genealogy

I've been satisfied with how Ancestry has shaken loose new information through my dna results. In an attempt to shake more loose, I bought a kit during the last sale and got my sister to test. (There are no relatives left from earlier generations.) That is not optimal but has resulted in more people to add to my tree. So I am pleased by those results.

I've also uploaded both results to Gedmatch. Gedmatch hasn't been as helpful to be honest. The good part is it reconfirmed several individuals for whom the paperwork also indicated a relationship. But I already has those results from ancestry. However, it was good to know ancestry results are valid.

I'm considering asking my brother's son to do a Y test. There is an ongoing surname project to which I'd like to submit his results. There are rumours about being related to some people in American history, about which I'm dubious. But, I'm just curious enough to see if that sort of test might break some walls down in my father's family, while also confirming or denying those rumours.

I've been thinking about doing a mitochondrial test using my sister's daughter. She is soon going to be adding another daughter to the line of women in my family. I can only get back to 1861 so far following my mom's matrilineal line. I'm stuck at my 2nd great-grandmother for whom I only know her first name and that she was born in the US, possibly in New York state. It's a brick wall that has stymied people who have been researching that avenue far longer than I have.

I know very little about genetic genealogy. I've joined some groups and I'm reading up on the subject, so I'm trying to learn more, but the curve is very steep from my perspective. My question is would testing a niece and a nephew help to put a crack in those particular puzzles at all? If so, which company should I test with and should I just do the MtDNA and Y tests, or full tests? From what I've seen the other companies charge a fair bit more for Mt and Y testing than Ancestry does for autosomnal testing. That's a factor I have to consider.

Thanks for reading.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Date: 2016-10-24 09:56 pm (UTC)

From:

dragonfly

no subject

Hi! I love to talk about genetic genealogy. As you probably already know, YDNA only gives you connections along your straight male line and mtDNA only gives you connections along your straight female line. Since you aren't male (right?), your brother or his son can provide you with matches who are connected to you on your *and your matches'* male lines. Theoretically they should all share your surname, but the cool thing about YDNA and mtDNA is that they only change when they mutate, so they can connect you to people who share an ancestor with you thousands of years ago. I don't have a lot of experience with mtDNA, but YDNA has been a fascinating study for me, because of surname projects, haplogroup projects, and geographic projects at FTDNA.

If you are looking for connections to historical people who happen to be on your father's side, I think you should rely on Ancestry and Gedmatch. There aren't as many people as you would like who have tested their YDNA. At this point, it's more useful for figuring out where your distant ancestors might have come from than for connecting to recent ancestors or relatives.

Also, why test your niece for mtDNA? You can test your own. The results should be virtually the same. The only likely difference would be if a mutation happened in your niece's generation. So, ideally, for that kind of test, testing someone earlier like your mother is a marginally better idea. (Really, the mutation that might happen wouldn't statistically interfere with finding matches for you, so it doesn't matter a lot.)

Edited Date: 2016-10-24 10:08 pm (UTC)

Date: 2016-11-09 06:24 pm (UTC)

blueswan

Thanks for the information. Its been very helpful. I think I will give the mtDNA test a go. FTDNA seems to be a good bet so I'll check further into that.