Happy National DNA Day! A few months ago, my mother's AncestryDNA results came in after I finally convinced her to take the test. As you may know, both my father and I had already taken it. I wanted my mother's results to help determine what DNA matches came from her side of the family and to compare my ethnicity results to both of my parents'. It's important to keep in mind, however, that my test results came in about six months before my mother's, so AncestryDNA's data and/or techniques may have changed in that time.
Ethnicity Mix-Match
My mother, a French Canadian of almost entirely Norman descent (with some Huron in there that shows rather strongly in my family members' physical appearances), was given results showing an unexpected ethnic mix. I didn't anticipate results showing that her ancestors were from France, given that so many French Canadians who took the test wrote about having that exact issue. Because many colonists of New France were from Normandy, test results often show British Isles as a major ethnicity. My mother's results showed none. Instead, she was identified as over 75% Scandinavian, with the remainder being Eastern European. Huh?! I suppose the Scandinavian comes from raids on the Norman shore, but I haven't the slightest idea where Eastern European made its way into her DNA. If you knew my mother, you also would guess on appearances that she didn't have a drop of Scandinavian blood in her.
What bothered me the most about my mother's DNA results is that, when comparing it to my own and my father's, it all doesn't add up. Ancestry correctly identified both as being my parents, but at least one of us has errors in our ethnic make-up data. Every person on the planet gets exactly 50% or 1/2 of their DNA from each parent. No exceptions. Yet, I had no Eastern European in my own results, and only 4% of my DNA was listed as uncertain. Based on my mom's overwhelming Scandinavian, it therefore wouldn't be possible for me to only have 25% of my DNA be Scandinavian (which is what my results showed). I also couldn't have over 70% of my DNA be British Isles if only my father has British Isles DNA (which is what the results also showed), because he only gave me 50% of my DNA. It's impossible for all three of the results to be correct, and they tend to show a major error somewhere, since my results are off by a total of 20-30%. This huge amount could be a result of all three tests being off by smaller amounts. Also, I'm inclined to believe that the more recent tests are more accurate than mine, the first one we did, as AncestryDNA presumably improves and expands.
My "Matches"
What I love about having access to matches for not just myself, but both of my parents, is that I know on what side of the family I'm connected to another Ancestry member. I can easily remove matches that aren't also matched to either of my parents ("Distant Cousin" relationships are only given an accuracy rating of "Moderate" by Ancestry). When someone matches both me and a parent, I can immediately cut out the other parent's ancestors as the potential link between us. This makes is much easier to determine how we're related, although getting back to the common ancestor is still a challenge. I like being able to reach out to a distant cousin match and tell them that we're connected on either my Irish/English or French Canadian side (this is especially useful when they are unaware of any French Canadian ancestry in their own families).
Unfortunately, a lot of matches don't seem interested in communicating or working together to find our common connection. I don't know if this is a marketing issue where people expect to easily uncover their family history by taking the test, if people just want ethnicity results and aren't interested in specific genealogy, or even my inability to properly communicate how I know we're related on one side of my family or the other. It can be disappointing, especially since most of the matches are on my Irish/English side, which is where nearly everyone needs help to get further back (at least with Irish lines). Luckily, the enthusiastic genealogists I get matched with are so incredibly pleasant and helpful that they make up for the people who disregard me. Overall, I believe I can learn a lot from the matches who are interested in working together and sharing information. It's just a matter of reaching out and finding more.
The Raw Numbers
Of my father's approximately 275 matches with at least moderate accuracy, I also was matched with about 90 of them. Of my mother's approximately 145 matches with at least moderate accuracy, I was also matched with about 80 of them. Just over 50 of my matches with at least moderate accuracy weren't matched with either of my parents.
Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Monday, November 26, 2012
DNA Testing - Part 3
My father recently took and received the results back from his own AncestryDNA test. We were really interested in seeing how our results differed and how our matches would compare after I took my own test a few months ago. There were a few surprises!
While I won't go into detail about my father's results, I will say that he had no Scandinavian in his results. This was a big surprise to me because of my mother's French Canadian background. I've traced many of her lines back a few hundred years through Québec to France, with only a hint of English to be found. Yet my results indicated that 25% of my DNA is Scandinavian. Could half of the DNA my mother passed onto me really be Scandinavian? Her side of my family not only genealogically, but also physically, favors French ancestry. Perhaps the 25% was an overestimation on the part of AncestryDNA?
