Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012

Who Do You Think You Are? Live, the world’s largest genealogy conference, was held once again at the Olympia Center in London’s Kensington-Chelsea area, and once again many of us from the United States attended to help at the Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) booth and at the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) booth.

Max moved for more space

And this is only part of the Booth

Conference attendance appeared to be back to normal from its slump last year. Usually Friday is the largest attendance day, but “on-the-ground” observers contend that both Friday and Saturday were equally busy.  Sundays are always slower. The FTDNA and ISOGG booths were both swamped, so I had little time to take photos and am relying on friends who have shared theirs with me this year.

The hall is so large that any photo appears to show a light attendance, but booths (called stands in the UK) were crowded.  Various stands provided information for dating and identifying your old photos, learning about your family heirlooms, asking experts for advice on particular problems, and identifying your military ancestors. Besides accessing the resources at the stands, various Irish, Scottish, and Welsh societies as well as many counties in England had databases or books available to assist you. There are many workshops on various aspects of UK research as well as discounts on vendors who focus on records from the Isles. And as usual, celebrities from the British show of Who Do You Think You Are? made appearances.  Of special interest was the presentation by Dr. Turi King of the University of Leicester regarding Surnames, DNA and Family History. She was a delight to meet as was Dr. Brian McKechnie of the University of Strathclyde who offers courses in various aspects of genealogy, and Dr.Bruce Winney of Oxford University who is leading the sampling program for a project entitled the Face of Britain.  Meeting Drs. King and Winney were the result of efforts by Brian Swann, PhD to gather various members of the genetic genealogy world together.

As a result of my attending last year’s conference, a short visit to the Scottish genealogy society took my Storrier lineage in Dundee, Scotland back another generation, and this year, at the Northern of Ireland Family History Society, I found the baptismal record of my great-great-grandfather Robert Grey Gilmore who was born in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland along with two possible siblings and another probable family member.  Sadly, the records do not mention his mother’s name, but I did learn that his father was a carpenter. This society has a network of people who look up records for you, so naturally, I joined.

Alasdair McDonald

Chris Pomery

Family Tree DNA, a major sponsor of the conference, rotated their speakers so everyone had an opportunity to attend.  Max Blankfeld explained basic information about DNA testing for genealogy followed by Alasdair MacDonald on Scottish DNA, Katherine Borges on DNA Success Stories, Bennett Greenspan on the ABC’s of Y-DNA, Chris Pomery on Combining Traditional and Genetic Genealogy, Bennett Greenspan on New Frontiers for Genealogy, Chris Pomery on British Populations, and the day closed with a panel of experts to answer any audience questions.


Bennett Greenspan, President and CEO of Family Tree DNA
Max Blankfeld, VP Operations/Marketing of Family Tree DNA
Alasdair Macdonald, Professional Genealogist and Scottish representative for Family Tree DNA
Chris Pomery, author of DNA and Family History and DNA in the Genes
Katherine Borges, Directory of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG)

Ken in white shirt

You never know who will appear in the FTDNA audience.  One year, an actual princess, and this year the paparazzi spotted Ken Chahine, Vice President of the Ancestry.com DNA division.  Looks like Ancestry is still in their learning phase.  Interesting!  AND, there's no one better to learn from than Family Tree DNA!

The real news this year, however, is that many FREE DNA kits were given away to men with particular surnames.  For the last three years Family Tree Y-DNA project administrators have offered to pay for a Y-DNA test if someone walking by the ISOGG booth had a surname listed on the poster.  In previous years about 3-5 tests were given away each year.  This year the following tests were paid by project managers. We were all shocked as even some of us who were there actually had testers for our projects: Katherine Borges obtained the DNA of a Fuller and a Powell; Linda Magellan found a Parker, James Irvine reaped a Urvin, and  I was fortunate to have a Dowlen and a Doolin test, Doolin being my maiden name.

Malcolm Doolin & Emily

Bassett
Berry
Bowe
Brooks (3 testers)
Burton
Dowlen
Doolin
Fuller
Griffin
Hixson
Hickson/Wyatt
Moore
Pike (2 testers)
Parker
Phillips
Powell
Reid
Richards
Reynolds
Rockett
Taylor (2 testers)
Townsend
Urvin
Williams

Each year, several of us from the U.S. travel to London to help at the Family Tree DNA stand and the ISOGG stand.  Although the conference is three days, we become typical tourists and stay a week to explore various parts of London and the surrounding areas.  We also enjoy networking with the attendees and workers, giving us the opportunity to meet other genetic genealogists living in the UK.  It is also an opportunity to research at the Society of Genealogists, the Family History Center, and The National Archives.  Several of us have been successful in getting our lines back a few generations and confirming some ancestors through these depositories.  We have enjoyed meeting so many people in Britain, rekindling friendships there, and experiencing the kind help of strangers in navigating the city.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 seems too far away!

Enjoy,
Emily
©Aulicino, 3 Mar 2012

Family Tree DNA Allows Transfers of 23andMe Test Results

Today, Family Tree DNA opens the door to 23andMe customers! Those who tested with the V3 (Illumnia OmniExpress chip) may upload their results file to FTDNA for a one-time fee. Those who tested with the lower resolution V2 chip will have the option to retest with FTDNA at a discounted rate!

FTDNA is the largest testing company for genealogists and have allowed testers from several other companies to transfer their results to them, including the buy-out of DNA Heritage. This 23andMe customers will soon discover is because the personal webpages (myFTDNA) are loaded with information and the project administrators and community support are invaluable to the serious genealogist using DNA.

You can transfer test results if you are the owner or primary kit manager of a 23andMe test. Your options depend upon the test you took at 23andMe.  If you took the "V2" test, you can order a new Family Finder test kit at a discount. If you took the "V3" test that uses the Illumina OmniExpress chip, you can import your results into the Family Tree DNA database. You can transfer test results if you are the owner or primary kit manager of a 23andMe test.

There are several options, all allowing you to be a member of a project:

Option............................................Price....................Matching
FTDNA Kit Import (V2)............$50+$109 = $159........Retest
FTDNA Kit Import (V3)............$50..............................Database Import
New Customer Transfer (V2)....$50+$109 = $159........Retest
New Customer Transfer (V3)...$50...............................Database Import

See the FAQs on how to transfer your test result whether you have a current test account with FTDNA or not.

What are the advantages?

1. No monthly or annual fee
2. You can contact your matches directly by e-mail.
3. Your matches are active genealogists, not medical study participants.
4. You continue to receive matches with the arrival of any future tests.
5. You receive the same options to upgrading as other customers, but if you are a new customer, you need to submit a DNA sample with your first order. Family Tree will only receive your test results and not the original sample you gave to 23andMe.
6. You can remove your test results any time; it is your DNA.

