'Viking' blood at the Cape - DNA evidence confirms European paternity of Christoffel Snijman van der Caep and debunks theory he was the biological son of Anthonij Jansz van Bengale
A examination of recently published public DNA test of Kornelius Snyman showing him to be in the Y-DNA haplogroup I-M253 - the ancient paternal lineage of the Nordic countries popularly known as the 'Viking' haplogroup. Forty percent of Fins and 38% of Swedes are from this haplogroup which also commonly occured other other north European countries and in Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
http://e-family.co.za/ffy/ui114.htm
Between Delia & Mansel, the First Fifty Years' Project is the best researched & most erudite site on the subject on the internet! So great.
Judi, on Geni we've known Christoffel's paternal ancestry ever since Kornelius - a Geni user - had his DNA tested: so that's not new: but it was a fantastic breakthrough to help us decide between the two men who might have been his father. This is where DNA testing is very useful. (If Kornelius' tree is correct, and he is the direct Y descendant of Christoffel, then we know that Christoffel's father cannot have been the same ethnicity as Anthonij van Bengale. Something that wasn't certain before DNA testing.)
What makes Christoffel slave-born is the fact that his mother was a slave. (It is completely separate from who his father was). Children born to all women who were slaves were automatically the property of the woman's owner.
My Curator note is trying to alert people to the remarkable social jump that Christoffel & his mother managed to make - so I'm not invested in saying he was a slave. He obviously grew up as a free man. What a pity our society didn't have more of these mixed marriages - Apartheid might never have happened.
Another two cents worth, it is a fact that slavery is still going on today and they are mostly women being sold into the sex trade, rape is also still alive.
I guess, each following generation will scream about what happened in previous generations while not seeing what is going on in their own time.
Mixed marriages do not end strife and discrimination, equal opportunity to
Education and jobs is the proven healer, reverse discrimination by any race
Based on ethnic group will always be distructive.
Thank you Delia Robertson for this well written article as part of the excellent FFY (first fifty years) project.
Thanks also to Private User who encouraged me to get my (Snyman) DNA tested, provided information on relevant tests and organised for my DNA results to be further analysed by a specialist researcher.
I am thankful for all the dedicated and competent people involved in the research into our South African ancestry and for those results to be made available for free.
Thank you!
Baie dankie!
And one of the biggest thankyous to you, Kornelius Snyman for having your DNA tested to help get the History correct, and making it available for publishing.
You're welcome Sharon Doubell, and thanks to you as well for doing a fantastic job as Curator on geni.