A Suggestion for Genealogists Using 23andMe for DNA Testing

I am really liking 23andMe.com for DNA testing. I've talked about what the site offers in previous posts for anyone who wants to know more: 

Serendipity Strikes and a Tombstone is Found 

DNA Results Showing Native American and East Asian Heritage

23andMe DNA Results In!

Quite a few people from 23andMe have been contacting me over the past month and that's great. But I administer three different profiles on 23andMe - mine, my husband's and my brother's. And when an invitation to share Genomes comes to me, it does not tell me which Genome profile is being requested. This is an automatic feature on 23andMe and it's wonderful because it's easy. Too easy perhaps. All a person need do is click on a link which sends an automatic request to another individual.  But it would be helpful if the requester also clicked on the link to "send a message".

You would think it would be a simple matter to go to each of the 3 profiles I admin and see if the sender of the invitation matches any of us. But it's not. People often use nicknames on their profiles rather than their real name, so a search under the real name can come up empty.

So after much wasted time and frustration on my part I thought I'd offer a suggestion to anyone using 23andMe. If you are sending an invite  to one of your DNA matches to share Genomes, PLEASE consider also sending a quick message. That message could simply say "Hi xxx I match you and would like to share genomes" If the sender included the name of the match (me, my husband or my brother) I would be so much happier! 

Yesterday was particularly aggravating as I received such an invite. I checked each profile for the name of the sender. I searched his full name. No matches. I searched his first name only. No matches. I searched his surname. No matches. Then I found his username and searched under that but nothing popped up. This took me 30 minutes because it's a bit slow for each profile to load. 

 In frustration I wrote directly to him and gave him the names of the profiles I admin. I asked which one he matched. His response was that he didn't match any of us, he just thought maybe, since he and I shared the FINN surname, we might be related. He may be right but it would have been much more efficient (and friendly) if he'd written a personal message saying he had a FINN ancestor in such and such a location at such and such a time. And did we connect? I could have saved us both a lot of trouble and time as my FINN line is from mid 1700s in Kent England. His is not. 

 So genealogists, be kind and write a brief explanatory message to anyone you are trying to connect with on 23andMe. Actually, let me take this one step further - be kind and write a brief explanatory message every time you contact another genealogist, no matter what service you are using.

  

DNA Results Showing Native American and East Asian Heritage

My  23andMe.com Ancestry results came in last week. I was fascinated by the sub-regional breakdown of my lineage. The chart above shows that I have 18% British and Irish, 1.4% French and German, 71.7% non-specific Northern European, 8.7% non-specific European, .1% East Asian and the rest unspecified.

What surprised me was no Native American showing for me (it is confirmed that I have Native American heritage through a Mohawk ancestor, Ots-Toch born ca 1622 in what is now New York state), and that I have a small bit of East Asian.  However it's important to note that one test isn't the final answer, especially when searching for confirmation of heritage from several generations back.

So it doesn't concern me at all that my Native American heritage doesn't show in the  23andMe.com results. The raw data from my brother's DNA test on Family Tree DNA also did not show our Native American heritage until I had it analyzed by Professor MacDonald, who is conducting his own study on DNA and has a different set of algorithms for providing results.  Then it showed my brother as having .7% Native American heritage.

And the icing on the cake is that my brother's DNA test from  23andMe.com also showed our Native American heritage at .7% (with East Asian at .1% just as mine is)

 

My brother's test from 23andMe also showed .7% Iberian which is the region of Spain and surrounding areas. We know from his raw data that he has a rare mutation which is known to have occurred when a group of Basque men went up to help build Hadrian's Wall between Scotland and England.  So that fits with the finding of Iberian heritage.

I still have a lot of reading to do to fully understand my DNA results (and my brother's) but it is an exciting and interesting adventure!

23andMe DNA Results In!

It was an exciting day last Thursday. My  23andMe DNA results were in. I had previously sent for 3 DNA kits - one of each for hubs, my brother and me. So when the email arrived from 23andMe I had the fun of going through all 3 sets of results. Phew! I won't pretend I understood it all but it is fascinating.

We are all going to have to do some more reading on DNA to understand it all, so I concentrated instead on the health results. It's pretty impressive. 23andMe DNA shows if you have any at-risk or higher than average risk factors, which of course does not mean you are going to get that specific disorder but might just make you more aware of watching for symptoms.

Our reports showed if we were carriers of certain disorders and if we might have sensitivities to certain drugs or treatments. I learned that both my brother and I have bitter taste receptors that hubs does not have.  All in all the health and medical reports were quite detailed and provided our individual risk % compared to the average. I'm still going over them!

One item I noticed this morning is a printable genetic health summary report which 23andMe suggests might be shared with a health-care provider. Great idea! The site explains it as

This overview includes brief summaries of your 23andMe DNA results for:

• diseases for which you are at greater than average genetic risk,
• heritable diseases for which you carry one or more genetic variants (carrier status),
• and drugs to which you are likely to have an atypical response based on genetics.

