Recently, I had my DNA tested for genealogy.Well, my brothers anyway.
I'd been researching our male line for a few years but needed to pin down the country of origin.
Would you try DNA testing for your family history research?
DNA has become a popular tool for determining ancestry. As DNA is passed down from one generation to the next, some parts remain almost unchanged. This creates a link between generations and it can be of great help in reconstructing our family trees.
While it can't provide you with your entire family tree or tell you who your ancestors are. It can tell you if
While it can't provide you with your entire family tree or tell you who your ancestors are. It can tell you if
two people are related. It can determine if two people descend from the same ancestor, and you can
find out if you are related to others with the same surname. Most of all it can
provide clues about your ethnic origin.
DNA tests have been around for many years, and now the cost of genetic testing has finally come down enough for the average person to consider it when tracing your roots.
find out if you are related to others with the same surname. Most of all it can
provide clues about your ethnic origin.
DNA tests have been around for many years, and now the cost of genetic testing has finally come down enough for the average person to consider it when tracing your roots.
DNA is quickly becoming an important part of the study of genealogy. While DNA alone cannot be used for genealogical purposes, when its combined with the two traditional sources for family history research (oral history and recorded documents) DNA can reveal long-forgotten connections or rule out incorrect family myths.
DNA Tests
The two DNA Tests used by family historians are the Y-chromosome (for male lines) and the mitochondrial (for female lines). A man's paternal ancestry can be traced using the DNA on his Y chromosome (Y-DNA) through Y-STR Testing. This is useful because the Y chromosome, like many European surnames, passes from father to son, and can be used to help study surnames. Women who wish to determine their paternal ancestry can ask their father, brother, paternal uncle, paternal grandfather, or a cousin who shares the same paternal lineage to take a test for them (i.e. any male family member who has the same surname as her father).I started with my paternal line and will do my
The two DNA Tests used by family historians are the Y-chromosome (for male lines) and the mitochondrial (for female lines). A man's paternal ancestry can be traced using the DNA on his Y chromosome (Y-DNA) through Y-STR Testing. This is useful because the Y chromosome, like many European surnames, passes from father to son, and can be used to help study surnames. Women who wish to determine their paternal ancestry can ask their father, brother, paternal uncle, paternal grandfather, or a cousin who shares the same paternal lineage to take a test for them (i.e. any male family member who has the same surname as her father).I started with my paternal line and will do my
maternal line later on.
A person's maternal ancestry can be traced using his or her Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The DNA in the human mitochondria is passed down by the mother unchanged.
Testing Results
Different DNA tests are used for different purposes. It is important to understand the Test Results from various tests so you choose the right test to order.
Different DNA tests are used for different purposes. It is important to understand the Test Results from various tests so you choose the right test to order.
The general procedure for taking a genealogical DNA test involves taking a painless cheek-scraping at home. (Basically touching the side of your mouth with a cotton swab) and then mailing the sample to a genetic genealogy laboratory for testing. Some laboratories offer to store DNA samples for ease of future testing. All United States laboratories will destroy the DNA sample upon request by the customer, guaranteeing that a sample is not available for further analysis.
Another type of DNA testing (and one I did not do) is "Biogeographical ancestry
Autosomal DNA testing", this is done to determine the "genetic percentage" of certain ethnicities in a person. These tests examine locations on the DNA where one nucleotide has "mutated" or "switched" to a different nucleotide. These tests are designed to tell what percentage Native American, European, East Asian, and African a person is. These tests are somewhat controversial because their validity has not been independently confirmed and the results are often disputed.
Autosomal DNA testing", this is done to determine the "genetic percentage" of certain ethnicities in a person. These tests examine locations on the DNA where one nucleotide has "mutated" or "switched" to a different nucleotide. These tests are designed to tell what percentage Native American, European, East Asian, and African a person is. These tests are somewhat controversial because their validity has not been independently confirmed and the results are often disputed.
