Genealogy Reviews Online

Family Tree DNA - Haplogroup H Full Sequence Offer‏

The email from Family Tree DNA said they are offering a full sequence mtDNA test at a reduced price and I qualified to receive it.  For the low price of $299 (regular is $495), I can take the final mtDNA test I will ever need; bring my exact matches into the genealogical time frame; and allow myassignment to a subclade within haplogroup H.  I have to hurry though, because this special offer lasts until April 24 2009.

I hate emails like this because they are so tempting - especially since my Ancestry.com subscription is running out in 2 days and I will have a spare $299 burning a hole in my pocket.  I wasted invested quite a bit of money in 2 Y-DNA test and generally I was happy with the results.  I didn't gain anything genealogically, but I did learn about the origin of my paternal line.  My mtDNA test was disappointing because I learned nothing substantial about my maternal ancestors.  I was assigned to haplogroup H3; basically meaning my maternal line came from western Europe.  I already knew this. My appearance has western Europe written all over me (blond hair (well, kinda gray), blue eyes, fair and easily sun-burned skin).

But still, the thought of being able to drill down to a specific part of western Europe is a tempting proposition.  At least this is what Family Tree DNA is telling me the test will do.  Strictly researching ones maternal line is always difficult and it sure would be nice to understand where all of these women came from.

I've still got about 15 days to decide... 

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Ancestry.com Reduces 33 Marker DNA Test to $79

According to a press release, Ancestry.com is lowering their 33 marker DNA test to $79.  It appears Ancestry.com's DNA testing program is moving in the right direction - down.  The rest of the testing services, like Family Tree DNA, seem to be raising prices.  Although DNA Ancestry does not offer a large variety of testing options like other services, reducing prices might make those who have not taken the plunge think about it again.

The following is a press release from The Generations Network:

Another Weird Use for DNA Testing

Using genetic testing to determine ancestral origins makes sense to me; using genetic testing to solve crimes makes sense to me; even using genetic testing to identify potential future diseases makes sense to me; but using it to determine which sport is appropriate for your two year old is just plain weird.  It's no surprise people are taking the science in this strange direction.  I can imagine, in the not too distant future, there will be DNA dating sites where people will submit cheek swab samples for testing to determine the best genetic match for a couple.  As I was writing this I decided to do a Google search on "DNA dating" and found it's not a future thing, but is here now...Oh brother! 

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Technorati Profile

Myheritage and Family Tree DNA Announce Parthership

  

(Comment/Update:  It looks like every genea-blogger in the universe is announcing this partnership.  We all got an email yesterday asking us to promote the partnership, but not before 5:00am eastern US time today.  I jumped the gun a little...my post time says 4:59am.  I usually don't post these announcements because I don't want to seem like a copy cat, but since I'm basically lazy, I thought "what the heck"...I didn't have a post planned for today and this one was easy to write.)  

The folks at Myheritage announced a partnership with Family Tree DNA today and according to the press release "combining MyHeritage’s innovative Smart Matching and Research technologies, members can now also use information contained in their DNA to find present-day relatives who share a common ancestor from many hundreds of years ago. FamilyTreeDNA users will take advantage of MyHeritage’s site to stay connected with current family members around the world and make further research family history." (read the entire press release)

The cool thing is that Family Tree DNA has created a landing page which will allow you to get the Myheritage discount that can save you up to $60.  This is not bad since these tests can be expensive.

Check out the  review I wrote of Family Tree DNA about two years ago...some if it is a little dated, and the prices may be different, but the basic info on FTDNA should still be accurate.  Additionally, here is a roundup of all of my DNA testing articles.

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23andME - Genetic Testing Company Doesn't Do Maryland - UPDATE

Last week I wrote about the genetic testing company, 23andMe, not offereing services in Maryland.  I sent them an email asking about this and they responded this morning with the following:

"Thanks for contacting us about the availability of our Personal Genome Service in Maryland.  We apologize if this is an inconvenience for you.

We recently received a cease and desist letter from the Maryland Department of Health regarding our compliance with clinical laboratory testing statutes in place in Maryland. We respect the state's attention to this matter and believe that our interests are aligned; we share the intention of ensuring that the personal genomics industry provides services that are accurate and reliable.  As we've done in California, we hope to work with your state officials in demonstrating our commitment to the responsible delivery of important genetic information to our customers. Unfortunately, however, we can't provide a timeline as to when our services will be available in Maryland.  We'll provide further updates on our website when we have more information.

We remain committed to the idea that it's your fundamental right to have access to your genetic information.  We hope to make our services available to the residents of Maryland again very soon."

