As stated
on the previous page (Métis Sources), mtDNA
testing of several matrilineal descendants of Radegonde have shown her with a
haplotype of X2b, which indicates European, and not Amerindian origins. Because the preliminary tests showed only
type X, which indicates “possible” Amerindian origin (had it turned out to be
X2a), and due to a lack of traditional evidence that conclusively proved either
origin, my pages site had presented the following arguments in support of
Radegonde having Métis blood. Note that
these are provided below not to disagree with the mtDNA results, rather to
document the previous, but now obsolete, arguments that had been put
forth by myself and numerous others.
I continue
to show these below only so that individuals who used me as a reference
may recognize why there was such a disagreement in the first place.
My PREVIOUS arguments and position
statements, made OBSOLETE or irrelevant by mtDNA testing :
The following
are provided only to document why several researchers, including myself,
previously listed Radegonde as Métis. The arguments and pieces of evidence are
no longer considered relevant.
Where is
(was) there definitive proof that Radegonde Lambert was, in fact, of native
descent?
There
is no “final” definitive proof. Initial mtDNA test results (see also next
paragraph) suggested possible, albeit inconclusive Amerindian origin.
Consistent with mtDNA results discussed below, I no longer show her as Métis.
Of
all the individuals noted (now or previously) as Amerindian on this page, the
“substantiated” traditional documentation support for either origin - French or
Métis - for
Radegonde has thus far been the weakest. The original source for the names of
Radegonde's parents and that her mother was Indian is: Familles Acadiennes, Léopold Lanctôt, o.m.i., page 59-61. Most
dispute of those claims state that Lanctot is known to have made several
errors, and that a birth record has never been found in either
Stephen White of the Center for
Acadian Studies believes it is more likely that Radegonde was NOT born in Port
Royal in 1621, but rather in
I have read White’s comments on
this particular subject, and have until late 2006, tended to disagree with his conclusion.
Although I tend to believe that family oral tradition is in general more
reliable than most professionals give credit, I must admit to surprise at
discovering that it has been considered by White more reliable in this case
than the documented Acadian depositions from Belle-Ile-en-Mer. Citing oral history is a frequent criticism
directed against Métis organizations, Métis descendants, Father Lanctot and Bona Arsenault. I am happy, (despite my different conclusion
re: Radegonde) to see that an acclaimed professional such as White does not
entirely discount the value of oral tradition\family history. In fairness to
White, a deposition is little more than a formal record of someone else’s oral
testimony, so here it was just a matter of choosing one over another. In light
of inability of commercial venture mtDNA testing to provide irrefutable results
one way or another, I am conceding that the evidence to date suggests that
Radegonde is just as likely French as Métis, and therefore “unproven” and
have removed the Amerindian feather-indicator next to her name from my chart.
Almost all Indian marriages in
the first few decades of the 1600s have been contested as not being definitive,
even though the names of the very small handful of French women present in
Acadia and Quebec in 1621 when Radegonde was born (per Stephen White, Center
for Acadian Studies) are well accounted for. According to Stephen White,
Radegonde was born about 1621 because it was noted that she was 42 years old
during the 1671 Port-Royal Census and she was listed as 65 in 1686. She married
Jean Blanchard about 1642. White is on records as believing Radegonde came from
If Radegonde was born in 1621
at
What do Radegonde’s mtDNA
results say?
Short answer: European.
Long answer: Radegonde’s
matrilineal descendants have tested as X2b, although mitosearch.com and a few
other sites listing the test results for the exact same test subjects list the
haplotype only as X, even when HVRII was tested. While a vast majority of the
Native American X results include a telltale control transition 200G in HVRII,
there are some results noted, for example among the Ojibwe that lack this
transition. According to the Maere Reidle et all study
cited elsewhere on this page, “Native American haplogroup X mtDNA derives from
X lineage by a unique combination of five mutations…” not just the one at
200G. In those same test results there
are a few subjects identified in the X2b “European” group who lack the 226C
mutation cited as indicating European origin. There are even more classed only
as X2, which includes both X2b and X2a, who bear the 226 mutation, but that are
not identified further into the X2b category. The problem with trying to use
such ethnic markers is that they are almost never exclusively unique to a
particular DNA type. They may be the
common market that helps identify the haplotype or subclade, but that does not
translate that those markers are not also found in other DNA haplotypes or
subclade of the same haplogroup. The reverse is also true. Just because a
marker is common, does not mean it is universal among an ethnicity.
