DNA Me!

I've been keeping an eye on this genetic genealogy stuff for a while now, trying to understand it all and wrap my mind around the various flavors and especially the reports and what they promise. At first, and like any new technology, the learning curve was steep. "What the heck... do I need this torture in my life?" I thought. But I do need this in my life. And now that some of the basics are clearer and all tortures of the learning curve have passed, I'm ready to select a service, work up a whole lotta spit, and wait by the email box. Oh, yeah, and the money part. I almost forgot about the money part.

There were a couple of recent blog posts that cleared the forest and let me see how DNA testing might help me. I have no allusions about big breakthroughs, no "non-paternal events", no deep dark secrets to be revealed or a lost second cousin to be found and a mystery discovered. I'm no genealogy thrill seeker. (At least not where DNA is concerned.) Not to say that if a surprise showed up I wouldn't be thrilled! I'm open to anything:)

CeCe Moore blogging as Your Genetic Genealogist really cleared the large brush in the forest for me with this post: http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2012/12/comparing-admixture-test-results-across.html

This is a very cool practical analysis of her admixture of countries of origin. Because Mom and I pretty much know what our admixture should be going back six, eight or even ten generations, we don't suspect that we'll be too surprised about the results. Although as CeCe posts, if it comes up Mediterranean, we'll suspect the test and not Mom's research!

Thanks so much CeCe... you helped bring Mom and I down to the finish line on our DNA decision making! If you want to know more about DNA testing really check out her page of Resources  at http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/p/resources.html

Judy G. Russell blogging as The Legal Genealogist posted this fascinating report recently that helped define the lines between the major players in the DNA for genealogist field: http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/12/16/december-dna-doings/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheLegalGenealogist+%28The+Legal+Genealogist%29

So which company are Mom and I choosing? 23andMe. We like the price, but that said, it's not the deciding factor. We like the medical results that are included too. Mom is 94 and not too much worse for wear, with all major systems a "go", so I can't wait to see what the medical reports say about her! Personally I can't wait for the autosomal results and Mom wants to look at the a mitochondrial DNA results. It's a holiday gift we are each giving to ourselves;)

Photo of the day from the Archive:

All the daughters of Samuel Albert House 1832 - 1917 and
Mary Elizabeth Farrell House 1835 - 1919.

Mom's great grandmother, her mother's mother's mother:

just think of all the mitochondrial DNA there!

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2012/12/dna-me.html