It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd post a few things. First
off I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we had a great trip home to
KY. The weather cooperated for the drive from Maryland and we were able to
visit Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville KY for the (my) 1st time and
located the graves for my Grandfather (Earl Golden Carmack) and his parents
(Marquess Carmack, his wife Amanda, their daughter Eulalie, and Amanda's
sister Bettie Dearmond). If anyone wants pictures of the headstones just
let me know.
- I used to have a family tree posted on the
genealogy.com website. I
deleted this during the summer. The reason for this was that Ancestry
bought the site and was shutting it down so I didn't want to leave the file
there any longer. I have a public family tree on
Ancestry.com.
- I'm not sure what genealogy program most of you use. I started with
Family Tree Maker years ago but switched to Legacy Family Tree which I think
is superior. I especially don't like the newest version of Family Tree
Maker, Ancestry has made if very "unfriendly" as their focus is interfacing
to their website. But I'm sure it is no less functional and I would get
used to it but Legacy is far easier. My focus for the last several years
has been to "properly" document my sources and add the events, etc to show a
good timeline. I'm confident this will then be better organized and lead to
more focused research and discoveries. Jesse "Ann" is such a difficult brick
wall. By the way, Legacy has some great training videos to help learn to
use the software.
- Many of you know that I started the Carmack DNA project on
FTDNA.com many
years ago which is focused on Y-DNA which is only passed from father to son.
The membership is slowly growing and as of late we are seeing more and more
McCormick type surnames but as of yet no matches with Cornelius Carmack
(b1681) or any leads that might lead to Ireland or Scotland.
- Also on the DNA front I have taken the Autosomal DNA test on both
Ancestry.com and FTDNA.
A quick definition of Autosomal DNA testing for Genealogy:
Contained in the nucleus of each cell are twenty-three pairs of chromosomes.
Twenty-two of these matched pairs of chromosomes are called "autosomes,"
while the 23rd pair determines your sex (male or female). Autosomal DNA is
inherited from both parents, and includes random contributions from their
parents, grandparents, and so on. Therefore, your autosomes essentially
contain a complete genetic record, with all branches of your ancestry at
some point contributing a piece of your autosomal DNA.
Autosomal DNA tests can be used to search for relative connections along any
branch of your family tree. Unless the connection is so far back that the
shared DNA has essentially been eliminated through too many generations of
recombination, any autosomal match between two individuals indicates a
possible genetic connection. There is nothing in this test that will tell
you which branch of your family the match is on, however. Therefore, having
your parents, grandparents, cousins, and other family members tested will
help you to narrow down potential matches.
Close relatives will share large fragments of DNA from a common ancestor.
Connections arising from more distant relatives will result in smaller
fragments of shared DNA. The smaller the fragment of shared autosomal DNA,
generally the further back the connection in your family tree. Even these
tiny segments of shared DNA can potentially hold a clue, however! The way in
which your individual DNA has recombined through the generations also means
that you may no longer carry DNA from a particular ancestor. Distant
relatives often share no genetic material at all, although it is also
possible to match an individual through a very distant ancestor.
The average amount of autosomal DNA shared with a relative decreases with
each successive generation. Percentages are also approximate - for example a
sibling may share anywhere from 47-52% of their DNA in common.
.50% (parents and siblings)
.25% (grandparents, aunts/uncles, half-siblings, double first-cousins)
.12.5% (first cousins)
.6.25% (first cousins, once removed)
.3.125 (second cousins, first cousins twice removed)
.0.781% (third cousins)
.0.195% (fourth cousins)
The chance that an autosomal DNA test will accurately detect a relative
decreases with the distance of the relationship. For example, most autosomal
DNA ancestry tests predict an accuracy rate of 90-98% when detecting a match
with a 3rd cousin, but around a 45-50% chance of detecting a match with a
fourth cousin. Depending on the DNA recombination, however, an autosomal
test may sometimes accurately detect more distant cousins (fifth cousins and
beyond). Double descent from a common distant ancestor (e.g. marriage of
second cousins) may potentially increase the chance of a match.
My understanding is that this test is useful for going back to all of your
16 ggg grandparents (4 generations).
Of course, as with all DNA tests the results are compared to others that
have been tested. By the way, the test only involves spitting in a tube, no
blood). I have found many matches and some have led to either me finding
more information (non Carmack so far) or the person I matched with finding
more information.
This has been very interesting and I would highly recommend it as it may
lead to solving some of your brick walls, wife lines, etc. Both FTDNA and
Ancestry have sales and currently
Ancestry.com and
FTDNA.com have a sale for
$89. Which site do I recommend? That is difficult to answer as both have
advantages. FTDNA has better tools for analysis and getting better but I
think their database (for this test) is not as large as Ancestry's (yet).
However, Ancestry doesn't have a good DNA track record as they recently shut
down their Y-DNA testing which really leaves some people hanging after they
spent the money for the test. But hopefully the Autosomal DNA test will be
their nitch market. One last comment is that for these tests to be useful
you need to have a family tree posted AND public. Just don't upload all
your personal notes and sources, they both ensure living individuals cannot
be viewed.
This is probably enough rambling for now; I wish everyone a Merry Christmas
and Happy Holiday's!
dale