Comparison of X-chromosomes, one of which is inherited by males exclusively from their mother, may provide additional insights into common ancestry within maternal lineages.

There are several firms offering autosomal tests commercially. One of the best known is the “Family Finder” test marketed by Family Tree DNA of Houston, Texas. It presents data of autosomal DNA shared with others on their database, in the form of total shared DNA, the longest single block of shared DNA, and the number of shared segments. Those found with significant matches are categorised as first to fifth and more distant cousins. Family Tree DNA has devised methods of calculation for estimating the proximity of common ancestors from details of the matched DNA. Shared DNA blocks exceeding a certain size (measured in units called centimorgans, abbreviated as cM) may point to a common ancestor of either sex within a genealogical time frame. However, because of the in-breeding in Jewish populations the interpretation of test results presently tends to attribute a closer connection than the genealogical evidence allows. An amount of small DNA fragments carried down from different ancestral lines and compounding over many generations may swell the sum of total shared DNA and can complicate the issue, particularly for more distant cousins. Analysis of significantly larger blocks of shared DNA, which may come from one or other or both sides of a family, must go hand in hand with traditional genealogical methodology - which Family Tree DNA call the “paper trail”.

The “Family Finder” test is of limited value to individuals of endogamous (inbred) background when taken in isolation, but comparative group studies can overcome some of the difficulties inherent in the test. In this article I apply this approach to a group of my closest cousins.

Testing surname groups
Numerous groups, who believe themselves to be descendants of well-documented lineage because of a common surname or other reasons, are engaged in comparative DNA studies. One of the studies being pursued under the auspices of Family Tree DNA is co-ordinated by Steven D. Bloom. The members of this Halpern circle include those bearing surnames such as Halpern, Halperin, Heilprin, Heilborn, Alperovitz, Alpert, Alper etc, who may have connections to the medieval rabbinic family reputedly hailing from the city of Heilbronn. I became interested in this circle because of my ancestral links to several Halpern lines. I found the names of some of its members on my list of “distant cousins” while my paternal first cousin Elsa Schmaus has others of this group on her list. Because of the way DNA segments come down through the generations, matches found for, say, a first cousin do not necessarily show for other first cousins on the same side of the family, and this phenomenon increases as one goes back in time. It is one of the reasons for testing close relatives of known kinship, whenever this is possible.

Testing close cousins
In order to establish a base for tackling the problems inherent in the “Family Finder” test, particularly those associated with Jewish descent, I set myself the task of establishing benchmarks for close kinsfolk of largely documented pedigree. I hoped to relate the amount of matched DNA to the degree of consanguinity. Several of my immediate cousins followed my example in taking the test and I can present some of their results here.

Edward Gelles and Elsa Gellis Schmaus
1^st cousins sharing paternal grandparents Rabbi Nahum Uri Gelles and Esther Weinstein
Edward Gelles, Thaddeus Taube, and Marilyn Low Schmitt
2^nd cousins sharing maternal great-grandparents Shulem Wahl and Sarah Safier

 
Table1

*David Mendel Griffel was the eldest son of Eliezer Griffel and Sarah Chajes and a brother of Chaya Griffel who was the great-grandmother of David Nir (my 2^nd cousin once removed) – see Table 4
** Rabbi Nahum Uri Gelles was a direct descendant of Moses Gelles of Brody – see Table 5
Gelles and Gellis are variant transliterations of our family name

All four of the above cousins found themselves confronted with a list of several hundred so-called “distant cousins” whose range of total shared DNA was of the order of 50–130 cM, with a longest single shared block of rarely more than 20 cM.

By contrast, my second cousins Thaddeus Taube and Marilyn Low Schmitt shared with me a total DNA of 384 and 306 cM, and longest block of 48 and 45 cM respectively. These shared DNA totals are larger than is often found for second cousins. Various ancestral DNA fragments from earlier generations are contributing to the totals. In other words, Tad Taube and Marilyn Low are not only my Wahl second cousins but also my more distant cousins through other earlier ancestral connections.

