Tag: DNA genealogy

Friday Genealogy Finds June 20th-26th

By Nichelle Barra

On 26 June 2015

In Friday Finds, Resources

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary! Here’s to many more in our wonderful life together 🙂

Blogs/Articles

“Online Map Keeps Tabs on the Lay of Juneau’s Cemetery” – A grant was given to map the graves of the cemetery digitally! Very neat!
Genealogy Lady posted another fashion blog post: “Madeleine Vionnet” – Madeleine Vionnet was a French fashion designed who was famous for her ‘bias cut’ dresses. A great read!
“The American Civil War Then and Now” – an amazing photo collection of what a place looked like during the Civil War and today.
“Crinolinemania 1857-1867” – an interesting fashion period. I am incredibly thankful that I did not know this time!
Who Do You Think You Are returns July 26th! Here is the listing of celebrities for this season on Geneabloggers
The UK Who Do You Think You Are is also returning! Check out their lineup here.

Webinars/Videos

Discovering Your Past has it’s first episode and it features Deb Sweeney from GenealogyLady! It’s a quick half hour video and looks to have been a lot of fun! I look forward to more from them.
Free webinar “Five Mistakes to Avoid with Event Dates” by MyHeritage (about 41 minutes long)
FREE webinar coming July 1st at 2pm EST: “The Secret Lives of Women – Researching Female Ancestors Using the Sources They Left Behind” by Gena Philibert-Ortega – hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars

Resources

This has been big news all over the genealogy world – “Historic Freedmen’s Bureau Records Released” – check out EOGN’s article with a video and the official announcement! Very exciting 🙂
EOGN: “Heredis 2015 is Now Available for Windows and Macintosh” – a new genealogy program for both Windows and Macs. Check out the article to read about what it includes!
Some new FindMyPast.com.au records! Check out the link for more information here.

Tuesday’s Tip: DNA webinars from FTDNA

By Nichelle Barra

On 7 April 2015

In Personal, Resources

Yesterday I posted about the FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) tests I sent to my grandparents. I was able to transfer my AncestryDNA to FTDNA and I’m anxiously waiting for that to finish up. While I’m waiting, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about the tools that FTDNA has to offer by going through their webinars. Specifically those on the FamilyFinder, the tests I sent to my grandparents and the one I transferred.

The videos are about an hour and a half long a piece and I’m taking as many notes as I can while I’m watching. I also have a list of books I plan on getting from the library on DNA too! GRIP is having a DNA course this summer (still open by the way!) and although I can’t quite manage the cost this year, I looked at the course and noted the pre-reading recommended for the course:

Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond by Emily D. Aulicino

Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA by Richard Hill

DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century by Debbie Kennett

Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner

I Have the Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What? by Blaine Bettinger, PhD, JD and Matt Dexter (the link is to the PDF version)

So those are now on my to-read list.

So those books, along with the webinars I mentioned should help make me better at interpreting the DNA tests once my grandparents send them in! If you’re interested in learning about using DNA in your genealogy, I highly recommend checking out the free webinars on FTDNA and checking out as many books as you can on the subject! Lucky for me, this was my favorite topic in science so I hope that I will be just as interested now as I was then. 🙂

Any other suggestions for learning about DNA (cost effective is always a plus!)? Leave a comment below!

Happy hunting!

Genealogy Do-Over: DNA

By Nichelle Barra

On 9 March 2015

In Personal, Research

The Genealogy Do-Over was created by Thomas MacEntee and focuses on reexamining (maybe even re-researching) your genealogy to get a better and more fresh perspective on your work.

Although I’m not fully participating in the Genealogy Do-Over, there are certain topics that I feel I should review. This last week’s Genealogy Do-Over topic is about DNA, an area where I could definitely use a do-over!

DNA Testing Options

So, what is it exactly I’m looking to research here? Well, everything if I’m honest! But really, the Witherell’s and the Langeneck’s. Those two are the ones I like to focus on the most in my personal research. With that in mind, here are my testing options:

Y-DNA test – this is for the paternal lineage and only males can take this test. I will do this one for the Witherell line.
mtDNA – this is the mitochondrial DNA test and it’s used for the maternal lineage but for the more distant relatives. Females can take this test as well as males. I’ll eventually take this test too but that’s in the future.
Autosomal DNA – also known as FamilyFinder or ethnic DNA (be sure you understand where those percentages come from though and how reliable they are). Either male or female can test as this test doesn’t use the sex chromosomes and works best for finding more recent ancestors. I will use this one for the Langeneck line.

Plan

My DNA results from AncestryDNA

I have personally tested with AncestryDNA and then uploaded that to GEDmatch. I would like to test with 23andMe as I now know more about what 23andMe has to offer genealogists as far as tools go that Ancestry does not, like a chromosome browser. A chromosome browser allows the test-taker to see what chromosomes match someone else. This is helpful when identifying what relative you have in common. Ancestry.com DOES show if your genetic match has someone in their tree that you also have in yours. I recommend reading The Legal Genealogist’s blog post “Changes at AncestryDNA” for more information on how that works. Testing with 23andMe will wait a bit though as these tests can be expensive…

I know I will probably use FamilyTreeDNA for their FamilyFinder with my grandparents because that requires a cheek swab, and not a spit test tube (and I can transfer my AncestryDNA results for a cheaper price than taking another test) . I know the older you are, the harder it is to do a spit test and even I had a hard time creating enough spit for the Ancestry test!

Continuing Education

I plan on reading as much as I possibly can about DNA and taking coursework in it as well. I hope to be able to add DNA into my genealogy research as part of my business one day, and soon. This is my #1 educational goal at the moment!

I really want to attend GRIP this summer for their genetic genealogy program and wish I could get my bank account to agree with me!

Books/Blogs to Read

If you’re interested in DNA and how it can help your genealogy, reading is one of the best things you can do.

Blogs/Websites

The Genetic Genealogist by Blaine Bettinger
Your Genetic Genealogist by CeCe Moore (probably one of my favorites)
DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy by Roberta Estes
International Society of Genetic Genealogy has their own wiki – great for looking up some of the terms you may be unfamiliar with!
FamilyTreeDNA has their own collection of webinars on genetic genealogy that is worth checking out
The Legal Genealogist by Judy G Russell (check out her “2015: Most Bang for the DNA Buck” for figuring out what test to take first).

Books

Be aware that there are many ebooks that are popping up with this topic. Always check the price and the reviews to see if it’s something worthwhile to you. Some ebooks are outrageously expensive and can contain information you can learn online and many ebooks tend to be self-published and can have many grammatical errors.

The first two ebooks I link from Amazon are two I personally bought but haven’t read yet.

Genealogy: DNA and the Family Tree (Ancestry, Genealogy Research, Family History Detective) by James Mayflower – the link takes you to the Kindle version which is currently free.
Guide to DNA Testing: How to Identify Ancestors, Confirm Relationships and Measure Ethnic Ancestry through DNA Testing by Richard Hill – the link takes you to the Kindle version which is currently $.99!
Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree by Megan Smolenyak (One of my favorite genealogy authors and this is on my to-read list)
Jump Into Genetic Genealogy: Use Genealogical DNA Testing to Solve Family Mysteries by FamilyTree University – free ebook

Feel I left out a valuable book/website/blog? Please add it in the comments below!

Happy hunting!