My Ancestors Were Gypsies, Book Review

[D J Thornton]

http://www.genealogymagazine.com/gypsy.html
My Ancestors were Gypsies. By Sharon Sillers Floate. Softbound (2010), 118 pp., indexed, £8.99. Published by Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd, 14 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7BA England. 

"Among the telltale clues of possible Romani ancestry in Britain, says author Floate, are traditional Gypsy surnames, such as Boswell, Cooper, Smith, and Lee, though she points out that these names are also quite common among the non-Gypsy British. Floate includes a list of more than one hundred Romani surnames throughout England as well as regional concentrations"

http://www.genealogymagazine.com/main_page.html

I learned that my rare gene is Romani. This was a surprise as I hadn't encountered any reference to that in my research.
I have many unknown women in my grandmothers, many with the name Mary, .and Sarah. This would indicate Native American ancestry, which I do have. I also have Melungeon, so this Ancestry probably is deep. I didn't really know Gypsy is a term that originated with Egyptian. That can be some deep Native American genes as well. This book caught my eye because it mentions Lee. I have that surname from very early 1694 NC origins. I have several surnames that could be Lost Colony, early NC and Jamestown, French Huguenot , I found it interesting to read that the . Egyptians or Gypsies are recorded in 1400 Scotland. From link in earlier post.

[Shari]

D J, thanks for this. Learning about our ancient or recent Romani ancestors is so interesting. Some of us would not have been aware of them without our DNA test results.

[D J Thornton]

I certainly, didn't, looking forward to exploring this with you.

[hollyworld]

Greetings from Maryland. My Dad's results came back with the Gypsie gene, among others that were surprising. Did anyone else with the Gypsie gene also test positive for being Jewish too? Is there a correlation between Gypsie and Jewish?

[Shari]

My test results indicate both Romani and Jewish ancestry. My two Romani Shetland Island great…grandmothers FEA (born mid-1700s) married into a Jewish family although by that time they had become Christian. Many ancestors of both of my parents had anglicized Jewish surnames from the British Isles. (Read the books When Scotland Was Jewish and Jews and Muslims in British Colonial America for surname lists.) Jews and Romani lived in the same areas historically. I was aware of this only after my mother's and my Fingerprint Plus DNA tests were taken along with doing genealogy work about our ancestors.

[teresapy]

DJ, Thank you so very much! I did not know about my Romani/Gypsy ancestry until I got my DNA Fingerprint Plus results. ( I do also have Jewish ancestry, see my post under the Jewish forum). I certainly have unusual names in my family tree! My grandmother's name was Etalka Vetula & I have many Elzinas. I have a story about some of my Melungeon TN Rameys that makes me think they had Romani/ Gypsy. This was told to me by my great Aunt Elzina in AL not long before she died. She said that my grandmother, Redema, came into the town with her parents when she was about 10 and "arrived on a rich man's farm." ( She does not say how or where from pointedly). Once they "arrived", they trained the old man's horses, but they saved their money and eventually bought the place when the old man died. It is a very strange tale. My father also told me to stop searching for my genealogy because " I might find people I did not want to be related to." My Aunt Elzina, when I asked her about my grandmother's ancestry, said, "You will never discover the truth about my mother's people." I thought for a long time it was Cherokee. I do have Cherokee on my mother's side but it appears to be Melungeon with Romani/Gypsy/ Sephardic Jewish. It is interesting that she also told me that before the Rameys were in France they were in Israel and before that they were in Egypt. She had this written down from my grandmother Redema. My top match is Egyptian & a second cousin of mine sent me a letter written in Egyptian code from a great uncle of mine. I did not know there was a connection with Egypt and Gypsies. Does anyone know more about this? Or more about the connection with Jews and Gypsies? Teresa A. Yates- DNA Consultants

[Shari]

Teresa, I love your childhood story. I remember thinking as a child - this is who we are, but who are we? My little cousin was beautiful with brown eyes and darker skin and I wondered. We knew nothing about our Romani, Jewish or Native American ancestors. I guess I was an example of a budding DNA Consultants' customer! My DNA test has opened up a whole new world for my family and myself.