I'm thrilled to share our new paper out today in @currentbiology.bsky.social! I teamed up with researchers at @harvardmed.bsky.social and the Smithsonian to study another historical American population using the 23andMe genetic database. 🧵 [1/9] Read it here: www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com
Éadaoin Harney
The result? We successfully proposed identities for three previously unknown 17th-century burials: Leonard Greene and his parents, Anne Cox and Thomas Greene, the second governor of the colony of Maryland!
We did this without a prior hypothesis about their possible identities. 🏛️🤯 [8/9]
A huge thank you to all of my collaborators, St, Mary's City stakeholders, and the research participants who made this work possible! I am excited to see what we can do next! 🙌🚀 (image: Jenn Dorsey, Historic St. Mary's City)
Éadaoin Harney
Next, we designed a brand-new IRB-approved protocol that would allow us to study individual-level IBD connections to 23andMe research participants for the very first time. 🔬🔓 [5/9]
Éadaoin Harney
Focusing on an unknown individual ("Burial 56"), we searched the family trees of consenting 23andMe research participants who shared the strongest genetic ties to him. By finding the overlaps in their genealogies, we built a list of historical candidates for his identity. 🌳 [6/9]
This time, we analyzed 49 colonial settlers from Historic St.Mary's City, the founding settlement of Maryland (est. 1634), to learn about their ancestry, their genetic legacy, and even to help re-identify three previously unknown individuals. 🧬 [2/9] (image: Donald Winter, Historic St. Mary's City)
p.s. If you'd liked to hear about the study directly from me, check out the video abstract we put together! youtu.be/fRbf3AkLXtY
Next, we looked at their connections across the US to map their legacy. Many of the strongest genetic connections we observed were to participants in Kentucky, mirroring a documented migration of their descendants, who moved from Maryland to Kentucky in the late 1700s and early 1800s. 🗺️🚶♀️ [4/9]
Once we had our list of possible candidates, we integrated our genealogical findings with rich archaeological data and isotope evidence from the site to narrow it down and try to figure out exactly which historical individuals fit the biological profile of Burial 56. 🦴🏺 [7/9]
First, we looked at their biogeographic origins. By comparing the DNA of these 17th-century colonists to the 23andMe database, we were able to pinpoint their ancestral connections to specific regions across Britain and Ireland. 🌍 [3/9]