For all DNA tests, understanding test results completely is another story. It's not that difficult if you know what you are reading. For those interested, you can find more detail on interpreting DNA result at the link below.
I tested with Family Tree DNA.
My understanding so far, is that a 12 marker test will place you in the cave man era. If your 12 marker test matched with someone else, you probably had a common ancestor thousands of years ago.( and you may have a lot of matches)
I have exact matches with 3 people using this test. This means that sometime in the last thousands of years I had a common ancestor with these 3 people. In my opinion, that's just too far back to be of much genealogy value. But, I have an exact match with only 4 people on 25 markers. According to the Family Tree DNA calculations, there is a 99.66% probability that I had a common ancestor with these people within 24 generations (which goes back about 600 years ago).For me, so far anyway this is enough to point me in the right direction.
I have not done a 37 marker test yet. If I do, the time frame would reduce to a common ancestor with the highest probability within the last 7 generations (about 175 years). Family Tree DNA uses 25 years as a generation.
The sign up with Family Tree DNA was easy. A week after I paid my kit came in the mail. I had already asked my brother if he was interested helping out with my genealogy research, so I gave him the kit with instructions to do a few cotton swabs & then mail the kit off to Family Tree DNA.
In about four weeks we got an email with a link taking us to the results.
They have geographic and surname projects where you can submit your results and compare them with others. I did this right off and I like it because you can narrow down where your ancestors came from.( or migrated to, and also compare notes with other people in the project.)
Family Tree DNA also sponsors a free web site called ysearch.org
(Where you can submit your results and search for genetic matches.)
Also, you can play a part in the Genographic Project sponsored by National Geographic which studies the migration of human history. The more people who submit their results, the better this study will get.
Overall, I'm glad I did the test. I discovered information about my genetic background that I could not pin down without.
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Comments: 24
If I was at a roadblock, I totally would hesitate a minute!
There was not many older family around to ask. lol
There was a debate as far as where a Great grandfather came from, so Dna was a great help.
On the other side of the family, my grandfather's parents separated soon after he was born & he never knew his mother. (so that side has been a major mystery too)
It is fun doing research on the family. The family history I did already know has helped.
That would be cool.
I have one grandparent that was sort of a puzzle at first. By the time I was into genealogy, he was really suffering from Alzheimer's and as far as we knew, he had no living relatives. His parents had divorced when he was a toddler and we didn't even have his dad's name. Shortly before he died, we finally got smart and sent for his birth certificate and finally found his father's name.
It took a bit, but we were amazed to learn that not only did he have living relatives, he had a whole slew of half brothers and sisters. The same week we lost him, we gained this huge new family! His father had changed his surname and moved around a bit, but he had remarried and had another 5 kids. One was even the mayor of a small town in Indiana.
With their help, we were able to go much further in our tree.
On the other side, I hit a block that had to do with a really common name. There are a zillion Patrick Burke's in the world! I found a picture of some sort of gathering that had all of the names of the participants in the picture on the back.
I went onto the Burke board at Ancestry and just put all of the names in a post. I got an answer back within a couple of months. One of the names on the picture had been a ward of Patrick Burke and her granddaughter was the one that contacted me. It goes to show, you can try anything!
Sorry, I am babbling. I haven't been into this in a while and just talking about it again got me excited! Thanks!
you can learn so much from dna.
In Ishbel's case she really knows her family history. I only wish
I had that much information.
You can do a basic profile of 12 lines or 25 for under 200.00.
I hope to do more of my dna, little by little.
It is much easier to 'find' your genealogy when you live in a country where there has been little immigration since the Normans (if you don't include the Irish after the potato famine, a small number of Jewish immigrants). Nowadays, we have immigrants from many countries, including the Indian sub-continent, so give it a few generations and it will be less easy to trace back!
The problems for those from 'newer' countries is that the bloodlines are often from 2 very disparate backgrounds, for instance a German father and say, an Italian mother - and then go back a couple more generations and the ethnic mix becomes even more difficult to trace.
I think it's a fascinating area of study.