Happy St. Patrick’s Day

On March 17, 2017 By dancingpalmtreesIn 23andMe, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, DNA analysis, mitochrondrial DNA, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Uncategorized22 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all my Irish Friends and Buddies. According to the DNA testing company 23andMe my brother Stephen and I have a small Irish Ancestry Claim.

Please keep in mind that ancestry is only traced from your mother’s side as only Women carry Mitochondrial DNA which is passed from Mother to child. In order for me to get information on my Dad’s side one of my paternal cousins would have to take the DNA test.

When I was younger and especially when I was a kid I would get stopped on the street all the time by total strangers asking me if I was Native American. Got the same question from a Korean Sister who was giving me a facial. Obviously the African and Native American genes stand out more than anything else. Or at least to friends and neighbors.

Here is the 411 on our family genetics:

Deborah Palmer

100%

Sub-Saharan African 86.9%

European 11.3%

East Asian & Native American 1.4%

Unassigned 0.4%

Northwestern European 8.8%

British & Irish 5.0%

Broadly Northwestern European 3.7%

Southern European 1.2%

Broadly Southern European 1.2%

Broadly European 1.3%

My Maternal Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks

Above photos of my Mom Mable Elizabeth Palmer and my Grandmother Hattie Finney Banks. Below Me and Stephen.

DeBorahandStephen_Dec1961 — Me and My brother Stephen December 1961

Connection | The Daily Post

On March 14, 2016March 14, 2016 By dancingpalmtreesIn 23andMe, Africa, African American Queen, African Goddess, Ancestor, Ancestors, Ancestral Memories, Ancestry, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, maternal haplogroup L3e2b1a, Mozambique, Uncategorized4 Comments

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/connection/

Connection

I Love the way 23andMe organized my Maternal Bridge linking me to Africa, Native American ancestry and I have some Irish lineage also! (See below chart)

I’ve always felt a special connection to my African co-workers knowing that I too am from the Motherland but my ancestors having been kidnapped and brought by force to what is now known as America some of that connection was lost. My ancestors lost not only their homeland but their language, culture, religion, (Christianity was forced upon both Africans and Native Americans) and traditions. For me the Connection or Bridges to my Ancestral Lands were partially rebuilt when I had my DNA test done a few years ago.

Through my maternal line most of my ancestors were from Mozambique. I belong to the maternal haplogroup L3e2b1a. Based on their findings I also probably have some Nigerian ancestors. Thanks to the advent of computers, the Internet and Blogs in my lifetime I can now connect with many of my African Sisters and Brothers across the globe. Exciting!!

When I pass through the African Art and Egyptian Wings of the museum sometimes I can feel the spirits of the artifacts reaching out to me. I look at items that once had spiritual significance and are now artworks and see my past, present and future. Sometimes I even see my face.

Canopic Jar ~ Perhaps Queen Tiye

Having Native American Ancestry from both my mothers and fathers sides I’ve always felt a deep spiritual connection to Native Americans, the traditions and the belief systems.

So I have the bloods of African, Native American and Irish Queens running through my veins but as the end result says on the below Ancestry Composition I am 100% DeBorah Ann Palmer.

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23andMe Ancestry Composition

Ancestry Composition tells you what percent of your DNA comes from each of 31 populations worldwide. This analysis includes DNA you received from all of your recent ancestors, on both sides of your family. The results reflect where your ancestors lived before the widespread migrations of the past few hundred years.

86.9%

Sub-Saharan African

81.2%

West African

2.7%

Central & South African

3.0%

Broadly Sub-Saharan African

11.3%

European

Northwestern European

5.0%

British & Irish

3.5%

Broadly Northwestern European

Southern European

1.1%

Broadly Southern European

1.6%

Broadly European

1.4%

East Asian & Native American

0.6%

Southeast Asian

0.4%

Native American

0.4%

Broadly East Asian & Native American

0.5%

Unassigned

100%

DeBorah Palmer

Say Your Name ~~ The Daily Post

On February 8, 2016 By dancingpalmtreesIn 23andMe, Africa, African American Queen, African Goddess, African King, DeBorah, DeBorah Ann Palmer, Edward G. Palmer, Edward Gordon Palmer, Edward Palmer, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, Say Your Name, Uncategorized5 Comments

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/say-your-name/

THEDAILYPOST

Feb 8, 2016

DAILY PROMPT

Say Your Name

Write about your first name: Are you named after someone or something? Are there any stories or associations attached to it? If you had the choice, would you rename yourself?