I've also been able to compare my father's DNA matches with my own. I should have matches that he doesn't since half of my DNA is from my mother, but I was surprised that (not looking further than "moderate confidence" distant cousins) he has about 100 matches that I don't. Three of those matches are in the 4th-6th cousin range with 95% or higher confidence. I suppose I just didn't get the DNA that matches so closely with these individuals.
Comparing my and my father's results and matches is certainly interesting, and I look forward to taking a closer look at our matches. I still haven't identified any of my matches as actual relatives; most with public trees don't have any individuals or even surnames in common with my family tree.
If you've taken the test, have you had troubles making relative matches? Have you and a relative taken the test and compared results? Please feel free to share your experiences with DNA testing for genealogy!
While I won't go into detail about my father's results, I will say that he had no Scandinavian in his results. This was a big surprise to me because of my mother's French Canadian background. I've traced many of her lines back a few hundred years through Québec to France, with only a hint of English to be found. Yet my results indicated that 25% of my DNA is Scandinavian. Could half of the DNA my mother passed onto me really be Scandinavian? Her side of my family not only genealogically, but also physically, favors French ancestry. Perhaps the 25% was an overestimation on the part of AncestryDNA?
I've also been able to compare my father's DNA matches with my own. I should have matches that he doesn't since half of my DNA is from my mother, but I was surprised that (not looking further than "moderate confidence" distant cousins) he has about 100 matches that I don't. Three of those matches are in the 4th-6th cousin range with 95% or higher confidence. I suppose I just didn't get the DNA that matches so closely with these individuals.
Comparing my and my father's results and matches is certainly interesting, and I look forward to taking a closer look at our matches. I still haven't identified any of my matches as actual relatives; most with public trees don't have any individuals or even surnames in common with my family tree.
If you've taken the test, have you had troubles making relative matches? Have you and a relative taken the test and compared results? Please feel free to share your experiences with DNA testing for genealogy!
Monday, November 19, 2012
Motivation Monday - Genealogy Odds & Ends
Over the past few weeks I've been neglecting my blog in order to work on parts of my fall genealogy to-do list and then some. I'm happy to say that my work in the often over-looked "little things" is progressing along nicely.
First off, I updated my main family tree. In order to keep myself better organized, I separated branches of my ancestry into a series of smaller trees. It is these smaller trees that I make public and work on. By separating my tree, I can compartmentalize the families and surnames to better remember who is related to who. The problem with this strategy, however, is that my all-encompassing tree can quickly become outdated. I recently used Family Tree Maker 2012 to update it by first copying my smaller trees' files, then merging these copies into my large tree. Because a lot of individuals don't have much detail, there were many duplicates I had to go through and delete, so the process took a number of hours. It was worth it though, because I use my main tree to identify distant cousins through Ancestry DNA.
Secondly, I purchased a book for my Kindle by Pierre Berton called The American Invasion of Canada: The War of 1812's First Year. Although I'm not too far into it yet, it's a funny and exciting read, and it's not at all like a history book. I'm looking forward to reading about Fort George in particular, because I know an ancestor of mine who served in the British military there and then remained in Québec with his family.
Of course I've been furthering my genealogy research as well, delving into families I had not researched at all. My family tree is growing quite nicely, and I'm getting to know more about my direct ancestors. Once I have "enough" (realistically, that would mean when I hit all the brick walls I can find), I'll branch out to siblings and cousins in order to help better connect with other distant relatives and gain a broader picture of my ancestors' lives. (This is part of a larger plan that's still in the works of looking more carefully at my DNA matches and cleaning out my "shoebox.")
Finally, I purchased my first smartphone and immediately downloaded the Ancestry app. I'm able to view my family trees, individuals' events, and records connected to those events. Recently there was an update to the app, but I haven't had the chance or need to explore it further. I thought the app could help me if I venture to another cemetery or make it to the state archives.
With a lot of odds and ends out of the way, I should be back to regular blogging!
First off, I updated my main family tree. In order to keep myself better organized, I separated branches of my ancestry into a series of smaller trees. It is these smaller trees that I make public and work on. By separating my tree, I can compartmentalize the families and surnames to better remember who is related to who. The problem with this strategy, however, is that my all-encompassing tree can quickly become outdated. I recently used Family Tree Maker 2012 to update it by first copying my smaller trees' files, then merging these copies into my large tree. Because a lot of individuals don't have much detail, there were many duplicates I had to go through and delete, so the process took a number of hours. It was worth it though, because I use my main tree to identify distant cousins through Ancestry DNA.
Secondly, I purchased a book for my Kindle by Pierre Berton called The American Invasion of Canada: The War of 1812's First Year. Although I'm not too far into it yet, it's a funny and exciting read, and it's not at all like a history book. I'm looking forward to reading about Fort George in particular, because I know an ancestor of mine who served in the British military there and then remained in Québec with his family.
