Genetic genealogy

My mother did the test and we were able to establish a link to two family connections which pre-date civil records and in parishes whose records don't go back much further. To date the family names were just family folklore so we were delighted with the results. With the help of those distant cousins connected by DNA I now have new research avenues and I am collaborating with them.

I think it was 99 sterling. I'll write up a fuller answer, when I get a chance, of the results. I was sceptical but was genuinely delighted with the results.

There are three major types of DNA testing for genetic genealogy:
- Autosomal: This tests parts of all your chromosomes, which means you can potentially match with cousins from any branch of your family tree. As Ipso said, it can't give you the exact relation, but two people with good enough family trees and a close enough relation have an opportunity to try to figure it out. Anyone can take this test.
- Y-DNA: This tests the Y chromosome. Only men have Y chromosomes, so only men can take it. Also, since the Y is passed from fathers to sons, this type of testing specifically deals with direct male lines only. It can potentially be useful in connecting men who have the same surname and are of the same lineage. There are a couple different approaches to testing the Y, which is where a previous comment about paying more for different levels comes in.
- mtDNA: This tests mitochondrial DNA, which everyone has. However, while men have mtDNA from their mother, they do not pass it on. So while everyone can take this test, it is basically the opposite of the Y-DNA test in that it traces only the direct maternal line. This is the least useful for modern genealogical purposes since surnames are not generally passed down the maternal line.

I've done autosomal testing with three companies: 23andMe, Ancestry.com, FTDNA. I've also done Y-DNA testing through FTDNA, where I admin a project for my surname. I've had a few family members do autosomal tests as well. Some of the connections I've made with distant cousins through all this testing has helped me learn things about my family tree that I may not have been able to through traditional methods. It has also provided supporting evidence for nearly my entire family tree going back to great-great-grandparents. There has been a surprising lack of scandal in my tree from the start.

It's a fascinating subject.

jos28 wrote: »

Having scoffed at the idea originally, I had to admit I'm now tempted.

It's reasonable to have been skeptical and it is still very much a developing field. I should also point out that not everyone will get the same value from it. From a genealogy standpoint, how much it can help you depends entirely on the distant cousins you match with, what they know, and how cooperative they are.

From a practical standpoint though, most people seem very comfortable with the idea of paternity tests and their accuracy. The science behind this is really just an extension of that, naturally with less accuracy the further the relation is.

I've done a fair bit of testing myself, but my own interest is more in the Genetics side and what it tells us about population history as oppose to genealogy. I've seen cases out there of people who've been adopted use Genetic Genealogy to find connections to their biological family etc, however if you really into it for Genealogy what I would say is it's a complement to existing methods (documentation etc.) and not a replacement.

Here's example of Autosomnal testing comparing a sample (mine) in this case with other world populations. This is on AncestryDNA.

RGM wrote: »

Your trace regions are a bit more exotic than mine.

Indeed, I'm debating getting my parents tested with Ancestry to see if it's a case of actual trace regions (eg. if one of them shows than I know which line of descent it comes from) or a case of "Calculator effect"

The Finnish/Northwest Russia comes up though in FamilytreeDNA as well as some Central Asian:



FTDNA don't have a distinct Irish sample population so their "British Isles" component basically maps onto my "Irish" and "British" component in AncestryDNA (90% vs. 89%+2%)

AncestryDNA is fairly affordable, £79 excluding delivery, you post the sample back to their office in Dublin, from memory the postage back was free.
http://dna.ancestry.co.uk/

Their testing database is approaching something like 2million people.

Once you get results you can always "transfer" them into FTDNA database ($39 transfer fee). The advantage there is with one test you get a sample in two testing databases, so you might find matches (3-5th cousins) in one database that aren't in another.

Leaving that aside there are a number of other tools out there in testing community for looking at deep ancestral components etc. Gedmatch been one, the other I can think of is dna.land which is a US academic run site, crowdsourcing samples for research etc.

Yeah, there are generally sales all around this weekend for "DNA Day."

For anyone looking into it, these are the companies to stick to:
autosomal testing: AncestryDNA, 23andMe, FTDNA
Y-DNA testing: FTDNA

23andMe recently raised their prices, so at this point my personal opinion is that AncestryDNA offers the most bang for your buck. They're also the only one at the moment that has a specific Irish category in their breakdowns, the others haven't caught up yet and have only "British and Irish" or "British Isles."

mod9maple wrote: »

I think it was 99 sterling. I'll write up a fuller answer, when I get a chance, of the results. I was sceptical but was genuinely delighted with the results.

I forgot about this.

So my mother did an Ancestry Autosomal test, as did I. I have to be honest I don't understand the Ethnicity Estimate but for what it's worth my breakdown was 51% GB, 43% Ireland and 3% Western Europe (+ trace regions). My mother's was: 62% Ireland, 33% GB and 3% West Asia (+ trace).

The beauty for me was that I've been able to confirm surnames always alleged in our family past but never proven because of a lack of pre-civil records eg parish records that began not much sooner than 1864. For eg it was always said we had McDonald ancestors from Cootehill, or McElroy from Creggan in South Armagh. Well people in the Ancestry database matched my DNA who had these names and locations in their family tree and by getting in touch we were able to narrow the search and prove the link.

So I've been able to directly communicate with distant cousins and collaborate, which is marvellous. We can compare notes from our respective trees.

The other thing I've been able to do is download my raw DNA data and upload it to Gedmatch. Now that's all a bit more complicated but I'm learning. Hopefully I'll find some more collaboration partners.

For less than £100 it's been very worthwhile. It mightn't be for everyone. It helps if you have an extensive family tree, as do your matches. I'm delighted with the results. It's helped tidy up some loose ends and start new branches.