Recent
mtDNA tests by several different matrilineal descendants of Radegonde have been
posted at www.acadian-home.org and
elsewhere indicating a more explicit X2b haplotype, i.e.- “European.”
( X2b has a much broader distribution than
Acadian-home.org has an
excellent link to a subpage discussing many aspects of the mtDNA testing, as
well as a running update on how such results have been turning out.
I remain skeptical about the
accuracy of such genealogy-related tests, as my own Y-DNA test was returned
with a very specific R1b1 although I only had a 12-marker test performed. The
test results actually stated that my matches “suggest” that I belong to the
R1b1 group and “qualifies” me to pay another $79 to do another test for further
placement. Another male Marcotte’s test came back J2, which subsequently led to
the discovery that the male lineage of the other Marcotte did not pass via a
male Marcotte, but rather through an unknown father and widowed female
Marcotte. Such human errors in traditional genealogy research further
complicate the merge of DNA evidence and family histories. Another problem with either DNA test is that
the test examines only a tiny portion of a person’s DNA. The mtDNA test
examines only the mother’s direct maternal line. If her father, or her mother’s
father, mothers paternal grandmother, father’s mother, etc. was Amerindian that
would not show up at all in the mtDNA.
In fact, if very ancestor on my father’s side had been Ojibwe, and
likewise my maternal grandfathers’ family all Amerindian, my mtDNA would never
reflect that heritage as long as my mother and her mother, etc. were
white. All of Radegonde Lambert’s
grandparents could have been Amerindian except her mother’s mother, and the
mtDNA test for Radegonde’s descendants would not have shown that. The same goes for Y-DNA…it only shows my
Marcotte surname DNA, nothing at all indicating any of the DNA of my
other 15 other 3xgreat grandparents, including one documented as half-Cherokee.
I can document my Marcotte male line back 13 generations prior to myself, but
these thirteen men and their DNA account for only .0007935 of my combined total
ancestry back through those 13 generations! Less than one-tenth of one percent
of one percent.
In the “ fine print” of my test
results, where my own Y-DNA results specified that that the haplotype was
“suggested” based on my test matches in comparison with a worldwide database of
other tests, it went on to state that no specific test was used to determine my
results. Further the test kit asked for earliest known ancestor and place of origin,
which makes me wonder if perhaps such customer-provided data might affect the
tester’s interpretation or placement in a subclade? A discussion with both the
testing company, wherein they declined to quote a definitive interpretation,
and with an eminent geneticist from the scientific community (versus the
commercial testing community), has led me to take these results less
seriously.
“The claim that these tests
identify uniquely Native American markers is not completely accurate: some of
the genetic markers used in these tests are found only in Native Americans, but
many are not. This claim therefore
exaggerates what DNA can tell us about ancestry and ethnic identity, and
implies a greater correspondence between genetic markers and ethnic groups than
really exists.”
( from “Native
American DNA” Tests: What are the Risks
to Tribes?”, by Kim
TallBear, Ph.D. Candidate, UC Santa
Cruz (History of Consciousness), Member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and Deborah A. Bolnick, Ph.D. Candidate, UC Davis (Biological Anthropology), Lecturer in
Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.)
About haplotype X
Based on various mtDNA testing
results for a known matrilineal descendant, and the scientific evidence that haplotype
X (one of 5 aboriginal North American DNA types) occurs nowhere in the world
with any concentration close to the frequency found among the northern native
peoples around Sault-St. Marie and the Great Lakes region, I had, until
December 2006, personally favored Lanctot’s findings over White’s in this
particular instance, and supported the oral tradition that Radegonde was
of Amerindian origin. Unfortunately, in this case, a haplotype of X is
considered inconclusive DNA evidence to prove that Radegonde was in fact Métis, since this haplogroup is also found in rare instances in
***
FamilyTreeDNA Site: Acadia Métis Mothers Project ****
In April 2006, the mtDNA results were reported on one of Radegonde Lambert's
direct descendants thru a consistently continued maternal line, showing
Haplogroup X. This haplogroup, which while usually
signifying North American origin, is also rarely found in
Additional testing by other descendants of
Radegonde in other DNA projects have since been listed
as X2b, which suggests European origin, and excludes Native American. I’m still waiting to see how this turns out,
because it seems like there are too many results coming back X this early from
such a small collection of Acadian ancestors.
