Genetic Genealogy course from the National Genealogical Society

From

What’s Happening at the 

National Genealogical Society, 13 June 2012:

New NGS Course: Genetic Genealogy, The Basics

NGS proudly announces the release of its newest American Genealogy Studies course, Genetic Genealogy: The Basics. The course was developed by Dr. Thomas H. Shawker who is a physician with the National Institutes of Health, a nationally recognized lecturer on genetics, and chairman of the NGS Genetic Genealogy Committee.

Dr. Shawker shares his medical expertise in this six-lesson self-paced course. Topics covered in the course include

·    the structure of the DNA molecule, how it is organized, how it replicates, and how it functions;
·         human chromosomes and how the Y chromosome is inherited;
·         the two types of DNA markers used in genetic genealogy;
·         haplotypes and haplogroups;
·    evaluation of a Y chromosome surname project and a discussion on how to evaluate the test results of the participants; and
·    the structure of the mitochondrial DNA molecule, how it is inherited, and how it can be used in genealogy. 

Genetic Genealogy, The Basics is designed for independent study. Students check their work with an answer key that immediately follows each self-test. The course is available on a PC- or MAC-compatible CD in a PDF format. The tuition is $45.00 for members and $70.00 for non-members.

Please visit the course web page at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/genetic_genealogy for more information and to register for the course.

Two discount codes for the FTDNA Family Finder test

The codes below will get a Family Finder autosomal DNA test at Family Tree DNA for $179 each.  That is a $110 discount from the regular price.  The Family Finder test can help you identify genetic cousins within the past five generations and beyond.

The codes must be used today, 10 June 2012 at http://www.familytreedna.com/landing/family-finder.aspx

Your coupon code is FF5CAD9E2684, we appreciate your past participation and invite you to share it with a friend or family member. 

Your coupon code is FF5C4470B2298, we appreciate your past participation and invite you to share it with a friend or family member. 

  Special Note: Coupon code has a firm expiration date of June 10th 2012 and is good for one use only. Offer only valid for credit card payments. Enter the coupon code during the checkout process to purchase at the promotional price.

FTDNA does not test known medical DNA locations.

Have you tested Family Finder at Family Tree DNA? Check your email!

FTDNA has provided a discount certificate to everyone who has already had the Family Finder test at FTDNA. Check your FTDNA email now to see if you have a certificate. You MUST USE it by the 10th of June to get the Family Finder test at a discount of $110 from the regular $289 price. You should have as many certificates as tests you have paid for.

Remember that this is an autosomal DNA test and can be used by both males and females to find your relatives from the past 5 generations.

This is a great opportunity to test more family members.

New Ancestry features at 23andme

Today, at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree, 23andMe announced some new features for their Ancestry component. Here is a link to their blog post:
http://spittoon.23andme.com/2012/06/08/a-sneak-peak-at-23andmes-new-ancestry-features/

CeCe Moore has also covered this in a post to her blog:
http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2012/06/23andme-announces-beta-testing-of-new.html

A new My Ancestry Page; Ancestry Painting v.2 with 20 populations to compare against; Relative Finder Geographic Map View; and Family Tree with GEDCOM upload are among the changes.

It looks like some exciting improvements are coming this year.

Identified matches at FTDNA, Family Finder, and at 23andme, Relative Finder

I have 330 matches in Family Finder at FTDNA and have identified 13 relationships.

I have 1440 matches at 23andMe and am Sharing Genomes with 402. I have identified 15 relationships with those 402.

The success ratio at both services is comparable at about 4%.

I also have matches at GEDMATCH, but I have not been successful in identifying the relationship with any one there who is not already identified in Family Finder or Relative Finder.

If you are in the 23andMe database, a new feature of Ancestry Finder allows you to compare all of your matches and their matches to see if there are clusters at common locations. See this post for details on a method to download all your AF matches and their matches and use a spreadsheet for triangulation of the results:
https://www.23andme.com/you/community/thread/13225/

Status of the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, SMGF,genetic genealogy DNA Databases and GeneTree

Like many other people I participated in the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation, Y DNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA testing program.  Recently some of the principal people involved in that program moved to Ancestry.com and their DNA Ancestry program.  I wrote to the SMGF to ask about the status of their databases. With their permission, their reply is printed below :

Hello Steven,

Yes, the databases have been transferred to Ancestry.com. GeneTree will not be continuing; they have stopped taking orders and in the near future www.genetree.com will be taken down. There are not plans to automatically 'convert' GeneTree accounts into Ancestry.com accounts, so GeneTree customers will need to move their information over to Ancestry on an individual basis.

