The On-line Journal of Genetics and Genealogy will highlight the connections between the science of Y and X chromosome, mitochondrial, and autosomal DNA analysis and genealogy. Reference will be made to scientific and genealogy articles which complement each other and advance the study of recent family history and ancient human migrations.
Thursday, August 09, 2018
Sunday, May 27, 2018
Do you have a DNA match to me? Have you added a family tree?
While there are different reasons to take a DNA test, one reason is to find unknown relatives. If you have taken a genetic genealogy oriented DNA test you are probably interested in determining your genealogical link to people you match. When you add a family tree at either the DNA testing company, FamilyTree DNA, MyHeritage, LivingDNA, or AncestryDNA, etc., or at a genealogical website which you link your DNA results to, GENI, WIKITREE, TribalPages, etc., please be as complete with the data for deceased individuals as you can. This means that you include locations, at least county and state in the USA, and full dates of birth, marriage, and death, as far as you know them.
Please don't list deceased persons as Private unless you don't want genealogical relations to find you. In the USA the most recent public population census is that for 1940. The 1950 census will be available in 2022. Having locations and dates allows the person looking at your family tree to make connections with people in their tree to allow identification of the most recent common ancestor/s, (MRCA). This will greatly enhance the possibility of extending your genealogy research.
My suggested minimum family tree would go back to your Great Grandparents with their spouses and children, and work forward and stop at living people on each line. Ideally going back to before the 1850 census would probably work for most people in the USA.
If your ancestry in the 1800s or 1900s was mostly in Europe or otherwise outside of the USA, testing at MyHeritage and/or AncestryDNA will probably be of most use to you. For genealogical records I also suggest using FamilySearch.org due to its worldwide coverage.
I hope this will help you find your relatives.
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
2018 FTDNA DNA Day SALE!
The 2018 DNA Day Sale began April 20, 2018, and ends April 28, 2018, at 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time.
Group discounts do not apply during the sale. Here are the sale prices.
Test Regular Price Sale Price
mtFull Sequence $199 $149
Family Finder $79 $49
Y-37 $169 $139
Y-67 $268 $209
Y-111 $359 $289
Big Y-500 $799 $649
Family Finder + Y-37
$248 $179
Family Finder + Y-67
$347 $249
Family Finder + mtFull Sequence
$278 $189
Family Finder + Y-67 + mtFull Sequence
$546 $398
Upgrades to Big Y-500
Y-111
to Big Y-500 $449 $349
Y-67 to Big Y-500
$559 $459
Y-37 to Big Y-500
$649 $549
Y-25 to Big Y-500
$699 $599
Y-12 to Big Y-500
$749 $629
Friday, December 15, 2017
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
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.
Wednesday, December 06, 2017
My Y DNA Projects at Family Tree DNA
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.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017
Genetic Genealogy DNA test sales: FTDNA; 23andMe; AncestryDNA; MyHeritage
Family Tree DNA:
• Family Finder $59, usually $89
• Y-DNA $129, usually $169
• mt-DNA $169, usually $199
• Big Y $475 (includes Y-DNA test for 111 markers)
If you have already tested at FTDNA you will be receiving Discount Coupons that can further reduce these sale prices.
23andMe:
23andMe is charging $49.00 if you buy 2 Ancestry Service kits. The normal cost of the Ancestry Service is $99.00.
AncestryDNA:
AncestryDNA costs $79.00, a $20 discount from their regular price of $99.00. Rumor is that Ancestry will have a Black Friday price of $49.00.
MyHeritage:
This weekend, 24 Nov-27 Nov, MyHeritage is offering their normally priced $99.00 DNA test for $49.00 with free shipping for 3 or more kits.
Check all of the companies on Black Friday and Cyber Monday for possible lower costs.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
DNA Day Sales at Family Tree DNA now through 27 April, 2017
Save on Family Finder, mtFull and Y-DNA tests April 20 - 27, 2017. The sale ends at 11:59pm CST Thursday April 27. And please share this with your relatives! If you have older relatives, please consider sponsoring their tests so that their DNA heritage can be discovered.
Questions? Please see Family Tree DNA or check your FTDNA homepage.