Enjoy,
Emily

7th Annual Family Tree DNA International Conference, part 2

ISOGG hosted a reception Saturday night with food and drinks as usual.  Many gathered to share opinons aobut the day's presentations as well as rekindle friendships and meet new attendees.  Bennett and Max had opened Saturday morning with statements that the first word in the name of the company was family and that they considered all of us family.  Having time to share our lives with each other does strengthen our bonds beyond our hobby and does make us sort of a family.  I know many have established some great freindships.  We look forward to this gathering every year, but it often means the end is near.  Although there is excitement about the presentations for Sunday, there is thoughts of packing, printing boarding passes, getting the hotel bill paid, catching a flight ... and a pang of sadness.  Most of us do not see each other but once a year, and many of us have to leave before the last word is spoken on Sunday.  Sadly, I was one.  When you live at the edge of the earth, few flights are available when you want them.  For this reason, the last Q & A is very short, and I'm sure other bloggers can fill in the gaps.


Sunday:


ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) met.

· Katherine Borges recognized the June death of Kenny Hedgpath who was one if the founders of ISOGG and the November death of David Brown of the Rose Y-DNA Project. Both are greatly missed.

· Create A Book  at the ISOGG Wiki site. This allows you to create material for your projects, for a speaking engagement or any other use where you need to share material using pages from the ISOGG Wiki.

· Alice Fairhurst spoke about the Y-DNA Phylogenetic Tree.  She heads the committee to keep it current. She reports that they have had 1,000 hits on that site by academics and students as well as from genetic genealogists. The site is within the YCC guidelines. The site incorporates all known SNPs and is growing so quickly that it is a struggle to keep updated. Alice requests that you forward her any academic papers regarding SNPs.

· Katherine spoke about the ISOGG PAC which is a political action committee with no money behind it as ISOGG is a non-profit. However, those who wish to join may and help with writing campaigns, etc. to be a voice for genetic genealogists in the academic world with regard to federal and state regulations which are under consideration.


Elliott Greenspan, head of the IT department at FTDNA, presented on IT Roadmap 2011: The Year in Review and Looking Ahead.

There have been may changes over the last year, including new GAP pages, updating the FAQs, and now new personal pages which will be viewed by administrators this week and released to the public after they are beta tested for a few weeks.  A very interesting note is that FTDNA is looking at an event-based model rather than using Genetic Distance since multiple differences on one marker are often one event. This will make matches more realistic and not so distant in some apparently quickly mutating family groups.

There is a new advanced matching which combines the Y-DNA, mtDNA, and Family Finder for matching. EX: If you compare all three with a person you match, you may discover that in FF you are a match and are also in Y-DNA, so you know the match is on your all male line. What a wonderful new tool!

We viewed the SNP Map, and it will be a great new tool! It shows where in the world all the testers are for certain SNP which allows us to see where there is concentration of this of this marker.


Dr. Michael Hammer, FTDNA's Chief Scientist, and member of the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Hammer is a Biotechnology Research Scientist at the University of Arizona. He co-authored the first paper showing that present-day Cohanim are descended from a single male ancestor.

His presentation on Neandertals in our Midst: Just How Modern is our Genome? was very interesting. He said that there are at least three instances of humans interbreeding with archaic species: once in Africa, with the Neanderthals in the Middle East, and with the Deniosvans in Southeast Asia between.


Peter Biggins spoke on the DNA of the Three Collas
In his review of the Clan Colla Null 425 project, he mentioned that it is believed that the clan is descended from three Colla brothers who lived ca 400 AD in Ireland. This clan encompasses many different Irish surnames, and all members of this project are R-L21+. Every member who has tested has also been discovered to be R-DF21+. The work of groups like this is surely narrowing the field for those who have lost their ancestors’ connections to the homeland due to the diaspora.

Jessica L. Roberts, formerly an Associate-in-Law at Columbia Law School and an Adjunct Professor of Disability Studies at the City University of New York, has joined the faculty of the University of Houston Law Center as an Assistant Professor of Law where she teaches Introduction to Health Law, Disabilities and the Law, and Genetics and the Law. She is currently focusing on the theoretically implications of health-care reform, implications of genetic identity, and antidiscrimination protection of health-related information.

In her presentation DNA Tests and the Law: Pitential Use of Ancestry Tests for Immigration, explained how DNA Ancestry testing has advantages and disadvantages at this time. There are issues in determining specific groups (cultural, religious, ethnicity, political, etc.) by DNA testing and the government usually wants to know what group the immigrant is. Those entering from another country are not allowed lawyers so who would advocate for them regarding DNA testing.  At this point in time, using DNA does not seem feasible.


Richard Hill, an FTDNA Administrator, spoke about his search for his biological parents in An Adoptee’s Journey to His Ancestral Surname.

Richard was adopted, but wasn’t told until he was in college ... and not by his parents. Upon visiting a doctor who wasn't finding a reason for his symptoms asked how Richard felt about being adopted. No doubt an amazing shock. 

Richard took us through his journey which was seemingly rather easy on the surface. Using clues he followed the path to a man named as his father in his birth certificate, but after a paternity test, Richard realized he was not.  More clues lead him to a man with four brothers, any of which could be his father.  With DNA testing at Family Tree DNA and some good genealogical sleuthing, he actually determined who his biological parents were.
Not everyone who has been adopted wants to find their parents. Not all parents want to be found. At Family Tree DNA, about 40-60% of those who test do discover their ancestry.
Richard has an excellent website for learning the basics of DNA testing. You can download a free booklet on understanding DNA testing as well as some great tutorials. He also has information regarding adoption and much more. Richard is available for presentations. Contact them through his website.


Announcements:
* Bennett states that the micro-alleles have been recorded for all who have tested since 2001 and will now be reported in the GAP charts and incorporated into matching.
* The “in common” feature on Family Finder can only be applied to confirmed relatives due to privacy issues.
* There will be a sale from FTDNA probably starting at the end of this week which will go through the end of Dec.  It is not know what will be for sale. 

Watch this blog for the announcement of the sale coming later this week.  Be ready to order your test or upgrade. 

Now to start thinking about Who Do You Think You Are? Live and London, February 2012!

Enjoy,
Emily
8 Nov 2011

7th Annuall FTDNA International Conference - Nov 2011

The Family Tree DNA 2011 International Conference started with a bang! Once again, administrators gathered at the SheridanNorth in Houston, Texas for two days of knowledgeable speakers on various DNA subjects. The conference started with the usual Friday night no-host bar where the FTDNA staff, speakers, and administrators renewed acquaintances and chatted away. It is always wonderful to see friends and many new faces!

As I could write a blog for each speaker, below is a short version of Friday evening and Saturday only.  Sunday will follow.

I do want to thank many of you who followed me and others on Twitter, but to explain there were technical difficulties. We were trying to use one private Wifi entry and as many people in the room were accessing the link for Internet and also following the tweets. It was a case of overload. I wasn’t able to post the tweets quickly and there was a big backlog. Most of us were just knocked off the system the afternoon of the first day with more problems on Sunday. For this reason, blogging is the way to learn more. BUT, I suggest more of the administrators try to come next year and those who aren’t administrators of a DNA project, become one and join us!

Friday Evening:

Family Tree provided a room for a no-host bar at 7 p.m.  Many who had arrived gathered to meet old friends and see new faces.  Photos were taken; old times revisited.  I had Dr. Wells autograph a couple of his books.

