MY DNA STORY
by George A. Sanchez
This past year at the Three Trails Conference in Santa Fe I heard a talk by the DNA
expert Angel Cervantes where he said that most New Mexicans whose ancestry goes back
many generation in New Mexico have a "Pueblo" Native American DNA. He said that the
Navaho and Apache came much later(?). This got me interested in doing my (male) yDNA
and my (female) mtDNA becasuse I have a GGGrandfather Gaspar Gurule who was
maried to Maria Altagracia Gurule de Trujillo who descends from a Native American
crida (slave) of Antonio Gurule. You can find the story in Angela Lewis's web site
GuruleFamily.Org. So I wanted to know what Native American DNA I had. Before I just
was not interested in knowing that I matched DNA with someone from Europe or Asia or
that I was descended from some old lady that lived in Africa hundreds of thousands of
years ago!
I consulted with Miguel Torrez, the DNA expert with the New Mexico Genealogical
Society, and he suggested I do both a 12 Marker FamilyTree yDNA and a mtDNA test. He
also had to re-explain that the yDNA goes back from sons (only) to their fathers(only).
That the mtDNA goes back from daughters (only) to their mothers(only). Thus, I was not
going to find out anything about my yDNA nor my mtDNA through my GGGrandfather
Gaspar nor his wife Maria Altagracia! I now know why and if you do then you understand
how this DNA business works.
After getting back my yDNA results I was designated Q-M242 which is the Haplogroup
for those who came to the Americas via what is now Alaska ten thousand to thirty
thousand years ago, in other words a Native American! The problem is that I have a well
established paper trail to my sixteenth century MALE Spanish ancestors. Another
problem is that Miguel Torrez has helped other Sanchez's with the same ancestors but not
the same Haplogroup designation. Miguel had me do the 37 Marker Family Tree DNA
test. It still only matched me with two Europeans, one of whom Miguel was able to contact.
Miguel has consulted two other experts about my strange result and they advised him that
I should do two other "SNP" tests, which I have now done. I also had my brother Herman
do the 12 Marker test and his son Herman, Jr. is doing the 37 Marker test. Miguel and I
are anxiously awaiting those results to see what designation they get.
My mtDNA results are a completely different story! With my Haplogroup A
designation came a list of about twenty-five names of individuals that I matched! I know
close to half of those individuals, among them Miguel Torrez! Another match was Patricia
Rau, an excellent genealogist from Colorado Spring, who once helped me with my
Maternal Line ancvestry. With Miguel's help and two articles, one written by Henrietta
Christmas, the NMGS President, entitled "Bernardina Vasquez and Her New DNA
Cousins" and another article written by Patricia Rau entitled "WHO IS THE FATHER
OF MIGUEL DE SAN JUAN?: Discrepancies in Genealogy" I was able to complete my
mtDNA paper trail to my (Mexican Indian) Haplogroup A!
Haplogroup A (Mexican Indian)
George A. Sanchez
S/O Ramoncita Gurule (b. 1916) and Abran Sanchez (b. 1905)
D/O Luisa Aragon (b. 1893) and Juan Gurule (b.1890)
D/O Maria Bartola Trujillo (b. 1858) and Roman Aragon (b. 1851)
D/O Maria Dolores Ortiz (b. 1818) and Miguel Trujillo (b. 1810)
D/O Maria de la Cruz Alarid and Juan Luis de Jesus Ortiz (b. 1787)
D/O Maria Rosa Sandoval and Jose Antonio Alari (b. 1763)
D/O Josefa Duran y Chavez and Antonio Sandoval
D/O Juana Baca (The Younger) and Francisco Xavier Duran y Chavez
D/O Juana Baca (La Vieja) and Father Unknown
D/O Ana Moreno de Lara Trujillo and Christobal Baca II
D/O Catalina Vasquez and Diego de Trujillo
D/O Bernardina Vasquez and Diego Marquez
D/O Unknown Woman and Francisco Vasquez
D/O Maria de la Cruz and Juan Perez de Bustillo
D/O Unknown India and Unknown Father
Maria de la Cruz is the daughter of a Central Mexico-Native American female and an
unknown father It is very interesting that Maria de la Cruz, who descends from a Mexican
Indian, and her husband Juan Perez de Bustillo, had seven daughters who married Spanish
soldiers. Maria de la Cruz and her daughter and granddaughters left many descendents in
New Mexico. (ME)