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Free guide to DNA testing (for a few days only)

Dec12

Richard Hill is a very fine writer. I could not put down the story of his search for his biological parents, Finding Family: My Search for Roots and the Secrets in My DNA, which reads like a mystery novel.


He has put together an e-book, Guide to DNA Testing: How to Identify Ancestors, Confirm Relationships, and Measure Ethnic Ancestry through DNA Testing, available from Amazon, which is a very simple guide to personal DNA testing. Normally $.99, it is free through 12/16.

It will help you choose which test to take and why. It is only about 30 pages. It is not comprehensive but it does answer your basic questions. It is meant for those totally new to DNA testing not for the experienced. Although if you have tested, but still have many questions, they may be answered by this book.

This may also make a nice gift for relatives who are thinking of doing DNA testing.

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Cyber Monday Sales for DNA and Genealogy

Nov30

Cyber Monday used to be the day for online sales but most started last Thursday or Friday however I admit that I was too busy with family to pay much attention.

Ancestry’s sales will finish at midnight EST tomorrow, the end of Cyber Monday and they include 20% off AncestryDNA ($79). 11/28-12/1

Family Tree DNA has sales and mystery gifts until the end of December, see Roberta Estes’ post for more details: http://dna-explained.com/2014/11/25/family-tree-dna-holiday-sale-including-mystery-rewards-starts-now/

and Family Tree Magazine has all kinds of holiday sales, with an additional discount that is ending Cyber Monday: http://www.shopfamilytree.com/cyber-monday-deals

 

 

DNA matching changes at Ancestry.com

Nov21

All my favorite bloggers have posted good articles about the changes in the Ancestry.com DNA pages. I have put a list of them at the end of this post.

The improvement in Ancestry’s DNA matching has greatly reduced the total number of matches, which ran into the thousands for many of us. The theory is that their new algorithm has gotten rid of those matches that were unlikely to share a common ancestor in the genealogical time frame. I am hopeful. And the new DNA home page for a person is much nicer looking and more informative as you can see below.

NewAncestryDNAHomeSmll

Looking at how my brother with one Jewish grandparent has fared, all his 4th cousin Jewish matches (dozens of those) are gone. This is probably correct. The few that I have been in contact with are not recently related.

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Using Ashkenazi Jewish DNA to Find Family

Nov10

Reading about this holocaust survivor’s discovery of missing family via DNA had me crying –
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4589762,00.html – but it also got me thinking about how few jewish DNA success stories there are. Perhaps that is changing now that more people are testing.
A7734 on facebook
The screenshot at the left is from facebook page A7734 about Menachem’s search. It shows him and the genealogist who helped him, looking at the first picture of his parents he had ever seen.

Frankly, success stories with jewish DNA are rare.  I have none to report from my family. I emailed all my Ashkenazi researching friends to see if anyone had a good success story. Not very many are out there. If you have one, please send it along.

The endogamous nature of jewish DNA is part of the problem. Everyone looks like a close relative in the DNA matching. Another part of the problem is that so few Ashkenazim know their ancestors past their great-grandparents. Too many records were destroyed in WWII, among other problems researching.

In my experience, if an Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) DNA match is not showing as a 2nd cousin or better it is unlikely that you will find the relationship. An experienced Israeli researcher told me to ignore anyone without at least one long segment match of 23 cM.

Below are a few tips from search angel Gaye Tannenbaum who frequently works with AJ DNA.

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