Update 8/31/2022: Watching the story of Marie Ouacanteous Rouensa b. 1677 and d. 1725 "grow" as another descendant, DNA match Robert Franklin, comes forward

Marie Rouensa descendant, Robert Franklin.

One of the most rewarding aspects of first publishing an article about how a mitochondrial DNA test result helped a descendant uncover a long-forgotten Native grandmother is to have the pleasure of watching the story "grow" as other descendants who read the article have mitochondrial DNA tests, and come to discover, through their own genealogy research, that they too share the same exact matrilineal ancestor, traced from mother-to-mother.

By publishing the once-serendipitous finding of a Native American mitochondrial DNA haplogroup, C4c1, attained by Rusty Petitjean, and sharing his documented line, traced from mother-to-mother to Marie Ouacanteous Rouensa b. 1677 and d. 1725, co-authors Deadra Doucet Bourke and Marie Rundquist attracted the  attention of Marie Rouensa descendant Robert Franklin.  Knowing about his matrilineal line of descent, which had also been traced from mother to mother, from Native grandmother, Marie Rouensa, to himself, and about how mitochondrial DNA is passed, by way of inheritance, from a mother to her offspring, all the way down the line, Robert read the article and wondered if his full mitochondrial sequence DNA test results would show the same haplogroup as Rusty's (C4c1). Would their mtDNA test results match?

Robert would soon learn the answer to his question -- when his full mitochondrial DNA sequence test results came in and proved to be a match with Rusty's!  By comparing mitochondrial DNA test results and family genealogies, Rusty and Robert learned that they did indeed belong to the same C4c1 mitochondrial DNA haplogroup and that they both shared the same earliest Native American grandmother, Marie Rouensa, traced from mother-to-mother!

Born and raised in Texas, Texas Tech University graduate Robert Franklin was no stranger to the topic of genealogy.  Along with his love of the outdoors and enjoyment of time spent hiking and biking the many trails surrounding his home in Conroe, Robert Franklin possessed an intense interest in his own family history, sparked by his grandmother, "Mema," who lamented how little she knew about her mother, Agnes Bordelon Daire.  Agnes was Robert's great grandmother, and she had died, tragically, when "Mema" was only a year old.

Robert received an Ancestry membership as a birthday present, and he hoped that through his ancestry research, he would learn more about his mother's lost family lines. Robert discovered that he was related to the Vidrines on his mother's side.  After researching a bit further, Robert was able to locate Fr. Jason Vidrine's genealogy website and later attended a Vidrine Family reunion where he met his Vidrine extended family.

Fr. Vidrine informed Robert of his matrilineal line of descent, traced from mother to mother, from his earliest known Native American grandmother, Marie Rouensa, which inspired Robert to have the full mitochonrial sequence mtDNA tests, and later, the autosomal DNA test through Family Tree DNA. Today, Robert Franklin credits Fr. Vidrine with making this discovery and inviting him to be a part of his research and hopes to test with other companies as well.

Our Acadian Amerindian Ancestry DNA project (which hosts these same mitochondrial DNA test results) also credits Robert Franklin for having the full mitochondrial sequence DNA test, connecting with his mitochondrial DNA match, Rusty Petitjean (who was the subject of our first article), and for building upon our knowledge of Marie Rouensa's extended family by graciously sharing his C4c1 haplogroup and his genealogy, traced from mother-to-mother (as mitochondrial DNA is passed from a mother to her children by way of genetic inheritance), as follows:

1.)  Robert Bryan Franklin (C4c1)
2.)  Christie Lane (C4c1)Holland/Kenneth Lynn Franklin
3.)  Marie Jeanne "Janell" (C4c1) Daire/Samuel Wilbur Holland
4.)  Agnes (C4c1) Bordelon/Jean Kossuth Daire
5.)  Marie Armide (C41c) Vidrine/ Hilaire Bordelon
6.)  Emelie (C4c1) Ortego/Zelien Vidrine
7.)  Josephine (C4c1) Fontenot/Joachim Ortego
8.)  Eugenie (C4c1) Soileau/ Henri "dit Bellevue" Fontenot
9.)  Marie Jeanne "Marianne" (C4c1) Vidrine/ Jean Baptiste "Richaume" Soileau
10) Elizabeth (C4c1) de Moncharvaux /Capt. Jean Baptiste Pierre La Freile de Vidrine
11) Marie Anges (C4c1) du Chassin/Captain Jean Francois Tiserant de Moncharvaux
12) Agnes (C4c1) "dite Philippe" Estienne/Nicolas Michel du Chassin
13) Marie (C4c1) "Ouancanteoua" Rouensa/Capt Michel "dit Philippe" Estienne
14) Marie Jeanne (C4c1) Native Woman/Chief Francois-Xavier "Mamenthouensa" Rouensa

Comment from co-author Deadra Doucet Bourke: Robert Franklin and Rusty Petitjean's matrilineal ancestry comes together with Marie Anges (C4c1) du Chassin de Moncharvaux (highlighted in bold). Robert's matrilineal line of descent is through her daughter Elizabeth de Moncharvaux Vidrine and Rusty's matrilineal line of descent is through daughter Marianne de Moncharvaux Robin.

Comment from co-author Marie Rundquist:  In addition to a genetic distance of 2 mtDNA match when Robert and Rusty's full mitochondrial DNA sequence test results were compared, an autosomal DNA comparison using the Gedmatch one-to-one matching tool, yielded a 6.4 cm match on Chromosome 19 and a 6.1 cm match on Chromosome 15.  While these values (though close) fall beneath the 7 cm minimum threshold used to determine a recent autosomal DNA connection, it was interesting to investigate the possibility of an autosomal DNA match because of the shared ancestry beginning with most recent common matriline ancestor, Marie Anges (C4c1) du Chassin, b. ca 1723 who was married to Captain Jean Francois Tiserant de Moncharvaux, and was also a matrilineal descendant of Marie Rouensa. 

Note: As more descendants add their results to our "Marie Rouensa" story, we may continue to evaluate both the full mitochondrial sequence DNA matches in addition to finding out how autosomal DNA test results compare, when evaluated using the Gedmatch one-to-one matching tool.

Link to: Rundquist, M., Bourke, D. D. (2020, November 1). "Serendipitous DNA Discovery Uncovers Rusty Petitjean's Hidden Native Ancestry." Family Heritage Research Community: https://familyheritageresearchcommunity.org/rouensa-dna
-- by Marie Rundquist, Deadra Doucet Bourke, with Robert Franklin
Link to: https://dna-genealogy-history.com
Link to: https://familyheritageresearchcommunity.org/rouensa-dna
Link to: Rundquist, M., Bourke, D.D. (2020, November 1). Full Article: https://dna-genealogy-history.com/uploads/3/4/0/9/34098671/petitjean-serendipitous_c4c1_mtdna_finding-final.pdf

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