While this may just be a statistical anomaly, it might also indicate a
failure by geneticists to accurately indentify certain mutations within the
“newcomer” haplogroup X as conclusive evidence of Native American heritage
versus European or other origin. Also, please note that the majority of these
testing companies virtually never use the word “proof.” Instead of stating the
DNA test results “proves” a particular haplotype, they instead tend to use the
terms “indicates”, “suggests” and “predicts.”
The four major DNA signatures among present-day
aboriginal populations in
The Ojibwa were located mainly around Sault Ste. Marie, at the
outlet of
Haplotype X is virtually absent from Asia, and
the only other significant concentration (2%) occurs among some European
populations, including in that 2% those in Scandinavia, the Mediterranean
region and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and Morocco. “The lineage
X that Mike Brown and I discovered is in the
(* The mitochondrial H Haplogroup represents about 40% of all maternal lineages in
As stated above, multiple mtDNA
results have placed Radegonde in haplotype X2b, and that presently is
considered proof of European origin. The tested occurrence of X2b in such a
small sampling of previously-speculated Métis women, to me appears, however,
sufficiently anomalous. given the cited rare 3% distribution all subgroups of
X, both throughout Europe and in North American that I am cautious about
agreeing that this case and other X2b cases are “finally” resolved. Since
already 5 4* of the speculated/disputed Métis women have now come back either X
or X2b out of a subject group of only 16-20 in question, that ought to provoke
doubt among anyone with a understanding of standard deviations. In
manufacturing, that would be enough to send the engineers back to the drawing
board. Given the short time since haplogroup X was discovered and these recent
test results for Great Lakes female ancestors, I believe that this would make
an excellent case for further genetic analysis of whether X2b might possibly
have also migrated to North America with X2a. (See more on DNA results below;
also Google “Cohen Modal error” for an interesting discussion of a past expert
DNA analysis error regarding ancestral origins, and “Solutrean
Hypothesis” for support of the theory that more European haplotypes
may have migrated). It remains to be seen whether any further analysis will be
performed on X2a and X2b, so for now the record still states X2b proves
European origin.
(The five four* Haplogroup X ancestors: X2b, Radegonde Lambert: X2b, Barbe Bajolet: X2b, Jeanne Ducorps:
X2b, the unknown first wife of Jean Gaudet: X [but appears markers indicate X2b]***, and Jeanne Lejeune
[who married Francois Joseph]: X2a… two results produced the same X2a, a third
produced haplogroup A, indicating an error in one or
more of these descendant’s genealogies leading to Jeanne Lejeune.
All three kits were tested by FTDNA. The
X2b X2a results for Jeanne Lejeune are listed
under Ursule
A sixth fifth* Haplotype X2b, Francoise Pillois, listed at Family Tree DNA, should not be included
in this sampling, since she is found in Québec, not Acadia.
* The haplogroup X mtDNA
results for “possibly the unknown wife of Jean Gaudet”
were more recently (Dec. 2007) invalidated by three results returning J1b, i.e.
– “possibly” turned out to be “actually not.”
This moves that female ancestor out of the X group and
reduce the number to four known female ancestors with X results (five,
if counting non-Acadian Francoise Pillois).
