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From: Susan Rosine <>
Subject: Re: [Q-B-I] Exciting DNA news
Date: Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:00:43 -0700
References: <mailman.7451.1267208560.2663.quaker-british-isles@rootsweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <mailman.7451.1267208560.2663.quaker-british-isles@rootsweb.com>


Hi Kim,

You are the first person to request it, so you are the "winner". Haha. What I mean is, I'll write you privately to let you know the cost, and if you still want to do it, then I'll send on the required email to FTDNA telling them that you want the special introductory priced test. They in turn will contact you and let you know if they need a fresh sample or not. If they do, they'll send out another DNA kit. If not, they'll just use the vial they already have on hand at the lab.

I agree that you will likely be able to find 5th or 6th cousins, but it will get harder to find ones earlier than that. However, my Heaton cousin is further back than that, and she and my aunt do share one identical DNA segment. I believe they share .28% of the same DNA. That's POINT 28!! So, it's possible to find common ancestors back to the 1600s, and who knows, maybe further!

What is cool is that, any matches that you have, once you've identified your common ancestor, that PROVES that line!! So, autosomal DNA can prove several lines, whereas Y-DNA can prove only ONE line, and mtDNA can prove only one line!

It will probably take awhile to have lots of matches, as FTDNA builds up their database with other people who take the Family Finder test. But that was the way it was (and still is) with their Y-DNA and mtDNA testing. Just takes patience to wait for those matches to come in!

Susan



From: Kim Spangrude
Subject: Re: [Q-B-I] Exciting DNA news
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:50:03 -0700

Hi again, Susan!
I suppose that in some families (for example, our Townsends), there
will be thousands and thousands of close matches. I know that the
Quaker community back then was very close, and people tended to marry
back and forth between families; the Pearsons and Townsends, the
Cains, the Parsons, the Cadwalladers, Coxes, Wheelers and on and on.
My husband (a stemcell biologist) tells me that autosomal DNA testing
is more "unstable" the further back it looks, and therefore it is most
useful for the first several generations; and, another nice thing
about it is that the test looks at more markers than the yDNA or
mtDNA, and so the likelihood of finding more matches is greater. I
think I may go ahead and do this test; do you know if ftDNA can use
the sample from our Townsend man that I sent in a few years ago, to do
autosomal dna testing, or will it need to be a fresh sample?
Kim

On Feb 26, 2010, at 4:13 PM, Susan Rosine wrote:
>
> Hey there Cousin Kim (through the Quaker Townsends)!
>
> Autosomal looks at more than one ancestor. Y-DNA looks at just your
> male Townsend line (for example). A male carrying the surname of
> Townsend must take the test, and it will only look at the direct
> paternal line.
> mtDNA looks at the direct maternal line of a person. So, right away,
> you are able to see more than just the two lines (y and mt).
>
> Every time a man and women have a child, the child gets a random mix
> of half of his dad's DNA, and half of his mom's. This is called
> autosomal DNA. Siblings will not get the same mix; it's random!!
>
> For example, my dad and his sister already did this autosomal test
> with 23andMe (where it is more expensive). They do not match
> exactly, but they share about 50% of the same DNA segments. They
> each got a random mix from their parents. Now, when my dad had me, I
> only got half of his! So, as you can see, you can lose a lot of your
> ancestors' DNA pretty quickly--but at the same time, you'll also get
> a random blend of many ancestors' DNA.
> Now comes the fun part!! Once you get your results, you'll also get
> notifications of who you match with. You then trade emails with each
> other, sharing ALL your known surnames. You should be able to find a
> common ancestor.
>
> Kim, let's say you had your Townsend man do the test. I've already
> signed up my father to do it through FTDNA. My Townsend ancestor is
> on my dad's side of the family. He MIGHT still have a segment of
> Townsend DNA. And your relative may have that same segment. They
> would compare info and discover the common ancestor, and common DNA.
> My dad does not carry the surname of Townsend, so he can't test with
> the Townsend DNA project, but through this new testing he can
> hopefully find out if he has any Townsend DNA that made it down to
> him.
>
> My dad's sister already found a match with 23andMe on her Quaker
> Heaton line. She matches with another person who has the same Heaton
> ancestor. However, my dad does not match his sister or this person
> on this segment of his DNA, so he inherited a different segment than
> his sister!!
>
> Once the test opens up to everyone sometime in March, anyone can
> take the test, and we should start seeing lots of matches to distant
> cousins of all sorts of our ancestor surnames, because it won't
> matter what your own surname is, or what your Y-DNA or mtDNA results
> are!!
> Susan

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