Endogamous Diamonds, Continued

A Joint Post with Israel Pickholtz of All My Foreparents

Israel Pickholtz begins this story here, examining how I seem to be related to a woman named Evelyne in multiple ways, per DNA.  He has shown that both my paternal grandmother and grandfather were related to her, as is my mother.  Now I'm going to pick up where he left off to look at various branches of my family and their relationship to Evelyne.

Neither my mother's maternal aunt nor her maternal first cousin match Evelyne at all, so I initially concentrated on my mother's father's side.

The Halperin/Lefand/Marienhoff Branch
First I looked at descendants of my great-great-great grandmother, Mira Halperin Lefand Marienhoff.  Tested descendants include my mother and uncle as well as cousins Ken, Myron and Sue-- descendants of three of Mira's other children.  My family is descended from Pesha-Riva, Ken from Nechemia/Hamay, Myron from Meyer, and Sue from Nechama/Emma; Sue is also the only testee who descends from Mira's second husband.  Ken, Myron and Sue are all one generation closer to Mira (great grandchildren) than are my mother and uncle.

(In all the charts, people who have tested have a yellow background.)

My uncle doesn't share any DNA with Evelyne.  But looking at the other individuals shows matches--some relatively close.

• Ken and Evelyne share 114cM over 22 segments and are predicted 2nd-4th cousins
• Myron and Evelyne share 90cM over 18 segments and are also predicted 2nd-4th cousins
• Sue and Evelyne share 71cM over 21 segments but are predicted 5th-remote cousins
• My mother and Evelyne also share 71cM over 21 segments and are predicted 5th-remote cousins.

Chromosome 10 is very interesting.  Both Myron and Ken share a (triangulating) relatively large 12cM segment with Evelyne.

Evelyn's Chromosome 10 Overlap with Ken & Myron

Myron shares a bit more than Ken of that segment, 22 cM in total.  In addition, Ken has another 19.6cM segment on chromosome 10 in common with Evelyne.

Chromosome 15 brings my mother into the analysis:

Evelyn's Chromosome 15 Overlap with Ken, Myron & My Mother

Ken and my mother share the same 7.45cM segment with Evelyne, while Myron shares 6.69cM.  And yes, they triangulate nicely.

My first instinct was that this was a likely match with Yehoshua Zev Lefand, Mira's first husband, since Sue's match was so distant.  But while most of Sue's chromosomes share only very small segments with Evelyne, none of which any of the other family testees share, Sue's X chromosome match with Evelyne is relatively huge.

Sue's X Chromosome Overlap with Evelyne

Sue and Evelyn share two segments on their X chromosome of 5.25 and 14.97 cM!  So perhaps the connection is through Mira or perhaps Evelyne is related to both Mira's first and second husbands, or two Mira and her first husband--or to another branch of Sue's family, unconnected to me.

But it turns out that this isn't my mother's only connection to Evelyne.

The Supkoffs
My great-great grandparents were Yeshaya and Zlata-Tzipra Supkoff.  In addition to my mother and uncle, two other descendants have tested--Pat and Ben.  Pat is from my mother's generation; Ben is from my generation, but he had two Supkoff great grandparents (first cousins to one another) so he likely has more Supkoff DNA than would be expected.

Pat matches Evelyne with 99cM over 27 segments, for a proposed 3rd-5th cousin match.  Ben matches Evelyne with 104cM over 25 segments, also for a proposed 3rd-5th cousin match.

Now, both Pat and Ben have Jewish ancestry on all lines, so they could be related to Evelyne on lines other than the Supkoff one.  Except for one little thing.

Evelyne's 7th Chromosome

Evelyn, Ben and my mother all nicely triangulate over a 7.3cM segment.  My mother actually shares a bit more with Evelyne there as well, for a 7.72cM total.

So it seems that Evelyne may be related on the Supkoff line as well.

Yechiel Suttleman 
Moving on to my father's side....

My paternal grandfather's grandfather was Yechiel Suttleman.  Yechiel was married three times; descendants of wives #1 and #3 have tested.  (Wives #2 and #3 were sisters.)