I agree wholeheartedly that it's my "fundamental right to have access to [my] genetic information."  But I'm still a bit puzzled.  Why could I order tests through Family Tree DNA and DNA Ancestry?  I suspect the answer is both strictly test only for genealogy purposes and 23andMe has a health purpose in there too.

It still bothers me that the Maryland Department of Health would deny me access to information that is mine and mine alone...for whatever reason.

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23andME - Genetic Testing Company Doesn't Do Maryland

I was surfing the web earlier looking at genetic genealogy testing sites and came upon 23andMe.  I've heard a lot about this company, but never investigated to see what it was all about.  It looks really good and offers more than just a service for genealogy types, but the only problem I initially saw was the pricing - it costs $399 to get a test done.  I wanted to see what the full price with shipping would be so I went to fill out the order form.  I really wasn't going to purchase a testing kit...I've already been tested twice (see my round up article and this one) and really don't think another test would be instructive...except maybe to write about it.

When I entered my name, country, state and shipping preference, the form rejected me.  A little red box appeared and said "We are currently unable to offer our services in the state of Maryland. We apologize for the inconvenience. Please contact us at help@23andme.com for more information."  Now, I found this curious...they will ship to anywhere in the world (including Albania) except Maryland.  I became curiouser and curiouser because I couldn't find an explanation in their FAQ, or anywhere else on the site, about why Maryland was excluded.  I sent them an email to ask why and will update the post when I get a reply.

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My Greatest Genealogical Mysteries - Revealed (not solved) by Family Tree DNA

It's been almost two years since I last wrote about Family Tree DNA and thought I'd check in and explore how I'm doing so far (You can see my first post about FTDNA here...just don't laugh because it was also my very first blog post).  It looks like FTDNA is now up to over 204000 records as of July 17, 2008.  My haplogroup was updated and is now E1b1b1b2 because the Y-chromosome tree changed.  FTDNA has also added some cool maps allowing you to pinpoint where potential DNA cousins come from...Here are my 25 marker Y-DNA and high resolution mtDNA maps.  I still have no matches I would call a verifiable genealogical possibility.

While my Y-DNA test has enlightened me somewhat on the origin of my paternal family, it has also puzzled me.  According to my haplogroup, my paternal family is of North African origin (Berber specifically).  This makes complete sense because of the Muslim expansion across the Mediterranean into Spain and Southern Italy.  Most of the matches I've received come from people with Spanish or Arabic sounding names completely in line with my haplogroup and my understanding of the history of the Mediterranean world.  The puzzling part is represented by the red markers as shown in the 25 marker Y-DNA map in the link above.

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New (to me) Italian Genealogy Resource

I've had a genealogical break-through of sorts recently.  This wasn't one of those eureka moments where I found a name leading to a hundred others going back in time, but it may eventually allow me to push my paternal linage back further than I thought possible.  This discovery has also given me great historical background I never had before on my paternal grandfather's place of birth - San Giovanni in Fiore in the Cosenza Province of the Calabrian Region.

While using my grandfather's place of birth as a search term, I found a 1995 article titled A Social-Demographic, Isonymic and Genetic Investigation on an Isolated Calabrian Village, in the International Journal of Anthropology.  This was both good and bad.  The good news is the "Isolated Calabrian Village" in the title was San Giovanni in Fiore, but in order to access the information I had to buy it.  Because I hoped it would provide me good info on my grandfather's hometown, and because I'm a sucker for spending money for genealogy reasons, I paid my $32 to download a 9 page article even though I had no clue what the title meant.  Sometimes being a sucker pays off and this time it did.  Copyright provisions won't allow me to reprint the entire article here, but what I found excited me.   

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DNA Used to Resurrect Extinct Tasmanian Tiger

The BBC reports scientists are using the DNA from an extinct carnivorous marsupial called a Tasmanian Tiger and injecting it into a mouse embryo...I guess the result will be a semi-carnivorous mouse.  This is right out of Jurisac Park - thank goodness they chose a marsupial to bring back and not a T-REX.  While the article says the extinct DNA was brought back to life, I was dissappointed there were no photos or descriptions of this new mouse species although it probably just looks like a mouse.  What does this have to do with genealogy?  Nothing...just thought it was an interesting story.

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Gentics, Diversity and Human History

There's an interesting article in today's Washington Post on the results of three DNA studies that produced some interesting insights.  I don't understand many parts of the article, but one thing I found surprising is the study confirms "Africans have more diverse genes than people of other continents."  The study also says genetic diversity decreases the farther people got from the place of human origin in East Africa.  Interestingly, those cultures today appearing distinct in certain parts of the world "have ancestry traceable to more than one continent."  Bedouins appear descendant from European and Pakistani genes as well as people in the Middle East.  Another interesting finding shows Americans descendant from Europeans "carry a larger number of damaging gene variants than African Americans do."  I usually only understand about only half of these kinds of articles, but this one came up with some interesting conclusions. 