Dr. Spencer Wells

When speaking to Dr. Wells at the Friday night reception, he praised the Family Tree DNA community (we genetic genealogists) for our contributions and impressive knowledge. I turned the praise to him and the National Geographic Society for the Genographic Project which gave us more DNA matches throughout the world, showed us the importance of developing more DNA projects, and enhanced our knowledge of ancient populations and their migration. Dr. Wells used a term which was repeated several times throughout the conference and which impressed many attendees with whom I spoke. He called us Citizen Scientists. When I questioned him about that term, he sincerely expressed that our group was very knowledgeable about genetics. He mentioned his surprise of our knowledge when he first attended his first FTDNA conference a few years ago and that our knowledge and understanding has grown from there. We have seemingly impressed him.

Saturday:

The morning began with Bennett Greenspan and Max Blankfield, owners of Family Tree DNA, expressing their sincere thanks to all of us. We learned that FTDNA has tested over 600,000 people, has the largest number of mtDNA and SNPs, and has the largest Y panel with 111 markers.

We also learned that Archives.com is partnering with Family Tree DNA to sell its tests. John Spottiswood and Julie Hill attended the conference for the announcement and gave us an overview. Archives.com started in November 2009, but has quickly added vast numbers of records, with their newspaper collection being larger than their nearest competitor (Ancestry.com). I was asked to review the site a few weeks ago and found it easy to maneuver. I also found that John and Julie were very helpful and listened to my suggestions. I was told they listen to their customers and find that is true as they have already implemented some of my suggestions.

Archives.com has 18 of 20 of their nearest competitor’s (Ancestry.com) top databases and will soon have the top 20. All of the census images will be ready by the end of 2011, and they are working on the 1940 census to have it ready soon after it is available in April 2012 with all its indexing ready a few months after that.

Besides the databases, the company has available tools to create a family tree and share it in email, video, and on social media forums such as Facebook. Their Expert Series contains quality articles and tutorials on various topics. Another feature allows you to order copies of particular court records (for more recent years) from "on the ground" researchers.

Attendees near me were very pleased with what they saw from Archives.com even before Archives announced that all present would receive a year’s subscription free. The subscription is only $39.95 per year, quite affordable for anyone and well worth the cost. FTDNA is forming a committee, under the direction of Katherine Borges, for feedback to Archives. You can email me with your suggestions as I am part of that committee.

FTDNA also announced that for those who tested for 23andMe with the v3 chip, they can convert their result to FTDNA in about 6-8 weeks for about $50. There is also discussion at the company that those who tested with 23andMe and who did not upgrade to the v3 will get a discount on FTDNA’s Family Finder test. This is wonderful news as it will be easier to view all our matches in one spot and to use the Family Finder Tools. The FAQs have been updated recently to make the pages more understandable for those who are new to this test.

AND…another great announcement was that the personal webpages for FTDNA testers have been rewritten and the 2.0 version will be viewable by GAPs (Group Project Administrators) will be available for viewing about Tuesday of this week. Testers will be able to use the new pages in a few weeks after this beta testing is over. The pages are easy to use, cleaner, and there is a wonderful tutorial to walk you through each section.

Dr. Spencer Wells, geneticist and anthropologist, and an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, leads The Genographic Project which through genetic testing of indigenous people around the world intends to show the migration pattern of out most ancient ancestors and how they populated the world. He is the author of The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey(2002), which explains how genetic data has been used to trace human migrations over the past 50,000 years, when modern humans first migrated outside of Africa. He also wrote and presented the PBS/National Geographic documentary by the same name. Dr. Well’s book, Pandora's Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization, (2010, Random House) addresses early man's transition from hunter-gatherer to an agricultural basis during the Neolithic revolution (10,000 years ago) and its impact on today’s civilization and problems.

Dr. Wells' presentation Genographic Project Update:  News from the Field, tells us that National Genographic is wrapping up phase 1 and is transitioning to phase 2. We received a review of the project and the three levels: testing of indigenous peoples throughout the world, public participation and the Legacy Fund.

When the Genographic Project started there was a small ($20) bet at the Society that the project wouldn’t sell 10,000 tests. That number was sold the first day! To date, Genographic has sold over 420,000 kits and has raised 3 to 3 ½ million in Legacy Grants. Those grants are going to several cultures to help preserve their way of life. Dr. Wells stated that the world loses one language every two weeks and that cultural diversity is what has allowed our success as humans. Fifty-two grants have been issued so far, and one grant was given to save the Yagnobi language which was the language spoken along the Silk Road of Asia. Another was to save an Aboriginal dance while another is helping with the knowledge and preservation of medicinal plants. Anciently used medicinal plants are still a basis of today’s medicine.

Dr. Wells stated there is a strong correlation between Genealogy and Language clusters. Between the more recent time for genealogies and the periods of more ancient ancestry, there is a large gap. Scientists are not yet sure if Genealogy-Language model will be more helpful for that gap or archeological model. That is now of interest.

Interestingly, Dr. Wells mentioned recombination as a new type of genetic marker with the goal of moving beyond the Y and mtDNA testing and initially into the X chromosome. There is more focus on the SNP markers and their break points. There is software to infer connections for this, and he used the term Reco-Type DNA.  We all know from a recent survey that something is in the works at the Genographic Project.  Is this is?

Regarding R1b, our currently largest Y-DNA haplogroup, Dr. Wells thinks that R1b arrived during the Paleolithic period, but using Y is not going to be the answer for the R1b originator.

Many papers from the Genographic Project will be published soon with two regarding the Basque culture due this week with many more to follow.
　
Dr. Bruce Walsh, FTDNA's chief Population Geneticist is an expert on population genetics and has authored many leading texts on the subject.

Dr. Bruce Walsh

Dr. Walsh covered the basics of DNA referring to his talks as DNA Boot Camp. He covered the weaknesses and strengths of Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal testing. The Y-DNA is excellent for determining matches along the all male line within genealogical time, depending upon the markers tested (more markers; closer time frame). The mtDNA is good for the all female line; however, is it is slow to mutate, any matches could still be out of the genealogical time frame. For finding matches in the last 5-6 generations, the Family Finder test, which uses autosomal DNA, is best.

He stated that testing the autosomes gets you around broken lineages, but that our autosomal DNA is not passed intact. It is recombined with each conception. This means that each sibling has a different combination of autosomal results. He urges that we look for blocks of matching segments which are larger in size (around 10 cM+). Dr. Walsh reminded us that one centimorga (cM) represents roughly 1 million DNA basepairs, and that our entire genome contains ~3000 cM. The smaller cMs lean toward "noise" in the system, but they could be either real matches or false positives. Using smaller cMs he likened to deepsea fishing to find your common ancestor.
　

Two Breakout Sessions:

Dr. David Pike holds a PhD. in Discrete Mathematics from Auburn University (Alabama) and is currently a Professor in the department of Mathematics and Statistics at Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada.

Presenting on Phasing and Other Analysis of Family Finder Results, Dr. Pike clearly explains that "Phasing entails separating the alleles of a person so that those inherited from the mother are distinguished form those inherited from the father." This works best by testing many siblings and even better if you have data from one or both parents. For example, with the raw data if a child has a GG (G is the chemical base Guanine) then naturally the child received one from mom and one from dad. However, if a child has an AG (Adenine and Guanine), you don’t know which was received from which parent unless you test one or both parents. If mom has GG in this location and dad has AG, you know that the A for the child was from dad and the G from mom. This is a simplification of Phasing as there are other situations which make it a bit more complicated.