My first cousin Elsa Schmaus shared a total DNA of 888 cM and a longest block of 92 cM. For comparison, the highest benchmark would be provided by matches with one’s parents. I have to content myself with quoting the data from Steven D. Bloom and Jeffrey Meyerson of the afore-mentioned “Halpern” circle, who have recorded matches with their father and mother of total shared DNA 3,374 -3,382 cM and longest shared block 144 - 145 cM. These figures speak for themselves.

The “Family Finder” test also provides details of the DNA fragments on each of the 22 autosomal chromosome positions which can be compared on their “Chromosome Browser”. It allows comparisons of DNA blocks larger than 1, 3, 5 or 10 cM. In the present article only matches of blocks larger than 5 cM are shown. The Browser has additional features including ingenious filters that permit the matches for each individual close cousin to be scanned for an entered surname across the entire list of several hundert “distant cousins” to show which appear to be related to the paternal or maternal sides of the family or seem to have some connection with both sides.

Chart 1 presents autosomal DNA matches for Edward Gelles with Marilyn Low Schmitt and Thaddeus Taube. There are matches at chromosome locations 2, 3, 4, and 18. Much of the substantial shared blocks presumably relates to the DNA coming down from ancestors of the common maternal great-grandparents of these three cousins.

Chart 1

Elsa is not on Tad’s cousin list although they do in fact have some matched DNA segments, but she appears on Marilyn’s list. At one time I had no reason to believe that my immediate paternal and maternal cousins had close blood links. However, my genealogical and historical research showed that my maternal cousin Marilyn’s paternal line, Low (Loew) of Sedziszow, were distantly connected to my paternal Gelles family from Brody and later in Solotwina. These connections involved Fraenkel of Brody and Przeworsk and Horowitz of Sedziszow, Bolechow, and Solotwina (1,2), who may therefore have contributed to the common DNA segments shown in the chart. Regrettably, there do not appear to be an adequate number of relevant Fraenkel and Horowitz on the “Family Finder”. None are on my list of distant cousins. Clearly, we need a substantially larger database including more people who have a documented pedigree. My cousin Tad Taube’s test results indicate a match with Dr Lawrence Horowitz. However, that match leads in a different direction, as discussed below.

Chart 2

 
Edward Gelles and Marilyn Low Schmitt : - Wahl and Fraenkel cousins
Table 2

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Moshe Fraenkel of Przeworsk was grandfather of Meir Shlomo Fraenkel of Brody and a cousin of Yehuda Ahron Fraenkel of Brody
* Gittel, wife of Rabbi Weinstein, most probably a daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Ahron Horowitz – see Ref. 3 chapter 7

Table 2 indicates how the Fraenkel DNA of distant cousins might be superimposed on the Wahl DNA heritage of second cousins. It is a good example of DNA test results supportive of multiple cousinhood unearthed by traditional genealogical and historical methods. The latter indicate personal contacts between the Loews of Sedziszow in western Galicia and my Gelles grandfather, the Chief Rabbi of Solotwina in eastern Galicia. They were followers of the Friedman Chasidic Grand Rabbis of Czortkow and there is an instance of my grandfather sitting as a visiting judge on the Sedziszow Rabbinical Court. There were genealogical links between both the Fraenkel and Horowitz in Przeworsk and Sedziszow and between the Fraenkel and Horowitz in the line from Brody to Solotwina.

Table 3 shows Edward Gelles and Thaddeus Taube as Wahl 2^nd cousins and also highlights some female Taube in-laws, such as Weinberg of Bucharest and Wittels of Lemberg who might provide links to distant DNA matches shown in Table 6, as well as hinting at earlier connections between Taube and Gelles lines.

 
Edward Gelles and Thaddeus Taube
Table 3

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*Josef Isaac Taube was a son of Simon and Mariam Taube of Krystynopol

Edward Gelles and David Samuel Nir : - Griffel descent
Table 4

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My maternal great-grandfather Eliezer Griffel, the head of the Jewish community of Nadworna, was the patriarch of a large family. He had 10 children, his eldest son, David Mendel Griffel, being my grandfather. His second son, Isaac Chaim Griffel also had 10 children including Jacob Griffel, a hero of WW2 Jewish rescue. David Samuel Nir, who is a descendant of Eliezer Griffel’s daughter Chaya, found me through his “Family Finder” test.