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DNA Study Changes History of Famous Irish Family Guinness

When I think of the name "Guinness" the image of a tall frosty glass filled with dark foamy beer comes to mind.  In Ireland this famous family's history was one of aristocratic origins dispossessed during the Oliver Cromwell era then returned to it's natural place.  According to an article in the Times Online, the myth and legend of this famous family changed when Patrick Guinness had Trinity College in Dublin conduct a DNA study of his family to determine if it descended from the Magennis chieftains of Iveagh, County Down.  The results actually show the Guinness family rose from peasant stock with a name whose origin is from a place and not from early Irish royalty.  All of this info is detailed in a book called "Arthur’s Round: The Life and Times of Brewing Legend Arthur Guinness."  I think this new information makes the success of the Guinness family all the more impressive.   

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Round-Up of My DNA Testing Articles

I'm still getting a lot of traffic to my DNA Ancestry series and the other posts I've written about my testing experiences.  I thought I'd milk the subject one more time by gathering my DNA links in one post and then move onto something else.

Family Tree DNA - Is it Worth the Price?  This was my very first post on Oct 24, 2006 and you can see I've gotten very lazy since then because this was my longest post ever...I think.  My opinion was Family Tree DNA delivers as advertised.  My experience was expensive and confusing however.    

The Genetic Genealogist.  Shortly after I got my results at FTDNA, I ordered a Deep SNP test to further resolve my results.  This process was very frustrating.  The test was supposed to take about a month, but there were continuous delays and, despite many emails, the FTDNA folks were never able to explain why it was taking so long.  After awhile I forgot about it, then about a year later my Deep SNP results came in and...of course there was no explanation on the results and being the history major I am, never was able to find the answer on the FTDNA site.  I sent an email to Blaine at the Genetic Genealogist with my results and asked if he could explain them to me.  He did and wrote about it in his blog.

DNA Ancestry Review - Part 1.  This is the first in a series of posts about my experience with DNA Ancestry.  I cover researching the DNA Ancestry site and ordering the test.

DNA Ancestry Review - Part 2.  Part 2 covers the testing kit, getting the sample and sending it off.

DNA Ancestry Review Part 2.5.  This was a quick post when I learned DNA Ancestry received my kit.

DNA Ancestry Review - Alert.  This post announced that my results were in.  I was surprised it only took 9 days.

DNA Ancestry Review - Part 3.  This is the final part of the series.  Make sure you read the comments in this post and all of the others.

I have to tell you I did get a high resolution mtDNA test at FTDNA a year ago, but I found the results more confusing than Y-DNA tests.  From what my small mind can understand, these results told me my maternal line came from somewhere in western Europe and since there are currently no surname matches there's no place for me to go here.   I know there are better tests now than the one I took,and I might do it again someday, but it will probably be in the distant future.

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DNA Ancestry Review Part 3

At long last, here is the final installment of my DNA Ancestry review (follow the links for the other installments:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 2.5, Alert).  Also check out my Family Tree DNA review of a year ago.  I wanted to have this written earlier, but a combination of family activities, work, and a bit of laziness all conspired to delay my efforts a bit.  My plan here is to first look at how DNA Ancestry displays and explains the results - also how they fit into Ancestry.com as a whole.  Then I will attempt to compare these results with my Family Tree DNA test of a year ago.  The second piece may be more difficult than I first envisioned.  This is not a surprise really because I find the whole genetic genealogy thing a complicated subject, but I will give it a go.   

DNA Ancestry Review - Alert

I received my DNA Ancestry results yesterday!  I know it seems like I'm stringing this series out, but I was so surprised to get the results so soon I had to let my few readers know about it.  Actually I am stringing it out - my topic idea fairy has been on vacation and I can't seem to come up with a post idea on my own...this helps.  DNA Ancestry notified me they received the sample on 6 November, and based on the info in the consent agreement, I figured I would have the results in the middle of December.  The results were posted on 14 November - It only took them 9 days.  A 9 day turn around is pretty good for these things.  I'm in the process of analyzing the results and comparing them to Family Tree DNA and will write the REAL part 3 of this series in the next few days.  If you are a new reader, here are Part 1, Part 2, and Part 2.5.

