Family Tree DNA Will Never Sell Your Genetic Data "Can The Other Guys Say That?"

HOUSTON, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), a division of Gene-by-Gene Ltd, the first to market with a consumer-oriented genealogical DNA testing kit and the only genealogical DNA testing company with its own state-of-the-art genetics laboratory, is telling consumers they will never sell their genetic data in a consumer awareness campaign entitled "Can the Other Guys Say That?"

"We feel the only person that should have your DNA is you," says Bennett Greenspan, President, and Founder of Family Tree DNA. "We don't believe it should be sold, traded, or bartered."

According to Greenspan, "the value of DNA testing is that the DNA test can tell you things about yourself that you cannot determine by looking in the mirror. It allows you to interrogate the history book written in your cells."

The full post is here: FTDNA will never sell your genetic data. This video from Bennett Greenspan further explains the issue.

Disclosure: I am an unpaid Y DNA project administrator for FTDNA. I do not receive any compensation for this post or my administrator work.

Endogamy or Pedigree Collapse, and Genetic Genealogy

How much faith can you place in the degree of relationship predictions at FTDNA, 23andMe and AncestryDNA?

Below is a chart produced by the Exploring Family Trees program at https://learnforeverlearn/ancestors/ website from a GEDCOM of my direct ancestors. My maternal ancestry is on the left and my paternal ancestry is on the right of the chart. Click on the chart to enlarge it.

The horizontal lines going from one side to the other side show the ancestors shared by my parents and also show that my mother's parents had shared ancestry. This is due to cousins marrying cousins and is known as Endogamy. Most people will show it in their own ancestry. It is also called Pedigree Collapse since the number of distinct ancestors at a certain generation will be less if you have more than one line of ancestry from an ancestor or ancestral couple. In my case it is considered to be a mild instance. Indeed, when I run my FTDNA autosomal result file through the program by David Pike to determine Runs of Homozygosity, I have none.

However, when I look at my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cousins, the intermarriages in my ancestry combined with endogamy within the set of people available for marriage in the area of southeast Kentucky from 1800 to 1940, results in my genetic family tree having an abundance of cousins who are related to me on multiple lines, and often being shown as having a closer degree of relationship that that expected based on traditional relationship charts.

Comparing the relationship predictions at the three main genetic genealogy testing companies, people are predicted to be one-half or one full-step closer at both FTDNA and 23andMe, and one-half to one full step farther away at AncestryDNA. Two of my four tested full 1st cousins exceed the expected 12.5% of DNA sharing: one is 17.9% (we share 6 of 8 great grandparents) and the other is 15.9%. The other two, a brother and sister, are at the expected 12.5%. Due to the Timber algorithm used at AncestryDNA I have a full 2nd cousin who is a predicted 3rd cousin at Ancestry. Her brother is shown as a full 2nd cousin at FTDNA.

FTDNA, through its pedigree system lets you set the exact relationship with your DNA matches. Neither 23andMe nor AncestryDNA do so. We need to be aware of these differences when checking predicted relationship at the different company sites.

My Y DNA Projects at Family Tree DNA

I am a voluntary administrator for the following surname studies at FTDNA:

Searching for the surname at FTDNA will find the projects.

Brashear (Brasier/Brassieur). France to Lower Norfolk, VA to Maryland). Benois Brasseur/Benjamin Brashear, JP, and Marie Rickford/Richeford of Calvert Co., MD.

Creekmore/Crickmer/Crickman. (Norfolk England to Norfolk, VA) My line is the R1a group matching to a Creekmer from England. Edmund Creekman, and Jane Wood,
believed to be the Edmund Creekman whose birth is recorded in St Nicholas Church, Norwich, Norfolk, England.

Kidd. (Britain to VA) My line is Thomas Kidd and Ann Willis of Lancaster County, VA;

Manning (Manon, Mannen). England or Ireland to MD and VA; William Manning and Nancy Whitecotton, of VA and Whitley County, KY. This is currently a brick-wall.
I also seem to have another Manning line back to Norfolk County, VA. There was another Manning family in MD in the 1600s who seem to
end up in VA in the 1700s.

Mowthorpe/Moulthrop. (England to CT) See set of articles in The American Genealogist; Matthew Moulthrop and Jane Nichol, of New Haven Colony.

Perkins/Parkins. (Britain to ME, CT, MA, NY, DEL, MD, and VA) My line is the R1a line from CT to NC pre-RevWar. Edward Perkins and Elizabeth Butcher, of New Haven Colony.
My Y DNA is a close match to the Chiefs of Clan Donald. All five tested as R1a.

Phipps/Fips. (Reading, Berkshire, England to Philadelphia and Reading, PA then to VA and NC). A Quaker family. Joseph Phipps and Sarah Benefield.

Strunk/Strunks. (Germany to PA, or Germany to Russia to PA and MD to Washington County, VA to NC to KY) My line is R1A from Daniel Strunk, Constable, of Ashe Co., NC to Whitley County, KY.

Swain/DeSwain. (Britain to Nantucket Island to NC) My line can be traced from VA to KY and is a brick-wall at this time.

Tunnell/Tonellier. (France to England to VA) Guillaume Tonnelier/William Tunnel and Ann Howard, Fairfax County, VA. There is a Tunnell family from MD to DEL leading to
some Delaware Governors.

Whitecotton/White Cotton. from VA to NC and SC then to KY and IL during and after the Rev War. Possibly Isaac Newton Whitecotton and Elizabeth Stumpf.

Wyatt/Wiatt. Greenbrier County VA to Greene County, TN to Knox County KY. My line is Samuel Wiatt and Rebecca Bennett.

All of these end up in the New River section of VA and NC and then move to SE KY and NE TN in the late 1700s to early 1800s.

Many people believe my ancestor Jabez Perkins, born in CT, lived in Wilkes/Ashe counties NC and Grayson County, VA, before moving to Whitley County, KY and then to
Bureau County, IL and back to Whitley, was married to a Nancy Ann CREEKMORE. I can't find any documentation of her family name. She signs a deed in Pulaski County,
KY as Nancy Ann Perkins. If she is a Creekmore then I have three Creekmore lines.

Let me know if any of these names are of interest.

My genealogy page and and genealogy/DNA blogs:

S.C. Perkins' Genealogy Page

S.C. Perkins Genealogy Blog

OnLine Journal of Genetics and Genealogy.