Thanks to Sandra Kidd.
Sunday, July 03, 2016
FTDNA DNA test results and transferring to GENI.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
MyHeritage is accepting DNA data uploads from FTDNA, 23andMe, and AncestryDNA for DNA matching
http://blog.myheritage.com/2016/05/myheritage-is-adding-free-dna-matching/
Judy Russel has posted about the consents asked for by MyHeritage. If you are considering uploading your DNA data, you should read her blog at The Legal Genealogist.
One requested consent is required to allow the use of your DNA in matching. The other covers use of your DNA and non-identifying personal information in current or future "research". That consent is not required to use the DNA matching. Judy has done a fine job describing the issues around this consent and I urge you to read it carefully.
Friday, November 27, 2015
FTDNA discounts through 31 December 2015
https://www.familytreedna.com/products.aspx
Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
10th Annual FTDNA Conference for DNA Project Administrators
Two main announcements were
1) the reduction in the cost to transfer 23andme version 3 autosomal dna results and AncestryDNA autosomal results to FTDNA for matching purposes to $39.00 fro $69.00. In addition, a free transfer can be made which will allow one to see their 20 top matches at FTDNA before deciding to either pay the $39,00 to unock all FTDNA matches, or recruit 4 more persons to transfer their results so your matches are shown to you without cost. Details are expected to be on the FTDNA web site this week.
2) The Deep Clade 2.0 test will be developed with the haplogroup admins to allow a quicker determination of the location of a person within the Y DNA haplogroup tree. In the past year over 10,000 SNPs were added to the ISOGG Y Haplogroup tree. This test will be a less expensive route than the Big Y test.
Details of the Conference are on the blogs of Jennifer Zink, Ancestor Central and Roberta Estes, DNA Explained. I am sure more people will be posting this week.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
My current autosomal matching results at AncestryDNA, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA (FTDNA)
My current test stats:
AncestryDNA
- 298 pages of matches with 50 people per page for approximately 14,900 persons. Only two given as 2nd cousins. Neither one confirmed yet. No family tree and one private.
- 6 pages of Hints. I have gone through 4 pages checking the pedigree links. Waiting for a known 2nd cousin's results.
23andMe
- 2879 matches.
- approximately 380 sharing genomes
- approximately 30 relationships found in pedigrees.
- 3 known first cousins. Matching range from 17.9% to 15.9 to 12.5% 42, 42, 35 segments.
- 1 known second cousin, 3.10%, 13 segments.
- 2 known third cousins, 3.05% and 1.49%, 13 and 4 segments.
- 5 known third cousins once removed. Range is 2.45%, 1.32, 1.26, 0.78, 0.52 and 11, 4, 6, 3, 3 segments.
- Some of these are related through both of my parents.
- Waiting for a half-first cousin's results to get my paternal grandmother's mtDNA haplogroup and find out if one of her maternal ancestors was Native American.
FTDNA
- 113 pages at 10 people per page for approximately 1130 FF matches.
- Closest unknown match is predicted 2-4th cousin. 73 cM.
- 10 X matches 2 males and 8 females. Relationships not found.
- 15 Know relationships.
My 2nd cousin's 23andMe Countries of Ancestry graphic is much more complete than mine at 5cM and 1+ ancestor including Colonials.
Big failure at all services:
- No or incomplete family tree. This should at least cover the Great Grandparents and better, the Great Great Grandparents.
- Let us know if you are adopted so we can help you.
- Check setting to be sure Private is only applied to living persons.
- No dates or locations given makes it hard to match a person.
- If at 23andMe, include info on Rootsweb or Ancestry tree or GEDMATCH in your Profile.
- Response rate is low at all services.
Tuesday, May 06, 2014
FTDNA's revamped Population Finder is now myOrigins
So now all three show:
The British Isles;
France and the Low Countries;
Scandinavia;
Portugal and Spain over to Greece and the western Balkans.
Missing is Finnish and Yakut.
I believe Finnish should be there since I'm 90% sure of my Finnish ancestor in New Sweden. The Yakut, maybe not, though it could be Native American.
