermarriage was not only inevitable but also healthy. I have no doubt that Shenoys and Prabhus and Kamats and Naiks e.g. intermarried and are therefore related.
There are very few Goans living in Goa who are really interested in genetic genealogy - very unfortunately. Most of my readers and correspondents are primarily Goans but also non-Goans who have established themselves in USA, Canada, UK, Germany etc. and are interested in their roots. It seems to me that most Goans living in Goa prefer to restrict their reading to the local press and not much beyond that. There are, of course, exceptions such as the Goa Book Club members. When I once suggested to a Goa University professor that research in Goan genetic genealogy would be of great interest, he turned down the suggestion because the topic is delicate and would involve caste politics. What can I say?
Best wishes
Bernardo
Dear Dr.Bernardo ,
DeleteApologies again for the late reply ,gmail doesn’t seem to notify me of replies.I saw your post when I came back to the blog.
Im surprised that not many Goans are interested in exploring their roots-especially considering how strong their sense of belonging to their respective communities seems to be….
Im not entirely surprised that the Goa University Professor was wary-caste gets dragged into discussions where it had no place,so a genetic study of this kind would be an easy target.
I am however disappointed that he should turn it down altogether and that he didn’t consider its historic value.And specifically GSB migration is certainly a part of our quest as a people to know more about ourselves-that other people think of it as pointless or that it makes them uncomfortable is unfortunate but no reason to not do it.Hopefully and God willing itll happen
Maybe the way to go about it is through individual studies like Dr.Mascarenhas’ and collating data from those studies to see what comes up.Have you read his study?Im sorry for going on and on about it –I suppose I wanted to know your view about its findings.I tried to get in touch with Dr.Mascarenhas and the other authors of the study through email and Goa related groups on facebook but have had no luck.
Regards,
Siddharth
Dear Dr,
ReplyDeleteSo ,this means that Mrs.Reis' mtDNA showed traces of genetic material from a male ancestor?
By that token is it possible for genetic material from a female relative to show up in the Y DNA of male descendants?
Regards,
Siddharth Shenoy