Of course I've been furthering my genealogy research as well, delving into families I had not researched at all. My family tree is growing quite nicely, and I'm getting to know more about my direct ancestors. Once I have "enough" (realistically, that would mean when I hit all the brick walls I can find), I'll branch out to siblings and cousins in order to help better connect with other distant relatives and gain a broader picture of my ancestors' lives. (This is part of a larger plan that's still in the works of looking more carefully at my DNA matches and cleaning out my "shoebox.")
Finally, I purchased my first smartphone and immediately downloaded the Ancestry app. I'm able to view my family trees, individuals' events, and records connected to those events. Recently there was an update to the app, but I haven't had the chance or need to explore it further. I thought the app could help me if I venture to another cemetery or make it to the state archives.
With a lot of odds and ends out of the way, I should be back to regular blogging!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
DNA Testing - Part 2
My AncestryDNA results just came in, less than two weeks after Ancestry informed me that they had received my DNA sample. I'm certainly pleased that it was so quick compared to the promised six to eight weeks. I'm not yet sure what to make of my results, but I hope that as Ancestry opens up its test to non-paid subscribers and does more genetic research, I'll get a better grasp on my heritage.
The results
A neat pie graph tells me that my DNA test revealed my ethnicity to be 71% British Isles (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales), 25% Scandinavian (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), and 4% uncertain.
I expected to see British Isles and Scandinavian in my results. My research indicates that my father's side of the family is very close to if not entirely English and Irish. The Scandinavian was expected due to the well-known history of raids on the British Isles by the Vikings, coupled with my paternal side of the family's light complexion, hair, and eyes.
The huge surprise to me, however, was the lack of French ethnicity. My mother's side of the family is almost exclusively French Canadian. I've traced most of my ancestors on that side back at least one hundred years because of the availability of Québec's vital records. Two lines I even traced back to early 17th century Normandy (and one of those has an English-sounding surname). Aside from those two lines, I have yet to find anyone on my maternal side of the tree who was born anywhere other than Québec, and most of my ancestors have French-sounding names.
The full results page additionally provides some important historical information about the areas of your ethnicities. For example, Ancestry states that the British Isles faced many raids, not only from the Vikings, but also from the Jutes of Denmark, and even the Normans in northern France. This may help explain the results' lack of French ethnicity. Not only is Normandy in such close proximity to the British Isles that the DNA may have many common markers, but Normans were raiding the British Isles. Perhaps there was enough mingling of the DNA in my family that these results aren't leaving out a separate ethnicity at all.
Matches
Because AncestryDNA is still in its Beta phase and has a relatively small sample pool, I did not expect much in the way of matches just yet. So, I wasn't too disappointed when no matches came up that were closer than a 95-96% probability of being my 4th cousin. I did get my hopes up that I'd be able to make connections to the supposed matches, and I was let down.
When you review each match, you can view their family tree if it's open to the public. On the left side of the screen, there's also a list of surnames that you can use to pinpoint individuals on matches' trees without using the tree view. I saw some familiar surnames, but not one person whose tree I could view had a common ancestor with me. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe Ancestry's predictions were wrong.
Moving forward
While somewhat surprising, my results aren't entirely off-base or inconceivable. I've confirmed a good amount of my ethnicity and have plenty of possible distant cousins to play around with as my research continues. Ancestry has also promised users of its DNA test that as more people take the test and new genetic markers are discovered, our results will continuously update. This is what I'm counting on. I purchased and took the test primarily as an investment in future results, knowing the test-taker sample size is still small.
If anyone else has taken this test and received results, I would love to exchange opinions and stories. As (or rather, if and when) my own results change, I will update with a new post to indicate any changes that may be significant.
The results
A neat pie graph tells me that my DNA test revealed my ethnicity to be 71% British Isles (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales), 25% Scandinavian (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), and 4% uncertain.
I expected to see British Isles and Scandinavian in my results. My research indicates that my father's side of the family is very close to if not entirely English and Irish. The Scandinavian was expected due to the well-known history of raids on the British Isles by the Vikings, coupled with my paternal side of the family's light complexion, hair, and eyes.
The huge surprise to me, however, was the lack of French ethnicity. My mother's side of the family is almost exclusively French Canadian. I've traced most of my ancestors on that side back at least one hundred years because of the availability of Québec's vital records. Two lines I even traced back to early 17th century Normandy (and one of those has an English-sounding surname). Aside from those two lines, I have yet to find anyone on my maternal side of the tree who was born anywhere other than Québec, and most of my ancestors have French-sounding names.