Chart 3 shows matches of Edward Gelles with David Nir and Elsa Schmaus on chromosomes 2, 7, 18, and 20 (cf. David Nir with Elsa Schmaus on 2, 11, 22; with Marilyn Low Schmitt on 8 and 22, and with Tad Taube on 2, 6, 8, and 18).

Chart 3

 
Gelles and Polonsky Cousins
Table 5

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10th and 6th generation descendants from Moses Gelles of Brody
see reference 3, chapter 5

Chart 4 shows the match for Edward Gelles with Jeffrey Paull (Polonsky) and others. There are overlapping DNA segments on chromosome 19 for my paternal first cousin Elsa Schmaus, my maternal second cousin Marilyn Low Schmitt, whose distant connections to Gelles -Weinstein or their ancestors such as Fraenkel and Horowitz are indicated in Chart 2, and Ho Baron, who numbers among his ancestors Weinstein in Kovno and Steltzer in Brody, Others on my distant cousin list who also show some matches here are Andrew Alexander Silman, Toby Lynn Perlman, and Seymour Waterman.

Chart 4

The Schreiers go back to the 18^th century in Nadworna, where my mother’s family the Griffels were prominent, and also had a presence in Brodshin (Bohorodzany) near Solotwina, where the latter day Gelles family flourished. Furthermore, Brooke had maternal Halpern connections, Chayim Yehoshua Halperin and his daughter Chana Halperin Sandelman (1859-1945), who was Brooke’s great-great-grandmother.

Chart 5 shows my matches with Brooke Schreier Ganz, Elsa Schmaus, Ronit Dvorkin, Frank D. Honorof, and Marilyn Low Schmitt. There is a match with Brooke and Marilyn on chromosome 3 and a match with Brooke and others on chromosome 15. The available information from DNA tests and the known family history, when taken together, point to distant connections on both my father’s and mother’s side (cf Chart 2 and Table 2).

Chart 5

DNA matches for 1^st and 2^nd cousins, as set out in the appended Table 6, are not only supportive of known kinship but point towards the existence of further more distant cousinly relations. For example, as shown in Table 2, Marilyn Low and I are 2^nd cousins through our Wahl grandmothers as well as more distant Fraenkel cousins. Tad Taube and I are also Wahl 2^nd cousins and our ancient family connections are reflected in matching segments of DNA coming down from both sets of ancestors.

An analysis of matches with my Griffel cousin David Nir would require more knowledge of his Nir (Gruenfeld) connections, particularly with his grandmother’s Hager rabbinic family. Eliezer Griffel was a follower of the Hager Chasidic Rabbi of Otonyia. And of course the Hagers intermarried with other Chasidic dynasties such as the Friedmans of Ruzhin, Sadagora and Czortkow with whom the Gelles were associated.

My cousins of the Polonsky line, such as Jeffrey Paull, descended from Rabbi Shmuel ben Mordecai Gelles, a grandson of our common ancestor, Moses Gelles of Brody, and this line adopted the name of Polonsky from their association with the town of Polonnoye. Neighbouring towns in that part of Volhynia included Ostrog, Shepetivka, Kuniow, Teofipol, Sudilkov, and others. Rabbi Shmuel’s first rabbinic appointment was in Kuniow, his father in-law Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro of Koretz had family connections with Shepetivka, and one of Rabbi Shmuel’s sons-in-law was R. Abraham Halpern of Sudilkow. The family of Dr Lawrence Horowitz came from nearby Teofipol and this brings me to an examination of much more distant “cousins” listed in Table 6, including the Halpern connections.

 
Autosomal DNA matches (total shared DNA and largest shared block in cM)
Table 6

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My immediate Gelles line has several Halpern connections, including descent from Rabbi Shmuel Helman of Metz (died 1764) and more distantly from Rabbi Moshe Heilprin of Berdichev and Solotwina (died 1752). The Wahl-Katzenellenbogen lineage on my mother’s side, shared by my Wahl cousins, shows several important Halpern marriage connections.

The ancientHalpern rabbinic line developed many distinct branches, and some of the Halpern “circle” in the above table have connections with one or other of these branches. Leibish Halpern of the Stanislawow Halperns, Carmel Halperin, Alpert, Alper, and Alperin, Carol Joan Baird who has Heilborn among her ancestors, William Yoffe who has some Alperowitz forebears, and others, are of this company. There are multiple threads, some going back a very long way, that will be very difficult to disentangle.