In 23andMe Counties of Ancestry I match people with all grandparents from Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Armenia, as well as the more western European countries.
For me, myOrigins seems to work.
Saturday, March 01, 2014
Debbie Cruwys Kennett on The Big Y results
http://cruwys.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-big-y-roll-out-snp-tsunami-is-on.html
Big Y results starting to come out at FTDNA
Dear Valued Customer,
Yesterday, February 27th, we began releasing results for the Big Y orders. We have received some incredibly positive feedback and this is much appreciated.
We are also hearing the frustrations from those who have not yet received their results, and we would like to address the matter publicly in the form of a sincere apology. The entire FTDNA team has been working very hard over the last few months with high determination and many late nights. Launching a new product is always a challenge with many moving parts, some more predictable than others. Unfortunately we ran into some surprises beyond our control when one of our suppliers ran out of certain reagents we needed for running the Big Y product. However we recognize that it is our responsibility and duty to meet our deadlines and keep our customers informed when problems arise.
With the Big Y launch, we failed to properly manage the expectations of our customers. This was an honest oversight, in which we internally had a target to release first results in February, but we didn’t pay close attention to the dates being communicated on the status pages for those orders. Big Y was a new product and the status entries were updated automatically. We should have manually adjusted these dates earlier on as needed. So while we were thrilled to release the first results in February, we failed to realize that everyone expected results this week. I personally take responsibility for this miscommunication and mishap with the website delivery dates and hope you accept my sincere apologies.
I am well aware that as a company we have a bit of a history in missing deadlines. A big contributor to that is that we have typically been very ambitious in taking on difficult projects while still wanting to deliver information quickly to customers. The Big Y product is a great example. It was a cutting-edge project that pushed us deep into next-generation sequencing and advanced data analysis. Our ambitious, risk-taking attitude has won many of you over and delivered incredible thought leadership and leading products over the years. Unfortunately, our poor estimates and turnaround time expectations have frustrated many of you along the way as well. We are committed to continuing to be the company that is willing to push the envelope and take risks to bring you the best in genetic genealogy, but moving forward we will strive to be more careful in setting accurate time expectations.
Again, we are sincerely sorry for any frustration we caused with the delays and miscommunication of turnaround time. We are very proud of our achievements with the Big Y and feel confident about the high quality product we are delivering! We hope you will let the wonderful product we produced make up for delays that were needed to refine it! We have updated expected results dates on customer pages and will work around the clock to beat them.
Regards,
Nir Leibovich
Chief Business Officer
www.FamilyTreeDna.com
Gene by Gene Ltd.
Thanks to Tim Jansen, M.D. for the notice.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
FTDNA DNA sale ends 31 Dec 2013.
Use this link to Order:
http://www.familytreedna.com/holiday-sale.aspx?
Dear Project Administrator,
Thank you for another outstanding year of discovery at Family Tree DNA.
As you may know, our end-of-the-year prices for new kit orders and
upgrades is ending December 31, 2013.
Order and pay today before the sale ends!
Paternal Lineage Orders: New Kits Product Regular Price Sale Price Y-DNA37 $169 US $119 US Order Y-DNA67 $268 US $189 US Order Y-DNA111 $359 US $289 US Order Upgrades Product Regular Price Sale Price refine 12-37 $109 US $69 US refine 12-67 $199 US $148 US refine 25-37 $59 US $35 US refine 25-67 $159 US $114 US refine 37-67 $109 US $79 US refine 37-111 $220 US $188 US refine 67-111 $129 US $109 US Login and Upgrade
Universal Lineage Orders
Family Finder Get a $100 Restaurant.com gift card with every Family Finder order in the United States! Product Regular Price Sale Price Family Finder $99 US $99* US Order Discover New Matches with Family Finder Transfer Transfer your 23andMe© or AncestryDNA™ today for the best Family Finder analysis and the most useful tools. Learn more... Product Regular Price Sale Price Autosomal transfer $69 US $49 US Order
Maternal Lineage Orders New Kits Product Regular Price Sale Price mtFullSequence $199 US $169 US Order Upgrades Product Regular Price Sale Price mtHVR1toMega $169 US $149 US mtHVR2toMega $159 US $139 US mtFullSequence Add On $199 US $169 US Login and Upgrade
Combination Tests Achieve multiple testing goals with combined testing packages. For men only: Product Regular Price Sale Price Family Finder + Y-DNA37 $268 US $218* US Order Family Finder + Y-DNA67 $367 US $288* US Order Y-DNA37 + mtFullSequence $368 US $288 US Order Y-DNA67 + mtFullSequence $467 US $358 US Order Comprehensive $566 US $457* US Order * Get a $100 Restaurant.com gift card with every Family Finder order in the United States! For men and women: Product Regular Price Sale Price Family Finder + mtFullSequence $298 US $268* US Order * Get a $100 Restaurant.com gift card with every Family Finder order in the United States!