The full results page additionally provides some important historical information about the areas of your ethnicities. For example, Ancestry states that the British Isles faced many raids, not only from the Vikings, but also from the Jutes of Denmark, and even the Normans in northern France. This may help explain the results' lack of French ethnicity. Not only is Normandy in such close proximity to the British Isles that the DNA may have many common markers, but Normans were raiding the British Isles. Perhaps there was enough mingling of the DNA in my family that these results aren't leaving out a separate ethnicity at all.
Matches
Because AncestryDNA is still in its Beta phase and has a relatively small sample pool, I did not expect much in the way of matches just yet. So, I wasn't too disappointed when no matches came up that were closer than a 95-96% probability of being my 4th cousin. I did get my hopes up that I'd be able to make connections to the supposed matches, and I was let down.
When you review each match, you can view their family tree if it's open to the public. On the left side of the screen, there's also a list of surnames that you can use to pinpoint individuals on matches' trees without using the tree view. I saw some familiar surnames, but not one person whose tree I could view had a common ancestor with me. Maybe I'm missing something, or maybe Ancestry's predictions were wrong.
Moving forward
While somewhat surprising, my results aren't entirely off-base or inconceivable. I've confirmed a good amount of my ethnicity and have plenty of possible distant cousins to play around with as my research continues. Ancestry has also promised users of its DNA test that as more people take the test and new genetic markers are discovered, our results will continuously update. This is what I'm counting on. I purchased and took the test primarily as an investment in future results, knowing the test-taker sample size is still small.
If anyone else has taken this test and received results, I would love to exchange opinions and stories. As (or rather, if and when) my own results change, I will update with a new post to indicate any changes that may be significant.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
DNA Testing - Part 1
To take the test or not?
I've been reading various genealogy blog postings about DNA testing with great interest but never decided to try it out myself. As a female, I could only take the old mtDNA test, which, quite frankly, sounded like a total waste of time and money. It seemed overly broad and overly priced, and I couldn't see how it would ever benefit my research or satisfy my curiosity. I also remain very skeptical about sending a DNA sample out to an ancestral DNA project that I've never heard of before reading about it in someone's blog post. Because of this, the new AncestryDNA test, still in its beta phase, piqued my curiosity. This test examines over 700,000 points in your DNA, which makes it much more specific than the old tests. Also, by having an Ancestry account, you can use your results to make family connections to other users. I'm not optimistic about making connections just yet because it's so early, but I can see this being a significant tool a few years down the road since so many people, including myself, already use Ancestry.com.
Paid subscribers first served
So I decided to sign up for an "invitation" to try the new DNA test. I figured I could always back out if I didn't want to take the test after all. When I initially signed up, I was not a paid Ancestry subscriber. Months went by without me hearing anything about trying out the test. Just over a month ago I paid for a new subscription, and in under two weeks, an invitation to purchase the test was in my inbox. Was I annoyed by how quickly the invitation came once I became a paid subscriber? Yes, very. It seems unfair because I realized paid subscribers are at the top of the waiting list for an opportunity to purchase the test, and this is a cost some people just can't afford to pay in addition to the $99 for the test and about $10 in shipping charges. This isn't a truly first come, first served waiting list. However, since so much of the advertising seems to focus on the connections to family trees and other members, I can see from a business perspective why Ancestry would prefer paid subscribers at least during the launch and beta phase--they're the only people who could use the full features of the DNA test. From Ancestry's standpoint, it would make little sense to have all of the initial testers be people unable to use the product fully. On the other hand, a wait of months as opposed to a week or two seems way too out of line, and I think Ancestry needs to scatter non-subscribers into its initial pool of "invitees" (or do a much better job of it if they're already doing it to some extent).
The AncestryDNA test
About two weeks after ordering the DNA test (you only get one week to decide to order or not- no pressure or anything), I received my testing kit in the mail. The instructions in side were incredibly easy to understand and follow. In fact, I kept re-reading them, thinking I was missing something. The test itself calls for a certain amount of saliva to be deposited in the tube provided. Closing the cover to the tube releases some sort of stabilizing chemical. I then replaced the cover with another one provided, seal it up in a provided baggie, put it in the pre-paid envelope, and mail it out. Afterwards, I went online and activated my kit on the Ancestry website and chose my settings (whether or not to allow my matches to see all of my ethnicities or only shared ones, for instance). About two weeks later, I received a confirmation email that my DNA sample was received and that my results should be available in six to eight weeks. I'm very excited to receive my results and see how this works out.
For now, I wait.
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