He stated that regarding small blocks (cMs) if you do not Phase the data you cannot be sure if there is inherited false matches. By phasing you can rebuilt the DNA of a dead parent. By Phasing you can infer where a match is in your pedigree. See Dr. Pike’s tools for Phasing at the ISOGG Wiki. Click on the Autosomal Tests (AtDNA) link and then to the Autosomal DNA link. Click here to see his tools. 

For more on Phasing, Dr. Pike referred us to Whit Athey’s Fall 2010 article in the Journal of Genetic Genalogy
　


Dr. Krahn, courtesy of FTDNA

Thomas Krahn is the Technical Laboratory Manager of  FTDNA's Genomics Research Center in Houston.  He graduated from the Technical University of Berlin in biotechnology and genetics. His interests lie in resolving questions in biological heritage.

In Dr. Krahn's presentation Walk Through the Y Update, he states that to date there are 366 participants in Walk Through the Y (WTY) with 125.8 million basepairs sequenced and 458 undocumented Y-SNPs found! Of the total number of testers, 167 did not find a new SNP in their DNA. Some of these testers are very knowledgeable and actively seen other participants who are likely to add to the project. New SNPs from this are prefaced with the letter Z. Click here to view his presentation.


Peter Hrechdakian, born in Aleppo, he grew up in Lebanon before immigrating to the US in 1975 where he attened college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Philosophy form Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) and a Masters in Business Administrtion from Harvard Business School in Boston. He currently lives with his family in Brussels, Belgium.

Peter spoke about The Armenian DNA Project stating that over 600 Armenians have been tested since 2009. Armenians are a very diverse population with 14 major haplogroups which provide 80 distinct Y-DNA subclades and 13 major mtDNA haplogroups with 67 subclades. The Armenians and Assyrians have similar Y-DNA and mtDNA…amazingly similar from the charts! Thirteen project members have tested in WTY with 10 new SNPs found.

There were 2 million Armenia’s before World War I, but about 1 ½ million were killed by the Turks through acts of genocide from 1915-1923. As a result the Houshamadyan Project  documenting various aspects of Armenia life village by village.
　

Dr. Steve Morse

　Dr. Steve Morse, author of the website "One Step Pages", hold a degree in electrical engineering and is the architect of the Intel 8086, predecessor of today's Pentium processor. He has written numerous technical papers as well as four textbooks, and holds three patents. Genealogy is now his passion and he has developed a webpage

Dr. Morse gave two presentation, one each day. He walked us through various aspects of his website which can be quite useful for those wishing to find Ellis Island ancestors, locate census more easily than using other companies, accessing census through street addressed or Enumeration Districts, finding information on immigration, passenger ships and much more. On Sunday he showed his DNA tools allowing someone to update their marker result to Ysearch and his colorization charts for Ysearch, FTDNA results or for any spread sheet. Family Tree DNA has used his colorized charts as an option for test results for administrators for years. Other tools help you with having your personal bookmarks available for any computer, various calendars (although I see that the Old Style calendar is missing), finding rual areas in census, and much more.



I have used his site to view the census at Ancestry.com and find it most helpful. You only need to enter the data on an ancestor and then change the census year field to view subsequent censuses for that ancestor.
　

At the end of each day, Family Tree DNA there is a Q & A session. Some short answers:

* Family Finder is only reasonably reliable back to the third cousin, although in some circumstances one can find a common ancestor farther back, as in the instance of an ancestor who married a cousin.  In this case you typically have more DNA from that ancestor than normally.

* Possible results for parts of the Geneographic project could be available about March or April 2012.Possible results for parts of the Geneographic project could be available about March or April 2012.

* Samples at Genographic will probably be discarded in 2012, but it could take a year to do so.Samples at Genographic will probably be discarded in 2012, but it could take a year to do so.

* Some presentations will be uploaded to FTDNA and availableSome presentations will be uploaded to FTDNA and available

* There are no STRs on the mitochondria, although there could be one, but it is questionable. The mtDNA is paced with genes and is small.There are no STRs on the mitochondria, although there could be one, but it is questionable. The mtDNA is paced with genes and is small.

* For testers who have died, if they have given relatives permission to manage their test results, FTDNA will honor that. (BTW, email me if you would like a form for that purpose so it is in writing.)For testers who have died, if they have given relatives permission to manage their test results, FTDNA will honor that. (BTW, email me if you would like a form for that purpose so it is in writing.)

* With 8 year old test samples some work; some do not. Using old samples with the illumine test work about 90% of the time. (My suggestion: upgrade NOW)With 8 year old test samples some work; some do not. Using old samples with the illumine test work about 90% of the time. (My suggestion: upgrade NOW)

* Storage of DNA samples may be extended from 25 to 50 years.Storage of DNA samples may be extended from 25 to 50 years.

* FTDNA has a Facebook page where they have sales on tests when their "likes" reach a certain number. Their largest promotion to date occurred just a few months ago. Presently they have 16,000 Facebook members hitting "like" for the site.FTDNA has a Facebook page where they have sales on tests when their "likes" reach a certain number. Their largest promotion to date occurred just a few months ago. Presently they have 16,000 Facebook members hitting "like" for the site.

Order a DNA test through FTDNA.  If you have questions regarding which test fits your needs, email me.

Sundays sessions to follow.

Enjoy,
Emily
7 Nov 2011

Family Tree DNA Allows Transfers from SMGF, GeneTree and Ancestry.com

Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) has completed the process to allow customers from Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF), GeneTree and Ancestry.com to transfer their test results to FTDNA.   This option began when DNA Heritage (DNAH) ceased operations on April 19, 2011 and transferred their results to Family Tree DNA; however, FTDNA decided to expand the format of accepting DNAH’s result to include anyone who tested at SMGF, GeneTree and Ancestry.com, thus given thousands of people the opportunity to join the largest DNA database for genealogy.

The transfer options are:
1.  Transfer Y-DNA33 or Y-DNA46 marker test for $19 and join a Project
2.  Transfer Y-DNA33 marker test and purchase an FTDNA Y-DNA 25 marker test for $58 to join a Project, receive a Haplogroup prediction and receive matches in the FTDNA database.

3.  Transfer Y-DNA 46 marker test and purchase an FTDNA37 marker test for $58 to join a Project, receive a Haplogroup prediction and receive matches in the FTDNA database.

You may take part in the Family Tree DNA Y-DNA Transfer program by following these steps.

1. Go to the Y-DNA Transfer page, http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/ydna-transfer.aspx.
2. Select the transfer package that is right for you, and click on the Order Now button beside it.
3. Click the Next button and complete the Contact Information form.
4. Click the Next button and complete the Shipping and Billing form.
5. Review and complete your order.

For non-DNA H transfers, testers will need to both enter their lab values and submit a screen shot of their results.

See the FAQ for more inforamtion.

