(Note:
The Information on this page will change as new evidence, particularly DNA
results, move the pendulum of “proof” in one direction or another
While
I may state now that I believe the evidence is stronger on any particular
individual discussed below for Amerindian origin, if new evidence changes my
mind, I will update this page accordingly; although I will indicate if I
previously favored a different position or am proven wrong. Don’t blindly
accept commentary, no matter who it comes from. Look at all the evidence. Read
and make your own decision. After all, the root meaning of research\recherche is “look again”).
Last
Updated: February 27, 2007
MÉTIS /NATIVE AMERICAN
ANCESTRY SOURCES :
With regards to the native ancestry located at http://www.electroauthor.com/marcotte_genealogy/miqmak.htm ......
Why do I show
Jean Claude, the father of Antoinette Landry as Mi'qmak, when so many other
sites say that he was born in
See
my explanation at: Antoinette
Landry
Radegonde
Lambert used to be listed on this chart as Metis; Why
no longer?
Mitochondrial
DNA results for several of Radegonde direct
matrilineal descendants prove her mtDNA haplotype to be X2b. Geneticists presently consider that haplotype
to include European, but NOT Native North American origin, as opposed to X2a,
which does indicate Naïve American origin. If further work with the X haplotype
changes the current expert school of thought, I will record that here. If you
wish to revisit the reasoning and evidence for and against Radegonde’s
speculated Metis blood, it is now found here.
Where was I able to locate information to say that the first wife of Jehan (Jean) Gaudet, father of Denis Gaudet, was of native ancestry?
*** Three new mtDNA test results\lineages posted at Acadian-home.org in
December 2007 supersede the previous arguments below. The X haplotype
for the unknown first wife of Jean Gaudet (which was
posted as “possibly the first wife of Jean Gaudet”
have been pretty convincingly invalidated by those three separate J1b
results. From these results, I believe
it is necessary (based on the current state of the art of mtDNA
and interpretations by geneticists of which haplogroups
constitute Native American descent) to now remove the first wife of
Jean Gaudet
from the “ believed Amerindian category. ***
Previous argument:
This is mostly
based on oral tradition, but see:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froux/familles/godet/godet2.htm
for a fairly thorough discussion of this. It does not prove that Denis’ mother
was Indian, only that she was not Marie Daussy or Nicole Colleson,
and it does provide a source (in French, that references the “Actes of Port
Royal” naming the eastern (
Stephen White lists Denis as the offspring of
Jean Gaudet’s first marriage, and does not specify a name for the first spouse, but White is
referenced at an Acadian site as saying Denis arrived from
Stephen White discussed the Gaudet-Lejeune relation and proximity in an article at
Acadian-home.org. So far, (as of Sep.
2007) there were no mtDNA results to further place Gaudet’s
first wife into X2a or X2b, but from what markers are listed at Family Tree
DNA, it appears that they would fall into X2b., European. The abnormally high
frequency (five women, so far: first wife of Jean Gaudet,
Radegonde Lambert, Barbe Bajolet, Jeanne Ducorps and
Jeanne Lejeune. Lejeune is
listed as A from one Kit, but X2a from two others ) of the rare haplotype X among this small group of Acadian pioneer women
causes me to believe that the status of X2b as not a possible Amerindian
haplotype may yet be revisited by geneticists.
Where was I able to locate information to say that Martine Gauthier was of native ancestry?
I have changed this indication base on a 2008 mtDNA test result, but my original information was based on
an Alexandre Alemann list
of 115 Métis women in former
NOTE: Several of the women on
Aleman’s list have now been proven by mtDNA testing as having European rather
than Amerindian maternal origins. A
single recent test result indicates that this is also the case for Martine
Gauthier. That mtDNA result returned a non-Ameridian haplotype of J1b1.
Martine is
listed elsewhere as a passenger on the ship Aulnay. This is a slight misstatement; d’Aulnay was a person, not a ship, and the only known
surviving passenger list from this fairly narrow period of time for persons
arriving in
What evidence is there that Jeanne Mahis was Mi'qmak?
Parish Registries of Saint Jean-Baptiste,
Port-Royal, Acadie: The 23 Oct 1703 baptism of Marie Francoise Roye, daughter
of Marie Aubois and the 31 Aug 1708 baptism of son Renaud Roye of Marie Aubois
and grandson of Jeanne Mahis both recorded by the priest Justinien Durand
specifies Marie Francoise's and Renaud's mother Marie Aubois as Mi'qmak.
