It took awhile for ALL my dad's DNA results to come in on the Family Finder test, but they are now in.
Vocabulary lesson for those new or wondering about DNA: Family Tree DNA (FTDNA): The oldest and largest DNA testing company dedicated to genealogy. They have high standards and are also involved in national type standards, which they adhere to. These are only some of the reasons that the Azores DNA project is housed with FTDNA. Family Finder: A DNA test for autosomal DNA. All your lines. Autosomal DNA: Imagine this. We all have 4 grandparents. Let's use a deck of cards to represent each one: Clubs, spades, hearts, and diamonds. We get half our DNA from our father and half from our mother. Our father got half from his mom and half from his dad. Same goes for our mom. So, theoretically, we should be 25% of each grandparent. However, DNA is a kind of recombining or shuffling of DNA. So if we take our deck of cards and shuffle them, that's like the DNA recombining. Keep half the deck and discard half. Then shuffle that half again. Keep half and discard half. Now look at the cards. Do you have 25% clubs, 25% hearts, 25% spades, and 25% diamonds? Probably not. That's kind of what happens with DNA as it is passed down each generation. Why I tested my dad: I have only half of his genes and 25% of each of his parents (in theory, that is. I may phycially have 20% from one and 30% from the other). My dad has roughly 50% from each parent (or 48 - 52% each parent). So I tested his DNA because he has more of the previous generations. The results: Population Finder: This tells you on a large scale what percentages you are: African (there are subgroups), American (Central or South American subgroups only), East Asian, European (no Portuguese data in their sample), Middle Eastern, Oceania, or South Asian. My dad, who is half Portuguese and half American tested out to be 100% European, give or take 0.01%. So I think it's pretty safe to say that within the last 5 to 7 generations, there are no surprises in his tree. However, since the geneticists that study populations have no Portuguese in their sample, my dad's sub-European group is French! I know his American half is made out of lines that are heavy British surnames. FTDNA does state that Population Finder is in beta testing. As the geneticists study more populations and add that data to their samples, I'm sure my dad's subgroup will change as FTDNA updates that database. Family Finder Matches: I was pretty sure I wasn't going to have any Portuguese matches with my dad, as not many Portuguese people have had this test yet. I did get a couple of matches on his American side. It takes some doing though and a pedigree that you can look at. My dad has a 2-great Bolton ancestor. Once the other person posted Bolton, I knew that is where the match was. All we had to do was share our Bolton lines and find the name of the common ancestor. The disappointment was cousin Charles. He has Damrons and my dad's great-grandma was a Damron. Their common ancestors were born in the 1750s. I was hoping there was enough DNA from the 1750s - 1760s that lasted until the 1930s when my dad and cousin Charles were born. 180-something years. And the Damron married his first cousin, so I was really hoping that there was enough DNA material to last that many generations. I guess not with these two. Either that or someone's Damron pedigree is wrong. But with the Damron clan, I don't think so. There's pretty good research with them, so I think that there just wasn't quite enough genetic material that got passed down to these two men. However, my mom's DNA had a match that went back 140 years. Again, I have my mom's Gedcom up on her page and once I saw the other person post their surnames, I knew where the match was. Another neat feature: Once I see the match, I can go to the Chromosome Browser and "see" exactly where on the chromosome they match. My mom matches this cousin on a big chunk of chromosome 11 and a little bit on chromosome 15. Funny about my mom: She's from the Ozarks of Missouri. Lived right on the state line. She crossed the street and she was in Arkansas! Her lines are heavy Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. Or so I thought. Her Population Finder? 90% European (subgroup the British Isles, which is what I suspected). The other 10%? Middle Eastern! Time to reexamine her genealogy! Cheri Mello Listowner, Azores-Gen Researching: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
