DNA

Genetic Genealogy

Genetic Genealogy is my newest passion!

I have many years of experience with traditional genealogy research and have recently became interested in using DNA testing to help push back some of the genealogy dead ends we all seem to have an abundance of in our family trees. I have spent the past 18 months immersed in genetics education, completing four university level genetics courses as well as following online forums and blogs. We are on the frontier of this new discipline with major developments occurring almost weekly. Staying up-to-date with this fast developing field is challenging.

You can download a PDF of my most recent Genetic Genealogy presentation here

Getting Started In Genetic Genealogy

I am the administrator of several DNA Projects hosted by FamilyTreeDNA.

• Perry-Thurlow Maine Project – or “Who’s Your Momma?”
• Our Burns-Sullivan Irish Origins Project

My DNA family tree can be found here at FamilyTreeDNA.

Interesting DNA Facts

Autosomal Inheritance Patterns

You receive:

• 50% of your DNA from each parent
• approx. 25% from each grandparent
• ~ 12.5% from each great grandparent
• ~ 6.25% from each 2x great grandparent
• ~ 3.12% from each 3x great grandparent
• ~ 1.56% from each 4x great grandparent

You share:

• approx. 50% of your DNA with your siblings
• ~ 25% with your half-siblings, aunts & uncles, nieces & nephews
• ~ 12.5% with your 1st cousins, great aunts & uncles, grand nieces & nephews
• ~ 6.25% with your 1st cousins once removed, great grand aunts & uncles

Online Resources

Here are some great links for learning about DNA and how it can help your genealogy project.

Education

• Genetic Genealogy Presentation (PDF) – 2014 Maine Genealogy Society Fall Conference Presentation by Nancy Lecompte
• Wheaton Surname Resources (https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname) (he offers an excellent DNA tutorial!)
• Autosomal ME series by Roberta Estes (http://dna-explained.com/2013/06/02/the-autosomal-me-summary-and-pdf-file) (another excellent tutorial)
• Udacity Genetics Course – Tales from the Genome – Introduction to Genetics for Beginners (very good presentation anyone should be able to learn from) (https://www.udacity.com/course/bio110)
• How-To DNA – How-To Videos and Podcasts That Help You Understand DNA (http://howtodna.com)
• List of various free online how-to videos (http://www.genealogyjunkie.net/presentations-on-dna-testing.html)
• International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) – wiki (http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Wiki_Welcome_Page)
• Kitty Cooper’s “Using GedMatch” Tutorial (http://blog.kittycooper.com/downloads)
• Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond by Emily Aulicino (available in paperback and digital versions)

Data Tools

• GedMatch – Comparison & Phasing Utilities and Admix Filters (http://www.gedmatch.com)
• Genome Mate – A Tool for Managing your DNA database (free) (https://www.genomemate.org)
• Autosomal DNA Segment Analyzer – a tool for visualizing your genetic match segments (http://www.dnagedcom.com/adsa/index.php)
• Genetic Genealogy Kit – Open source software, an all around tool for working with all types of genealogy data and includes admix filters [requires a 64-bit computer system and lots of harddrive space to run] (http://www.y-str.org)
• Autosomal Segment Analyzer (http://www.y-str.org/2013/08/autosomal-segment-analyzer.html)
• Wikitree – A public family tree project which offers tools for the genetic genealogist (http://www.wikitree.com)
• Genetic Genealogy Tools – Open source software (http://www.y-str.org/p/tools-utilities.html)
• David Pike’s Utilities (http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/FF23utils/pair-comp.php)
• DNA Tools (http://www.dnagedcom.com)
• Kitty Cooper’s Tools (http://blog.kittycooper.com/tools)

Professional Consultants

• Roberta Estes (http://dna-explained.com/consulting-www-dnaexplain-com)
• CeCe Moore (http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com)
• Blaine Bettinger (http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com)
• Kitty Cooper (http://blog.kittycooper.com)
• Charles Kerchner (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/genbydna/info)

Other

• Adoptee Resources (http://dna-explained.com/2012/07/30/adoptee-resources-and-genetic-genealogy)
• Ysearch – a Y-DNA database (http://www.ysearch.org)
• MitoSearch – a mtDNA database (http://www.mitosearch.org)
• A pdf file covering this presentation (https://www.dropbox.com/s/orbo8qbote3u5fp/MGS_Fall2014_Presentation.pdf)