Family Tree DNA 36-Hour Sale!

Take advantage of this sale..Only 36 hrs!

 Family Tree DNA writes:

Thank you for helping us reach 15,000 LIKES on our Facebook page! To show how much we like you too, we're offering a 36-HOUR SALE!
START: Monday, September 26 (TODAY) at 12:00pm CDT
END: Tuesday, September 27 at 11:59pm CDT

For NEW customers:
Y-DNA 12 . . . $59 (was $99)
mtDNA . . . $59 (was $99)
Y-DNA 37 . . . $129 (was $149)
Family Finder . . . $199 (was $289)
mtFullSequence (FGS) . . . $229 (was $299)
Y-DNA 12 + mtDNA . . . $118 (was $179)
Family Finder + Y-DNA 12 . . . $248 (was $339)
Family Finder + mtDNA . . . $248 (was $339)
Family Finder + Y-DNA 37 . . . $328 (was $438)
Family Finder + mtFullSequence . . . $398 (was $559)
Comprehensive Genome (Family Finder + mtFullSequence + Y-DNA67) . . . $597 (was $797)


Upgrades & Add-Ons:
mtDNA add-on $59 . . . (was $89)
mtFullSequence upgrade (HVR1 to Mega) . . . $199 (was $269)
mtFullSequence upgrade (HVR2 to Mega) . . . $199 (was $239)
mtFullSequence add-on . . . $219 (was $289)
Family Finder add-on . . . $199 (was $289)

Prices will be automatically adjusted on the Family Tree DNA website -- no coupon code needed! Important: Promotional orders need to be paid for by the end of this sale. Visit us at http://www.familytreedna.com/ to order now.


We hope this limited-time sale will give you yet another reason to "LIKE" us!
Thank you for your support!
Family Tree DNA
http://www.familytreedna.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This offer ends TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th, 2011 11:59pm CDT.
*You do not need to be a member of Facebook to take advantage of this offer. Payment must be received at the time of your order. Valid only on products listed. No substitutions. No adjustments will be made on previous purchases. This promotion is not valid in combination with any other promotions. Family Tree DNA reserves the right to cancel any order due to unauthorized or ineligible use of discounts and to modify or cancel these promotional discounts due to system error or unforeseen problems. Subject to change without notice.



© All Contents Copyright 2001-2010 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. 

Family Tree DNA Announces New Illumina Omni Platform!

Family Tree DNA just announced:


Dear Customer,

Family Tree DNA is pleased to announce a new and exciting development!

Family Tree DNA is changing our Family Finder test to the Illumina Omni platform.

This new platform will allow us better opportunities for upgrades in the future. For this platform change to occur, we must retest your sample using our new Illumina OmniExpress system.

Because your kit 175114, has previously tested with Family Finder, you are eligible for a FREE early Family Finder conversion to the new system. Beginning with those who sign up first, the entire Family Finder database will be converted. Follow these steps to sign up now:


1. Go to www.familytreedna.com
2. Log in to your personal page with your kit number and password
3. Click on the alert box at the top of the page
4. Follow the "Click here" link to sign up


Those who sign up by Wednesday, February 16th, can expect results from the conversion within 2 to 3 weeks. We expect our entire Family Finder database to be converted in approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Your existing Family Finder results will continue to be available in your account until the everyone has been converted.



Do I need to submit more DNA? In most cases, we have enough DNA remaining from your initial Family Finder test. If we do not, we will send you a new collection kit.

How will this affect my Family Finder results? There will be little to no effect on the results of your Family Finder test. The testing platform change will allow us to offer more options for future testing.

What if I don't sign up? Your results will still be rerun using the new Illumina platform. However, you will be retested only after those who have signed up for the conversion.

What if my results have not come in yet? If your results are pending then your test is already being run using the new Illumina platform.

May I sign up for someone else? Yes, if you are the primary account manager for the kit. However, project administrators may not sign up on behalf of a project member without the member's permission.


