Glad to hear that you're alive and kicking, Michael. And thank you for
breaking the eerie silence. My computer's been on the fritz for a while
and I was wondering if our crusade had disbanded without me knowing.
It's always a treat to see a message from you or one of our clan. This
fellowship has been invaluable to me and I'm in debt to you all.
I've been trying to work on my mother's side during this lull but her roots
here are much shallower, part of the tidal wave of immigrants from
the 1870s and '80s. If anyone has tips on digging up Danish, German
and Norwegian roots, I'm all brown thumbs. How's my credit?
Big Y is not in my cards for the foreseeable future but I would be
happy to contribute to the cause. Kickstarter?
I hope this finds you all well and eager to find that Cooley Grail in the
coming year. Or years. Remember, The Glass is Always Half Full.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Cheers to all,
Jim Cooley
son of Lester,
son of Luster,
son of John,
son of Milo,
son of John,
son of Perrin,
son of John,
son of ????
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Cooley
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2014 6:22 PM
To: John Cooley Mailing List
Subject: We've been very quiet
I certainly haven't lost sight of the grand prize: John Cooley's wife and
parents. But whether we will ever make that discovery is almost
immaterial. The journey has yielded a number of surprises (I'm thinking
right about John's probable son Edmund), dispelled some misconceptions,
and confirmed what seemed probable--Perrin Sr's children, for example.
But I don't have anything new to share at this time. The genetic component
seems to be stalled until one of us finds the means to take the Big Y
test. (If 20 of us contributed $25 we'd be there.) Also, a couple of
well-chosen autosomal tests might help narrow the placement of Perrin C
Cooley. We should also be on the outlook for any matrilineal descendants
of the early Cooleys. Meaningful matches are rare but it's all about
numbers.
One of the Benjamin Cooley descendants is waiting for Big Y results. That
test will not, of course, have any significance for us but it will be a
great learning experience for me.
Since we're in a lull and because it's the holiday season, I think it
would be appropriate to share anything personal going on. And I'll start.
:)
It's been a rough year for me. You may remember that I was in the hospital
last June for 100% blockage of my right coronary artery. I now have five
stents fortifying it. Unlike eight years ago, the chest pain continued for
months afterwards. but I now feel great. About the same time, I broke out
in a rash that covered my whole body. After six months, it's clearing up.
And two months ago I tweaked my back resulting in debilitating sciatica. I
had to drop the human genetics class at HSU because I couldn't walk to
campus from my car and I cancelled the history seminar I was to teach for
OLLI this month. It's suspected that I have a herniated disk, which would
also be a repeat of eight years ago. I'm to call tomorrow to schedule an
MRI. And, finally, as you may remember, I had a rift with another board
member of the CFAA. I felt it was irreparable and resigned my position.
The CFAA is, of course, Benjamin-centric. My experience with it over the
last three years has convinced me that it will always be that way.
So, I've ejected a n umber of stressors from my life. I'm not to the point
of being bored (I can always find a project to work on) but my blood
pressure is down to 96/60. I'm calm and relaxed. :)
Please remind me if there was something I promised to do that you're still
waiting for. I expect to start working again with ernest on the book.
I did make one small change to my page for John Cooley at
http://ancestraldata.com/ahnentafel/256/ . Previously I had a distribution
map for L448, the Y chromosome "Young Scandinavian" SNP. We have confirmed
that our male Cooleys have the YP355 SNP, which is downstream of L448 and
is, therefore, our current terminal SNP. The distribution map now on the
page was created last spring. Certainly, many more people have since
tested positive for it. Like its parent, L448, its found throughout
Britain and Scandinavia. What we're looking for is a SNP that is
characteristically Scottish or British. With enough data, SNPs can be
dated. The SNP we want *is* there in the DNA of all male Cooleys--myself,
Jim, Don, Jack, etc. We *will* ferret it out, and eventually population
geneticists will get a fix on its age. Once done, we'll have an idea on
what era our guy (who certainly possessed a name other than Cooley)
crossed the North Sea. He might have been a Viking, he might have crossed
in an earlier migration, and he might have crossed during the modern era
of trade between the two regions. (I have a British ancestor who went to
Sweden and served for Queen Christina. Presumably he died in battle and
his four orphaned children were sent to New Sweden, located in what is now
parts of NJ, DE and PA.)
Surprises are on the horizon!
Happy Holidays,
Michael
(I didn't proof read. Sorry for any glaring typos!)
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Received on Sat Dec 13 2014 - 13:32:10 CST