Orders must be placed and paid for by December 31, 2013 to receive this offer.
IMPORTANT: We encourage you to spread the word starting now as the natural
tendency is for people to order at the last minute. This promotion will run
through the end of December and we will not be extending it beyond
December 31, 2013.
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Big Y DNA test announced by FTDNA
Friday, August 16, 2013
Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013
This may be of interest to you, your collaborators, and your fellow genealogists. Ireland is to have its first genetic genealogy conference! Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013 is a 3-day series of lectures and presentations and is scheduled to run at Back to Our Past (BTOP) at the RDS (Royal Dublin Society) in Ballsbridge, Dublin from Oct 18-20. BTOP is the Irish equivalent of the Who Do You Think You Are event in London.
This is the third year of the Back to Our Past exhibition which last year attracted 20,000 visitors and over 250 exhibitors. This year FamilyTreeDNA have decided to have a stand at the exhibition and will be offering DNA testing at discounted prices. This is the first time that DNA testing will be offered directly to the Irish public at the exhibition.
FamilyTreeDNA have also offered to sponsor a series of lectures in a similar way to how they sponsor lectures at Who Do You Think You Are in London. These lectures are being organised under the auspices of ISOGG and details will be published on the dedicated Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013 website. Several confirmed speakers already have their profiles on the website and more will be added in time. Speakers come from a broad range of disciplines and include professional genealogists, geneticists, scientists, historians, and DNA Project Administrators. The diversity of topics will include many of particular interest to the Irish public, and indeed anyone with Irish ancestors, such as DNA projects related to the Irish Clans and individual Irish surnames.
So if you happen to find yourself in Dublin in October, come along to this exciting event! Entrance to the entire exhibition and conference only costs 5 euro (£4 pounds, $7 dollars) if booked in advance online.
Please feel free to forward this to other Mailing Lists or anyone else who might be interested.
Warm regards
Maurice
Genetic Genealogy Ireland 2013 Member, International Society of Genetic Genealogy
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
FTDNA Y-DNA UPGRADE Sale for Father's Day
Dear Project Administrator,
Since last summer's upgrade sale was such huge success, we thought we'd repeat history! Project Administrators like you played a very important role in last year's success by broadcasting the sale to project members. As your project members upgrade, the resolution of results and comparisons we provide greatly improves. So, please spread the word and we'll make this year's upgrade sale even bigger!
From June 12, 2013 through June 19, 2013, we will reduce the following prices.
Y-DNA 12 to 25 was $49 Now $35
Y-DNA 12 to 37 was $99 Now $69
Y-DNA 12 to 67 was $189 Now $148
Y-DNA 25 to 37 was $49 Now $35
Y-DNA 25 to 67 was $148 Now $114
Y-DNA 25 to 111 was $249 Now $224
Y-DNA 37 to 67 was $99 Now $79
Y-DNA 37 to 111 was $220 Now $188
Y-DNA 67 to 111 was $129 Now $109
To order an upgrade at these special prices your members can log into their personal pages with their kit number and password. Click on the "Order Upgrade" button located on the right side of the menu bar. Then click on the "Special Offers" button.
ALL ORDERS MUST BE PLACED AND PAID FOR BY 11:59pm, JUNE 19, 2013, TO RECEIVE THE SALE PRICE.
Contact Us
+1 713-868-1438
+1 832-201-7147 (sales)
corporate@familytreedna.com
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