BRITAIN: DNA Analysis Reveals Prince William Has Indian Ancestry

Britain's future king has Indian ancestry on his late mother's side, according to DNA analysis. The Indian Express reports:

Prince William, second-in-line to the throne, will be first British king with proven Indian ancestry, DNA analysis has revealed. The DNA analysis of saliva samples taken from the Duke of Cambridge's relatives have established a direct lineage between the 30-year-old prince and an Indian housekeeper on his mother Princess Diana's side.

It is his only non-European DNA and means he will become the first Head of the Commonwealth with a clear genetic link to its most populous nation, India. William is now likely to be encouraged to make his debut mission to India soon after the birth of his baby next month.

Researchers have uncovered the details of his lineage via a doomed relationship of William's Indian great-great-great-great-great grandmother. Eliza Kewark was housekeeper to Prince William's great grandfather Theodore Forbes (1788-1820), a Scottish merchant who worked for the East India Company in the port town of Surat in Gujarat.

A DNA sample was provided by Princess Diana's maternal aunt, who says she is delighted to learn that she is part-Indian.

Where Irish-Americans Live

The most-Irish metro area in the United States is Boston, with 20% of residents claiming Irish ancestry. The most-Irish zip code in the nation is in Breezy Point, Queens, at 54%. More stats:

Twenty-two million Americans -- 7.2% of the population -- say their "primary ancestry" is Irish, according to the Census's American Community Survey. Another 13.5 million Americans claim at least some Irish ancestry, bringing the total to 35.5 million Americans -- 11.6% of the population -- with at least partial Irish ancestry. If that sounds low, remember that Ireland's population today is just 6.4 million -- 4.6 million in the Republic of Ireland and 1.8 million in Northern Ireland. So there are more than five times as many Americans with at least partial Irish ancestry as there are people who live in Ireland.

RELATED: My great-great grandfather, for whom I'm named, arrived in New York City from Wales at the age of 21 in 1871 aboard the steamship Calabria. We believe that my paternal ancestors, like thousands of other families, had left Ireland a couple of generations earlier to work in the coal mines of Wales, possibly due to the famines sweeping Ireland at that time. The 19th century Joe Jervis went to work in the coal mines of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania shortly after being processed at Manhattan's Castle Clinton, the pre-Ellis Island immigration station for NYC arrivals. And here I sit, 142 years later, just a few miles away on the same tiny island. Anyway, I guess that technically makes me Irish-Welsh even though we're not from Wales. I don't really get how all that works, genealogy-wise.

Ancestry.com Claim: President Obama Has Slave Ancestry On His White Mother's Side

The Mormon Church-affiliated genealogy site Ancestry.com today made the claim that they have traced President Obama's ancestry back to the very first documented slave in what would become the United States. That's fascinating on its face, but the more interesting wrinkle here is that the connection is made through Obama's white mother.

Research derived by Ancestry.com from early Virginia records and DNA analysis shows Obama is the 11th great-grandson of John Punch, an indentured servant in Colonial Virginia who became enslaved for life after trying to escape in 1640, according to the website. [snip] Ancestry.com genealogists researched Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and discovered her land-owner ancestors descended from Punch. According to the site, Punch had children with a white woman who passed her free status to her children, who went on to become successful land owners in Colonial Virginia.

"Two of the most historically significant African Americans in the history of our country are amazingly directly related," said Ancestry.com genealogist Joseph Shumway in a statement. "John Punch was more than likely the genesis of legalized slavery in America. But after centuries of suffering, the Civil War, and decades of civil rights efforts, his 11th great-grandson became the leader of the free world and the ultimate realization of the American Dream."

The website has posted an illustrated family tree (PDF).

In Which I Discover My Welsh Roots

Here's one of the best benefits of being a blogger I've had in a long time. In a post about the Super Bowl yesterday, I mentioned that my paternal grandfather had died in 1989. That prompted longtime JMG reader (and my real life pal) Homer, an avid genealogy hobbyist who lives in Tucson, to do some research on the Jervis side of my family, something we've had only scant information about.

And holy cow, what a treasure trove he sent me! Homer discovered that my great-great grandfather (also Joseph Jervis) emigrated from Wales at the age of 21 in 1871 aboard the Cunard steamship Calabria (above). The ship left out of Liverpool and arrived in NYC twelve days later, where the entire family was processed at Castle Clinton, Manhattan's pre-Ellis Island immigration station and the present location of the ticket booth for excursions to the Statue of Liberty. And here I am 139 years later living just a few miles away on the same little island.

Homer also learned that the Jervis clan were colliers (coal miners) in Wales and immediately went to work at the Lucerne Valley Coal Company in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. They were drawn there, Homer speculates, by correspondence from friends or relatives who promised work. (My mom remembers stories of black lung disease.) The later documentations that Homer uncovered are amazing. I've now got a copy of my great-grandfather's WWI draft card, Pennsylvania census records from the late 1800's, and Welsh census citations going back several generations earlier.

As virtually all of my father's side of the family is long deceased, Homer's sleuthing has filled in some major gaps in what little we've known. My mom is already peppering him with information about HER side of the family. (We *think* we're Irish there, but with these new surprises, who knows?) For now, I'm the fifth-generation American descendant of coal miners out of Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, Wales. Fascinating. Thank you, Homer.