The
marriages of Anne, Jean, Marie and Marie-Magdaleine all registered by the same
priest in 1703, 1710, 1717 and 1730 still specify the mother Marie Aubois as
Mi'qmak.
Although
Jeanne is not named in some sources as Marie Aubois’ mother, Marie’s Métis origins are not in question. DNA results confirm Amerindian
origin.
Catherine Lejeune, wife of François Savoie
was previously shown on this page as presumed Métis. Why no longer?
The results of mtDNA
testing on several descendants of both Catherine and Edmée Lejeune have now proven their haplotype to be U6a. That
precludes their mother as having been Native American, and given their
approximate dates of birth, pretty much eliminates all possibility that any
other of their ancestors was Native American.
To view my earlier reasoning, documents and
other arguments for or against Native American origins for Catherine Lejeune, click here,
including additional information about the presumed “1661 Quebec register”
document referred to as an “erroneous description” in Stephen White’s article A
Closer Look at the Records,
A copy of a letter
from the Acadian Research Center in St. John, New Brunswick,
appears be the original source of the reported misidentification. Note
that the Acadian Research Center, Ltd. In St. John clearly describes the
document as having been obtained from the University of Moncton, which is
probable, but does not at all mean that the 1661 label was added there.
Stephen White of the Université de Moncton’s Centre d’études
acadiennes has sent the following copy
of the same document from archives at the University of Moncton
which clearly does not show the label “1661 Quebec register,” anywhere on the page (front or back)
of the same document as that obtained from
the St John Acadian Research Center ,
thus confirming that the 1661 label was incorrectly added at some
later point in time (when, where, or by whom is unknown). White has provided the correct identification
of this document as page 477 of Père Archange Godbout’s Dictionnaire des Acadiens.
Regarding Godbout’s
note “ née en
As noted above, mtDNA
tests by several matrilineal descendants of the sisters have, however, now
indicated a haplotype U6a, which would preclude Catherine and Edmée Lejeune’s mother from being
Native American.
Also concerning the
above document White previously added:
“It is important to
recognize that styles of handwriting evolved considerably over time, and that
the age of any writing can be dated by its style. Father Godbout's hand, while
distinctive, does not look anything like handwriting from the 1660's, and the
notation "Quebec register 1661" is clearly something that was added
to some sort of copy within recent times. It is very clearly not in Father
Godbout's hand.”
Here
are some extracted Stephen Whites comments at Lucie Consentino’s site about
Amerindian/Métis families: http://www.acadian-home.org/Mikmaq.html
Stephen White, author of Dictionnaire Généalogique des Familles Acadiennes, and director and certified genealogist at the Université de Moncton, has never been able to prove any of these claims, has he? (i.e. - ...that any of these women were of Métis origin).
Actually Stephen White does include Marie Aubois and a few others (not shown here) among a list of
Amerindien marriages. Stephen White does not show information that he cannot
prove, and he has not thus far proven the certain origins of some of these. Nor have I. In some cases White cites the parents as unknown
– that is not a statement on his part that the parent is either Native American
or European.
The
absence of irrefutable documentation, however, does not disprove
anything, It just means that proof has not been found –
one way, or the other – and this only further fails to settle such arguments.
Stephen
White is referenced above several times only because I am repeatedly asked what
he says about these persons. White speaks for himself. The best way to see what
he has to say is to consult his genealogical dictionary, which you may purchase
at: Dictionnaire
généalogique des familles acadiennes, Part 1 published in 1999, Stephen A.
White, Centre d'Études acadiennes, Université de Moncton.
Although internet genealogy receives a
considerable amount of criticism for propagating error and speculative content,
the reliance upon internet-based testing sites for DNA seem to be mostly
escaping such notice. A word of caution seems in order. Dr. Francis Collins, the head of the National
Human Genome Research Institute and leader of the government team that
published the human genetic map is quoted as questioning the validity of some
of the tests offered via the Web in an unregulated market. “Genetic testing offers enormous promise,''
Collins said. "But the majority of claims that
are made on those Web sites aren't scientifically sound.”
Another interesting theory that may yet alter the
validity of mtDNA as proof of Native American status
is the Solutrean Hypothesis, championed by the
Smithsonian’s Dr. Dennis Stafford and “lithics” expert Dr.
Bruce Bradley. For more on the Solutrean Hypothesis
see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2002/columbus.shtml
http://www.livescience.com/history/060219_first_americans.html
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1406/features/dna.htm
http://www.centerfirstamericans.org/mt.php?a=47
-
Michael Marcotte
Link
her for Other source
materials related to the reluctance of Jesuit and French authorities in the
1600s to record such mixed marriages and births.