In summary

Testers from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation (SMGF), GeneTree and Ancestry.com may transfer their Y-DNA results to Family Tree DNA.

For a small fee testers can receive the full benefits offered to all Family Tree DNA customers which included, in part:
 * Sample storage
 * Testing upgrades
 * Haplogroup predictions
 * Project membership
 * Availability to the largest database solely for genealogists
 * Comparison to the entire database every time test results are received
 * Notification of matches via email
 * Personal webpages
 * No monthly fees

Emily
aulicino, 4 Aug 2011

False Holocaust Memoir

This story has been repeated on several blogs today, but is important enough to share again as each blog has different audiences.

Forensic genealogist Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick is featured in an Australian story concerning allegations that a wartime memoir is false.

The Herald Sun story on Alex Kurzem, 75, who authored an international best-selling book ("The Mascot") describes the investigation by Fitzpatrick and her team.

She was instrumental in exposing Holocaust fakes Misha Defonseca and Herman Rosenblat some three years ago. Defonseca was forced to admit that "Surviving with Wolves" was false, and Rosenblat confessed he made up much of his "Angel at the Fence."

Kurzem has refused the newspaper's offer "to organise and pay for medical and DNA tests to help prove his identity and whether or not he is Jewish." He has refused unless he is paid $100,000 to undergo those tests.

His book allegedly describes his life as a Russian Jewish child, age 5, who survived the Holocaust by becoming the mascot of a Latvian military unit. The story was an award-winning 2004 ABC documentary and a movie about his life is being made by a French company.

According to the news story, Dr. Fitzpatrick's team also includes Melbourne Holocaust Centre senior staff and US psychologist Dr. Barry Resnick. Their files detail doubt about Kurzem, which has sparked three investigations by the Jewish Claims Conference, the German government compensation and pension department and the US Attorney's office.

Kurzem claims he watched his Jewish mother and siblings executed by the Nazis.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Family Tree DNA Holiday Sale

Greetings!

A quick reminder of the Family Tree DNA Sale for the Holidays! Family Finder is at a good sale price! This could be rare, so consider getting it while you can at this price.

Until December 31st Family Tree DNA will reduce the price of their YDNA37, YDNA67, mtDNAPlus, and Family Finder tests. See my blog posts for details on each test.


Price for NEW KITS:
........................Regular Price........Promotional Price
YDNA37 ..................$149 ........................$119
YDNA67 ..................$239 ........................$199
mtDNAPlus .............$159 .........................$129
Family Finder ..........$289 ........................$249


Orders must be in and paid for by Dec. 31, 2010, to receive this offer. Using a credit card is considered payment, although you won't have to actually pay for a while.

People tend to put off buying until the end of the sale and sometimes overlook the ending date due to the holidays. This sale will NOT be extended, so don't miss out!

Best wishes,
Emily

Family Tree DNA Announcement on Family Finder

Dear Family Tree DNA Customer, By now you may have already heard of our newest test, which has received substantial exposure in the press: the Family Finder test. Since several people who have seen the news about this test have approached us for more information, allow me to briefly give you the key elements of the Family Finder test: You may find relatives on any of your lines within the past 5 generations! It doesn't matter if you are male or female; your results will be compared to anyone who has taken Family Finder!* You can test “suspected relatives” including aunts, uncles, parents, half-siblings, or cousins. By ordering the Family Finder test, you will receive the new Population Finder test at no additional charge. Population Finder determines the percentages of different ancestries that comprise your genetics by matching your DNA data from the Family Finder test against data from multiple populations from around the world**. Based on your DNA, Population Finder will assign your sample to 1-4 population groups, giving the corresponding percentages of your genetic makeup. The Family Finder Test lets you: Sort your matches by degree of relationships. View the names of your matches and communicate via e-mail. Share genealogical information with ease. See the “location” on your chromosomes where you match and compare your matches with each other! Determine the percentages of different ancestries that comprise your genetics by matching your autosomal DNA against data from multiple populations. Special Note: The Family Finder test requires an untouched vial of DNA. If your kit does not have an extra vial on file, we will mail a collection kit for a new DNA extraction. After ordering you will be notified by email whether we are able to use a stored vial or will be mailing a new collection kit. *Family Finder results can only be compared with other Family Finder results. The Family Finder test uses autosomal DNA which is different from Y-DNA or mtDNA. **You will be able to see your basic ethnic makeup, broken down by percentage. This test is based on a comparison of your Family Finder sequences to data collected by population geneticists. Populations studies consist of a number of representative populations including: European, Native American, Asian, African, etc.

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

Population Finder from Family Tree DNA

Do you know your ancestry? Are you Irish? Jewish? Japanese? African? Native American? It is possible that you do know, but our ancestors have traveled far and wide to bring us to where we are. You may be totally correct, but then you may be surprised at what you can discover with Family Tree DNA’s new addition to its Family Finder test called Population Finder.

Most of us determine our heritage based upon our knowledge handed down from the family. If our known ancestors lived in Ireland, we must be Irish. That is not always the case. Even those who feel they are totally European may not be. Those who are adopted may not have any idea of their heritage. Our ancestors’ migration has been immense over the last few hundred to a thousand years.

Population Finder compares your autosomal DNA results with populations from around the world and shows you the amount of shared ancestry you have with one to four of those populations. Family Tree DNA uses various populations based upon published scientific studies. This database will naturally grow over time so the information you receive now may vary and become more refined in the future. A list of the current populations and their subgroups can be found in the Population Finder FAQ.

As political boundaries do not determine genetic populations, Population Finder cannot determine in which country your ancestors lived. For example, Sicily was settled by at least twelve different cultures prior to it becoming part of Italy, and as this area was on a major trade route, there were other cultures that passed though, leaving a bit of their DNA among the locals. Anyone testing from that region could show a large variety of autosomal DNA from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, or other locations. Populations are determined to be in locations based on their frequency, and those locations do not have specific country names.

My husband would refer to himself as totally Italian. All four of his grandparents were born in either Italy or Sicily. Of the lines currently known, everyone lived in these areas. His Y-chromosome is R1b, and his mtDNA is HV. Both of these indicate Western Europe. However, remember that only the autosomal result is used for Population Finder and not the Y-DNA or mtDNA.

When viewing his autosomal results in either Population Finder's bar or pie graph option, we discover that he has 28.39% of his DNA matching populations from the Middle East and the rest from Southern Europe. That’s quite a bit from the Middle East for an all-Italian guy!



Interestingly, I have 100% European matches. All my known lines (in many cases back to the 1600s) are from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, England, and Germany. Although a bit boring as a graph, this large percentage indicates that my ancestors lived in these areas for a long time.


Our son Jason has 29.91% from the Middle East and the rest from Europe. (Well, I have made the comment that he is his father’s son!) To explain Jason having a higher percentage from the Middle East than Gary, Rebekah A. Canada, Genetic Genealogist and Graduate Student in Bioinformatics, states that “Southern Europe and Middle Eastern are very close. Some of the ancestry from Gary's Southern European ancestry is being picked up as Middle Eastern in Jason.”


