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Posts Tagged ‘DNA Testing’

One thing that DNA testing for genealogy shows is,  if you are a male, you have the same biological component as your father, your grandfather, your great-grandfather, your great, great grandfather and your g-g-g-g-g-grandfather.

That component is called the Y-chromosome, part of the genetic ribbon of information that makes every male, male.   When you test your Y-DNA, you can determine whether you are or are not related to another male with the same surname.  You might even want to join the growing list of surname projects going on across the country.

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, exists in almost all cells and is the building block for a human being.  DNA determines genetics and whether your eyes are blue and your hair is straight.  It also predicts the risk for health disorders or diseases, so there is much to be learned through DNA testing that goes beyond ancestry.

The way genealogists approach DNA testing is they look for mutations.  In other words, a mutation is a change in the DNA sequencing.  Cells in our body increase by dividing in a process called mitosis.  An enzyme called polymerase uses the original DNA helix as a template and then builds a whole new cell using the same DNA code.

Occasionally a mutation in this process occurs and gets passed on.  It is rare; approximately 0.2% per generation, but it does signal a break in the identical ancestral code that gets passed from father to son.

There are DNA genealogy tests for women, even if they do not have a Y chromosome.  For women, scientists rely on the mitochondrial DNA which gets passed from the mother to all her offspring.

It’s fascinating that with the help of a single cheek swab DNA testing for genealogy can track the history of your surname, or even your ancient ancestors as they migrated from East Africa 80 thousand years ago.

OK, so you know about DNA testing to discover your father and mother’s deep ancestry, now how to do genealogy research online will be covered.

Many of you will be very familiar with all of these methods, but for those of you that are just starting on creating a family tree these ideas should help to get you started.

You should always start with yourself and work backwards through your ancestors locating as much information on each generation as you can before you move on the earlier ones.  More time is lost trying to make a connection with some famous person that you were told you might be related to.

Well that may turn out to be right but in order to do this thing right you have to take one step at a time and document all of your research.  When you find something that is helpful you should record it in your journal or notebook and then enter the information into your computer genealogy program.

The notebooks should have their pages dated as you enter details that way you can always return to them at a later date when you find another piece of the puzzle.

Some of the most helpful websites that you will use are actually free and you will spend many hundreds of hours online before you will have to shell out any money for online subscription websites.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, (LDS) or the Mormon Church, owns the worlds largest accumulation of documents in digital and microfilm formats.  Their main library in Salt Lake City, Utah is free and open to the public and no one will try to convert you, it is just a library.  Millions of rolls of microfilm are at your fingertips and you will find everything from church records, civil records, local histories, census records, marriage records, cemetery records and everything in between.

LDS also has Family History Centers (FHC) in a Mormon church near you.  These smaller branch libraries have access to most of the materials that are at Salt Lake City either by computer or by your renting the microfilm to use at the local FHC.

To find out what they have available you may use any computer on the internet and go to www.familysearch.org to go to the main website.  From here you can do some actual personal name searches and see if any of your ancestors have had their information extracted from primary record collections and added to the online database.

This is only one small part of what they have available as most of the records have not been transcribed and digitized yet, so in those cases you will want to click on the library button and then go to the library catalog, and do a surname search or a location search to see what they have in their index and then you will know which film to order.

Another great resource that is free is the huge accumulation of extracted records and queries from other researchers that is online at rootsweb.com.  This site is one of the oldest on the web and was operated by volunteers at the beginning until recent years when it was purchased by ancestry.com.  Rootsweb is still free to use.

The USGenweb.com site is also free and you will find many exciting discoveries there.  My recommendation is to go down to each state/county level for the individual county Genweb sites where you will find cemetery records, maps, documents, bible records and untold wondrous things.

Do not overlook online newspaper collections.  Check for newspapers that were in operation in the areas where your ancestors lived.  Many of them have online access to the historical editions but you will have to search around and ask questions.  You will want to read the article: “21 Ways to Start to Build Your Own Family Tree” at old-newspaper-articles.com.

Later on as you become more advanced and after you have tested your Genealogy DNA you will no doubt want to subscribe to places like ancestry and genealogybank, but for now you should have fun starting with just the free information above.

Without ancestry DNA tests, most people can only name their maternal and paternal grandparents. After that the information becomes unreliable unless great time and effort is expended to research historical records.

Science allows us to look back at our ancient family tree, to the time when humans first migrated from their early roots in Africa. To find out where your family originated, migrated and then mutated to form its own group or haplogroup, you need only take a moment to swab the inside of your cheek with a special painless device.

Genealogists today are actively gathering DNA samples to establish markers and lines of ancestry. When looking for a DNA test lab ask about the size of the database. The larger the base of knowledge, the more reliable and informative your test results will be. There are several labs that provide DNA testing; begin your search with the size of the database.

There are two kits available, the Mitochondrial or mtDNA and the Y-Chromosome. The Y chromosome passes down only through the males of a family since males have an X and a Y chromosome while females have just an X. The Y Chromosome test will determine paternal linkage, while the mtDNA will explore the mother’s line for her female and male children.

There are various DNA test kits available and depending upon the number of markers the kit looks for, the more information the result will yield, and the greater the cost for the kit. You will receive the test kit in the mail. It will house what appears to be an undersized plastic toothbrush and a sterile container to place it in for mailing it back.

Once you return the ancestry DNA tests you’ll wait 6 to 8 weeks for the results and then you are on your way to exploring the ancient roots of your family.