Join MoCoGenSo’s DNA Discussion Group and tell us about your ventures in the genetic genealogy field. Or just listen. Or ask questions. Come as you are, but popcorn allowed only in bleachers.
Topic: DNA Discussions Meeting – via Zoom
Time: Wednesday Aug 5, 2020 12:00 PM PDT
Click to Join Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89718235118
Meeting ID: 897 1823 5118
” It is a well-known fact that reality has a liberal bias.” – Stephen Colbert
Lots of things made the news in July 2020.
<:> Jeff Bezos said he would double any Bitcoin sent to him! So did Warren Buffet, Barack Obama and Bill Gates. A 17 year old kid will probably be found guilty, and then hired since he is obviously well skilled in Twitter tricks!
<:> Gedmatch was hacked so that, temporarily, all kits were eligible for search by police! And unreal kits appeared. Who was hurt? The owners of Gedmatch, Verogen, Inc., were a bit embarrassed. But it doesn’t seem that any real people were hurt. (I doubt we ever figure who was responsible. Hopefully lots of unsolved cases get solved this year!)
<:> MyHeritage users are possibly being targeted by phishing emails. If you get an email from ‘info@myheritaqe . com” instead of “info@myheritage . com” (note the “q” instead of “g”), hit delete quick! This actually could be quite dangerous, do watch out for MyHeritage emails that want you to click on something.
<:> And big noisy news came from AncestryDNA. They are making changes again, some of which lots of people do not like! More on that later.
<:> July was so exciting that the Daughters of the American Revolution decided to wait until August 1st to quietly announce that they are beginning to accept autosomal DNA as evidence of lineage submitted with DAR membership!
CLICK HERE to see the announcement on their Blog. What a deal. Of course, there are gotcha stuff in the details. It only works for the first 3 generations, and only when traditional documentation does not exist or cannot be obtained due to sealed records. I need to be honest, I haven’t read the fine print, but this could be quite exciting news for adoptees and children of adoptees. If you are considering joining the DAR, be sure to read more about this on your own.
SAR has accepted autosomal DNA for a while. When I Googled SAR DNA, I discovered that they require the cM segment size to be 7 cM or more! And you have to have 30 cM or more composed of 7 cM segments! Leave to the SAR to complicate things. Hopefully we will get details from a Daughter or Son on this “quiet” news.
First off, if you use Chrome with the extension MedBetter, please uninstall MedBetter. Then Google it to find out why.
The changes:
1) More accurate number of shared segments (goes live in early August)
2) Ability to see the length of the longest shared segment (goes live in mid August)
3) Distant DNA matches must share 8 cM or higher (goes live in late August)
Please note the difference between the SAR and AncestryDNA. They should have discussed their differences first! Not very empathetic of AncestryDNA!
Hopefully some of you will join us at the next DNA Discussion Group and explain these Newsy items more clearly!
” If you place a humidifier and dehumidifier in the same room, you can wirelessly transmit water!” – Reddit
This statement was made on Dec. 22, 1933 during an afternoon gathering at the residence of Florence Baker, Granddaughter of the first Mayor of Salinas, CA. The statement caused discussion among the group which led them on that day to establish the Monterey County Historical Society. This past, Present and future of the Monterey County Historical Society (MCHS) is as fascinating as the collections it stewards. James Perry, Director of MCHS will take us upon a journey spanning over 8 decades chronicling community efforts toward the collection and preservation of our regional history. He will review the history of MCHS, the acquisition of the historic Jose Eusebio Boronda Adobe, present project development initiatives and future build-out plans of the Boronda Adobe History Center. In addition, James will review the critical need for historical organizations in our region to come together as partners in order to assure that the past continues to be preserved for future generations.
James Perry has a M.A. in Museum Studies with an emphasis on Collections Management and Public History. He has served as Curator of Collections and Exhibits for the Valdez Museum and Historical Archive in Valdez, Alaska as well as the Museum of the Aleutians in Dutch Harbor, AK. Locally, he has served as consultant to various organizations for special project initiatives, including the City of Carmel-by-the sea, the Royal Presidio Chapel and Missions Carmel, San Juan Bautista, Soledad, and San Antonio de Padua. He has served the Monterey County Historical Society in various capacities since 1990, and is currently the Executive Director.