There is an understandably widespread trend to discount any mtDNA that is not one of the 5 “foundling” Native American haplotypes as a statistical anomaly or as not being Native
American. As such, those particular
results are set aside as non-noteworthy, inexplicable, or as an error in the individuals alleged full-blooded lineage…but such other
haplogroups are found in such studies:
“…among allegedly maternally full-blooded Native Americans, less than
one-half percent
(four individuals previously classified as “others” in a screening of more than 800
individuals) were shown to
be members of haplogroup H, the most common mtDNA
type in
40%.” ( source: “Mitochondrial DNA Studies of Native Americans: Conceptions and
Misconceptions of the
Population
Prehistory of the
From a statistical standpoint,
finding a true full-blooded maternal line with haplotype
H is so rare that the actual discovery rate of less than .5% is discarded with
the idea that those individuals were not, after all, Native American, or are
the result some other insignificant sampling error. Why then does the discovery
of a much greater statistical anomaly – such as the 20% occurrence of
mitochondrial X2b in a very small sampling of alleged Native Americans in a
geographically narrow, mid-17th century Acadian female population – not
produce any scientific reaction? There
remains an explicative possibility that one or more of the women were
maternally-related, but there has been no evidence found to suggest that, and
it would, even so, require more than one such relation to dilute the results
back down to the expected 3% range for both subclades
of X combined. * The reduction from five such results to four does not affect this
argument very much. Statistically, one would have expect
to find zero or one haplotype X. The expected global 3% occurrence = 3 out of
100, not 4 out of 20-30 women.
White has stated that he has “…doubts about whether they (DNA results) can prove
that any one particular ancestor was of one race or another.” ( A personal conversation with Stephen White leads me to the
conclusion that White has faith in the mitochondrial DNA tests and that they
have tended to support the traditional evidence. It is entirely possible that
Whites’ original statement was misunderstood or taken out of context). Rather
than attempt to interpret what White might have meant, I have reproduced what FamilyTreeDNA told me:
Per DNA
Testing companies, mitochondrial DNA testing can confirm whether Native
American ancestry did exist through the mother’s mother’s mother’s (etc.)
line. The test cannot pinpoint which
generation started the Native American Ancestry (although the following
explanation by Dr. Sabeti better addresses this question). However, if Radegonde’s mother were French,
it would be rare for any of Radegonde’s matrilineal descendants to possess
haplotype X mitochondrial DNA. A possible, although less likely, scenario
wherein that could happen is if Radegonde’s mother’s ancestors originated in
one of the other much smaller pockets of haplogroup X. It would be impossible
for one of the later females in that line to have different mitochondrial DNA
than her mother, so any assumption that one of the later females in the
matrilineal descent was the Native American would be irrefutably incorrect
(excepting a recording error in who the birth mother was). Either Radegonde or an earlier female
ancestor MUST have introduced the mitochondrial DNA, and the presumption of an
earlier Amerindian would be chronologically improbable, although it would not
affect the claim that Radegonde was Métis.
The results placing Radegonde in X2b do however
discredit that claim).
Per DNA
testing companies: “the mtDNA test allows the identification of ethnic and geographic origins,
both recent and far distant, on a direct maternal line. Among other features,
this test is able to indicate Native-American Ancestry and which of the
5 major Native-American haplogroups the descent is from” (source: Family Tree DNA testing company).
…able, but is not necessarily “certain” to do
so…it seems. That’s the strongest quote they would give me, and that came from
a Public Relations spokeswoman, not a geneticist.
“Variations in DNA…are extremely specific in
individuals and in certain populations. Researchers have exploited this fact to
pinpoint specific pieces of DNA that would be reliable genealogical markers to
match certain individuals to particular ethnic groups…Further mtDNA have been
defined for thousands of individuals around the world. Using these data,
researchers produced genealogical trees based on the premise that the number of
mutations occurring in the haplotypes of two individuals reflects the closeness
of their relationship. If more mutations have occurred that differentiate the
two people's haplotypes, there are more generations between them and their
common ancestor. Conversely, fewer mutations indicate a closer relationship.
Mutations occur at a predictable rate, so geneticists used them to develop
genealogical trees.” (source: “DNA:
An Alternative Record of African History,“ by Pardis C.
Sabeti, former Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and MD, DPhil, of the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and Harvard University)
According to Michael Brown, Maere Reidla and others (see: "Origin
and Diffusion of mtDNA Haplogroup X" ) the North American haplogroup X (now called subgroup or clade X2a) is as
different from any of the other X or X2
lineages as they are from each other. X2a, the
Native American version of haplogroup X is distinguished by 5 specific
transition\mutations, one of which at np\nucleotide 16213 in HVR1, Brown says
has found to be missing among some of the Ojibwe. I am not a geneticist, but as best I can tell
the other two HVR1 transitions, at np 16189 & 16278 are present in
HVR1 in the aforementioned mitochondrial project for descendants of Radegonde
Lambert. The third, at 16213 is missing and is occurs at 16223 instead, but
this is not inconsistent with Brown’s Ojibwe results (16223 is found in other
sequences of X in the Reidla et al results).
