Just when I was thinking that every DNA testing company
was stepping up their game, fantastic blogger and programmer Kitty Cooper
summed up recent news in this blogpost. http://blog.kittycooper.com/2017/11/so-much-genetic-genealogy-news/
In addition to Kitty, Debbie Cruwys blogs about Living
DNA’s new project One Family One World and the start of transfers from other
testing companies, announcing DNA matching in Summer 2018.
Ancestry.com announced 6 million testers, an increase of
1 million in the last 3 months. 23andme.com
exceeded 3 million. Other companies have fewer but are announcing changes
that will bring more customers to their services. And Kitty points to news from a number of third-party
sites.
Don’t get overwhelmed…keep reading.
For people new to DNA testing, read some of
the DNA articles in the left menu of our website ferndalegenies.blogspot.com. Also come to our meeting on November 20 where
I will give a mini-intro to DNA and you will hear a bunch of DNA stories from
the members. We will answer your
questions there.
For people new to genealogy, I don’t suggest that everyone
needs a DNA test. DNA results go
hand-in-hand with traditional DNA research.
Test if you want to for fun but know that a family tree is needed to
take advantage of the matching relatives you are provided.
My DNA testing recommendation
remains essentially the same. Start with
Ancestry.com unless you have a special case of adoption, unknown parentage, or
elderly tester. Ancestry has by far the
most possible matches and there is no way to transfer your raw DNA to Ancestry
from another testing service. You can
transfer your raw DNA data from Ancestry.com to MyHeritage, Family Tree DNA and GedMatch.
There will be numerous discounts between now and the end of the year. Kitty gives a couple and many are coming. I advise…don’t
go for the cheapest test. Figure out
what test and company you want to use and wait for the holiday discount.
There are so many improvements and new companies that I
can’t keep up with it all. If you try
any of the new capabilities, we will all be eager to hear about your
experiences on November 20th.
Judith Culver
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