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Interesting Guardian article

Interesting. I doubt my Ashkenazi Jewish heritage (at such a small percentage) would be enough, although I must have inherited that DNA marker for it to appear at all. I wonder if there is a percentage on your Jewishness?
Technically my grandmother would be considered Jewish, as it was passed from her grandmother (her closest Jewish relative) and through her mother; even though her grandmother married outside of the faith (and was the only one of her family to do so.) and her daughter married a Baptist minister...
 
Technically your grandma would be allowed to marry a Jewish man.....
But that's the thing isn't it?
Is "Jewish" in the blood, or is it just a religion?
My husband is a scientist and he is arguing there is no way it can be in the DNA.
My father was born Jewish, my mother was not. All Gentiles regard me as Jewish, but according to Jewish faith I am not.
 
mowsehowse said:
My husband is a scientist and he is arguing there is no way it can be in the DNA.
My father was born Jewish, my mother was not. All Gentiles regard me as Jewish, but according to Jewish faith I am not.
Click to expand...

That was my first question when I read the article.
As a result of my research, I have discovered that a few generations back within my mother's ancestors, one line were Jews, tracing back to a Chief Rabbi about 1600. My mother was not a Jew and I don't believe that her mother was. However, would I be considered Jewish if my DNA contained the appropriate marker?
 
Bryman said:
That was my first question when I read the article.
As a result of my research, I have discovered that a few generations back within my mother's ancestors, one line were Jews, tracing back to a Chief Rabbi about 1600. My mother was not a Jew and I don't believe that her mother was. However, would I be considered Jewish if my DNA contained the appropriate marker?
Click to expand...
Hoping we have a Rabbi who reads this forum, because I can't answer the question.
 
The technicalities (the last I talked to someone who was actually Jewish) mean that "Jewishness" passes down the matrilineal line - but I think there would have to be belief, community acceptance and the rest in order to remain in the community.

I doubt my 3x great grandmother was considered a "proper" Jew once she married a non-Jewish (mainly English) man who attended a Baptist church, and most likely not when they separated... And while her family is buried within the Hebrew section of the cemetery, she's in the Methodist section. (Regardless, she does seem to have been quite close to her family).

The article did mention something about those who identified as Jewish - and the idea of DNA testing perhaps interfering with this identification of Jewishness.

But it is a very interesting question.
It's true about the insular community - the largest proportion of the DNA results that I have for my grandmother are from her Jewish relations!
 
I found this list of forbidden marriages in UK according to Canon Law, dating from 1560. < http://www.genetic-genealogy.co.uk/Toc115570145.html >
In the UK there were quite wide boundaries on what was considered incestuous, i.e. the mixing of DNA.
But my understanding is that historically, within Jewish communities, one of the greatest priorities for the Match Maker was to be sure the proposed match was sufficiently Jewish, which, particularly in smaller communities, inevitably resulted in the marriage of close cousins.
 
My DNA with Ancestry and 23andMe both show 1% Ashkenazi Jewishness, not much I know but by my reckoning I think an unknown 2 x g.grandmother was Jewish. The only branch of my family tree I cannot trace is one of my g.grandfather's. He never married g.gran although they lived together all the time, so no chance of a father's name to be found on a marriage cert. However, I have been matched through DNA to quite a few people with lots of Jewish DNA and, finally, I found one who was happy to share the names of his grandparents. I traced his g.grandparents on both sides of his family and he was delighted with the information. I now know where to start my search for g.grandfather's roots after over 15 years of trying to find him. He had a perfectly normal English name and my feeling is that he was illegitimate. We know he looked Jewish, as did his children, including my gran as did her children, including my dad and when my parents were getting married, a bystander asked my maternal gran if my mother was marrying into a Jewish family - quite a logical question as there was (and still is) a large Jewish population in the Manchester area. However, as far as I know my g.grandfather was born in London. Now I'm getting closer to finding him, I seem to have slowed down my search - I guess I'm worried that I'll do a lot of research and still not find his parents - or mother at least.
 
Hi Lizzie. Personally I would be inclined to concentrate on the other 99% ........ but I do wish you well in your searching.
 
Hi mowsehowse - I've concentrated on the other 99%, following cousins, 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. back through the centuries. Many ancestors lived in Cheshire, Norfolk, Suffolk etc. where there are very good parish records and wills available. It is this 1% branch that's been puzzling me and my cousins for many years now.
 
Still searching. I've got a separate tree with all the new names on so that I can at least follow where I'm up to in the research. However, even though I have a few people who could have been either mother or father of my g.grandfather, I've no way of finding the exact person. My next task is to put all the people who are on the 1881 and 1841 census on Lost Cousins (Peter Calver has said I can do it and use "possible relative" category). Maybe that way someone who has these ancestors may come forward.
 
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