There is also detailed information on each disease that is labelled as greater than average genetic risk and suggestions of life-style changes that might reduce the risk.

Of course there were the standard paternal and maternal Haplogroup determinations and so on but I'll talk about those in a future blog post. Not all of our details are in for this part of the testing. Let me end with the amusing finding that my brother's has 2.6% Neanderthal DNA, hubs has 2.8% and I have 3% which puts me in the 86th percentile! Wow I can't believe I'm more Neanderthal than my brother but genetics doesn't lie.

And now I'm off to do more reading on DNA

Women's History Month: Have You Tested Your mtDNA?

My friend and fellow Blogger Lisa Alzo has a Meme for March - Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women's History Month

I encourage readers to join in. Lisa has some terrific blogging prompts for each day of Women's History Month.  

I will write my own stories each Friday from the 5 prompts I came up with at Celebrate Women's History Month! Time for Stories

I also plan to participate in as many of Lisa's 31 Prompts as I can! I hope you'll join in with your own:

This is my third prompt for Women's History Month:

3. Make a list of your direct female line ancestors starting with your mother.  Write about your mtDNA findings. If you haven't been tested yet, order an mtDNA kit!  There are several companies offering DNA tests - Family Tree DNA, Ancestry DNA, 23andMe.com

You can read about my mtDNA results at mtDNA Test Results Arrived!

I am still struggling to understand my mtDNA results and hope that when my 23andMe test results arrive I will have a better grasp on what it all means.

23andMe DNA Test Kits Arrive

My 23andMe DNA kits arrived yesterday. I ordered three - one for my brother (for Y-DNA), one for me (for mtDNA) and one for my husband (for Y-DNA)

We've already had our DNA tested at Family Tree DNA but we wanted to try another company and see what kind of results we get. 23andMe focuses on genetic health issues and that's intriguing. But I'm also interested in their

Previously I have written about my brother's Y-DNA results from Family Tree DNA
at Family Finder Test Results in for my Brother's DNA! His Predicted Haplogroup is I-M223.  Quoting from the website, this Haplogroup
"...has its roots in northern France. Today it is found most frequently within Viking / Scandinavian populations in Northwest Europe and extends at low frequencies into Central and Eastern Europe."
 
It's been really interesting reading up on this and finding out more about our McGinnis paternal line ethnic origins, especially since my brother's Y-DNA showed a mutation that scientists know exactly where and when it occurred! Turns out it was around the time Hadrian's Wall was built between England and Scotland and his gene mutation is known to have come from a group of Basque at this time.

I also had an exciting update on our results for Native American heritage, which you can read about at Update on DNA Testing for Native American Heritage

My mtDNA results from FT arrived and I wrote about those at mtDNA Test Results Arrived!
My Haplogroup is J2a1a1a2  but I still don't completely understand my full results.

I'm hoping 23andMe will provide more interesting details. 

Follow along with me as I get ready to provide the test sample and mail it back to 23andMe

Update on DNA Testing for Native American Heritage

Recently I talked about DNA and Native American Heritage. I'm a recognized Metis in Canada. I have my official Metis card. But I hoped for confirmation of my Native American heritage through DNA testing.


Through the kindness of a stranger on an online forum I learned that a Professor with the University of Chicago does in-depth DNA analysis of individuals' raw data to determine your ethnic origins.


Well I'm very pleased to say that the Professor's computerized analysis of my brother's Family Tree DNA raw data gave the answer I'd hoped for - he has .7% Native American heritage.

Along with his analysis, Professor MacDonald sent a computer generated map, a bar graph, a scatter graph and a 5 page explanation of how to read and understand the generated pages. 

I also ordered an upgrade to my brother's Y-DNA test on Family Tree DNA  for D9S919 which was suggested by Roberta Estes in her blog post Proving Native American Ancestry Using DNA .

Since I was advised to consult the FamilyTree DNA Help desk for answers, I wrote to them on January 14th.  My question was simple:

I've had  my brother's Y-DNA tested (also Family Finder for him) at Family Tree DNA.  What test or upgrade do I order to test for Native American heritage?

Yesterday I received a detailed response which began

"Any of our tests can potentially reveal Native American ancestry. The test results will show, depending on the type of test you choose, whether or not the line you are testing is Native American in origin or if you have a detectable percentage of Native American ancestry (>3%)."

The Help Desk went to provide a detailed explanation of the test for Y-DNA, MtDNA and Family Finder

Interesting enough, Family Tree DNA help desk did not suggest I order the test for Marker D9S919 which is available on their site.  I'm not sure why this wasn't suggested, but I'm not an expert and can only go by what Roberta and other online websites indicate. 