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Genetic Genealogy

World Vital Records

I've been reading Blaine Bettinger's series on The Genetic Genealogy Marketplace (Part 1 and Part II) with great interest and am a bit surprised by a few things.  The first is where Blaine estimates that the total number of people tested falls somewhere between 600,000 - 700,000 people.  With all of the buzz genetic genealogy gets in the media these days, I was left with the impression the market was bigger then it really is.  When you think of the tens of millions of people across the world pursuing some form of genealogy research, this number is really quite small - which means the potential market for this service is huge. 

DNA Ancestry Review Part 2.5

I just received an e-mail notice from DNA Ancestry saying they've received my Y-46 testing kit in their lab.  The notice goes on to say "in a few weeks we'll be sending you an email linking you to your test results online."  I have to admit I was a bit lazy and didn't mail the kit until last Thursday, and based on a 4 week turn-around time, the results will probably come in around the middle of December - hopefully it will be sooner.  If you are new to my blog, here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.  Part 3 will consist of comparing these results with the Family Tree DNA results I received about a year ago.

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DNA Ancestry Review Part 2

I received my DNA testing kit yesterday, so it's now time for part 2 of this little series.  If you are new to the blog, click the link to read DNA Ancestry Review Part 1.   The real purpose of this little exercise is to compare DNA Ancestry's test with the test I took about a year ago with Family Tree DNA (click the link to read my review of that experience).  I ordered the DNA testing kit on 10 October, received a notice telling me it was shipped on 11 October, and received it on 20 October.  I could have received the testing kit quicker if I selected a speedier delivery (at additional cost of course), but I went with the $4 standard shipping.

The DNA Ancestry test kit is a little different from what I received from Family Tree DNA.  Family Tree DNA used little toothbrush like instruments to collect samples from the inside of your cheeks.  DNA Ancestry uses plain old cotton swabs like doctors use to test for strep throat (the technical name for these are GeneSwab (TM) DNA collection utensils).  I like the cotton swabs better because when I collected samples a year ago using the Family Tree DNA materials, they came out a little bloody and the inside of my cheek was a bit raw...I think I was a little too enthusiastic the first time around.   Click the photo on the left and you will see the complete test kit DNA Ancestry sent me.

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DNA Ancestry Review Part 1

On October 24, 2006, the very first post I made to this blog was a review of Family Tree DNA based on my experience with the testing process and results.  Since then I've wanted to get tested again to compare results, but I've never got around to it.  After watching the 60 Minutes segment on genetic genealogy, and seeing how they created a mild controversy over testing results and expectations, I figured now was as good a time as any to try the process again and let my few readers in on my experience. Since genealogists seem to have a love-hate relationship with Ancestry.com and The Generations Network, I just had to choose their new DNA testing effort and see how they stack up against the experience I had with Family Tree DNA. 

This review will be in three parts and will probably span over the next month or so depending upon how quickly DNA Ancestry gets the kit to me, and how quickly they perform the tests.  Part 1 (this post) will focus on how Ancestry.com explains the process, educates the potential user, and the test ordering process to include the costs involved.  Part 2 will discuss the sample collection process once I receive the kit in the mail.  Part 3 will focus on the results I receive from DNA Ancestry and a comparison with my Family Tree DNA results. 

Genetic Genealogy of Christopher Columbus

I love a good historical mystery - especially one that may never be solved.  I found a great article in the New York Times about using DNA to determine the origins of Christopher Columbus.  Apparently Columbus didn't leave behind very much information on his family history.  Theories of his origins range from an Italian from Genoa; to an illegitimate son of a Portuguese prince; or the son of a Jewish couple who converted because of the threat of the Spanish Inquisition.  I know Native American's don't really care and probably wish he had no origins at all.  The article is interesting in that DNA is being used to try to determine these origins, however Columbus' own DNA (extracted from remains in his grave) will probably not be used because there is so little of it...this probably means the mystery will never be solved.  However scientists are conducting DNA tests of competing families - the Colums of Spain and the Columbos of Italy - to try and narrow down the genetic possibilities.

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The Lost Colony DNA Research

Court, Land, and Probate Records

I think someone else has blogged about this story, but I'm going to write about it too because it's so compelling.  The Rocky Mount Telegram has an article today about the mysterious disappearance of the English colony on Roanoke Island in 1587.  Standard history has told us that the colonists all died, but others think they survived by joining a local tribe in order to survive.  The Lost Colony Center is sponsoring a DNA study and is asking anyone who has a name on the colonist list or is of local American Indian heritage to attend a symposium and take a DNA test in an attempt to determine if any of the original colonists survived.  This is a very big effort and the research staff includes DNA researchers, archaeologists, and genealogists.  The Lost Colony Center even has a blog (who doesn't) that describes the research effort, and also has an interesting article on The Lost Colony itself.