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Author: Diana_Gale_Matthiesen
Surnames: Carrico
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.carrico/410.1.1.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Numerous descendants of Peter CARRICO, 1674 immigrant to Maryland, have been Y-DNA tested.
They are all Haplogroup J2a4b:
http://dgmweb.net/DNA/Carrico/CarricoDNA-results-HgJ2a4b.html
There's nothing to suggest, either genetically, geographically, or genealogically,
that Peter CARRICO was a Melungeon. His origin remains unproven, but it weighs in the
direction of his being a "Converson," that is, a Portugues Jew who was forced to
convert to Catholicism during the Spanish Inquisition.
The CARRICO Y-DNA signature is not just unique, it's quite unlike that of anyone else
so far Y-DNA tested. Our nearest matches indicate a common ancestor thousands of years
ago, well before the beginning of "genealogical time." The lack of DNA matches
for the descendants of Peter CARRICO is the reason the CARRICO Y-DNA project seeks and
subsides the testing of non-American CARRICOs, in the hope of someday "crossing the
pond."
In the meantime, there's simply nothing to suggest he was Melungeon. He doesn't
bear a known Melungeon surname, he didn't live where they lived, and he doesn't
remotely have a Y-DNA match with any of them. He is neither African or Amerindian, but
genetically "Anatolian - Mediterranean." See Map E on this page for a
distribution of haplogroup subclade J-M67:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1181965/figure/FG2/
Some contend his immediate origin was France, and there are definitely CARRICOs living in
France, today, just as there are ones living in the U.S., today, but his genetic
haplogroup indicates an earlier origin elsewhere. And the reason for his migration may
have been that he was Jewish and escaping persecution. In any case, Peter's story is
an interesting one, one I hope we can unravel, and it is probably only through Y-DNA
testing that we will.
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