The margin of error in Jason’s calculations is +/-17. 08% whereas Gary’s is +/-8.95% and mine is +/-0.01%. Family Tree DNA indicates that a high margin of error (+/-15%) exists when two populations are very close. This high margin of error indicates that Population Finder is not able to distinguish between two populations with great confidence, and this makes perfect sense as the history of this area is known to draw many diverse populations.

If your result has a high margin of error, you are asked to take the Population Finder Survey. It helps reduce the margin of error in your related populations. If you are uncertain of your ancestral origins, perhaps you are adopted or do not know among a couple of possibilities, you can choose None of the Above.

Gary and Jason fell into the rare 0.4% of participants who needed to take the survey. Rebekah A. Canada indicates Gary and Jason’s margin of errors remained higher because None of the Above was the option chosen since Italian is not a selection as you can see from the survey options below.


Gary's choices:
Middle Eastern
Middle Eastern/North African
None of the above

Jason's choices:
Jewish
Russian/Caucusus
Iranian
Middle Eastern
None of the above


After the common R1b Western European haplogroup and with the additional resource of Population Finder, I have a genetically exotic husband after all! ...And he has a very ethnically stable wife!


So…how does this help the genealogist?

Any genealogist who faces a brick wall within the most recent five to six generations and whose ancestry is likely to cross ethnic groups can benefit. Adoptees who are uncertain of their ethnic origins can find Population Finder helpful. In my opinion, any resource which provides new clues can be the one that helps us through those brick walls.


Population Finder is currently in Open Beta, meaning that if you have tested with Family Finder, you can experience this feature first hand before the general public.

More additions to Family Finder are being developed, so watch this blog for the latest.

Emily Aulicino
© 17 Sept 2010

Creating a Family Finder Project

The idea of Family Finder Projects is being tossed around in genetic genealogy circles to determine how a Family Finder project could best serve the genealogy community. Some projects already exist. As I have said, we are in the pioneering stages with autosomal DNA testing, and the path not taken may be a great opportunity lost.

Although Family Finder test results can be incorporated in several DNA projects as mentioned in the previous blog, Family Finder projects are, by nature, family projects. They focus on particular families. A Family Finder Project focuses on the descendants of one set of ancestors. To ensure that many testers have relevant matches within the project, you should choose a couple no more than eight generations back.


Getting Started

A pedigree chart of known descendants should be posted on the project website or if there is a separate genealogy site for this information, post the link instead. The descendant chart should be continually updated as more information is available. The administrator would then seek eligible descendants to test from the known pedigree. Keep in mind that beyond second cousins it is reasonably possible that some known relatives will not share enough DNA to be detected by Family Finder. As more descendant lines are tested, the number of matches between cousins will increase.


Join Requests

As the common connection between project members is shared genealogical ancestry, a JOIN REQUEST would be required as well as a documented pedigree to the targeted ancestors for those who test independently of the project. Such a request is available for all Family Tree DNA projects and is merely a request to join the project. This gives the administrator control over the membership and surety that the members are related.


Suggested Descendant Project Goals

1. To gather all the descendants of the targeted ancestors.
2. To find cousins for the purpose of furthering this family’s lineages by combining research efforts.


Scope

We each have many ancestral couples five, six, seven, and eight generations back. Indeed, six generations back we have sixty-four great grandparents or thirty-two ancestral couples … too many couples to create projects for each. Not to become overwhelmed by project administration, it is important to select a couple that is of particular interest in your genealogical research and to recruit other Family Historians and Genealogists to help administrate the project. Those who face a road block more recently than five generations may wish to run a project on more recent generations.

To order a Family Finder test or create a project contact Family Tree DNA


Thank you Rebecca Canada for rewriting this topic to the point of authorship! You help and insight has been invaluable.

Emily
© Aulicino, 22 July 2010

Autosomal Testing Helps Traditional DNA Projects

Many DNA administrators are looking at how to use new autosomal DNA (atDNA) testing products in their current projects. These projects include Y-DNA, Haplogroup, Geographic, Ethnic, and Adoption. But can they help and, if so, how?

Keep in mind the lack of resolution from current atDNA tests beyond the fifth cousin level as well as the possibility of pedigree collapse as you apply atDNA test results to various established DNA projects. See my former blogs for more details on these.


Surname (Y-DNA Based) Projects

The greatest advantage for Y-DNA projects having Family Finder testers involved is that women and men who do not carry a surname for a project can match those in the Y-DNA projects. All parties must have the Family Finder test, of course, but through atDNA testing women and the men with a different surname who cannot find a male surrogate to test can prove their connection to the Y-DNA project’s surname. It may also help those Y-DNA testers who cannot trace back to the common ancestor of their group to find new avenues for their research.

Four men in my Talley Y-DNA project recently tested with Family Finder as did four women and another male with a different surname. We knew that all had the surname Talley in their pedigrees except one woman whose male Y-DNA tester does not carry the Talley surname and he has not tested with Family Finder. This male tester matches the Talley surname, but has a known non-parental event (NPE), and does not match anyone with his surname at this time. Clearly, he is a Talley, and her testing reinforced his previous match with the Talley men.

In the first Talley group of testers, one Y-DNA tester traces his line to John Talley who died in Amelia County, Virginia. The other two men in the Y-DNA project have brick walls, but by comparing lineages with the women, they now have other counties to search.

From the second Talley group of testers, a man who carries a non-Talley surname matched a tested Talley. Their known lineage traced back to a common Talley ancestor. This confirms the Talley lineage of this man.

Thus, testing lines with an atDNA test expands the matching possibilities of a traditionally Y-DNA based project by allowing additional representatives (males without the surname and females) to participate.


Haplogroup Projects

Haplogroup projects are established for male haplogroups, female haplogroups, or maternal (mtDNA) lineages. These projects typically wish to explore the ancient history of the haplogroup and find differences within the group in order to discover new subclades. A few projects focus on the full genome sequence of the mitochrondria (Maternal Lineage Projects) and wish to determine if the members are closely enough related in genealogical time to locate a common ancestor. Family Finder testing can help in these situations.

For example, if an administrator has three identical genome results which have a new mutation not seen before, it is possibly a new subclade. However, one does not want to declare a new subclade based on what could be a genealogically (100 to 200 years) related group. By testing the autosomal lines through Family Finder the administrator can have more confidence these lines are not closely related before considering a new sublcade.

For those mtDNA projects that focus on the full genome sequence, administrators may wish to determine the closeness of the members to determine if the common ancestor could be found within genealogical time. For example, if two people share a mitochondria DNA (mtDNA) line, by taking the Family Finder test they may refine the time to common ancestor calculations. The match could be a 2nd or 4th cousin, thus making the connection since 1800.

My haplogroup is U5a1a1, and in my project by that name, ten of us match on the full genome sequence (entire mtDNA). Although we shared our lineages and many of us help the others, we have not been able to determine a common ancestor within genealogical time so far. Project members have begun testing with Family Finder to see if recent relationships are indicated. If Family Finder does not give us matches within our group, we know that the common ancestor may be prior to the fourth great-grandparents or too far back for genealogical purposes. However, it is possible that some group members may find matches in Family Finder even if they are not on the all female line. This could help testers research in new areas which could lead to finding the common ancestor. In time, as more people test both the full mtDNA and Family Finder, the likelihood increases that a common ancestor will be found within our group for some of the matches.