Those who have tested include George (grandfather's first cousin), Ina (grandfather's half first cousin), my father and my uncle.  My father, uncle and cousin George are descended from Yechiel's first wife, Kreina; Ina is a granddaughter of Yechiel's third wife, Chaya/Ida.  Another of my grandfather's first cousins has a kit currently being processed.

So what kind of matches do the Suttleman descendants have with Evelyne?

• George matches Evelyne on 78cM over 23 segments, for a proposed 3rd-5th cousin match
• Ina matches Evelyne on 77cm over 20 segments, for a proposed 4th-remote match
• My uncle matches Evelyne on 78cM over 17 segments, for a proposed 2nd-4th cousin match
• My father matches Evelyne on 87cM over 20 segments for a proposed 4th-remote match

 My uncle is by far the closest match.  But it's the others' DNA that makes this interesting.

Evelyne's Chromosome 5 with Suttleman Descendants

My father and Evelyne share two separate segments on chromosome 5--one of which George does as well, and the other which Ina does.  Ina, Evelyne and my father share just over 7cM, while my father and George share 7.61cM with Evelyne (and George actually shares 8.22cM with Evelyne on that segment).  And all of these matches on chromosome 5 triangulate.

Evelyne's Chromosome 8 with Suttleman Descendants

On chromosome 8, my father and uncle share DNA with Evelyn, which isn't surprising.  But my uncle and George overlap with Evelyn for a segment as well.  But looking into this more closely shows that this chromosome doesn't mean anything--my uncle doesn't match George or Ina at all on his 8th chromosome, meaning that there's no triangulation here between George, Evelyne and my uncle--but there's still a segment my uncle shares with my father that triangulates with Evelyne's DNA.

That chromosome 5 match, which does triangulate shows that a connection with Evelyne would be through my great-great grandfather Yechiel, rather than through any of his wives, since Ina is descended from a different wife than the rest of us.

And speaking of Ina, check out her X chromosome!

Evelyne's and Ina's Shared X DNA

Evelyne and Ina share a 21.82cM segment on their X chromosomes, in addition to another 6.35cM segment.  Yechiel was Ina's maternal grandfather, so she would have gotten some of his X chromosome; the others who have tested do not match on the X chromosome--but all have consecutive males in their link to Yechiel, meaning that none of his X chromosome's DNA would have been passed down.  Cousin Mitzi's kit is being processed; when hers comes back, I'd expect that she has some X in common with Evelyne as well.

Hillel & Hinda Diamond
My grandfather's paternal grandparents were Hillel and Hinda Diamond.  (My major DNA success came on this line when I matched Dave, a great grandson of their daughter Shaindel/Jennie.)

Descendants of Hillel and Hinda include my father, my uncle, Dave, and Dave's aunt Beth.  Dave doesn't match Evelyne at all.  But Beth does, just enough.

Evelyne's Chromosome 8, with Cousin Beth and my father and uncle

Evelyne shares the same 10.96 cM segment with Beth, my father, and my uncle.  So it seems that Evelyne is related through my Diamonds as well!

Evelyne also shares a 6.29cM segment of X Chromosome with Beth.  Beth's father was not Jewish, so the shared X would have come from her mother Betty.  That X could have come from Betty's mother--and therefore from the Diamonds, but it could also have come from her father (Morris Dorfman); we don't have enough information to know, since my branch has no one living with any X DNA from Hillel and Hinda Diamond.

Conclusion
Evelyne is related to me--in many ways.  We've shown connections through:

• My paternal grandmother
• My paternal grandfather's maternal grandfather (Yechiel Suttleman)
• My paternal grandfather's paternal grandparents (Hillel and Hinda Diamond)
• My maternal grandfather's paternal grandmother's parents (Halpern/Lefand/Marienhoff)
• My maternal grandfather's maternal grandparents (Yeshaya & Zlata-Tzipra Supkoff)

This is how being part of an endogamous population makes genetic genealogy much more challenging, as we're all cousins in multiple ways over multiple lines.  So Evelyne, welcome to the family (or rather families)!

Stay tuned--Evelyne's researcher daughter Dorit is having other members of her family test, so hopefully the connections will be able to get more specific. And if you're related to me and want the chance to have your DNA featured in future posts like this, you can get tested--contact me, and I can explain what to do.