Thursday, November 9, 2017

So Much DNA News!

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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