16189, 16223 and 16278 seem to occur in most other subgroup of X, as do
the HVR2 transitions at 152 and 195. I did not observe the transition at 200
anywhere in the comparison results provided by Reidla et al. I have not yet
seen any results for HVR2 from the Acadia Métis Mothers Project,
but if the final two mutations show up in HVR2, especially the
transition at 200, perhaps this will resolve the question. The transition at np
200 was seen in virtually all previously analyzed Native American haplogroup X
mtDNAs analyzed by Reidla et al, and not elsewhere.
Most
assumptions about DNA-predicted ethnicity predicted by DNA analysis are based
on
a relatively small number of studies by highly
qualified geneticists in conjunction with scientist from related or interested
disciplines such as anthropology. Recent errors, however, discovered in some
such studies suggest that it may be more difficult than previously believed to
establish such precise ethnic origins via DNA.
For example, Skorecki's and Thomas's
Cohenim DNA studies proposed
that the so-called Cohen modal haplotype originated with the ancient
Israelites, and was found mostly among ancient Jewish priests. Further testing
and research (e.g.,Zoosmann and others) has now shown that the Cohen modal
haplotype is the most common haplotype among
Southern Italians, Central Italians, Hungarians, and Iraqi Kurds, and is also
found among many Armenians and South African Lembas.
(* - I have a friend, who has
requested to remain unnamed, who is a scientist of unimpeachable repute who
works in the human genome arena. In a recent conversation, I learned that, in
fact, in a small percentage of the time (about 10%) the male may
actually transmit mtDNA through a band located between the head and tail of the
sperm. Since one can mostly count on mtDNA not being passed a father, it
is not at all reliable to test for its presence through a male ancestor
somewhere along the lineage. It is not difficult in a conversation with such a
scientist to quickly grasp that most of us don’t even posses the necessary
vocabulary to discuss DNA basics, much less comprehending even the tip of the
DNA iceberg. I came away from the discussion with the impression that
DNA-testing may be far more about opportunists making money than it is about
result accuracy and result interpretation. As tantalizing as DNA testing may
be for genealogy fans, its validity for accurately identifying ancestry and
ethnic origin may be considerably over-hyped, as is evidenced the confusion
expressed by several tested individuals of various ethnic backgrounds.)
********* The final thing I
considered is that Radegonde’s children remained with the relocated Mi’qmak:
“ Hundreds of Métis originally from
Remarks about the reliability of the Corporation Métisse’s methodology, Drouin Institut, noted Métis genealogist Alexandre Alemann or other genealogy centers that publish support for the Métis origin of Radegonde or other individuals do nothing to strengthen the “substantiation” of European origin, but they do weaken such commentators’ reputations since restraint from such flaming of other genealogist is one of the standards for certified professional genealogists according to most entities that issue such certifications. MtDNA results have actually proven several of these entities wrong, and that should be sufficient for anyone pursuing the truth.
In
the absence of irrefutable documentation and ultimate conclusions from mtDNA
testing on an individual believed to be Métis, I sometimes relied upon the
official Métis organizations’ opinion.
This is (to me) like the Dawes Commission saying whether someone is
officially Cherokee or not. However,
even, such rolls cannot be wrong. I am not officially on the Cherokee Rolls,
even though my great great aunt is, and I have a copy of my great grandfather’s
application for official Cherokee status.
He was not living in
Bottom
line…is Radegonde of Métis origin?
I
still doubt that this case will ever be totally closed, even through mtDNA
testing. For now, based on mtDNA evidence that she is X2b, then no;
Radegonde was French, not mixed blood. I have removed my feather on the
above mentioned chart and marked Radegonde’s mother simply as unknown. If
better evidence pops up to the contrary in the future, I’ll add it back.
Research on haplogroup X is still new. The haplogroup X was not even discovered
until 1999, and there have already been 4 speculated-Métis (out of about 20)
women tested as X. That is a statistical oddity for a haplotype that is
supposed to be so rare. Research on haplotype
X may still have unwritten chapters.