For instance, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy states:

"D9S919 is a STR marker located on chromosome 9. It was previously known as D9S1120 and under this name it was reported that an allele value of 9 was only found in the Americas and far eastern Asia. The presence of an allele value of 9 is therefore a strong indication of native american ancestry somewhere within a person's pedigree. This marker is available from Family Tree DNA."

Indeed it is. For a small fee of $15.00 I was able to order the test of this specific marker on the  Family Tree DNA website.

The Family Tree DNA help desk  explained that only the Family Finder test will give a breakdown of ethnic percentages found within the individual's overall genetic makeup, including Native American. Using the Family Finder test, it does not matter which line the Native American ancestry came from or whether or not that ancestor was male or female.

I had previously ordered Family Finder but it did not show our Native heritage - which was no surprise because Family Tree DNA pointed out that you must have 3% or more for the test to show your Native American heritage.

Help Desk provided a welcome explanation of the three tests that could determine Native American heritage but I am curious why they didn't advise me to order the $15.00 test for the D9S919 marker. My conclusion is that the onus is on the individual to explore and read everything he or she can find that might give the answers being sought. Or in other words, don't give up even if you hit a dead end! Keep looking for alternate answers. It's just like doing genealogy research.

DNA and Native American Heritage

I'm a recognized Metis in Canada. I have my official Metis card. But I have always wanted confirmation of my Native American heritage through DNA testing.

Now perhaps it is just me but for the life of me I cannot figure out on Family Tree DNA how to do this! I have my brother's Y-DNA testing done and have the Family Finder upgrade. I have my mtDNA done. I've been willing to pay for whatever upgrade or test I need. But what one?

I wrote to one of the partners in Family Tree DNA a week ago to ask for assistance. No response. I should add that I'm linked to him on Facebook and I've seen him online several times since I sent my message. I'm sure he's a busy guy but c'mon - a week goes by and he doesn't answer a customer and someone he's linked to on Facebook as a friend?

So on the weekend I posted on the Family Tree DNA Facebook page, and asked for advice.  Again my post was met with silence. No official response at all.  Thankfully one person responded and gave me advice and a contact name of someone not involved with FamilyTreeDNA who might be able to help. I plan to follow that up as soon as I figure out how to download my raw data from FTDNA site!

In the meantime Roberta Estes was recommended as the person to consult. She responded to me with a link to her blog post called Proving Native American Ancestry Using DNA According to Roberta I need to order an upgrade to test at D9S919. Her article went on to explain exactly how to order this upgrade on FTDNA. I am so impressed! That's the kind of help I like - a clear explanation and set of instructions that are easily followed.

So I've ordered the upgrade on my brother's DNA and on mine. We'll see what happens!

But I must add that I'm very disappointed in Family Tree DNA's lack of response to a customer. It's not only bad customer relations, it's bad marketing! I want to spend money with them and they are not bothering to help me do so.

Thank goodness for the willingness and kindness of strangers who jump in and try to help! 

St. Paul Cemetery in Oakville Missouri Cemetery Walk

Today's Cemetery Walk is the first of several videos of St. Paul Cemetery in Oakville Missouri

We have Bobby R. to thank for these photos as he accepted my "Give 15 Minutes" Challenge in October - to give 15 minutes once a month to take photos of tombstones in a local cemetery.

Bobby gave up more than 15 minutes and sent me a few hundred photographs of St. Paul Cemetery in Oakville Missouri. These will be going up on Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel as I complete them.

Challenge: Donate 15 Minutes of Your Time Each Month

Lorine in Cemetery

Did you know that in 15 minutes you can photograph 30 to 45 tombstones? That's right. 15 minutes. Yesterday hubs and I impulsively decided to stop and photograph tombstones in the United Church Cemetery in Hillsdale Ontario.

It was a frigid day - 3' C (39' F). It was windy which made it feel even colder. We weren't sure we could stay out long enough to photograph the entire cemetery even though it is small with only about 150 stones.

Hubs is much faster than me. I have some mobility issues and I use a cane. I can't walk as fast. But in 30 minutes we took 164 photos.  That's an hour for one person. That's almost 3 photos every minute.

Just think how many cemeteries could be photographed and put online if every genealogist donated 15 minutes of their time each week or even once a month! How many of us, no matter how busy, can't find an extra 15 minutes a month?

The Challenge

So here is my challenge to you:  

*Before October ends, drive to a local cemetery and spend 15 minutes photographing tombstones*

If you want to email them to me (olivetreegenealogy @ gmail . com)  I will create a Cemetery Walk video of your photos on the Olive Tree Genealogy Channel where everyone can view them. If you have another site you want to donate to, that's great too!  Find-A-Grave and a few other sites accept uploads of such photos.

If you haven't walked a cemetery to take photos of the tombstones, try it. You'll like it! Maybe you'll donate another 15 minutes of your time in November. And December. And January and..... you get the picture (pun intended)