For other questions or more details about the Family Finder test, please see our Family Finder FAQ





© 2011 Genealogy by Genetics. Privacy Unsubscribe

NEW DNA Company on Facebook

The following information is being sent to you was written by a well respected Genetic Genealogist. This article is a result of other genealogists raising concerns about the new DNA testing being offered by an application on Facebook.

Most of you may not deal with Facebook nor MySpace, but many, many genealogists are beginning to network using these. I am on Facebook, and there are hundreds of genealogists and many, many Genetic Genealogists there.

As DNA is becoming a huge household word, many people are trying to cash in on selling DNA testing to the public. This, in most cases, is quite harmful to the companies which are reputable since these upstart companies are often not organized, do not understand both genealogy and DNA, and do not offer any quailty service. Some even charge for you to see their databases, and this when you are paying them to test!

This low level of quality in service will make finding new testers a problem as over time people will become disgruntled if they buy from such places only to learn later they were fooled in some way. These types of companies are taking advantage of people, and I urge all of you to caution others to do their homework and go with only reliable, long-standing companies.

Although the info below pertains to just one company, there are several others which do not have good organization or good service. We are now receiving complaints on these companies. One main one is Ancestry.com. Complaints are from Administrators of various surname projects as well as from testers. Please educate people you know not to use companies who do not have their websites well organized for the conusmer, who do not provide good service or who are not in the DNA business with a real focus on genealogy. You want a company with a long-standing POSITIVE reputation. One that provides enough services that you can further your genealogy without paying more. One that will answer your questions. One that will be here in the future. Free and cheap are not always best. Remember: "You get what you pay for."

My friend Rebekah wrote the following and gave permission for it to be used here and anywhere else it is needed to help. If you are an Administrator of any project, please forward it to your members. The following includes quotes directly from the company's email to her in response to her inquiry.

Rebekah wrote:

--Familybuilder--

A fellow DNA Project Administrator has pointed out that there is another company entering the Genetic Genealogy business. This is Familybuilder. (Please note that this is NOT to be confused with "Family Tree Builder".)

In the past Familybulider has been the provider of family tree software for networking websites such as Facebook. Ordinarily, I would say that competition is healthy for any industry. This company plans to operate though at a standard below that of any of the companies already out there. They do not plan to make money only by selling you a test and service but by selling their database built with users' DNA. "We may also sell, rent or otherwise disclose the anonymized DNA analyses of our customers and any related anonymized studies to third parties."

http://www.familybuilder.com/privacypolicy

Their privacy policy absolves them of all responsibility for the maintenance of your privacy once they pass information on to their unnamed testing lab. "We are not responsible, and you agree that you will nothold us liable, for any actions of such third party, including disclosure by the third party of your confidential information, the content of the analysis provided by the third party, or for any other actions taken or omitted by the third party, or for any consequences, direct or indirect resulting from actions taken by the third party."

http://www.familybuilder.com/dnatermsconditions

We work in an environment where we are already have to gain the confidence of leery relatives. I think that this blatant abuse of trust is the last thing that we need. Please read the privacy policies of any company carefully. Let your friends and relatives know that they should test at a company that is responsible and sells DNA services and not their users.

Rebekah C.

©aulicino, 25 Sept 2008

Finding Ancestors through DNA

All genealogists find their lineage stops at some point…the proverbial brick wall. As records have been lost, burned or never existed to help us tunnel through that brick, a new tool in the genealogist’s toolbox, just may be the answer. That new tool is DNA testing.

DNA testing for genealogists began in 2000 and has rapidly grown ever since. That year, Bennett Greenspan, founder of Family Tree DNA, started the first company to sell DNA test kits to and for genealogists. Today his company handles the testing for the National Geographic Genographic Project and has the largest database for genealogists. Bennett is a genealogist. DNA testing continues reaching various milestones and has helped genealogists in many ways.

Through DNA testing, you may find a match between your surname and that of another tester who has a documented family tree that could add to your information. By finding other researchers with whom you have a common ancestor (a DNA match), you could focus on the missing generations between your families. ALSO, DNA testing rules out persons with the same surnames who are not a genetic match, thus allowing you to focus on lines that are definitely related to you.

