DNA Links

 

DNA: Who could think that these three letters could mean so much fun for genealogists!

Or even provide a future storage medium (Shakespeare’s sonnets and a 26 sec. clip of Martin Luther King’s speech in 41 grams of DNA!)

Should you test?

Lost Cousins newsletter check list to discover if you should test

The truth will out: the LegalGenealogist provides some thoughts about the impact on you AND OTHERS (my stress) from unexpected results.

Along with this post  with links to sample forms about explaining DNA and informed consent for others you ask to test.

Learn more

Read the company FAQs:
– Family Tree DNA FAQs,

– MyHeritage DNA blog posts

– Ancestry from your DNA home page, click on the ? top right of each of the boxes DNA Story, DNA Matches, ThruLines

Which testing company – useful overview.

Getting started – a series of 4 introductory lectures by CeCe Moore on Geni about dna testing (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4).

ISOGG International Society of Genetic Genealogy including their wiki

Beginners Guide to genetic genealogy by Kelly Wheaton

Excellent series of articles by Gail Riddell published in the FamNet newsletters.

dna 101 y-chromosomes & test results explained (see also the links from there to DNA 102 and DNA 103)

Learn Genetics from University of Utah Health Sciences

Webinars by Relative Roots – announcements of new ones can also be found on FamilyTree DNA’s Facebook page

Plus several dna forums:

A summary of the science involved from The Centre for Genetic Anthropology, University College, London
Comparison of Autosomal DNA tests from the main companies – how many SNPs?, Y/mtDNA included?, medical info included? etc
White paper on what makes an Ancestry DNA Circle – basically a useful genealogical hint but NOT triangulated DNA segments
Some interesting You-tube presentations:

20 Dos and Don’ts of DNA from the RootsRevealed blog

All of the Genetic Genealogy Surname projects below use Family Tree DNA as the testing company for preference because only they allow you to run projects for interested groups, and only they also test yDNA in addition to the autosomal DNA (their FamilyFinder, and the tests that the other companies all do – Ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andme).

Find matches

Apart from your match lists at your testing company why not fish in more ponds by utilising the free transfers to the other testing companies that accept transfers, and GEDmatch, a cross company comparison site.

Full instructions and explanation of why you might want to do so at the DNA Explained blog.

Ancestry test takers in particular may find this cartoon instructive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140803031735/http://bitstrips.com/r/S1J61

And anyone concerned about privacy of doing so may be reassured by reading this:
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2014/09/the-worry-about-dna-privacy-and-gedmatch/

Blogs

Excellent blogs (there’s a more complete list on the ISOGG Wiki):

Articles on specific topics:

Ancestry

Geni and your DNA

Privacy

Tools/techniques

See also sub menus for yDNA/atDNA specific tools/techniques and/or more details.

WikiTree.com‘s DNA links to pedigrees
Substitute your surname of choice for the SURNAME part of the links:

To find all YDNa tests entered for your surname of choice (caps not necessary)
http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:DNATests&s=SURNAME&order=ttup&filterId=&filterType=yDNA

For autosomal DNA
http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:DNATests&s=SURNAME&order=ttup&filterId=&filterType=auDNA

For mitochondrial DNA
http://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:DNATests&s=SURNAME&order=ttup&filterId=&filterType=mtDNA

Mark your confirmed relationships on WikiTree so they show up on charts:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/DNA_Confirmation

Partnership between FTDNA and Geni – another  tree/DNA connection

See also TheLegalGenealogist’s post with a cautionary note on DNA/tree link accuracy

Why not try RootsFinder to organise your match lists, link them to specific lines (nice colour coding) and do network analyses?

DNA Tips and Tools – very useful list

Try the chrome extension PedigreeThief to quickly snapshot a match’s pedigree  (for Ancestry / MyHeritage)  but not FTDNA

Exploring your family tree – load a gedcom and see your tree in a new light by generation/timescale – looks a bit like the Puzilla addon for FamilySearch

Triangulation

More to be found on atDNA sub menu.

Projects of interest

FFLornaHen: Autosomal DNA project for my own atDNA, family kits, Fairbairn or Runciman kits, and kits I help with, and all those who match them interested in exploring such matches to find our common ancestors.

For those Surname DNA projects that I either run, or have an interest in, see DNA Surnames.

The first three, Fairbairn, Runciman and Sinton were set up in Oct 2007 to prove assorted theories as to relationships – all of which met with success, although not immediately.

Feb 2008 saw the administration of an existing ROWE project added to the list (with great success for my purposes), with the DAW(E) project being set up from scratch shortly thereafter. The latter finally confirmed (2017) we have a solid DNA signature for Isaac DAWE born 1770-ish, Devon.

April, May and June of 2009 saw WIGHT, McADIE and FAMILTON projects added into the mix.

The others of interest, but run by other administrators, are DAVIDSON, HENDERSON, and RICHARDSON, which latter has resulted in some very interesting connections.

Always looking for candidates for lines not yet represented – check out the Wanted! sections of each.