SCS News, Volume 5, Number 1, Jubilee 2013
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Volume 5, Number 1 • Jubilee Issue 2013 PRESERVING THE LEGACY OF THE NEW SWEDEN COLONY IN AMERICA Swedish Colonial news IN THIS ISSUE: th SPECIAL 375 THREE-PART STORY: BENGTSSON GENEALOGY n Anders Bengtsson’s DNA Discovered page 3 Lawrence Bankson and Rebecca Hendricks page 5 Descendants of Anders Bengtsson: Where Are They Now? page 17 HISTORIC EVENT: 375 TH ANNIVERSARY JUBILEE n Follow the Day of the Royal Couple th page 8 375 Anniversary Jubilee Jubilee Dinner page 12 Celebrating The Past With Our Future! GOVERNOR’S MESSAGE Swedish Col onial Society 916 South Swanson Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147 Dear Friends of New Sweden, The visit of Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silva of Sweden with Finland’s Speaker of Parliament Eero Heinäluoma created excitement with a whirlwind tour highlighted by a truly spectacular and memorable evening celebrating the 375th Anniversary at the Jubilee Dinner held at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Special 375th Jubilee events celebrating the beginning of the New Sweden Colony will be continued throughout the entire year. A calendar has been placed on the Internet under www.NewSwedenAlliance.org to indicate the different dates of these festivities. On a personal note, I must admit the most exciting event time for me was also the most humbling. I am deeply honored to have been bestowed with the Royal Order of the Polar Star that was presented by the King in front of so many friends and family members. It is an experience I will long treasure in my memories. Of course, the Society is especially proud of our new publication, New Sweden on the Delaware: A Photographic Tour of the Historic Sites of America’s First Swedes and Finns, designed by Ronald Hendrickson, edited by Kim-Eric Williams with photos by Kenneth Peterson. This elegant, educational and descriptive book of the New Sweden Colony is an excellent gift and is available for purchase at local sites and through the Society’s website www.colonialswedes.org. The Swedish Colonial Society’s councillors had an educational meeting with William Whitcraft, webmaster, who presented a PowerPoint showing of our new website. All members will soon be able to discover additional genealogical facts about the early settlers and their descendants by logging on. We are now in the process of developing procedures to access information and protect the privacy of living persons. On behalf of the Society, I extend the most sincere “thank you” to Ron and Nancy Hendrickson at Cataleno Design Studio for all the work they have done and wish Ron only the very best as he steps down as publisher of Swedish Colonial News. He leaves “big shoes” to fill, but we will try. In closing, I extend my blessings to all and encourage you to attend the events of our 375th Anniversary Jubilee in the year 2013. Margaret Sooy Bridwell Governor, The Swedish Colonial Society On the Front Cover (left to right): John Langan Morton handled introductions; Margaret Elizabeth Dyer presented flowers to Her Majesty Queen Sylvia of Sweden; Alexis Kristina Lehman presented flowers to Satu Siitonen-Heinaluoma, wife of the Speaker of Parliament of Finland; Miranda Lake Dyer presented flowers to Shayne Williams, wife of the Mayor of Wilmington, DE. 2 SWEDISH COLONIAL NEWS GENEALOGY Special three-Part Story BengtSSon genealogy • Part 1 ANDERS BENGTSSON (1640- 1705) was one of the early settlers of New Sweden, coming there in 1656, a Anders Bengtsson’s lad of 16. He married Gertrude Rambo, and fathered a family of nine children, DNA Discovered all of whom lived to adulthood. In this issue of Swedish Colonial News, by Ronald S. Beatty and The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Forde-Beatty we explore the legacy of this Forefather in a special three-part story: ou might wonder how DNA research will bear witness to your Part 1, “Anders Bengtsson’s DNA YColonial Forefather. DNA analysis is transforming genealogy and can Disovered,” highlights the way DNA already be tremendously helpful. The latest “breaking news” is that DNA research is transforming genealogy and conclusively disproves rumors that Anders Bengtsson (Bankson) was a offers new discoveries about Anders Finn or a Norwegian; because of a unique marker, he was definitely a Bengtsson. Swede. Furthermore, DNA proves that Rev. John Bankston was not a Part 2 (page 5) traces the lives of patrilineal descendant of Anders Bankson. (Perhaps he was given the name Lawrence Bankson, his wife Rebecca by a Bankston uncle who raised him.) Thomas Bankston was thought to Hendricks and their descendants. be a son of Rev. John, but their DNA does