The DNA results will not tell you the name, place, or time the common ancestor lived, but will tell you there is a common male ancestor between two or more testers. This is called the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) by geneticists.

Depending upon the number of markers tested and the quality of the match, DNA results can provide a time frame in which the common ancestor has a high probability of existing. Basically, the following list indicates the highest probability.

If there is a match for a…
…12 marker test, the MRCA is prior to 600 years ago.
…25 marker test, there is a 95% probability of an MRCA being within the last 600 years.
…37 marker test, there is a 95% probability of an MRCA being within the last 300 years.
…67 maker test, there is a 95% probability of an MRCA being within the last 150-200 years.

NOTE: A match is considered to be an exact numerical copy up to a genetic difference of four.

Genetic Difference is the numerical differences between two person’s markers. This is calculated in two different ways depending upon the particular marker. Most generally you can just subtract the two numbers in each marker (allele) to get the difference. When you have differences in fast mutating markers which have various parts to them (indicated by red on the Family Tree DNA websites (http://www.familytreedna.com/) and having a small alphabetic number after the name of the marker. EX: 464a or CDYb), these are often (not always) considered a difference of one although the various parts of the one marker could have differences in all parts. For example: 464 has several parts….a to g. If someone has the results below, they would still have a genetic difference of one.

..................464a....464b....464c....464d
Tester 1: .....16..........17........17.........16
Tester 2: .....16..........16........16.........16

After finding a good match, it is very important to check your paper trail and to test a distant cousin of both testers who matched. In this case, go back to the oldest known ancestor and bring an all male line forward to the present on a son different than that of the person who tested. This could be a person you do not know and probably is. However, after contact and after getting to know them you may convince them to test, but you may have to help pay for their test. The idea is to confirm that your DNA is that of your paper trail and your surname. Since time began our ancestors have taken in the orphaned children of the neighborhood. Many adoptions and name changes have existed over these thousands of years without any written record…even into the 20th century. By testing more than one person on a surname, you can determine if any adoptions (formally or informally) have taken place.

After you have tested a distant cousin and proven your DNA matches his, then you are ready to compare your results with other testers to find more cousins. At this point you should be in contact with persons matching your test results and comparing your pedigrees.

If you find that both your lines are in the same general areas, then it’s back to basic genealogy research to find the paper trail which supports the DNA match. If you can’t find that common land area (county, etc), consider the brothers and uncles along the same branch of your pedigree chart. The two testers could be related through an uncle’s family who came to the area. Sometimes it is necessary to test the descendant of other people in the area who bear the same surname.

As more people test…and hundreds are doing so weekly…the number of potential matches will increase. The more matches you find the easier to narrow down your MRCA. DNA testing can be helpful for the present and even more valuable in the future.

These are exciting times and the field of genetics is moving quickly. It has been said that within the next twenty years genealogists will start with their DNA first and then work on the paper trail. At the rate genetics is moving this will happen sooner. More and more people are beginning to understand how genetics can help genealogy. Those who use this new tool no longer consider themselves genealogists, but are proudly called Genetic Genealogists.
If you have questions, please contact Emily Aulicino at Aulicino@hevanet.com

To order a DNA test and receive the reduced price through a Surname Project:

1. Go to the bottom right of this Blog and click on the FTDNA icon.
2. Where it says SEARCH on the right side, type in CAMPANIA
3. On the next page, click on CAMPANIA
4. Complete the form. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on JOIN.

IF you know of a project, put that name where you see CAMPANIA above. If you are a female who wishes to test you cannot join a surname project. In that case type in CAMPANIA.

The CAMPANIA DNA Project is just one of mine and I can help you understand the results, etc. ALSO, you can move to a more relevant project at any time after you receive your test results without cost. You can be a member of more than one project at a time.

Email me if you have questions before you order your test. If you need help, I can call you or email you to walk you through the process.

Emily
aulicino@hevanet.com

Copyright Aug 2008