[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] DNA Testing

[Vince Tilroe]

Those with Volhynian ancestry who have tested or are testing through 
FTDNA, can join the Polish DNA project at 
https://www.familytreedna.com/public/polish/ or the Ukraine DNA project 
at https://www.familytreedna.com/public/ukraine/

The administrators of either project should be consulted prior to joining.

Incidentally, DNA testing of various family members confirmed my own 
Volhynian/Polish genealogical paper trail, which both shed light on and 
disproved a long-standing century-old family myth: that the mother of my 
2nd great-grandmother Ernestine Kotscherofski (Hanke) was actually named 
Anna Luiza Weiss, and not Christina as had been passed down.  As it 
turned out, Anna Luiza Weiss had remarried Andreas Zippel after 
Ernestine's father Daniel Hanke had passed away.  Previously we knew 
little to nothing of this - only that Andreas Zippel was somehow 
connected to the family.

Once discovering the identity of Anna Luiza Weiss, I found another 
genealogist who was also researching her, whose ancestor was apparently 
a close cousin.  DNA testing of this genealogist's father and my 
great-uncle, Martin Kotscherofski's grandson, confirmed their 
genealogical relation.  Mere months later, my great-uncle passed away.

It was only by confirming the family connection by DNA that I finally 
had the lead to find out when and where my 2nd great-grandfather Martin 
Kotscherofski (then spelt "Mart. Koczorowsky") had immigrated to the new 
world - as a labourer accompanying Anna and Andr. Zippel and on the SS 
Eider arriving at the port of New York on 7 June 1889.  The lot of them 
eventually arrived in Winnipeg for staging west through Medicine Hat, 
Red Deer, and finally Stony Plain.  I still haven't discovered how and 
when Ernestine and her three young sons Johann, Andreas, and Eduard 
arrived in Canada, but it must have been within the next two or three years.

If you have a genealogical hypothesis, DNA testing of appropriate family 
members through companies such as Family Tree DNA and 23andMe acts as 
viable evidence for or against your hypothesis.

Vince T.