*SUCCESS* Autosomal DNA Test - my experience

[DudleyWinchurch]

Hi all,

I mentioned on another thread that I was planning to take an Autosomal DNA test to try to crack one particular brick wall and promised to let folk know how I get on.

As that was someone else's thread, started for a different purpose, I thought perhaps it would be better to start a new one here, but will link back to the earlier thread to make it easier to find.

Since many people, including me, seem confused by the process and potential outcomes of  the various DNA tests available, I thought it might be a good idea to outline what I am trying to find, the steps involved in testing, and the eventual outcomes if any.

My problem is that I have documentary evidence for at least 2 other people who arrived from Ireland to England shortly after the famine, with the same family name as my great-grandparents: they lived for some years as close neighbours and then one of the others moved to the US in their family unit, followed later by some members of the third family.

While in England, they seem to have been godparents to each others children, lived very close to each other (neighbours or in the same yard, or at one time the other two families in the same house even).

For some time I have been in contact with descendants of both these other families and, though we all think we are probably related, we have found no direct documentary evidence that says so.  This, despite trips to Dublin for the paperwork and even back to Mayo where we think that they came from.

In trying to see whether it might be possible for DNA to resolve this issue, I went to a talk and was even more confused.  However, the speaker answered questions at the end of the talk and suggested that, if myself and one of my contacts are related as we think (that our great-grandparents were siblings and so we are third-cousins), then the Family Finder Autosomal test should be able to confirm this with a reasonable degree of confidence).

My brief understanding of the test (which could be way out of course, so feel free to give a better explanation if possible) is that the 22 pairs of matched chromosomes are mathematically coded to focus on the areas most likely to relate to the DNA variation passed on through the generations and then matched against a database of all those previously tested who have chosen to participate in the matching process.  It's not a legal test, as it uses a different method that is more consistent for going back several, rather than just one or two generations.  It's aimed mostly at looking for matches over recent generations and it's power drops off noticeably by the 4th or 5th generation, although it does seem to be applied to some other purposes as well.
 
We have decided to go ahead with this, so I'll add a new message to the thread to detail the process so far.

[DudleyWinchurch]

Ok, just a little about the process so far.

I booked my test with Family Finder and received the kit (from US to UK) about 8 days later.  I was able to collect the samples and return them the following day and it seems to have taken about the same amount of time to get back to them.

Officially my kit is now received but has a batch number of 0.  I don't know if that means they haven't started processing it at all, or if the DNA is being extracted and the batch number is for when they start the mathematical analysis.

When I took the samples there were two (different) sets of instructions, one in the package and one on the website.  I used the instructions on the website and hope that I got suitably clean samples.

It lead me to wondering to what extent cheek samples are your own DNA.  Clearly you want to be as clear of food as possible but toothpaste is probably not good either?  Also to what extent do samples get contaminated by the various bugs in your system.  Aware that I was booked for a flu-shot the day after the kit arrived, I was careful to carry out the two sample collections before going to my appointment.  Would that have made any difference or is the difference too insignificant to matter?

There is also a choice as to how much information you give to the website when you register the kit.  You can add more later and even upload a gedcom, if wished.  To what extent is that information used in the matching, or to verify the matching?

I chose just to give the family names of my great-grandparents and the country of origin, no more detail.  But in addition it asks for furthest direct male and female lines.  These are not very long in my case and I just supplied first name, family name and birth and death years, to the best of my ability.

I have not specified that we are looking for a direct comparison and my contact had not received his kit in time to use it before leaving for a trip so will not be on the system yet, I think.

I'll let you know if and when things advance.

[Ruskie]

Dudley, I am very interested in following your progress with this. As the tests only cost $99 it is well worth a try.

I only received by autosmal test results yesterday and am still very much stumbling in the dark in attempting to interpret them, but I believe your understanding of the test is correct. I look forward to the input from those more knowledgable on the subject. No matter how much I read and think I understand, I find it all very complicated and confusing.

I am not familiar with any of the surnames of my 2nd to 4th cousin matches, so I doubt that it will be much use to expand my tree - I really only took the test out of curiosity. I do understand the bit that tells me that I am 100% European though. 

It's all good fun! (as well as being interesting and educational).

[Ruskie]

Hi again Dudley. I had many of the same questions as you.