The name Deborah is a Hebrew baby name. In Hebrew the meaning of the name Deborah is: Bee. Deborah was the Biblical prophetess who summoned Barak to battle against an army of invaders. After the battle she wrote a victory song which is part of the Book of Judges.

http://www.behindthename.com/name/deborah

You may read about the heroic exploits of DeBorah (Judges) in my previous post. The Song of Deborah is Judges Chapter 5.

The Lioness of Judah Reigns

I’m not really sure who or what my Dad had in mind when he named me. Perhaps he was a fan of Deborah Kerr who was a popular actress during the 1950s. Once he told me that he wanted to avoid the traditional Palmer female family names and name me something different, a name he thought would be unique. However when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade there were about five (5) Deborahs, Debras, Debbies in my class!! So much for unique. Like most African-Americans born during the 40s, 50s, and 60s pretty much you either had a passed down family name or a Bible name. Later in the 1970s and thereafter African and Muslim names became popular I believe in an attempt for African-Americans to reconnect to the Mother Land.

About six or seven years ago I did a Free DNA screening given by 23andMe. Here are the results copied from an old document.

Through my maternal line my ancestors were from Mozambique. I belong to the maternal haplogroup I also probably have some Nigerian ancestors. My maternal genetic

makeup is 85% Africa, 12% Europe and 3% Asia.

Our ancestry and genealogy are traced through mitochondrial DNA which

is only passed down from mother to child. This is fascinating information.

By the way the study affiliated with Dr. Henry Louis Gates was free and they

were targeting African Americans mainly to ascertain my African Americans have such high levels of high blood pressure and diabetes. I wanted to have my DNA traced for

several years and when I saw the ad in Ebony or was it Essence along with

the word Free, I immediately signed up. I was so thrilled to find out this

news. Now along with my African co-workers feel a more direct connection

to the Motherland.

Naturally, I’ll never be connected to Mother Africa the way in which my co-

workers from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali are

since they were born there and have a direction connection with the

culture, language and respective tribes, I feel now more of a blood tie. Now

I can plan for my pilgrimage to this country of my ancestors in the next 20 years.

In a way I envy my fellow bloggers who were born and raised in Africa and who had the opportunity to retain their traditional African names, perhaps some indigenous belief system, culture and language. Sadly when my ancestors were kidnapped and brought here on slave ships all of that was stolen from them. Even when I do visit Mozambique or Nigeria I will never know my tribe and cannot speak any of the tribal languages. However I do feel a very strong spiritual connection to my African ancestors especially those who came here during the Middle Passage. This may sound strange to some people but from time to time they speak to me as do some of my family members long deceased some as long ago as from the Civil War. My paternal Great, Great Grandfather William Henry Halstead served in the Civil War. Their voices rise up from ages past beckoning to me as a 21st Century Scribe to write about them so that they are not forgotten.

William H. Halstead name as inscribed on the Colored Soldiers Monument in Washington, DC

William Henry Halstead Headstone ~ Sleepy Hollow

In December of 1863 my Great Great Grandfather, William Henry Halstead, who

lived in Tarrytown, New York, traveled to New Haven, Connecticut to join the

29th Connecticut Colored Infantry. On his Volunteer Enlistment papers it notes

his occupation as a farmer. He enlisted for three years and was discharged on the

24th day of October 1865. He married and had five children. William Henry

Halstead passed away in 1888 and was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in

Tarrytown, New York. His wife moved to New York City with her five children.

Her children grew up in Harlem and belonged to various organizations such as Odd

Fellows, Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Daughters of New

York.

The same goes for my Native American ancestry.

Several years I wrote a blog post about that dilemma also called “The Cruelty of Christianity” basically when the Europeans first invaded America in 1492 or thereabouts the Native Americans had the land and the Europeans had the Bible. Now the Europeans have the Land and the Native Americans have the Bible. Perhaps their revenge are the casinos and tax-free cigarettes.

https://dancingpalmtrees.com/2012/05/05/the-cruelty-of-christianity/