u/23andMe_AncestryTeam

Hey r/23andme!

As promised when our 23andMe research team published the St. Mary's City study in May, we have officially added 29 of the founding colonists of Maryland's first capital to the Historical Matches feature.

This year marks the 250th anniversary of the United States, and while Independence Day celebrates 1776, the story of English settlement in America began long before the Declaration of Independence. In 1634, the first colonists of Maryland stepped ashore at St. Mary's City, carrying with them hopes of religious freedom and a new life. 

Here's a quick recap of what the study found:

• More than 1.3 million 23andMe research participants share DNA with one or more of the 29 individuals we performed IBD analysis of in the study. The strongest genetic connections were to participants with ancestry from western England and Wales.
• Participants from Kentucky showed notably elevated genetic sharing with the St. Mary's individuals. This reflects the documented post-Revolutionary War migration of Maryland Catholics to that state, highlighting the power of our IBD-based approach to detect historical migrations throughout the United States.
• Among the 29 individuals now in the Historical Matches feature is a man who we tentatively identified as Leonard Greene, the son of Thomas Greene, Maryland's second governor. This was the first time ancient DNA was used to propose the identity of an unknown historical individual without any prior hypothesis about who they might be.
• We also confirmed the identities of Philip Calvert (Maryland's fifth governor), his first wife Anne Wolseley Calvert, and Philip Calvert's  infant son likely from his second marriage, all buried in lead coffins beneath the Brick Chapel floor.
• Researchers identified five additional family groups among the burials, including one spanning three generations — a grandmother and grandfather, their son, their son's wife, and the couple's daughter.

Full story on our blog: [Link]

👉 If you're a 23andMe+ Premium member, head to Historical Matches to check your results. And if you get a match, or if you just have thoughts on the study, we'd love to hear from you in the comments!

Hey r/23andme!

Summer is nearly here, and we'd be lying if we said the warmer weather wasn't on our minds when we picked this month’s new Historical Match update.

Meet Beachy Head Woman — named after a stretch of coastline on the south coast of England known as “Beachy Head” where her remains were likely discovered, although we can’t be sure. 

Her skeleton was discovered in 2012 in a storage box in the basement of a Town Hall in Eastbourne, England, with nothing but a label reading "Beachy Head, 1959." No burial context, no excavation records. Everything we know about her comes from the analyses that have been carried out on her remains since her discovery.

Radiocarbon dating quickly revealed that she lived during the Roman occupation of Britain. And a craniofacial analysis in 2013 initially concluded that her skull had features that were consistent with sub-Saharan African ancestry. The media jumped on this finding, and she was widely described as one of the earliest individuals of African descent identified in Roman Britain. The interpretation spread fast, making its way into books, news outlets, educational materials.

But as more evidence became available, it started to tell a different story. Isotope analysis suggested she grew up on the south coast of Britain. A 2017 ancient DNA study hinted at east Mediterranean origins but couldn't settle the question. For nearly a decade, who she really was remained unresolved.

Finally, in early 2026, researchers at London's Natural History Museum published high-quality genome-wide ancient DNA data from her remains. Here’s what they concluded:

• Her ancestry was consistent with local British and Northern European populations, with no evidence of sub-Saharan African ancestry.
• Her DNA predicted blue eyes, light hair, and intermediate skin pigmentation — quite different from the original facial reconstruction, which had been built around the initial assessment of her skull.

This publication has helped to set the record straight about the origins of Beachy Head Woman, and it serves as a reminder that the splashy headlines you see in the news often need to be revised as new scientific evidence becomes available.

Read the full story on our blog: https://blog.23andme.com/articles/historical-matches-beachy-head-woman

If you're a 23andMe+ Premium member, head to Historical Matches to see if she shows up in your results. And if she does, let us know in the comments! 🏖️

Hey r/23andme!

We are thrilled to announce that our 23andMe Population Genetics R&D team just published an exciting new study in Current Biology! In this study, we used the exact same identity-by-descent (IBD) approach that powers our Historical Matches feature to link historical individuals to present-day research participants.

Here are a few key findings from the study:

• We analyzed the genomes of 49 individuals from 17th-century St. Mary's City, which was founded in 1634 as the first permanent English settlement in the colony of Maryland.
• We identified over 1.3 million living genetic relatives of these St. Mary’s individuals among 23andMe research participants.
• We found high rates of genetic sharing with participants from western England and Wales, which points to a likely place of origin for many of these early inhabitants.
• We also observed strong genetic connections with participants from Kentucky, corroborating a documented post-Revolutionary War migration of Maryland Catholics to that region.
• Most exciting of all, by integrating genealogical information from present-day research participants who shared the closest genetic connections to the St. Mary’s individuals, we were able to propose possible identities for three historical residents, including Thomas Greene, the second governor of the colony of Maryland.

And for those of you eager to explore your own connections to the past: stay tuned! We are planning to add the St. Mary's individuals to the Historical Matches feature for 23andMe+ Premium subscribers in the coming months. Because this study was a major joint effort with our academic and museum partners, our research agreement includes a standard waiting period following publication before we can bring this data directly into our product. We appreciate your patience, and if all goes according to plan, you may soon be able to see if your DNA connects you directly to this historic colonial settlement.

You can dive into the full story and learn more about how we made these discoveries over on the 23andMe blog.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on the study in the comments!