I think the only thing they specify related to collecting the samples is that you need to leave a certain amount of time after eating. Toothpaste, as I understand it, is not an issue. I was worried about my husband's test as he had just brushed his teeth and included a fair amount of white stuff in his vial  and his results came back fine. I did not read anything about innoculations tainting the samples so presume that is not an issue either. I had worries about my own sample as I have a dry mouth, but I scraped fairly vigourously almost drawing blood and I have read that blood is fine to include in the sample. 

I also had concerns due to a distinctive surname and wondered whether or not they consider this in the results. Having had myself, my father and husband tested, and seeing other people's "surprise" results, I feel confident now that the names are irrelevant.

I have not added any trees or names to accompany my results as yet, but intend to do so. (Looking at my 'matches' I notice many people have not entered any further information, which I think kindof defeats the purpose). If you have any concerns maybe advise your cousins not to enter any surnames until after they receive their results?

Something to be aware of - my husband and father were emailed about the results of their Y-DNA tests, but I was not notified that my autosmal results were available to view online. I was expecting an email. I'm not sure if this is the norm or I was overlooked. But just to let you know to periodically check the progress of your test.

[DudleyWinchurch]

Hi Ruskie,

Thanks for all the useful comments.

I did see something about checking for results as they don't always get notified but I interpreted it to mean that if, say, your results were processed first and there was no match, then when the next person (e.g. your father's data) was processed, they would match to you and get a notification but that you wouldn't as you were already there.  However, that doesn't make sense if you have 2nd-4th cousin matches as surely some of them were already processed before.

Even 2nd cousin matches could be quite difficult to trace, especially if they are the daughter of a daughter and so involved family name changes.  I have only six first cousins and know who they are, even though sadly I am not still in touch with all of them.  However, since doing this family history research I am now aware that each of my parents had about thirty first cousins, so even though they didn't all marry and have children, I have many second cousins that I've never met.  We also have time-alignment shifts due to long gaps between generations in some lines and much shorter in others, so working out whether two people are second- or third- cousins or have several removes is going to be complicated if and when I do get some matches.

I haven't even begun to understand the interpretation advice yet so will be interested to hear how you get on in matching your DNA results to the paperwork.

[Ruskie]

Hi Dudley,

I only have four first cousins - one of them has one child, another has two, so I can see some of my branches may die out.

As yet I can't see any way of trying to work out how any of my autosomal "cousins" may be related to me. I am thinking of simply contacting a few of them to maybe narrow down a timeframe and area where our ancestors lived and possibly see if anything matches up. I haven't gone into this very far yet, but something that I did notice is that a couple of the surnames appear in several "cousin's" trees, but not in mine (not that I have found anyway). I have also found some familiar, though common, surnames, so I don't hold out much hope of finding a match.

I also have a few brick walls in the early 1800s so connections and unfamiliar surnames may appear earlier than that, or as you say, on side shoots to my main tree.

I think what I was mainly hoping for from the results of this autosomal test, was the challenge of finding a paper trail between my tree and a match or matches.

I live in hope. 

[DudleyWinchurch]

Today's update shows "received by lab" so I guess I have a while to wait yet before something more interesting starts to happen.

[jc26red]

Just a quick add regarding the batch number.

My husband did a ydna 37 marker on fdna back in June and his results proved interesting putting him in one of the rarer haplogroups for a European. Anyway, to cut to the chase although he is part of a surname group we also joined the specific haplogroup group and was persuaded to go for further analysis. Means nothing to us but might help get a better understanding how this group came to England/Western Europe.  My adminstrator told me to apply for the test before Tuesday midnight as that is when fdna do the batches otherwise his sample would have had to wait another week to start processing... My husband didn't have to provide another sample so it was just a matter of admin.  Check again in a few days, they should update your profile with batch number and an estimated results date.  Our next results date is 12 november, approx 4-6 weeks from ordering.

Hope you get the right results.  My husband's first results came back with 4 matches, 2 we were already 99% sure they would match and 2 others (with different surnames)which luckily also had good paper trails so were able to pin down where the link occurred.

[Ruskie]

I am aware of the 'upgrades' on Y-DNA tests, but haven't learned enough about the Autosomal tests to understand what the upgrades cost or might reveal.

A link via my account shows that I can order the usual tests available on FTDNA, as well as "Factoids" and "Advanced Tests" which gives me the option to order Autosomal STRs and X-STRs.  (other tests are only for males so I cannot take those tests). I would consider an upgrade but need to learn more about what it might give me.

I have been googling some of my matches - first three I believe I found recent obituaries for.  I will probably send emails nevertheless as a younger relative may be the driving force behind their tests anyway (as I am with my father's test  ).