Geographic Projects

A Geographic Project focuses on location, and as it is often difficult for testers to find connections along the Y-DNA lineage or the mtDNA lines, many testers turn to this type of project hoping to find some additional clues. They know their family lived in the area and often there were name changes that are not apparent or easy to determine. The Family Finder test can help.

As many families live in the same region for years, they may be related along other lines of the pedigree. Having the geographical participants match each other using the Family Finder test, provides more information on related families within the geographic region.

Geographic projects have testers with a variety of surnames. Scotland, Ireland, Portugal, and Wales are a few countries with cultures that have unique surname patterns. Following the genealogy of these groups can be very difficult of not impossible, but by testing with Family Finder, more recent matches can be found and matches with others in the project. For example, if two men with a 67/67 match have different surnames they could match with Family Finder as 3rd cousins. This would allow them to look at 3rd gr-grandfather for their common ancestor.


Ethnic Projects

Some ethnic projects can have various levels of cousinship if the ethnic community married within their group based on social or ethnic norms, such as the Jewish, Mennonite, or Native American populations. Testing with Family Finder could help determine matches that are not apparent with other tests.


Adoption Projects

Family Finder can help locate close cousins who may have additional information for the adoptee either with a paper trail or through oral history. The matching person may have clues which can help the adoptee determine the missing pieces of the pedigree.

Numerous children were products of unwed mothers forced to give up their child by family and/or social services. In many cases both the parent and the child would like to find each other. Children often need to know their health history and many just want to know their roots. If the parents and grandparents of adopted children were encouraged to test and join the adoptees in a project, these families could be more easily reunited.


In Summary

Every way Family Finder can help projects has not been determined at this early stage. Some of the ideas presented here may not prove to be as useful as other suggestions, but as more administrators experiment, discover, and verify how this type of test can help their projects, the advantages of Family Finder will become more apparent, benefiting us all.

Family Finder can ...
1. Allow women and men with out the Y project surname to join Y-DNA Projects.
2. Help Haplogroup Projects administrators determine if those with a common haplotype are too closely related to declare a new subclade or not.
3. Determine if the time to the common ancestor for the full genome sequence in mtDNA Projects is within the 5th cousin range.
4. Assist Geographical Projects in finding connections between their members other than on the Y-DNA or mtDNA lines.
5. Assist Ethnic Projects in finding matches on autosomal lines.
6. Help adoptees find close family.
7. Help family members relocate adoptees.


If you find other ways autosomal testing helps DNA projects, contact me.

Emily
©Aulicino, 22 July 2010

Family Finder Testing Series: Expanding the matches; narrowing the search

Testing with the Family Finder test or other similar autosomal test can easily lead to hundreds of matches, giving us a multitude of cousins. However, with this test, the difficulty lies in finding where the common ancestor is on our pedigree chart. Although this type of testing is in its infancy, genealogists are greatly interested in increasing the number of matches, and they are scrambling to find easy ways of locating the common ancestor. Over time, more methods may develop, but for now, these can help.


Expanding the number of matches

As genealogists, we know that the more people you contact, the more likely you are to find someone with the information you are missing. The more cousins you match, the greater the possibility of adding more generations to your lineage. However, there are only two ways to expand the number of matches you have; either have people in your family test or wait for matches to appear on your website. The greater advantage is to have family members test.

Since each person inherits a different mix of DNA from their ancestors and since a minimum length of DNA is required to determine a match, testing more family members will result in more cousin matches. Many of your cousins may have already tested, but as you did not inherit enough of the same DNA segment, you will not match them. Your relatives may, however.

All of us are not fortunate enough to have the following list of relatives to test, but for each that you can test you are more likely to find additional matches. Every family member has inherited different DNA from the ancestors and will, therefore, match other testers.

· Parents and grandparents.
· Siblings of the parents and grandparents.
· Your siblings.
· First, second, and third cousins.

Not only will the above list increase the number of matches you can have on Family Finder, but testing these relatives will also help you more easily locate the common ancestor between you and your match.


Narrowing the search for the common ancestor

Finding a common ancestor given all the thousands of names we may have in our database can be daunting. Where do you begin? How can the hunt be narrowed to something manageable?

After determining the time period or range of ancestors where you are most likely to match your new cousin as outlined in the previous article Sharing Your Genealogy Research, you may wish to take an additional approach to reduce the amount of searching required in order to find that common ancestor. As each of us inherits different lengths of DNA segments from our ancestors, testing multiple family members can help you focus on which lineages you may have in common with a match. Although nothing is fool-proof, these ideas that can help you determine where to begin looking and improve your success rate for finding the common ancestor.


Testing Older Generations

Testing older generations is helpful because it narrows your search to fewer branches of your tree. When you and a grandparent match the same person you narrow your genealogical search to that grandparent’s line.

When your parents and grandparents are not available you may also test their siblings. Unlike testing your direct line though, you cannot use an aunt, uncle, great aunt, or great uncle to rule out a line. This is because they may have inherited different DNA from their parents.

Testing the older generations means you can find matches farther back on your lines as parents and grandparents have longer segments of ancestral DNA. A match with a grandparent will help you focus on particular lines to find the common ancestor. Again, these family members would have longer links than you would have for older generations, and the siblings would have inherited different mixes of the ancestors’ DNA, giving you other matches.


Testing Cousins

Testing cousins is a way to clarify which side of your family you share with your match. Unlike testing older generations it cannot be used to exclude a line, however. When you match someone, but a tested cousin does not, you may or may not be able to rule out that line for reasons beyond the scope of this article, but know that if your match matches a cousin you can narrow your search to that those related lines.

Testing first cousins on your father’s line as well as your mother’s line could determine which half of your lineage is related to your match. If your match shares a DNA segment with your maternal cousin, then all three of you share ancestry from your maternal line.

If you can only test one of the cousins, for example a son of your father’s brother, you can still benefit. If that cousin, you, and your match share the same DNA segment in the same location on the same chromosome, then the common ancestor is on your father’s line.

Again, the opposite is not always true. If your match does not have the same DNA segment with your paternal cousin, the possibility is that either the common ancestor is on your maternal side or your paternal cousin did not inherit enough DNA to be above the minimum amount needed to be declared a cousin. This can happen if the match is more distant than a first or second cousin. In these cases, the match could actually be on either parent’s line. Testing additional cousins may help as other cousins could have inherited enough of the DNA from that ancestor.

Testing second and third cousins is greatly beneficial as these relatives give you DNA segments you may not have. You can also narrow your search based on how those cousins are related to you.


In summary

1. Test older generations to include or exclude the main branches of your tree.
2. Test cousins on your paternal and maternal sides to determine which half of your lineage could hold the common ancestor.
3. Remember that if a relative does not match your matches, it means they did not inherit a long enough segment of the common ancestor’s DNA.


In posting my success stories for DNA testing on this blog and in discussions with others I know who have tested with Family Finder, I have found cousins who do not match me on my autosomal test. As stated, this is because both of us did not inherit enough of the same DNA segment. We have the same lineages and those lineages have been confirmed as accurate since other cousins did match me on those lines. In this way, autosomal testing gives great confidence to our genealogical paper trails as well as help us find new cousins with whom to research.

Emily
copyright: E. Aulicino, July 2010
Thank you R.

Family Finder Testing Series: Sharing your genealogy research

I’ve tested with Family Finder…now what?


With the advent of Family Finder (FF) by Family Tree DNA, many genetic genealogists are scrambling to understand how to use this new test, how to locate cousins, how it can help their existing projects, and how to build Family Finder-specific projects. Those genealogists who are also interested in statistics and the genetics behind this powerful test are building databases to map who is on which chromosome as well as creating many other useful tools to compare the raw data.

Given that, it is important to clarify how this test can be helpful to the average genealogist as well as to project administrators. The following categories will be addressed in this series:

....Sharing your genealogy research
....Expanding matches; narrowing the search
....What is the advantage to Chromosome Mapping for the average genetic genealogist? For an Administrator? How necessary is it?
....How does Family Finder help projects?
....Creating a Family Finder project

Testing with Family Finder or with other autosomal tests designed to find cousin matches throughout your pedigree can be daunting to those of us who have come to rely on the ease and consistency of the Y-chromosome. It is time though to examine how to effectively use our genealogy to locate the common ancestor.

This type of test focuses on immediate family and back to fifth cousins, although more distant cousins can be located. Just what is a fifth cousin?

A Fifth cousin is seven generations from yourself, taking you back to your fourth great-grandparents. You have 64 fourth great-grandparents. Not many of us can claim that we know all of them. Also, there is the situation known as pedigree collapse as I mentioned in the previous article. That is, you are related to yourself on more than one set of grand-parents. Somewhere in your line you may have a connection to a set of grand-parents twice. This is the case when cousins marry each other so you do not have different people filling the roles of all the ancestors.

· Siblings have the same parents. (2)
· First cousins have the same grandparents. (4)
· Second cousins have the same great-grandparents. (8)
· Third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents. (16)
· Fourth cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents. (32)
· Fifth cousins have the same great-great-great-great-grandparents. (64)


In autosomal testing, you receive a match at a certain cousin level. It is important to understand that the designated level is based on the amount of DNA you share with your match. As we know, each person inherits a mixture of DNA from his or her ancestors and as that mixture is unique to each person, the level of cousin-ship is more likely a range in reality. That is, the genealogical paper trail will indicate more accurately the cousin-ship, and it can be either side of the suggested cousin-ship. The listed cousin-ship is a good basis for determining where to begin sharing your lineage.

I have a match who was declared a third cousin, but is, in reality, a seventh cousin. The reason for this suggested match being so recent, but in actuality so far back, is that my great-grandparents were first cousins. I inherited more DNA on that mutual line than one would normally. It makes me appear closer than I really am.

On my other matches where a common ancestor has been found, I was listed as probably fifth to seventh cousins. Those matches proved to be ninth and tenth cousins.

When the reliability of the test requires that cousin-ship be listed as fifth to distant cousins, and the likelihood of finding that cousin is a low percentage, how is it that I have the common ancestor for four matches? The answer is simple. My matches and I inherited large enough segments of DNA from our distant ancestors, and our paper trails along the ancestral lines are very wide.


Sharing your genealogy research


Is your data deep and wide?

Deep? Yes. Do you have seven or more generations back from you on all your lines? Do you know all of your thirty-two fourth great-grandparents? Most people do not, but the farther back your lines reach, it is more likely you will find your common ancestor.
Wide? Yes. The more names (including spouses), dates, and places you have for the direct line, the siblings of the direct ancestors, and their children and grandchildren, the more likely you will find the common ancestor. A major reason I found my common ancestors is that not only did I have the lineage back to the late 1600s, but I had many descendants of the siblings of my direct line. In some cases, I have tried to bring the lines down to the present.


Share your data effectively.

After contacting your match, it is extremely important to share as much data as you can, but many people have thousands of names in their database. For this reason, it is wise to use some strategies to effectively target where the match could be.

After looking for surnames you may have in common, check locations. It is very possible that their ancestor married a sister or cousin of your ancestor, thus the surnames would be different until both lines work back to the common ancestor. A location may provide a clue to which lines could relate.

Compare your data in the range where you could share a common ancestor in actuality. That is, if you are slated as a 5th cousin, share lineage from your 3rd great-grandparents back to the 6th or 7th at least.


Sharing your data efficiently.

There are several ways to share your genealogy efficiently. Family Tree DNA allows you to upload your GEDCOM and/or list on your personal Family Finder pages your surnames with a location. It is important to list variations of the surname separately as the program is designed to highlight in bold print the surnames you have in common with your matches. Many people, however, are using the location area to list dates and details of that country or state. Remember testing is international and those you match outside of your country may not know where towns are or state codes.

Your own personal website is a great way to share your data. Send the URL to those you match for them to locate common names or places. Some people choose to create their own websites either through various genealogical sites which offer space for free or to pay for their own site. Some use Ancestry.com to post their information.

Additionally, using your genealogy program, you can compile a series of descendant reports of your fourth great-grandparents and store them either in your email program’s draft section or in your word processor. These can be easily sent to those you match.

Suggest and request that your matches send you the same information.

Personally, I find it easier to scan the information in an outline form rather than click on multiple “boxes” of some online pedigrees or GEDCOMs.


In summary:

1. Do your genealogy as far back as you can, and bring down as many of the siblings along those ancestral lines (siblings of your direct line, their children, etc.) closer to the present. Cover the time frame from 3rd cousins-10th cousins with these details. Do not forget spouses and the dates and locations of all events.

2. Use a website to post the information you wish to share, or prepare various descendant charts for major parts of your line that you can forward to your matches.

3. When you write your matches, send the info in #2 and ask if any names or places are shared.

4. Realize ... and let your matches know ... that the connection may not be on your direct lines; therefore, the marriages of children, their children and grandchildren are important as those are surnames that could trigger a starting point for finding the common ancestor.

5. Realize that if you look at your lineage at the 5th cousin level (7 generations back from you; 4th gr-grandparents), you or your match may have a lot of gaps. This is a major reason why you cannot locate the common ancestor.

6. Realize that the current technology has given us this tool to help with our family search, but there are no guarantees of easy or great success. Like any other DNA test, the paper trail is most important.

7. Realize that in time, we will work out how best to do this, just as we did when DNA testing for genealogy was first born. We are pioneers again, and sharing ideas is the way to conquer this task.

8. Understand that Family Tree DNA and 23andMe do not have the space to post large chunks of our lineage. Their purpose is to find us matches. I'm only speculating, but the arrangements for sharing lineage on FF (surname lists and/or your GEDCOM) could get tweaked at some point, or we could get more creative with how we use it. For example: List your surnames under SURNAME; give your URL for the chart of that line under COUNTRY. People who do name searches will look at the URL out of curiosity and find many more names there.

9. Share the above information with people you match. This is a new tool for genealogists and most are still learning what to do.

10. Have fun!


Emily
©Aulicino, 21 Jun 2010
Thank you R.