DNA Explosion, Meeting Monday

It has been another busy week of announcements about DNA.  So DNA will be one of our topics at our Genies meeting this Monday 9/17.  As always, 1:00 at the Ferndale Library.  Setup and networking starting at 12:30. We welcome everyone. The Genies can help you get started or dig deeper into the technology.

You may think the news that follows is beyond you but we will dial it back and help you at our Genies meeting on Monday.

MyHeritage News

For everyone: In the two years since MyHeritage introduced DNA testing they have earned their place in the top-tier of DNA testing.  They have been responsive to providing the services and tools that genealogists have requested.  They rival and exceed some of the others.  This week they announced something we should perk up our ears to.  They have provided free transfers of raw DNA data from the other testing companies to MyHeritage.  The transfers will continue to be free but starting December 1^st they will begin charging for some features. 

Now is the time to transfer your raw DNA data to MyHeritage.  You may not use it for now but you will be grandfathered in and not have to pay charges in the future.  Even if you don’t do anything, you have put yourself out there where someone else can find you.  We can help you do this at the meeting.

Some Bloggers

I will use this opportunity to introduce you to some bloggers.  Often I find that the bloggers give a more complete description of changes than the company gave along with a link to the company’s announcement.  The bloggers often try out the changes and give advice about how to put changes into action.

Meet Debbie Kennett who blogs at Cruwys News from the British Isles and comes highly recommended by DNA expert Diahan Southard.  Debbie blogged about the MyHeritage changes on Thursday, September 13 here.  https://cruwys.blogspot.com/

AncestryDNA News

AncestryDNA’s big news is a big change to everyone’s Ethnicity Estimate.  They have greatly increased their reference points and changed their ethnicity algorithms.  When you go into your DNA Story section, you will be presented with some questions and finally a chance to accept the new estimate permanently (though they give you a chance to return to your old estimate).  I wonder why anyone would go back when the accuracy and the science have improved.  Probably want to stick with their lederhosen.

Also on September 13th Debbie Kennett blogged on the “Updated Ethnicity Estimates now available for everyone at from AncestryDNA”.  At the end she has a list of links to other bloggers.  https://cruwys.blogspot.com/

  

Debbie writes:

“I always used to say that "ethnicity" estimates should be taken with a large pinch of salt and are really only of entertainment value, but we are now starting to get the stage where the results for some people can provide a reasonable approximation of their ancestry. “

Roberta Estes at DNA Explained blog has written about her new results.

https://dna-explained.com/2018/09/13/ancestry-2018-ethnicity-update/

Here’s the link to Leah Larkin's commentary:

http://thednageek.com/major-enhancement-to-ancestrydnas-ethnicity-estimates/

DNA Bloggers

There are thousands of genealogy bloggers so here is a list of the top bloggers on DNA.  Most have a signup and push the posts to your email.  Many have comments from their readers too.

Blaine Bettinger, http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com, infrequent posts but always important.

Roberta Estes, https://dna-explained.com/, longer, frequent posts, filled with step-by-step instructions and screen shot, you name a DNA topic and she has written a blogpost.  Also has posts about her ancestors which you may or may not be interested in.

Debbie Kennett, https://cruwys.blogspot.com/  She tries out all the new features.

Kitty Cooper, http://blog.kittycooper.com/ tries everything, she writes tools.

Leah Larkin, http://thednageek.com/, Cheryl follows her

Top two DNA Facebook pages

DNA Detectives- CeCe Moore, adoptions and unknown parentage

Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques, Blaine Bettinger

There are literally thousands of genealogy Facebook groups.  Try a surname or a county or a foreign country.  Most software and websites have Facebook groups.  The best place to ask a question is a group focused on exactly what you want to know.

Hope to see you on Monday to explore some of these topics.

Genealogy is about personal identity

“Genealogy is about personal identity, not ethnicity.”  I stole my title from this Irish Times article  https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/abroad/why-we-find-irish-roots-for-famous-visitors-like-meghan-markle-1.3571339.  This article, which I heard about in the Extreme Genes email, points out how important visitors and people researching family history are to Ireland.

And from there you can go to the Irish Family History Centre at this link:  https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/.  This site offers a “how to get started” button, research tips, webinars, chat, ask the experts, free digital genealogy magazine, free newsletter…need I go on? 

What if you are not Irish?  I’m not Irish.  At least not much.  I’m Croatian.  More than a few years ago you wouldn’t have heard me say that.  I wasn’t raised to be Croatian.  I knew my grandmother was born in Croatia.  I knew she spoke German and Croatian as her first languages.  I knew she got on a ship when she was five and traveled in leaky steerage to get to Ellis Island.  But we never called ourselves Croatian. 

When my great-grandfather Frank Ferencevic boarded the ship in Bremen, he stated his “Nationality” as Hungarian and his “Race or Ethnicity” as Croatian.  In the subsequent US Censuses his birthplace was Hungary, Austria, then Yugoslavia.  His birthplace didn’t move just the political boundaries. 

So when did I become Croatian?  When I found an Australian whose DNA matched mine and whose great-grandmother Juliana was my great-grandfather Frank’s sister.  When I friended him on Facebook and saw him proclaim “I’m Cro and I’m proud”.  

I only know the World Cup is on when he starts to crow about his national team.  This year I followed the Croatian team to the semi-finals when they were the third smallest nation to ever get that far.  And when they made the finals, my cousin Tom and his father Josip hopped on a plane to go to Croatia.  In the middle of the night Croatians were gathering in the Dubai airport to get home for the final game.  And when they didn’t win, I celebrated being second best in the world and Tom raised a glass with all his friends and relatives in the homeland.  Maybe next time I will get a red and white checked shirt and join the Croatians.

I believe genealogy is about personal identity.  My DNA doesn’t say Croatian.  At some testing services it doesn’t even say Eastern European.  When people don’t chase down their matches, they are missing the hidden gold, the richness buried in their genes. 

We all have roots somewhere whether its lederhosen, kilts, or checked shirts.  Many nations have sites and resources like the Irish above and we can have fun exploring them. 

New Feature "Genetic Communities" from Ancestry DNA

Ancestry has announced a new DNA feature that has the genealogy community humming. All the bloggers are writing about it. It's called Genetic Communities. On your DNA Results home page where the Ethnicity Estimate has always been, you will see the Ethnicity Estimate "thousand of years ago" and under that Genetic Communities "hundreds of years ago". They are starting out assigning people to 300 Genetic Communities based on their DNA and locations in their trees. You can get a list of people who share your DNA and the community.

The pros think this is really cool and I especially like the historical information about each location broken down by time periods.

I suggest a favorite blogger, Blaine Bettinger at http://thegeneticgenealogist.com. It's the third post down. Another favorite of the Genies is Rebecca Estes at https://dna-explained.com/.

We'll being hearing a lot more about this and a similar new feature at Family Tree DNA called "Population Clusters".