The Zoom meeting will start at 7:00 pm sharp. For security reasons, the meeting will be by invitation only. If you are not a member and wish to attend, send an email with your email address to our Membership VP, Marilyn Ruccello .
If you are not familiar with Zoom, click here.
”The older I get, the better I look in a mask!” – pandemic 2020
In 1984, July was proclaimed as National Ice Cream Month and National Ice Cream Day was declared to be the third Sunday in July.
This year July 19th is the day to splurge! Treat yourself, have a scoop (or two). This year especially, it seems to be deserving.
🙂
AncestryDNA is making some changes to their matching system and will be updating their database in the coming days. Debbie Kennett, at her scholarly blog called Cruwys news has outlined the changes from her viewpoint. You can visit her blog from the top at
A direct link to this particular post will always be found:
Quoting from the end of Debbie’s current post:
“In other news AncestryDNA’s corporate page has been updated to show that they have now tested 18 million people. AncestryDNA now have by far the largest genetic genealogy database in the world. 23andMe is the next largest with a database of 12 million people. MyHeritage have 4 million people in their database, while FamilyTreeDNA have tested over two million people.”
“People began to fixate on individual liberties without understanding that one of the most fundamental civil liberties in the US is the right to health – the right to stay alive.” – Lee Riley
From Genealogy’s Star / by James Tanner
Many thanks to genealogysstar.blogspot.com
Go to the great blog for a deeper explanation of these rules.
” You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan
is a great website that has lots of tools, most are usable with a free account. We have discussed parts of it here before.
Last week at our DNA Discussion group meeting, we had show-n-tells about various parts of DNA Painter by Terry Jackson and myself. I enjoyed Terry’s display of the new WATO Beta package so much that I decided to subscribe to the site so I could use it. A subscription only costs $5 per month, a bit less if you opt for 1 year.
The WATO Beta lets you upload a Gedcom to build your Wato tree! The Beta includes birthdate and gender as part of the logic. And there is an option to generate hypothesis. Watch out though, this option tends to create more hypothesis than are realistic. You can easily delete pointless ones!
Because I am a subscriber now, I can build multiple Wato trees. For the puzzle I am working on, I have created Wato trees for multiple potential ancestors (they are related in that their descendants join somewhere). Hopefully they will all point to the same hypothesis.
You can read the DNA Geek blog post about this Wato Beta update: CLICK HERE.
For other reviews about DNA Painter and Wato, check out these documents recommended by Terry Jackson:
Leah Larkin’s lecture at Rootstech 2020
CLICK HERE.
Andrew Millard’s presentation at Genetic Genealogy Ireland in 2019
CLICK HERE.
Video tutorial by Andy Lee
CLICK HERE.
Jonny Perl’s Legacy Family Tree Webinar June 3, 2020
CLICK HERE.
” If I had listened to customers, I would have gone out looking for faster horses.” – Henry Ford
Roberta Estes has written a useful post on her blog DNAeXplained about how to download a GEDCOM from your Ancestry.com tree and then uploading it to other sites; includes uploading to FTDNA, MyHeritage and GedMatch.
This is a very good how-to if you have never done this. See the post here:
Download Your Ancestry Tree and Upload It Elsewhere for Added Benefit
Jo Ann Robinson, Director of the local Monterey California Family History Center, reminded us the other day about a service provided by the Salt Lake City Family History Library. Quoting from her:
In these challenging times, the Family History Library in Salt Lake City is making it a bit easier for you to find your ancestors. They are offering free, 20-minute consultations to help you with your personal research questions, using Microsoft Teams for remote meetings.
Click Here to find out how to use this service: FHL WIKI
The Wiki article provides videos about using Microsoft Teams. It is pretty easy. If you are having trouble with a persnickety ancestor, give it a try.
See other ways you can get assistance at the: Family History Guide
