DNA Discussion Group Meets on Wednesday July 1 at Noon via Zoom

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is one of the most useful “tools” in the genetic genealogy arena. If you are really interesting in using DNA as a way to help grow your ancestral tree, then you need to learn to use parts of this site. Many/most of it’s tools are free.

There are Trees, Tools, and Chromosome Mapping!

Our DNA Discussion group has decided to concentrate on DNA Painter during the next few sessions. Join us Wednesday, July 1st as Terry Jackson shares some of his experiences at DNA Painter. We will continue into future sessions for as long as it takes….

Remember, this is a DNA discussion group for all levels. Come join the crowd.

The Zoom meeting will start at 12:00 noon sharp. For security reasons, the meeting invitation will be by posted on this site the day before the meeting. If you are already a “follower” here, you will receive the invitation by email. If not, you can return here in the afternoon before the meeting.

If you are not familiar with Zoom, click here.

”Did you know that you share at least one ancestor with everyone who belongs to the same haplogroup as you?” – 23andMe

Irish Archives – free webinar

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Free BCG-Sponsored Webinar
Tuesday, June 16, 8 p.m. Eastern
“Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives”
by David Ouimette, CG, CGL

An enormous variety of Irish manuscripts tell the stories of our ancestors. Parish registers, census returns, Griffith’s Valuation, and civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths provide a great beginning for Irish family history research. However, a careful search of record repositories in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom reveals many more Irish archives of great worth. These include collections of estate papers, tenement and townland valuations, valuation revision books, tithe applotments, poor law registers, vestry minutes, ordinance survey maps, deeds and memorials, National School registers, militia lists, electoral rolls, Petty Sessions court registers, Irish Reproductive Loan Fund records, outrage papers, and much more. This presentation highlights the value of these Irish records, where they are found, and fruitful research strategies.

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) in conjunction with Legacy Family Tree will present “Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives” by David Ouimette, CG, live and free to the public, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, June 16, 2020. In order to accommodate those who might have schedule conflicts, the webinar may be accessed at no charge for one week after the broadcast on our partner website Legacy Family Tree Webinars (https://familytreewebinars.com/).

David Ouimette, CG, CGL, manages Content Strategy at FamilySearch, prioritizing records of genealogical value worldwide for digital preservation and online publication. David has researched in hundreds of archives in over sixty countries spanning all continents. A Trustee for the Board for Certification of Genealogists and former board member of the National Genealogical Society, he authored Finding Your Irish Ancestors: A Beginner’s Guide.

President LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LLM, CG, CGL, says, “Every month the Board for Certification of Genealogists offers a new webinar as part of an ongoing series that supports our mission to provide education for family historians. These webinars are presented by certified associates and offer a quality genealogical educational experience. The board promotes excellence in research and working to standards in an ethical manner.”

Register for “Genealogical Treasures in Irish Archives” by David Ouimette, CG, CGL, before June 16, 2020. BCG receives a commission if you register by clicking our affiliate link: http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2619.  To see and register for the full list of BCG-sponsored webinars for 2020, visit the BCG blog SpringBoard at: https://bcgcertification.org/bcg-2020-free-webinars/.

Off The Charts – June 17

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Off the Charts…on Zoom (by invitation only)
Wednesday, June 17, 1:30-3:30
The first hour will involve updates and sharing by the members.  The second hour will feature our Speaker, Gary Nolan, THE POLISH CONNECTION:  Tracing the Polish Origins of my Orphaned Mother: Helen Anastasia Kolasa..
Anyone interested in joining and receiving the Zoom invitations can email Kathy Nielsen at   knielsen68A@gmail.com

DNA Painter WATO Update

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DNA Painter is a great website that has lots of tools, most are usable with a free account. We have discussed parts of it here before and have had demos of it in the DNA SIG.

The website The DNA Geek just brought it to our attention that the DNA Painter tool called WATO (What Are The Odds) has a version 2 in beta test that can take an imported Gedcom file! Wow, this will make building the WATO Tree much easier. And birth & death dates will automatically be pulled in.

You can read the DNA Geek article: CLICK HERE.

Or, of course, just go to DNA Painter itself, go to the TOOLS page and look for the WATO Beta V2 link. 

“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.” – John Lennon

Refreshing the 23andMe Tree

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23andMe builds a nice tree using DNA matches which can be augmented yourself with people who have not tested. The tree is usually small, and, except for your additions and the recently deceased, only has living people. The tree is fun, since it is DNA driven! There are issues with it which we have discussed in our DNA SIG meetings, but most people like it.

Kitty Cooper writes a great blog about “genealogy, genetics and gardening”. Kitty Cooper is an American bridge player and genetic genealogist from New York City. I enjoy her posts and her blog has a permanent place in my Feedly sites. See her blog CLICK HERE .

She just wrote another posting about the 23andMe tree! Most of the post is interesting personal views, but the thing that caught my eye was the part about recalculating the tree. 23andMe doesn’t include a simple push-button method of refreshing the tree, Kitty shows how to do it!

See the whole posting here: CLICK HERE.

Be sure to save a picture of the tree with your additions before you try this! 😊

“It’ll all work out in the end; if it isn’t worked out, it ain’t the end.” – Betsy Johnson

Y-DNA

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My last DNA test at FTDNA was the Big-Y test in 2018. At that time, the Big-Y was the Big-Y500. Now they have the Big-Y700. The 500 vs 700 has to do with how many STR markers are included. This Y-DNA test is the most expensive genetic test you can get except for a full genome test. I figured I was done doing Y-DNA tests after my Big-Y500. The test pulled me out to haplogroup I-A13294 !

I sent my BAM file to YFULL, got positioned in their tree and have been simply waiting for more paternal line cousins to take a test to make my Private Variants useful, that is, to form another extension in my tree.

Along comes Roberta Estes again. She wrote another post BIG Y ANALYSIS last week, this time about Big-Y DNA analysis.

She makes it sound really useful for me to upgrade my Big-Y500 to the Big-Y700. I’m worried that I might be a sucker, aka addicted, to DNA tests. I really need someone to help me decide. Here we go again, waiting for sales, perhaps on Father’s Day or the 4th of July. Perhaps someone can come to the next DNA Discussion video conference and give us all a bit of guidance!

Charlie… read the above post and then tell me what to do! 😊

“DNA has shown that the ancestors you think you have aren’t necessarily the ancestors you actually have.” – young wives tale

Ancestry.com is blocking Genetic Affairs

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I finally opened my Genetic Affairs account last week, ran a few Pedigree charts and reported here about it! And then, Ancestry.com told Genetic Affairs to STOP.  My timing is terrible. Seriously, see these excerpts from the email they sent to me.

As some of you may have already heard, last Friday I (Evert-Jan Blom, founder of Genetic Affairs) obtained a cease and desist letter from ZwillGen, the legal representatives from Ancestry. In short, Ancestry wants me to stop offering the AutoCluster analyses that employ Ancestry data.

I was able to get one Auto Cluster run at Ancestry completed before the plug was pulled! I also ran two at FTDNA, but preferred the results from Ancestry.

Presumably Ancestry is unhappy with the things Genetic Affairs provides. Or they are developing something similar themselves.

So, what will happen tomorrow? Or next week. Tune in for more news. If you know more answers, please let us all know.