Hello many RootsWeb List subscribers,
Most of you will know that I have attempted to remain informed about dna
testing for the purpose of learning & informing you of significant
developments. This piece by noted Genealogy writer Richard Eastman is just
such a development.
In essence, it may now be worthwhile to have yourself dna tested (cotton
swab inside of your mouth and mail, in a closed baggie, only one sample to a
container, all as contained in the instructions as will be mailed to you).
The significance, as I understand it, is that, since more are doing it and
the best use is to be compared to the max # of samples, therfore if someone
else in the world related to you has been tested, and the test is available
to others, including participants in this co-operative effort, then the
liklihood of a match is increased significantly!!!
Perhaps one note - a positive match of male descendancy can be made when
comparing one dna sample to another. So if your father and/or mother provide
a sample, your dna sample can be compared to determine actual blood
relationship (although father-son is in some way better than
mother-daughter). But when no actual sample is avail from your ancestors,
father-son can be established because all male descendants of one ancestor
will all have an identical gene (if Adam sired all males, then all males
will have an identical gene, passed down unchanged from Adam). I hope this
is accurate and useful.
"Ysearch -- a public service located at
http://www.ysearch.org, which allows
for Y-DNA results from different labs to be compared, thereby broadening the
possibilities for matches between participants to be discovered." !!!
So, it seems like a worthwhile consideration. I'm going to look into it.
If anyone else has something, anything, to bring up, please do so. I also
think there is another potential benefit, altho It isn't clear to me that
the samples will be so available - namely, gene 'defects' might be revealed,
ALTHO I do believe there are safeguards at work to protect or not find
and/or not reveal such info. Of course, dna could be considered as a matter
of privacy. It must be understood that almost anything could be an
instrument of either or both good & evil. Below is the article and further
below is a contact paragraph with sources for further answers. (Detailed
responses are ok but please attempt to be helpful to all, rather than
selecting just one esoteric matter that might further confuse. Please DO,
however, explain exactly why you might NOT consider testing!!!)
Barry Wetherington
PS: If there are any more opinions of Gen programs (FTM, Legacy, RootsMagic,
etc), please submit ASAP. I'm ready to 'publish' the responses received to
date. bw
"- Ysearch Public Database Allows Y-DNA Marker Comparisons
The following is an announcement from Family Tree DNA:
Family Tree DNA, the world leader in genetic genealogy, has launched
Ysearch -- a public service located at
http://www.ysearch.org, which allows
for Y-DNA results from different labs to be compared, thereby broadening the
possibilities for matches between participants to be discovered.
Until now, the main sources for people to find family were through
researching surnames in phone books and Internet lists. Most of the time it
would be almost impossible to verify whether individuals with the same
surname were related. Y-DNA matches, however, can offer definitive evidence
of relationship, and
Ysearch.org facilitates this undertaking.
Since Family Tree DNA offered its first DNA test for genealogical purposes
in early 2000, the growing trend among genealogy enthusiasts is to use DNA
testing as a component of their research. Family Tree DNA, a Texas-based
company, maintains the largest database of DNA surname projects available
today, but as more companies offer such testing, the need for a uniform
resource for genealogists to compare results becomes apparent.
Ysearch allows the genealogist to input their Y-DNA test results, regardless
of which company or laboratory generated them, and compare them with others
that have been entered in the database. Ysearch offers comparisons for up to
43 markers used by commercial testing companies and scientific laboratories,
creating an enormous opportunity for relevant genetic matches to be
uncovered.
Ysearch is available free of charge to genealogists to locate others who
have utilized Y-DNA testing while researching their family history. Unique
features of Ysearch include Genetic Distance(TM) Reports and YsearchCompare,
tools that allow side-by-side comparisons of different test results.
Family Tree DNA has been providing genealogy enthusiasts with a new way to
break through conventional barriers in charting family histories since its
launch in the spring of 2000 by offering a series of genetic tests to be
used to determine heredity. The results from these tests are entered into
Family Tree DNA's Surnames Database, as well as its databases of Recent
Ethnic Origins (REO), spanning 116 countries, and its Haplogroup database
which allows genealogists to trace their deepest ancestry.
To learn more about Ysearch and Family Tree DNA, please visit
http://www.ysearch.org and
http://www.FamilyTreeDNA.com. For additional
information or answers to specific questions, contact info(a)familytreedna.com
or call 713-828-1438
The preceeding article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is
copyright 2004 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the
permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at
http://www.eogn.com."
Barry Wetherington