not match; Thomas’s DNA Lawrence Bankson (or Bengtsson in does match that of Anders Bankson. Swedish records) was a grandson of Anders Bengtsson and Gertrude PLEASE! We appeal to ALL Bankston/Bankson descendants to Rambo. have your DNA tested. It is especially vital that our OLDEST cousins participate. As more people participate, more correlations Part 3 (page 17) , “Where Are They can prove family relationships. YOUR Bankston/Bankson DNA Now?” shares family stories and photos just might help Rev. John’s descendants determine their place of Bengtsson Forefather Members of within the family. The Swedish Colonial Society collected from around the country. Cynthia Forde-Beatty, Group Administrator for the Bankston/ Bankson YDNA Project, first sent her mtDNA to National Geographic’s Genographic Project in 2005. She has never had to submit another cheek swab sample, but has been able to purchase each new result that has become available. With each new test comes new cousins and new ABOUT THE AUTHORS revelations. After raising a family of five in Iowa, Cynthia Privacy is guaranteed. Every participant is assigned a unique “kit Forde-Beatty moved to Texas in 1981 and became number”. Participants can elect to share results or not and can dictate a parish pastor in the ELCA while earning doctoral that their sample be preserved for future tests or destroyed. degrees in spirituality and pastoral counseling. Everyone has mitochondrial DNA. It comes from your mother’s She wrote a work of historical fiction, The Spirit mother’s mother’s ... mother, and it will also closely match your close in the South, the story of ten generations of her relatives. Presently mitochondrial DNA is used only to determine your grandmothers. ancient (feminine) ancestry (your Haplogroup), but as more “full Ronald S. Beatty graduated from MIT with a sequence mitrochondrial testing” is done, more valuable genealogical degree in theoretical mathematics. In 1980 he correlations will become evident. became addicted to genealogy and has pursued The male chromosome (the infamous Y) is passed down exclusively, his elusive ancestors ever since, resulting in invariably from father to son. Occasionally during the replication of the publication of five volumes of the Rambo Family DNA, the enzymes will create a copy that is slightly different from the Tree. Their work eventually led to a new life original. The geneticists can test for repeating sequences in the DNA helix, together and great friendships with members and the number of repeats at each “marker” determines the value for that of The Swedish Colonial Society. marker. By comparing the entire 111 markers used for genealogy, it is continued on next page SWEDISH COLONIAL NEWS 3 GENEALOGY Anders Bengtsson’s DNA Discovered continued from page 3 possible to gauge the probability of common ancestry. Seven male descendants of Anders Bankson tested so far, and only 8 of the 111 markers show any change from the original. How do we know the original? Two of Anders’ proven descendants from different branches have no mutations which means they have Anders’ unique DNA. The chart below shows selected columns from those 111 columns comparing the Y-DNA of several Bankston males. Haplo- DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS DYS group 393 390 439 458 460 576 444 495 549 638 462 This chart shows how 13 24 11 17 10 20 11 16 12 11 11 two sisters and a niece 13 24 11 19 10 21 11 17 13 11 11 compare. Where all 13 24 11 18 10 20 11 16 13 11 11 three have identical R1b1a2 13 24 11 17 10 20 11 16 13 11 11 chromosomal markers, the R1b1a2 13 24 11 18 10 21 11 16 13 11 11 chromosome is gray from R1b1a2 13 24 11 18 10 20 11 16 13 11 11 top to bottom. Where R1b1a2a 13 24 11 18 10 20 11 16 13 11 11 neither sister nor niece R1b1a2 13 24 11 18 10 20 11 17 13 11 11 match, the chromosome is R1b1a2 13 24 11 19 10 20 11 16 12 11 11 black from top to bottom. R1b1a2 13 24 11 18 10 20 11 17 13 11 11 If the chromosome is half black and half gray, one of Certain values for some markers are relatively unique. The Anders Bankson the three does not match values for DYS576 of 20 and 21 are far less common in the general population the other two. (3% and 1% respectively). Consequently, all Bankston/Bankson males with a value of 21 for marker DYS576 undoubtedly descend from the same common ancestor. With enough DNA to compare, we can determine the earlier ancestry of Bankstons/Banksons whose paper trails have been destroyed. This is the reason we hope that EVERY Bankston/Bankson male will add his DNA results to the database. If we had 700 participants, we would be well on our way to perfecting our knowledge of Bankston/Bankson ancestry and eliminating the plethora of guesswork that is our nemesis today.