Lawrence Horowitz, who has DNA matches with me and my immediate cousins, and somewhat more strongly with Jeffrey Paull of the Polonsky line, also has distant links with numerous Halperns from different branches and geographical areas. It seems plausible that intermarriages within the cluster of towns round Teofipol included links with the Polonsky and their Halpern or indeed other more or less distant kinsfolk (such as Lee Schwarz Kaplan some of whose roots go from Polonne back to Grodno and who shares some DNA segments with me, Elsa Schmaus, and Lawrence Horowitz).

Chart 6

Chart 7

Other distant cousins
Chart 8 shows matches of Edward Gelles with Melitta Lowy Garbuny and Marilyn Low Schmitt. Melitta is on my distant cousin list as well as on those of my cousins Elsa, Marilyn and Tad. Marilyn and I have matches with Melitta on chromosomes 4, 15, and especially 16, where Tad Taube also has a stronger match. There are smaller bits of common DNA, apparently from earlier generations, Melitta’s daughter Carole Garbuny Vogel has researched her ancient family. Her mother’s maiden name of Lowy goes back to the Schischa Halevi of Mattersdorf in the Burgenland, who are believed to have come from Spain long ago, as did some strands of my closer ancestral circle. Most of our latter-day “Austro-Hungarian” families had inter-connections stretching from Bohemia, to Galicia, Bukowina, Hungary, the Burgenland, and Vienna. Prague in the 16^th-17^th centuries was at the cross-roads of our millennial journey. Some of Melitta’s ancestors came from Prague and Tad’s deeply rooted Galician family also has connections to Moravia and Bohemia. There are some interesting Gelles connections with Loewel and Schischa in the Burgenland and in Baden near Vienna (3).

Chart 8

Chart 9

 
Conclusion
A comparison of autosomal DNA matches between several near and distant cousins has shown that some of these matches are consistent with documented genealogical links as well as with links based on more circumstantial evidence. Forebears of my maternal Wahl and Griffel cousins show some DNA input from ancestors of the paternal Gelles side and vice versa.

The “Family Finder” test provides interesting data. For reasons touched upon in this article, the genealogically useful information that can be derived from testing individuals of endogamous ancestry can be rather limited. Autosomal DNA tests of as many close relatives as possible and of groups with a common ancestral origin are more likely to be fruitful provided they go hand in hand with the “paper trail”. At best, these tests may lend support to genealogical findings obtained by traditional methods. Refinements in underlying calculations of ancestral proximity and a major increase in the size of the database could transform the “Family Finder” test into a valuable tool in the context of a descendancy that is already supported by an adequately documented family tree.

References

1. Edward Gelles, An Ancient Lineage, Vallentine Mitchell, London 2006


2. idem, Family Connections : Gelles – Horowitz – Chajes, Shaker Publishing, Maastricht 2008 (see table 13 and footnotes)
3. idem , Meeting My Ancestors : Genealogy, Genes, and Heritage Shaker Publishing, Maastricht 2011 (Chapters 5 and 7)

Personal titles shown in the tables are: ABD standing for Av Beth Din or Head of the Rabbinical Court / Chief Rabbi, R for Rabbi, and Dr for the medically qualified. My father David Gelles, my uncle Max Gellis, and my cousin Jacob Griffel, were doctors of law, while Steven D Bloom, my cousins Jeffrey Mark Paull, Marilyn Low Schmitt, and I are doctors of philosophy.

I should like to acknowledge the comments of numerous correspondents of the Halpern circle, including Steven D. Bloom, Jeffrey Meyerson, Andi Ziegelman, Carol Joan Baird, and Brooke Schreier Ganz. Carole G Vogel gave me the benefit of her research on her mother Melitta Lowy Garbuny and the Schischa Halevi family and Kathleen Dubin introduced me to her records on Dr. Lawrence Horowitz and some of his relatives.

My best thanks are due to Miles Saltiel for his help with the computer graphics.

I am pleased to acknowledge receipt of a research grant from the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture.