Georgia Archives needs one last push

The following post by Judy G. Russell on her blog The Legal Genealogist is a must for any resident of Georgia or any researcher with ancestors who lived there.  The state archive is in danger of being closed or severly restricted.  PLEASE ACT NOW!  YOUR VOICE DOES MATTER!

Thank you Judy for allowing me to repost the following:

Georgia Archives needs one last push
Posted on March 15, 2013 by Judy G. Russell
Fighting for the Georgia Archives

Okay, folks, it’s time for one more — hopefully last — push on behalf of the Georgia Archives.
Because we’re down to one last best chance to get the funding the Archives needs to continue — and perhaps even increase — access and hours as it moves to the control of the University System of Georgia from the control of the Georgia Secretary of State.
The issue is now firmly in the hands of the Georgia State Senate, and that’s where efforts need to be focused today.

The House of Representatives has already had its say on the bill transferring the Archives (it passed on March 5) and on the budget request for the Archives. Although it kicked a little more into the pot, it’s not as much as University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby asked for. Right now, the budget as it passed the House will appropriate roughly $4.07 million for the Archives — more than the $3.85 million recommended by Governor Nathan Deal, but less than the roughly $4.3 million the Chancellor wants.

So it’s over to the Senate side now for both issues.

House Bill 287 — the bill transferring the Archives from the Secretary of State to the University System of Georgia — is now in front of the Senate Higher Education Committee, comprised of Senators Bill Cowsert, Chairman, Joshua McKoon, Burt Jones, Buddy Carter, Hardie Davis, Tim Golden, Lester G. Jackson, Nan Orrock, and Cecil Staton.

This one is considered likely to pass — it passed the House by a vote of 170 to 0 — so if you’ve only got time to reach out once on one issue, read on. If you do have time to write a Senator about both, contact information for these folks can be found at the Georgia State Senate website.

The budget bill is where the biggest push is needed. First off, we need to protect the gain achieved in the House. In the overall scheme of things, $224,000 isn’t all that much — but it’s a small step in the direction of better access and better hours. Second, we need to push — and hard! — for more. There were good reasons behind Chancellor Huckaby’s request for a total of $448,266 more than the Governor recommended and, frankly, good reasons for more than that.

But to get anything more — and even to keep the $224,000 gain from the House — we can’t sit idly by and hope the Senate will do the right thing. Now is the time to speak up and be heard.

So follow these steps, and kick in a few minutes for the Georgia Archives:

1. Read up so you’re sure you understand what’s at stake. There’s good information on the websites for the Friends of the Georgia Archives and History (FOGAH) and updated information to help you stay on top of the issues at the GeorgiaArchivesMatters blog.

2. If you’re a Georgia resident, take a look through the list of members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and particularly its Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee and see if any member represents your District. The simple fact of the matter is that legislators respond better to people who can directly vote for — or against — them.

The subcommittee members are Senators Buddy Carter, Ronnie Chance, Bill Cowsert, Gail Davenport and Cecil Staton. Other committee members are Senators Jack Hill, Chairman, Renee Unterman, Tim Golden, Don Balfour, John Crosby, Vincent Fort, Steve Gooch, Bill Heath, Judson Hill, Bill Jackson, Butch Miller, Jeff Mullis, Jack Murphy, Valencia Seay, David Shafer, Freddie Powell Sims, Horacena Tate, Curt Thompson, Steve Thompson, Lindsey Tippins, Ross Tolleson, John Wilkinson and Tommie Williams.

3. If you’re not a Georgia resident, look through the list above and see if any member of the Appropriations Committee represents a district where your ancestors lived. It’s not as good as “I’m your constituent and I vote,” but being able to say “I’m a descendant of people from Bryan County and I visit and spend money there when I do genealogy research” isn’t bad as part of your argument, targeted to a specific Senator.

Again, both contact information for these folks and even district maps can be found at the Georgia State Senate website. And there’s a list of Georgia counties with the corresponding Senate Districts and then the list of Senators at the state Senate website.

4. Write a letter. Make a call. Send a fax or an email. Speak up.

Together, we can make a difference

Enjoy, but act before it is too late!

Emily

16 Mar 2013

The Surnames Handbook: A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century

The Surnames Handbook:  A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century by Debbie Kennett.  Forward by Derek A. Palgrave, the president of the prestigious Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS)

   Is your genealogy stuck in the U.S.?  Colonial America?  Australia?  New Zealand?
   Are you unable to cross the pond?
   Are you doing research on a single name?
   Do you need testers for your DNA Project?
   Could you be at a dead-end due to surname spelling changes?


Answering YES to any of these questions and many others makes Debbie Kennett’s latest book, The Surnames Handbook:  A Guide to Family Name Research in the 21st Century required reading. Debbie’s work could be the strategy that fit your needs!

Even though this is written for the British audience, Debbie includes information from many other counties, and the material and methods here are beneficial to all genealogists and genetic genealogist.  Although written with the underlying suggestion of doing a one-name study, her approach is necessary in forging backward in time and for solving any of the above questions. Even if you do not plan to conduct a surname study, this source can help you pin-point where your surname in the U.K. could have originated or where it existed at a particular time.

Debbie begins with a history of surnames and explains the attempts to classify them over the past centuries.  She then clarifies the differences between variants and deviants which is greatly important to know when you are hunting for an ancestor’s record and find nothing.  Other chapters discuss surname mapping, surname frequency, surname origins pre-1600s, and more.  She covers the use of DNA and the benefits of One-Name Studies.  The span of the resources is amazing: information and websites on old handwriting and dating systems, parish and county boundary changes, various records which are online, and details about various records and when where they existed.  She explains the reasons for creating the Pipe Rolls, Lay Subsidies Rolls, the Hundred Rolls, the Feet of Fines, the Hearth Tax, and many more. I cannot begin to list all the important and useful information.

 For those of us who know little about records in the U.K., the historical background and lists of websites and documents given in this resource is invaluable.  What others have spent years learning, you can access quickly through all the websites she has mentioned. For many Americans the information on medieval resources is very valuable, and most American genealogists do not understand the British record keeping system over the centuries. This book helps you quickly learn about the records in the U.K.

Debbie’s book bears reading multiple times as it is so full of great information (am I repeating myself! LOL) .  So much so that one needs to take notes or tag pages for a revisit. Know that the electronic versions have hot links for all the websites she mentions so you may wish to order that version. This book should be used as a workbook to explore your surnames and to locate living potential DNA testers. It suggests reconstructing families of a rare surname or those in one area to determine if all the people are related and to obtain probably testers for DNA when you bring those lineages to the present. DNA testing living people who are in the area where your ancestors were and with the same surname can find you actual cousins and help establish your roots in the motherland.

With so many resources, my plans are to turn to Appendix A:  Genealogy Websites and to go systematically through the online resources for my Ogan One-Name Study and to reconstruct my family surnames in the U.K. for my DNA surname projects (Derby, Doolin, Lamson, Ogan, Talley, and  Stubblefield) in order to find potential DNA testers in the U.K. in time for the next Who Do You Think You Are? Live conference and to invite them to attend so I can give them a free DNA kit in hopes some will match my lines.  Then to plow through my other ancestral surnames.  Then there is the linguists resources, the Place-Name Resources, etc.  Oh, to have a few clones to help!

Frankly, this book is a must for all genealogists and genetic genealogists!
Order it from Amazon.com for your Kindle or in paperback or for your Nook at Barnes and Noble.

Enjoy....I know I did!
Emily
15 Mar 2013

Who Do You Think You Are? Live Feb 22-24, 2013

Who Do You Think You Are? Live, the world’s largest genealogical conference, started with a bang this year.

The figures were up 9% from last year, and are as follows.

Friday - 22 February 5,444
Saturday - 23 February 5,365
Sunday - 24 February 3,132
Total 13,941

FTDNA Stand

The Family Tree DNA stand was extremely busy on Friday so we
knew attendance was good.  Saturday appeared equally busy, and although there was drop in Sunday’s visits, we knew it was higher than last year.  Friday always has the highest volume, and Sunday is typically slower, but this year the FTDNA stand was still busy on Sunday, as well.  Family Tree DNA sold over twice as many test kits this year as in previous years, so we are finally making an impact in the UK.

Debbie Kennett's Presentation,
photo courtesy of Max Blankfeld via Debbie Kennett

The presentations for the FTDNA stand were very exceptional.  Most speakers were from the U.K. which helps bridge the gap between cultures. Dr. Michael Hammer from the University of Arizona spoke about our ancestral origins, including the recent discovering of haplogroup A0 and A00 initiated from citizen scientist Bonnie Schrack who had called attention to a curious situation in her DNA project and involved the geneticists. Debbie Kennett explained to novices the three major tests, and her presentation was well received. Scottish DNA was covered by Alasdair McDonald, and Tyrone Bowes explained how to use history and geography to find where our ancestral name probably originated. Katherine Borges spoke about the DNA of various famous people. Bruce Winney presented A Genetic Analysis of the People of the British Isles, and Chris Pomery informed the crowd about Traditional Genealogy and DNA One-Name Studies. Max Blankfeld covered DNA and Female Lines.  The presentations covered a nice range of topics and greatly informed the British population what is current in the DNA world.

We had our usual dinner at Pizza Express on Friday after the first day of the conference.  Max Blankfeld, Vice-President of Family Tree DNA, received his sheep from Brian Swann who for several years has made presentations to various members of our group.

The ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) stand listed 107 surnames with variants...more than in past years...which could receive a free Y-37 marker test at the courtesy of the respective project administrators.  All one needed to do was to be male with the surname and walk by to notice your name on the chart.  Seventeen tests were given away for the following surnames:  Burton, Dunbar, Fitzgerald, Hunt, Parker, Pearse, Phillips, Phillipson, Stokes, Taylor and Wright.  Some  administrators of these projects received more than one tester.  Congratulations to all of them.  I greatly encourage DNA administrators to use the resources available online for the U.K. to bring to the present probable male testers and invite them to show up at next year's conference.  In some cases, this may be the only way to connect to your lineage in the homeland.

Kensington Palace

Most of our crew from the U.S. arrived Wednesday February 20th and immediately went into full action with a trip to Keningston Palace.  The docents there were wonderfully knowledgeable. We had tea on the grounds at the Orangery, sharing three different teas and cutting the little cakes in to portions. It's nice to see we can be polite when needed! (teasing)

Down House

Every year Brian Swann has suggested and organized some great adventures.  This year he out-did himself! The Down House trip (Charles Darwin's home) on Thursday and the trip to Cambridge and on to Hinxton  to tour the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute the following Monday were fantastic!

Emily and Brian at Sanger

Who could resist visiting the home of Charles Darwin, the man who established that all species of life descended from common ancestors and pioneered the idea of evolution?  Who could resist visiting The Eagle Pub for lunch where Francis Crick and James Watson first discussed the Double Helix, according to the plaque outside the door, and The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute where in 1992, this new center was formed to be the British arm of the Human Genome Project's sequencing efforts?

The Gang at Stonehenge

For Tuesday, Derrell Teats, one of our group from the U.S. organized a tour of Stonehenge, Bath and other interesting cities along the route.  Our guide was delightful and informative.

Maurice Gleeson and Siobhan Peal

At Stonehenge, Maurice Gleeson and I ran into a spiritualist who runs the Talking With Capricorn blog.  She states she is a tetragametic chimera which is very interesting to us genetic genealogists.  The all-day trip was wonderful, returning us to the B&B just after 9 p.m.  We needed a bit more daylight at the last stop, Avebury, to see the largest set of standing stones which are three circles, one within the other and to have more time at the The Lions Pub in the center of inner circle of stones.

Emily and Mayor Sheila Stuart,
photo courtesy of Cynthia Wells

While in Cambridge, I had the pleasure of meeting the mayor who just happens to be an Oregonian.  After seeing a news article about her in my local paper, I emailed to congratulate her and to invited her to have lunch with us at the Eagle Pub, just around the corner from her office.  I greatly enjoyed visiting her.  She volunteered herself and her husband for a DNA test, so promptly two kits came flying at us from the other tables of friends. She promptly returned the samples to FTDNA, and I'm sure she and I are both anxious to see the results.

It may be difficult to top this year's trip as far as our side trips are concerned, but there is so much to see and do that no one would be disappointed in the coming years.  This is your invitation to join us next year!

Enjoy,
Emily
15 Mar 2013

Geno 2.0 - The Website

My Geno 2.0 test results arrived Tuesday night.  HURRAY!!!!

The website which is still in Beta testing has the following sections:

YOUR STORY includes how and when your distant ancestors moved out of African and the various populations with which they interacted over thousands of years of migration.  The migration is determined by tracing mutations in your Y-chromosome DNA (if you are a male) for paternal lines and on your mitochondrial DNA for maternal lines.  Your haplogroup (basically your twig on the World Family Tree) is given as an alternating series of letters and numbers.  A short video is available on the site.

YOUR MAP are pages begin with your oldest known ancestors in Africa and shows your ancestors’ migration out of Africa for your maternal line and if you are a male, also for your paternal line.   Each page is a haplogroup and as you click on the next section, you see how that haplogroup changed to the next haplogroup and how your ancestors migrated.  Below the map on each page is interesting background about each haplogroup is given including its location of origin and time.  A Heat Map indicates the frequency of your haplogroup in the areas it has been found.  The FUTURE section shows the entire migration for all haplogroups, but the information on the page indicates that as more data is found, more detail will appear.  There is also a request for you to complete your profile and contribute your story.  This enables you to tell what you know about your maternal and paternal lineages and as others add their story, you will be able to read them if you match them.

WHO AM I? displays how you affiliate with nine world regions.  As this is determined from your entire genome that is tested, your percentages include information from both of your parents going back six generations.  This reflects both recent influences and ancient genetic patterns as various groups mixed over thousands of years.  As your ancestors mixed with extinct hominid cousins such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans (/dɪ̈ˈniːsəvən/) these are included.  A short video is found on this page.

Two major populations are listed for each person.  My personal population percentages are:

43% Northern European which states that my results are found at the highest frequency in areas of the UK, Finland, Russia and Germany in the current reference populations, and to lesser degrees throughout the rest of Europe.  This is probably the earliest hunter-gatherers in Europe and who moved from the Middle East during the Neolithic period about 3,000 years ago.

37% Mediterranean with the highest frequencies in southern Europe and the Levant people (people from Sardinia, Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia.  It is at lower frequencies in the rest of Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.  This group migrated from the Middle East around 8,000 years ago during the Neolitic period and likely form the western part of the Fertile Crescent.

18% Southwest Asian is found at the highest frequencies in India and the area including Tajikistan and Iran.  It is at fewer frequencies in Europe and North Africa.  Again, the movement was probably during the Neolithic period and possibly from the Fertile Crescent.  The site states:  “Individuals with heavy European influence in their ancestry will show traces of this because all Europeans have mixed with people from Southwest Asia over tens of thousands of years.”

Below this the site explains what all this means and clarifies that it does not mean that I belong to these groups or are from these regions, but that these groups have a similar genetic match to me.  It further asks me to remember that this is a mixture of my past six generations and ancient patterns established over thousands of years.

My first reference population is considered British (UK).  This reiterates that my line is among the first hunter-gathers who arrived more than 35,000 years ago and that the Mediterranean and Southwest Asian percentages came later with the spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent.

My second reference population is considered German.  This connects me to people who are native to Germany.  This essentially states the same as the information for British and states that both northern and central European populations link to the earliest Europeans and the later movement from the Middle East.

You can click on a link to see information on all the reference populations as well as information on how the analysis was conducted, a description of all the nine regions and an example of a participant’s result discussed by Dr. Spencer Wells.

Below all that is my Hominid Ancestry for which I can click on a link to learn more details about the Neanderthal and Denisovans.

I am 2.2% Neanderthal.  National Genographic states:  “Everyone living outside of Africa today has a small amount of Neanderthal in them, carried as a living relic of these ancient encounters. A team of scientists comparing the full genomes of the two species concluded that most Europeans and Asians have between 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA.”

I am 1.6 Denisovan.  National Genographic states that this may well change as they are “working to determine the best way to assess the percentage Denisovan ancestry that you carry. “

OUR STORY contains your paternal and maternal matches.  It is the section where you can read the personal stories your matches post about their lineages.  You are the center circle and those most closely related are nearer to you.  A legend indicates the level of relationship based on the size of the circle. By clicking on your circle you are offered a space of up to 1400 characters to write your story.  Another link allows you to see all those who have posted a story.  You can scroll to your haplogroup to see who has posted.  There is a guided tour to view.

PROFILE is the section which asks for cultural information on yourself and your recent ancestors in order for National Genographic to learn more about recent migrations and further refine their understanding to where people migrated today.  You can also click to be put in the scientific research study, and then complete sections entitled:  Account Settings, About Me, About My Family, About My Ethnicity, and Expert Option.*  
.......*Note that it is not extremely clear as to your oldest male and female for which to answer these questions of location.  I believe the goal is to do your oldest known female from your ALL-FEMALE line and the same for your ALL-MALE line even though this is not clear.  I have requested that it be make clearer.  Otherwise, we will have information that stems from other branches of our lineage and even the oldest male and female could be a married couple on the same line.

Transfering your Geno 2.0 results to FTDNA
Go to PROFILE and then to EXPERT OPTIONS.  Follow the prompts and add information (kit and passwords) for appropriate tests you have taken:  Geno 2, Geno 1, Y-DNA and/or mtDNA.
At this point in time there seemed to be a bug in some attempts to transfer data, but that appears to be resolved.  If you find a problem report it to FTDNA and try what I did:  I did not test Geno 1.0 with National Genographic, but transferred my HVR1 to them.  I was able to transfer my Geno 2.0 data to Family Tree DNA only when I did not enter the kit number for my Geno 1.0.

Also know that for males when they transfer their Geno 2.0 test to FTDNA, they will see all the National Genographic SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) for which they test positive for their Y-DNA portion.  This will definite add to the string of letters and numbers for many haplogroups, but remember that everyone will soon be using the first letter of your haplogroup and the terminal (last) SNPs for which you test positive.  One of my I2b people is now I-Z183.

Other Features
On many pages you can click SHARE in the upper right to email your page to others, post on one of the social networks or download to your computer.

Be sure to check the FAQs and other items under RESOURCES.


REMEMBER, the current National Genographic website is in Beta so there will be bugs, and there may be some changes as issues are fixed and features added. The email to report problems is  Genographic@ngs.org

Haven't ordered your test yet?  Go to the National Genographic webiste and join the other 559,515 participants!

Emily
copyright 16 Dec 2012

23andMe Lowers Test Price to $99

Today’s exciting news is that 23andMe has lowered their test in a goal of reaching a million testers.  Not only does this have implications for the medical field, but for those of us involved in genetic genealogy.

Although we see generally around 20-30% of those testing will accept your invitation to share basic genomes, it will still increase our matches.  For those of you who have also tested at Family Tree DNA, you can have your 23andMe matches also transfer a copy of their data to Family Tree DNA and do additional testing as well.  23andMe does not test the Y chromosome or mitochondria in the same manner, but they do give you haplogroups for each as does Family Tree DNA.  Many of us are interested in adding to our Y-DNA and mtDNA projects so increasing testing from any company can mean future additions to those projects.

The other benefit to this price reduction could be that it will spur other companies to reduce their prices or at least do some great sales.  We have to realize that 23andMe has obtained funding from outside sources and other companies may not take that approach so we cannot fully expect a price war.

Purchasing kits from 23andME outside the US does raise the cost greatly as compared to Family Tree DNA's (FTDNA) comparable test called Family Finder.  However, understand that the Family Finder test does not deal with any health issues, but gives you the names and emails of the matches you have in their database.  You need not ask permission to share genome information as you do with 23andMe.  Other features are similar in both companies, although they do vary a bit.  For example, 23andMe rounds the beginning and ending positions of where you match people, and FTDNA does not.  Each company uses a slightly different set of populations to compare you so your percentage for your ancestral locations (i.e, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, etc.)  may vary somewhat.  Both companies accurately report your genome results and allow you to download your raw data so you can do chromosome mapping and phasing..

By testing with both companies most of your matches will be different as each company has a different clientele. A few people have tested with both companies. FTDNA allows you to transfer your results form 23andMe to them. 23andMe doesn't take results form FTDNA at this point in time.


These are the costs for the UK for each company:

Family Tree DNA's Family Finder:  $199 + $6.00 postage = $205 (+ return postage equivalent to about $2)
23andMe:  $99 + $79.95 = $178.95

FTDNA charges a flat rate of $6 for postage anywhere in the world. 
23andMe charges variable rates depending on the country. Shipping within the US costs just $9.95, but it costs $59.95 to send the kits to Canada, $94.95 to Cyprus, Malta and Iceland, and $118.95 to Bosnia and Belarus.

It will of course be more cost effective if people order multiple kits from 23andMe and have them sent to the same address.


The press release from 23andMe:

23andMe Raises More Than $50 Million in New Financing
Company Sets Growth Goal Of One Million Customers, Reduces Price to $99 from $299

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – December 11, 2012 – 23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced it has raised more than $50 million in a Series D financing. Participants in the financing include Yuri Milner, a new investor, as well as existing investors Sergey Brin, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki, New Enterprise Associates, Google Ventures and MPM Capital. This investment will help the company achieve its growth goal of one million customers.
The Power of One Million People

Expanding the company’s ability to reach and serve one million individuals supports 23andMe’s goal to revolutionize health and wellness. It also will accelerate 23andMe’s ability to create a powerful platform that enables researchers around the globe to make meaningful discoveries significantly faster than is currently possible. With this expansion, 23andMe, which currently has more than 180,000 customers, will aim to:

• Enable groundbreaking research by creating an exponentially larger collective of actively engaged, genotyped individuals;
• Help accelerate development of new treatments;
• Improve understanding of wellness and disease prevention; and
• Broaden access for people seeking to manage their health and well-being through direct access and greater understanding of their own genetic data.

“A community of one million actively engaged individuals will be transformational for research. A community of this magnitude will improve researchers’ ability to quickly answer questions about genetic function and the role of environmental factors. In addition, it will enable researchers to understand medication efficacy and side effects, in both medications that exist today and medications are that are in development,” Wojcicki added.

Broadening Access: Lowering Price to $99
The Series D investment, combined with rapidly decreasing costs associated with genetic testing technologies, enables 23andMe to reduce the price of its Personal Genome Service to $99, effective immediately. The company will continue to evaluate optimal pricing strategies.
The investment also enables 23andMe to expand the necessary infrastructure to support growth in its research and operational capabilities, including product development, genetic research, software development, recruitment and marketing.


About 23andMe
23andMe, Inc. is the leading personal genetics company dedicated to helping individuals understand their own genetic information through DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools. The company's Personal Genome Service® enables individuals to gain deeper insights into their ancestry and inherited traits. The vision for 23andMe is to personalize healthcare by making and supporting meaningful discoveries through genetic research. 23andMe, Inc., was founded in 2006, and the company is advised by a group of renowned experts in the fields of human genetics, bioinformatics and computer science. More information is available at www.23andme.com.

National Geographic Unveils New Phase of Genographic Project

Geno 2.0  Combines Powerful New Technology, Citizen Science
More than a Half-Million Participants Traced Deep Ancestry in First Phase

WASHINGTON—The National Geographic Society today announced the next phase of its Genographic Project — the multi-year global research initiative that uses DNA to map the history of human migration. Building on seven years of global data collection, Genographic continues to shine new light on humanity’s collective past, yielding tantalizing clues about humankind’s journey across the planet.

“Our first phase drew participation from more than a half-million participants from over 130 countries. It is evidence of enormous interest in deep ancestry among the global public — tracing the paths their ancestors took as they migrated around the world over the past 60,000 years,” said Project Director Dr. Spencer Wells, a population geneticist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.

“Now, the Genographic Project’s second phase creates an even greater citizen science opportunity —and the more people who participate, the more our scientific knowledge will grow.”

Geno 2.0
The Genographic Project enters this groundbreaking new stage of research by harnessing powerful genetic technology to further explore and document the historic pathways of human migration. Based in part on a unique database compiled during the project’s first phase, the next generation of the Genographic Project Participation Kit — Geno 2.0 — examines a unique collection of nearly 150,000 DNA identifiers that offers rich, ancestry-relevant information from across the entire human genome. In addition to learning their detailed migratory history, participants will learn how their DNA is affiliated with various regions in the world, and even if they have traces of Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry — from our ancient hominid “cousins” who lived in Europe and parts of Asia tens of thousands of years ago before going extinct.

GENOGRAPHIC 
Participants will receive their results through a newly designed, multi-platform Web experience. In addition to full visualizations of their migratory path and regional affiliations, participants can share information on their genealogy to inform scientists about recent migratory events. These stories also can be shared with the broader Genographic Project community; as the number of contributions grows, the experience will become richer, as participants learn more about themselves and their shared ancestry. Results also can be shared as an infographic for social platforms.

Already, project results have led to the publication of 35 scientific papers, reporting results such as the origin of Caucasian languages, the early routes of migrations out of Africa, the footprint of the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean, the genetic impact of the Crusades and the genetic origins of the Romanian royal dynasty that included Vlad the Impaler. The project’s DNA results and analysis are stored in a database that is the largest collection of human anthropological genetic information ever assembled.

"The Genographic Project truly represents another facet of a new age of exploration. The newest Genographic technology will push the limits of our research, inspiring us to learn more about ourselves and leveraging the insights gleaned so far to take citizen science and genetic testing to a whole new level,” said Terry Garcia, executive vice president of Mission Programs at National Geographic.

Applications from Scientists Welcome
New to the second phase of Genographic, the project will invite applications for grants from researchers around the world for projects studying the history of the human species, which use innovative anthropological genetic tools such as the custom-designed “GenoChip,” a technology developed by scientists using Illumina’s Infinium iSelect HD BeadChips specifically for the study of human migration patterns. Sample research topics could include the origin and spread of the Indo-European languages, genetic insights into regions of high linguistic diversity such as Papua New Guinea, the number and routes of migrations out of Africa, the origin of the Inca or the genetic impact of the spread of maize agriculture in the Americas.

During Genographic’s first phase, Wells and project scientists traveled the globe to collaborate with tens of thousands of indigenous people, whose genetics are particularly significant in determining human migratory routes. Wells and Pierre Zalloua, principal investigator in the Middle East, for example, collaborated with the Toubou people of northern Chad, whose DNA has revealed insights into ancient migrations across the Sahara. Genographic’s principal investigator in the Oceana region, Lisa Matisoo-Smith, worked intensively with people on the remote south Pacific island of Emirau, collecting DNA samples and sharing the results with them.

GENOGRAPHIC
The Genographic Project team worked with individuals, institutions and organizations all over the world to find and tell their genetic stories, including the prime minister of Kazakhstan, who invited Wells and his colleagues to collect DNA samples in his country after becoming fascinated with his family story as revealed by his Genographic kit results; the people of Barbados, who requested a study on the pattern of diversity in the country using the public participation kits; and members of the public in South Africa, who learned that they carry links to the region’s earliest inhabitants, the San people, in addition to genetic lineages from elsewhere in Africa, India and Europe.

The project also tested 200 random people on a single day on a block of Queens, New York, to demonstrate the area’s diversity. In a collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s multidisciplinary education foundation The Silk Road Project, more than 400 students at four New York City public schools swabbed their cheeks and traced their ancient ancestry.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Genographic Participation Kits funds project research and the Genographic Legacy Fund, which awards grants to support community-led cultural conservation and revitalization initiatives among indigenous and traditional communities around the world. So far, the Genographic Project has provided 62 Legacy Fund grants worth $1.7 million. Efforts supported by the grants include the creation of teaching materials on the ancient wisdom of the Chuj in a Maya community in Guatemala and the revitalization of indigenous languages in Nepal, India, Taiwan, French Polynesia, Mexico and Bolivia.

‘GenoThreads’ Connects Students, Teachers
A new education program called GenoThreads enables science, culture and geography to be naturally woven into a shared educational experience. GenoThreads connects students and teachers around the world who are using Genographic participation kits; this allows a cross-cultural exchange between students via email and videoconference for a truly global experience. In the first GenoThreads project, high school students in Switzerland are sharing their results with those halfway across the world in Singapore.

Members of the public are encouraged to visit the Genographic Project’s newly created website at www.genographic.com. Featuring National Geographic photography, the website gives Genographic participants the opportunity to learn more about their own ancestry and find ancestral connections. The Genographic Project remains nonmedical and nonprofit, and all analysis results are placed in the public domain following scientific publication. The Genographic Project serves as an unprecedented resource for geneticists, historians, anthropologists and citizen scientists.


Visit the Genographic Project’s website: www.genographic.com.

5 Dec 2012 Press Release courtesy of National Geographic Society.

Family Tree DNA’s 8th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy, Day 2

Houston, Sunday, 11 Nov 2012

The last day always seems to come so quickly.  There never seems a great deal of time to chat with fellow genealogists so getting to bed late and up early does keep some of us non-morning people dragging a bit!   But the excitement of the day is as good as a cup of coffee!

Alice Fairhurst

Sunday morning was our usual International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) meeting.  Alice Fairhurst spoke on the ISOGG Y-DNA tree which started in 2006.  There are now over 2,000 SNPs on the  tree.  The first few years there were 25-30 updates per year; last year over 100.  There are already 73 updates this year so far and that number is that low only because the team clustered some of the updates.  Many people in many countries are involved in helping, but they could use more.  They need help in Q and some other areas.  Due to Geno 2.0 ISOGG tree is going to a stronger database, but will remain the same through December 2012.  The next tree may not be ready in January, however.  Although there is a conversion chart, the new tree will only use terminal SNPs.  Some R1b sub-clades are over 20 letters and numbers, and with Geno they will be much too long.  This ISOGG tree is used by geneticists around the world.

Dr. Brian Swann

Brian Swann from England gave great information and encouragement in his presentation suggesting that people with British genealogy learn how British records work and use them to find probable testers and reconstitute the families.  He stressed checking the 1881 census, the 2055-2006 Birth, Marriage, and Death records now online, and checking for your surname through the Guild of One Name Studies. There are online databases for the UK from 1837-1841 could be a good resource, as well.  Debbie Kennett’s new book Origins of British Surnames can be helpful. Facebook can also be a good source for current contacts.  Join the local family history societies in areas of interest in Britain. Dr. Swann urged that as half the people in Britain who have children do not marry, now is the time to start the reconstruction as it will be more difficult in the future.

Dr. Doron Behar

Dr. Doron Behar spoke on the mtCommunity, referring to his paper:  A Copernican Reassessment of the Human mtDNA Tree from its Roots.   He states that about 16,000 mtDNA sequences on NCBI’s  (National Center for Biotechnology Information) GenBank are from Family Tree DNA customers.  He explained that Chimps are not our ancestor, but when through 6,000 years of evolution and are our contemporaries.  Neanderthals were extinct only 30,000 years ago.  Some of our species interacted with the Neanderthals, we did not evolve from them.  Mankind did not evolve as you see in many online posters.  Dr. Behar’s paper clearly shows that using the rCRS (Revised Cambridge Reference System) gives a skewed vision as more western Europeans have fewer mutations than those of other world areas.  With his paper reconstructing the mtDNA comparison starting with the root and adding such populations as the Neanderthal, we see that there are now fewer mutations for those populations closer to the root and more mutations for those farther from the root which is much more logical.  This new method is termed RSRS (Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence).  With the RSRS, all contemporary mtDNA shows approximately the same number mutations from the root…again, more logical. This change has no effect on the mtDNA tree topology or haplogroup labels.  It will only add or subtract to the number of mutational differences when compared to the root mtDNA.
See the mtDNACommunity website which has over 13,700 full mtDNA sequences so far and is a centralized database allowing sequences to be posted for scientists.  You can add yours.  It is free to all testers from all communities, but only uses complete mtDNA sequences; the full mitochondrial tests.  Each sequence not from FTDNA will be verified for accuracy before uploading.  You will be asked if you want to upload to NCBI so check the option if you do, and FTDNA will upload for you.  If you have already uploaded to NCBI do not do it a second time so you are not duplicated.  You can send your CBI to FTDNA to check. Once you upload your NCBI submission number will be on your profile page.

Dr. Michael Hammer

Bonnie Schrack

Dr. Michael Hammer of the University of Arizona presented the most exciting news of the conference!  Dr. Hammer’s presentation was entitled A highly Divergent Y Chromosome Lineage; Implications for Human Evolution and the Y Chromosome Tree.  Bonnie Schrack, citizen scientist, gave us the back story and suggested that haplotypes that do not fit into the main groups can be gold, and that rare haplotypes can identify new clades.  She found three people in her Y-DNA Haplogroup A project who did not have any designated haplogroup.  After consulting some papers by Cruciani (2011) and Batini (2011), the decision was made to do a Walk The Y (WTY) for one of the members living in Georgia.  More than 40 new SNPs were found with this test, setting a new record.  It also included 32 SNPs discovered by Cruciani in is A1b sample.  A second WTY was done with another member of  her project in Maryland.  For this tester about 24 new SNPs were found, but he shared 18 of Cruciani’s SNPs and 19 of the SNPs found in the tester from Georgia, and 22 new SNPs for his branch.  A third WTY, a candidate from South Carolina, tested negative for all the SNPs previously tested in the other two  testers.
     At this point, Dr. Michael Hammer was brought into the picture.  Over 50 SNPs were derived from this South Carolina sample and about 30 which are ancestral and derived from all other human Y lineages.  Dr. Hammer had seven SNPs matching the WTY testers and these were found in a small section of Western Cameroon.  These new results put the Chimp and Gorilla very distant to modern humans.  Hammer stated that the South Carolina tester who now has a haplogroup of A00 (currently the oldest haplogroup) is 500 years from his Cameroonian A00 cousin, and that the Atlantic slave trade brought his ancestor to the US. This discovery predates the origin of modern human fossils, and this tester’s line could be an archaic population.   Two fossils found at Iwo Eleru (in nearby Nigeria) dated ~13,000 years ago showed archaic features.

Dr. Thomas Krahn

     Dr. Thomas Krahn shared the story of the discovery as he worked with his wife Astrid to see if each newly found SNP had been previously discovered.  After working all day and night, at 4 a.m. they realized they had new haplogroups.  By 6 a.m. they were done checking all the new SNPs.  As a result we no longer have just Haplogroup A, thought to be 60,000 years ago, but we have two haplgroups which came before A, namely A0 and A00.  The A00 haplogroup lived ~338,000 years ago, but could range anywhere between 246,000- 563,000 years ago.  Regardless, this is an astounding find and to know that one of our FTDNA administrators, Bonnie Schrack, was instrumental in calling this to the attention of the geneticists is an outstanding example of the value of citizen scientists.  Several people throughout the world contributed to the cost of WTY tests and were thanked by Bonnie.  This find is truly an important moment in history!

Elise Friedman

Yesterday’s Breakout Groups were repeated today to allow people to attend at least two. I attended Elise Friedman’s group entitled Advanced Group Administration Techniques as a review and to see if there was information new to me.  Without seeing the pages here it would be difficult to describe various aspects.  I suggest that everyone take the Interactive Tour, read the FAQs, click on the FTQL (Family Tree Query Language for compound searches) and the Help icon found on all pages.

A few basics she covered:  
1.  Go to MY ACCOUNT and click on SETTINGS. Check the boxes you want shown on the left.  DISPLAY SETTINGS on the right control what you see.  The bottom of MY SETTINGS has settings for different report pages.
2.  You can create a different email address for each project if you have more than one.  Just add your email address on the CONTACT PAGE and select one for default.
3.  Important:  Go to PROJECT ADMINISTRATION and then click on MANAGING PROJECT.  Fill in the blanks, but click on SHOW SURNAME even if your project isn’t a surname project.  This way it is shown in the list of projects.
4. If you use counters or other logos or icons, put those under JAVASCRIPT.
5.  You can also click on the results page and move members from one subgroup to another, but only in the regular results; not in classic or color.
5.  On the results page you can highlight one line.  I asked for 2-3 to be highlighted and maybe in different colors.  This, in my opinion will help with comparing.
6.  ACTIVITY LOG is new and shows changes in your projects.
7.  It is very important to read the Project Administrators Guidelines and adhere to them.

Rory Van Tuyl’s presentation entitled A Tale of Two Families – Findings from the FTDNA Surname Project Van Tuyl showed how he used Monte Carol simulation and the Walsh Infinite Alleles Theory to show that there was no constant mutation rate.  He suggests that using similarities rather than differences is a powerful analytical technique and not to try to estimate TMRCA from Y-STR data.

Elliott Greenspan

Elliott Greenspan’s presentation entitled IT Road Map covered the accomplishments of this last year and the goals for the coming year. In 2010 FTDNA processed 250 terabytes and in 2011 they processed 2.33 Petabytes of matching data. The latter translates into 16.8 million segments.  This is 50 times more data than last year.  FTDNA has run over 5 million individual tests of all types over the years. The General Fund Invoice Payment was added along with SNP Maps and 23andMe uploads.  As previously mentioned in this blog, FTDNA will allow uploads of Ancestry’s data as soon as it is available.  The “about me” section of the Personal Profile was added and is view-able by your matches when they click on your profile.  Advanced Matches was added in order to compare two different tests at the same time.

The coming year’s goals are quite extensive and very welcomed:
1.  FTDNA will go to Build 37 which is GRAND!
2.  Microalleles will be coming on GAP charts.
3.  Palindromic matches will be added in DYS 459,464 and CDY which will appear as one mutation as they are one event.
4.  New mtDNA haplogroups will see some changes when Geno 2.0 begins getting results.
5.  As the home page causes confusion for new members, the pages will be updated probably in December with items people have not done such as uploading a Gedcom being highlighted.
6.  More badges like Niall of the Nine Hostages will be available.
7.  Uploaded Gedcoms will be searchable and allow for direct input of data.
8.  FTDNA will upgrade Population Finder by adding more populations more often and will have chromosome painting.
9.  FTDNA will have X chromosome matching and browser, but will be different than that of Family Finder as it is inherited differently.
10.  You will be able to select five matches and push to your chromosome browser page.
11. There will be more filter options so you can filter by blocks in Chromosome Browser to see all matches on that block.  Blocks must be at least 4cM and start and end in the same block.
12.  Restrictions on “In Common With” will be removed.
13.  Many of us have asked for phasing over the last couple of years and is it coming!  YEAH!!!  There will be two types of phasing depending upon the availability of testing parents.
14.  Various apps for androids, iPhones, etc. will be added.
15.  FTDNA developers plan to work with a group of customers with tech skills…a developer sandbox.
16.  FTDNA will remove the five person limit for Family Finder downloads so all can be downloaded at one time into CVS or Excel files.  EVERYONE clapped!

What a wonderful list for the coming year!

FTDNA cautioned against using Gedmatch as it shows your matches names.  FTDNA cannot control customers who do this, but feel it could come back to bite you and can cause outside regulation.  They suggested we do not take cM blocks seriously without other supporting information.  They were firm about data mining not being available because of security and people who “connect the dots.”  FTDNA is not planning to drop the 12 and 25 marker test so that those who need to start small can do so.

AND…at the end of the conference FTDNA announced its Holiday Sale earlier than expected.  See my previous post for the sale items and prices.  The sale ends 31 December 2012 and is a great opportunity to upgrade, to add new tests, or to become a first-time tester with the largest genetic genealogy company!

On Monday, FTDNA offered three tours of their “state of the art” lab in Houston.  The equipment automation is amazing, and seeing the process to get our DNA results is fascinating.  The weekly cost of some of the disposable items is astounding!  It is clear why the time and cost we incur is what it is.

No doubt I omitted some information from this lengthy blog.  For that reason, I suggest you also read Roberta J. Estes’ blog DNAeXplained.

Can anyone doubt that history isn't being made on the monumental level?  

Enjoy,
Emily
16 Nov 2012