DNA Study Ties Maryland’s First Colonists to 1.3 Million Living Relatives

Overview

• A peer-reviewed paper in Current Biology reports that genetic links trace from 17th-century burials at St. Mary’s City to about 1.3 million people alive today.
• Researchers compared ancient DNA from 49 chapel burials with more than 11.5 million 23andMe profiles to map family lines and confirm a noted 1780–1820 Catholic move from Maryland to Kentucky.
• The team says genetic matches and family trees likely identify three previously unknown burials as colonial governor Thomas Greene, his wife Anne, and their son Leonard, with further work planned to confirm the ties.
• Analysis connects the well-known 1986 lead-coffin burials of Philip Calvert and family to three nearby graves and finds relatives across five other families, including a rare three-generation line despite high early mortality.
• The study also reports an 8-year-old with majority African ancestry and two likely Irish indentured servants buried among elite colonists, raising new questions about status and funerary practice in the early colony.