The Simple Way to Understand Genetic Genealogy Tests, Part 2

In part one of this series we discussed mitochondrial DNA and how it mutates (changes) so slowly that there are almost no changes over genealogical time periods, which would be the last 700 years when surnames and vital records have been commonly maintained.

However, the y-chromosome does mutate much more frequently. In fact if you are looking at 67 markers on the y-chromosome, the mutation rate is about 100 times the rate of mutation of the mitochondrial DNA.

If you wish to think of these markers as a hand of cards, about one changes in each four times the cards are dealt. However, an easier way to visualize these changes is to imagine a slot machine with 67 wheels turning, not the three wheels on the machine illustrated. Only about every 4 times you pulled the lever would you get a change in one wheel—corresponding to a marker on the y-chromosome. You would be pretty much guaranteed a change with 9 pulls of the lever.

Not only that, the change would be such that it could easily be seen as the offspring of the original!

For this reason, y-DNA testing is the most widely used genetic test for genealogy purposes. We know that males carry their father’s same y-chromosome, with the occasional one-mutation change.

This property of the y-chromosome allows us to see which men are related to each other within a genealogical time frame and how closely they are likely related along their paternal line. It is of great use to establish lines of descent when records are not available that accurately trace the movements and offspring of our ancestors. However, it requires a sample from a male, and samples (and hopefully genealogies) from other men who turn out to be related.

Lalia Wilson for the Taylor surname project

Beginning Steps to using Family Finder or Autosomal DNA Tests

We are getting queries and getting results with the new Family Finder test available from Family Tree DNA.  There are many benefits to using Family Finder.  One is to confirm how collatoral branches of families link together.  This will become quite useful to the Taylor project over time.  Even today we have "matches" where we can confirm that two or more individuals with different pedigrees have "related" DNA, but we do not know from the y-DNA or the paper trail exactly where the lines converge into a common ancestor.


With Family Finder we should be able to see where two (or more) lines converge if it is within the last seven generations.  This is because Family Finder works best with relationships at the 5th cousin or closer range. 


One of the steps in using Family Finder, other than submitting a sample, is to provide a list of surnames in your family line.  I have done this for my direct line and will include it below as an example.  Since the test goes out to fifth cousins, ideally you will go out to your seventh generation in lineage.  I have a couple of gaps, but most of my other 5 times great-grandparents are included.  Some of the surnames are duplicated, so that reduces the number and for some I give alternate spellings.

• 
  
  Augustus
• 
  
  Barteaux/Berteaux
• 
  
  Beall/Bell
• 
  
  Born
• 
  
  Bright/Brecht
• 
  
  Cassell
• 
  
  Crockwell
• 
  
  Dickerson
• 
  
  Foster
• 
  
  Gaston
• 
  
  Glover
• 
  
  Harbaugh
• 
  
  Hinton
• 
  
  Hockersmith
• 
  
  Hutt
• 
  
  Jackson
• 
  
  Johnson
• 
  
  LeCain
• 
  
  Leonard
• 
  
  Lingenfelter
• 
  
  Lockwood
• 
  
  Madden
• 
  
  McDonald
• 
  
  Mead(e)
• 
  
  Moore
• 
  
  Perry
• 
  
  Pope
• 
  
  Pulliam
• 
  
  Rice
• 
  
  Ritchie
• 
  
  Robinson
• 
  
  Ryerson
• 
  
  Scott
• 
  
  Simon
• 
  
  Smith
• 
  
  Spence
• 
  
  Springer
• 
  
  Starratt
• 
  
  Stone
• 
  
  Taylor
• 
  
  Vail
• 
  
  Wheat
• 
  
  Whitman

 Assembling that list of surnames will be vital to matching records--documented paper records--when you get a Family Finder match.  It's time to start your own list!

Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project

A Model Letter to Promote the Taylor Project

Hi Fellow Taylors!



Whenever I run into a new Taylor in my life, I tell them about the Taylor project. It's hard to explain in a simple soundbite, and sometimes I'm less than successful. So I met yet another Taylor Tuesday evening, and got his e-mail and sent him this letter. It is adapted from the letter we are now sending to anyone who contacts the project, without yet being a member. I recommend you take it and modify it to your needs. I'm wondering, myself, if it would be too OCD to carry copies in my purse to hand out...



See letter below.



Lalia

~~~~~~~~~

Dear...



Here is information about the Taylor DNA project, hosted by FTDNA (Family Tree DNA). It allows you and the rest of us find our ancestral lines. Our Taylor Family Genes project posts the DNA results and family trees for members of the project. The public is welcome to view our public page, http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~taylorydna, and to explore the FTDNA websites--which together have a wealth of information about genetic genealogy and about the Taylor project.



To become a member, you'll need to go to FTDNA, http://www.ftdna.com/, and click on the "Products" tab at the top of the page and scroll down to the list of tests, then order a kit. There are many products available so we recommend our new members purchase the 37 DNA marker test (or the 67) because when you do get a match, it is easier to zoom in on the generation in which a common ancestor lived. These kits are for men. For Taylor women with no male Taylor to be tested, you have the option of following your maternal line, through testing mtDNA, or testing autosomal DNA, through the new Family Finder test. These two tests are also available to males.



Once your kit is turned in for processing there's about a 1 month waiting period for your results to come back. You can join the Taylor surname project at that time and we will request that you send your family tree to be posted on the site. Once your markers are in, FTDNA will post them and send you a certificate with all the data.



We hope this has given you the information to get you started. We look forward to you joining the 350 Taylors already participating in the project, who currently are sorted into about 35 family groups (i.e. related markers) and a number of "singles" awaiting family matches.

Newly Available Technique at FTDNA

Greetings,

Family Tree DNA has announced to current members that they can do autosomal testing of their DNA. This new test is called Family Finder by FTDNA. So here's a quick explanation of what that means. If you are a member of a surname project, such as the Taylor project, you have had y-DNA tested. This is the Y-Chromosome which is inherited from father to son throughout history. The minor changes that occur in that chromosome happen such that over generations family lines separate. Y-DNA is extremely useful to determine one's patrilineal lineage.

Similarly mt-DNA is testing the genetic material that comes only from one's mother. She got it from her mother and so on back in history. Mitochondrial DNA mutates more slowly than y-DNA, making it less useful in following one's ancestors in historical time, but more useful, perhaps, for deep ancestral investigation.

Autosomal DNA is the DNA in the 22 chromosomes that do not include the final 23rd chromosome that determines whether we are male or female. Thus the remaining 22 chromosomes have genetic pieces from all our ancestors, not limited to our father's direct paternal line or our mother's direct maternal line.

Family Tree DNA proposes to test your sample, should you request the test, and compare it with their database of samples. They assert that with this test you can locate genetic relatives in the database from as far removed as 5th cousins. This would include relatives unknown to you, who may have been lost to your version of your combined family history. While the new autosomal testing will be administered separately from the surname project to which you belong, it will provide useful information that may enhance your knowledge of your family tree. See the quote below from the FTDNA website:

"Surname projects can use Family Finder to better define branches in a family tree. By using Family Finder testing, close Y-chromosome and mt-DNA matches without traditional records may be assigned to a pedigree with greater confidence. Even more exciting, surname projects may now bring female cousins into the project as additional evidence."

Lalia Wilson for the Taylor Surname Project