As far as the autosomal database is concerned, our autosomal tests were generated with older technology, making them incompatible with current industry standards. Therefore, they are not included in the autosomal service offered by AncestryDNA. We also don't plan on making them available via smgf.org.
Best regards,

SMGF

As of today, 1 June 2012, the Y DNA and mtDNA databases are still available at the SMGF site: http://smgf.org/ If you have tested I suggest you go and download your results and your matches. It is my understanding that people will be able to remove their results from the Ancestry.com databases if they so desire.

Change in price at 23andme. End of $99.00 option today, 10 May, at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time.

As of 2 days ago 23andme announced a return to one tier pricing for the complete edition DNA test. It will now cost $299.00 and there will be no option for the $99.00 up-front cost with a 12 month obligation at $9.00 per month unless you order by 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time today, 10 May 2010:
https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/

Ancestry launches Beta of DNA Ancestry

Today I received an email from Ancestry announcing the opening of the Beta phase of their autosomal DNA testing program.  The URL is http://dna.ancestry.com/ If you already subscribe to Ancestry.com you should receive the same email allowing your to signup for an invitation.  The cost is $99.00.  At the moment you do not get your raw data file. This may change when the service moves out of Beta. This appears to be in combination with their acquisition of GeneTree and their collaboration with the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation

The Press Release is here .

DNA day Upgrade sale at FTDNA: One day only!

From FTDNA for Current Group members (Join a surname group to get the discount price):

Well if you haven’t heard it’s again DNA day tomorrow and Family Tree DNA felt that was good enough for us to have a short two day sale. 

Nearly the entire offering will be on sale these two days, including upgrades that were not on last year's sale.  The sale will begin at 6PM Thursday April 19th and will conclude at 11:59PM on Saturday April 21st.
There will be no need for a coupon - all prices will be automatically adjusted on the website.
We hope that this will give a big boost to your projects!

New Kits

	Current Group Price	SALE PRICE
Y-DNA 12	$99	$59
mtDNA	$99	$59
Y-DNA 37	$149	$129
Y-DNA 67	$238	$199
Family Finder	$289	$199
mtFullSequence (FMS)	$299	$249
Y-DNA 12 + mtDNA	$179	$118
FF + Y-DNA 12	$339	$258
FF + mtDNA	$339	$258
FF+ Y-DNA 37	$438	$328
FF + mtDNAPlus	$438	$328
Comprehensive (FF + FMS + Y-DNA 67)	$797	$657
Upgrades
Y-DNA 12	$89	$59
mtDNA add-on	$89	$59
Y-DNA 12-37 Marker	$99	$69
Y-DNA 37-67 Marker	$99	$79
Y-DNA 12-67 Marker	$199	$148
mtFullSequence upgrade (HVR1 to Mega)	$269	$199
mtFullSequence upgrade (HVR2 to Mega)	$269	$199
mtFullSequence add-on	$289	$219
Family Finder add-on	$289	$199

Login to place your order.
You are welcome to blog about this, report this to your group members, or send an email to your distribution list, but when it’s over, it’s over.

As always, we appreciate your continued support.
Best regards,

Bennett Greenspan
© All Contents Copyright 2001-2012 Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd.

New 5th cousin once removed found through FTDNA's Family Finder

Today I looked at my matches on FTDNA's Family Finder autosomal database using the All Matches link to see that I had 293 matches.  This was 5 more since last week.  Using the Matches In Common I scrolled through the people linked to my confirmed cousins and saw a new one with an ancestor chart.  I clicked on the chart link and opened it to 9 generations from the default 4 generations.  I saw a name that vaguely rang a bell, Hiram Farris Walker of Lafayette County, Missouri.

I opened my Legacy Family Tree database and found Hiram as a son of Samuel Wilcoxon Walker, a brother of my ancestor Jesse Walker, and a son of Renelder Walker and Mary Wilcoxon. I confirmed the name of Hiram's wife and then checked Census records to confirm the pedigree.  After that I contacted the submitter and we have confirmed the relationship.  This information adds a relationship to the Boone family to the submitter's line.

We have 6 links in the following chromosomes with the assumption being the large link on chromosome 12 comes either from Renelder Walker, or from his wife, Mary Wilcoxon:

1	25060651	27093108	2.08	500
1	70824243	73827828	1.17	600
3	123242334	125016973	2.15	500
5	129643803	132242229	2.39	500
12	82230023	85588625	2.09	500
12	107280282	124270507	27.31	4550