GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2008-06 > 1213478635


From: Carol Vass <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] How could we tell? NPE.
Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:23:55 -0700


Dear Francois & Sandra:
I would strongly recommend that you both might want to subscribe to
the DNA-NEWBIE list at yahoo, as well as continuing to monitor this
GENEALOGY-DNA list. Here are directions:
http://www.yahoo.com
click on GROUPS [in the left hand column]
enter DNA-NEWBIE
Instructions are there for 'registering'. [free registration] Once
registered, you can receive postings to that list as single emails or
in 'digest' format. There are also very helpful LINKS to numerous
'resources' for wrapping your brain around this fairly complicated
subject -- DNA. It may be a more comfortable place to ask questions.
There are TONS of 'newbie' people there who ask questions you haven't
even thought of -- but there are also very knowledgeable people who
know the answers. The more you read and study -- whether the NEWBIE
list, this GENEALOGY-DNA list, books and hundreds of websites -- the
more you'll come to understand Y-DNA and mtDNA at whatever level you
want to go to. Everyone on this list was a 'newbie' at one time, but
this list does move pretty fast.

When I try to explain an NPE to a participant, I usually say: It
means a Non-Parental Event which can be because of 1] an unrecorded
adoption; 2] a surname change; 3] when the father 'of record' was not
the 'biological' father. In some cases, where a participant
'expected' to match a particular lineage, a non-match could also mean
a mistake in the paper trail of the participant, rather than the 1, 2,
3 typical causes of an NPE. All of those things can be very hard to
identify, of course. Lots of people would like to rename this 'term',
so in the archives you will see repeated discussions of different
acronyms.

In addition, if you are in a surname or geographical DNA project, your
project coordinator should be able to help you with ANY questions or
be able to direct you where to find an answer.

Welcome to the fascinating world of DNA testing in conjunction with
genealogy!!

Carol Vass
Kent, WA




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