The Y-DNA of a man of the nobility Swedenborg has been tested and been found to be of haplogroup I1-BY229. It is likely that this is also the haplogroup of the 18th century internationally known scientist and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.
Emanuel Swedenborg was a member of one of the noble families of the Stora Kopparberget area in Falun, Sweden (a UNESCO World Heritage ). His father was born at the estate Sveden a couple of kilometers east of Falun. The name ”Sveden” indicates that it once was an area of burn-beating agriculture and it just by coincidence is the same as the country name ”Sweden”.
Emanuel and his brothers were knighted and given the name Swedenborg in 1718 as was the tradition since they were sons of a Bishop, Jesper Svedberg.
After studying in Uppsala, Emanuel Swedenborg started a career as a scientist and mystic. He died after a long life in London in 1772 [Wikipedia] . He didn’t have any children but there are several agnatic descendants of his brother Jesper.
One of the descendants has been tested (FTDNA kit # 491250) and the BigY results show that he belongs to the I1-Z73 subclade I1-BY229. This is the I1-BY229 branch at Yfull:
https://yfull.com/tree/I-BY229/
Swedenborg is not yet at Yfull but his FTDNA results indicates that he shares at least two novel SNPs with YF02504, a man with ancestry from Bjuråker about 150 km north of Falun. This should indicate a common ancestor about 900 to 1300 years ago.
Is this the correct haplogroup?
One could have doubts whether this single sample from a living person really represents the haplogroup of Emanuel Swedenborg, born in the 17th century. We don’t know for sure, but it is in fact quite likely that there aren’t any NPE:s (Non Paterna Event) on the line from his father Jesper Svedberg b. 1653 to present.
Jesper Svedberg was born in Falun but moved to Stockholm and Uppsala for work after studies in Lund in the south of Sweden. The son Emanuel was born in Stockholm and the son Jesper was born in Uppsala. But Stockholm and Uppsala are not I1-BY229 areas; the subclade has it’s concentration in central Sweden, generally north of the areas were the Swedenborg family has lived since Jesper Svedberg moved from Falun for studies in Uppsala in 1666. This makes it likely (although not proven) that the tested person Swedenborg has indeed inherited the haplogroup from Jesper Svedberg, born in Falun in 1653. Thus, since Jesper Svedberg was the father of Emanuel Swedenborg this is most likely his haplogroup.
Emanuel Swedenborg died in London but is since 1910 resting in a sarcophagus in the Uppsala Cathedral. His cranium was bought for £ 1,500 at Sotheby’s in 1978 to be reunited with the corpus.
Acknowledgment: Thanks for the kind contribution to the Kopparberget project which made the BigY testing possible.
If you would like to support further testings like this from the Kopparberget area, please donate with this link. All contributions are most appreciated.
Jakob Norstedt
Admin of Kopparberget and I1-L1302 projects
E-mail: jakob@hoijen.se
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English (UK)