DNA to solve brickwalls?

[Biggles50]

I have posted this before but do listen to the BBC Sounds series “The Gift”.

It is all about DNA and covers six different aspects in the broadcasts.

If anyone has any doubt about DNA test just listen to the episode where a guy who spent 30 years researching his Family History found out the truth about his past.

[dobfarm]

So DNA does solve or help breaking down walls.

 

Yes, but that's very recent. Once you get further back, it's not so easy.

I have two groups of matches who match each other on my paternal side, and one on my maternal side. They are largely full of matches who don't have trees, or have private trees. The ones who have private trees don't turn up in any search for any locality my family lived in, and the few who have useful sized public trees usually turn out to be based in the States, and not have managed to cross the Pond yet.

And two of my paternal brick walls are in parts of the country which have no group of unknown matches to even look at. My great grandmother (an only child) came from Oxfordshire, and should have several matches of a reasonable size, but there's absolutely nothing from her locality at all.

Just not that simple, and very dependent on who has tested.

Hi

A lot of what you say is true about what you post about DNA, but you mention early further back usually pre 1837 census years and you talk of family trees as sources for pre known information on a family history.

 What you have to remember if its hard for you to find & prove your family history it is most likely have been hard for them to have found it - so they copy other trees with the the notion that if a lot of trees have the same information, then it must be right.   (Though there will be some accurate trees - they are very few provable, usually very rich family records or poor law records of the parish like overseers payments from the parish relief funds to the poor, or parish chest info and in between people of different classes like working or middle class folk - its pot luck on any information has survived.

 Graveyard epitaph MI's help also  deep research in archives and as an extra tool DNA helps also but its not an instant shortcut with info from family trees (But does help as a tool of many in the overhaul picture)

Added: With  LDS religion ! the followers need to go back 6 generations of their family history  out of necessity of their religious belief with family history DNA  it is improving all the time for this for a reason

[brigidmac]

word of warning too
dna can create new brick walls  + demolish the established branch not just because of wrong birth father but also if you have certificates + documents but you are following the wrong person with same names

at the moment im  unravelling a mess of Dobsons tree leads back to a farmer b 1794 from amotherby yorkshire england

no dna matches confirm any of the lines

but about 10 matches to  descendats of a basket maker b1821 + his mother from elwick durham

which is a totally different branch

im starting back at the beginning .
checking ie got the correct sarah daughter of john

.first names john sarah + jane feature heavily

[coombs]

Further to what I said earlier, and what Coombs has just said, DNA testing has shown that two of my 16 great great grandparents had illicit children. I don't think that's untypical.

Zaph

Yes, human behaviour has always been rollercoaster.

I know some stuff about DNA testing but I get confused with all this centimorgan data, and also know that it may not answer all your prayers as it is not as cut and dried as seems. I have been doing my family tree for almost 30 years but with DNA testing I am a novice, and have not even tested yet.

Coombs

There are plenty here to help, if and when you are ready to take a DNA test, pm me and I can send some files that I sent to help my Cousins understand what I have been doing.

Yes there can be pitfalls, but there are benefits, I am in contact with DNA Cousins (2C’s) who I never knew existed and they in turn have supplied plenty of family information.

The book by Blaine Bettinger is a good place to start.  He is the guy behind the DNA Painter website that you will have seen commented on and suggested here many times.

Thanks I will take you up on the offer. I take it you have to pay to submit your DNA to Ancestry? Such as pay for a DNA testing kit?

[Biggles50]

Further to what I said earlier, and what Coombs has just said, DNA testing has shown that two of my 16 great great grandparents had illicit children. I don't think that's untypical.

Zaph

Yes, human behaviour has always been rollercoaster.

I know some stuff about DNA testing but I get confused with all this centimorgan data, and also know that it may not answer all your prayers as it is not as cut and dried as seems. I have been doing my family tree for almost 30 years but with DNA testing I am a novice, and have not even tested yet.

Coombs

There are plenty here to help, if and when you are ready to take a DNA test, pm me and I can send some files that I sent to help my Cousins understand what I have been doing.

Yes there can be pitfalls, but there are benefits, I am in contact with DNA Cousins (2C’s) who I never knew existed and they in turn have supplied plenty of family information.

The book by Blaine Bettinger is a good place to start.  He is the guy behind the DNA Painter website that you will have seen commented on and suggested here many times.

Thanks I will take you up on the offer. I take it you have to pay to submit your DNA to Ancestry? Such as pay for a DNA testing kit?

Yes, but if and when you want to buy do keep a look out for lower cost offers i.e. £60 ish.

No need for having traits things like that can be added retrospectively for a smallish fee.

Ancestry is the one to take as you can download the DNA Data and upload it to My Heritage, ftDNA, Gedmatch etc and hence maximise the hunt for DNA matches.  A My Heritage DNA test is cheaper BUT, the database of testees is substantially less than Ancestry and you cannot upload to Ancestry which makes Ancestry far better vfm.

You do have limited information available to view without an Ancestry subscription but a subscription is really necessary, at least for a short time, to maximise making use of the probable 20,000+ DNA matches that one is likely to be presented with.

As an example my Nephew took a DNA test and I have his log in details, such that I could only see his Ethnicity results.  I had to transfer Management of his DNA kit to myself to be able to log in under my user info and I could then view his results so now I have access to all the DNA matches he has of which those via his Mum, my Sister-in-Law is the research area of interest in expanding this side of our family tree.

[coombs]

Further to what I said earlier, and what Coombs has just said, DNA testing has shown that two of my 16 great great grandparents had illicit children. I don't think that's untypical.

Zaph

Yes, human behaviour has always been rollercoaster.

I know some stuff about DNA testing but I get confused with all this centimorgan data, and also know that it may not answer all your prayers as it is not as cut and dried as seems. I have been doing my family tree for almost 30 years but with DNA testing I am a novice, and have not even tested yet.

Coombs

There are plenty here to help, if and when you are ready to take a DNA test, pm me and I can send some files that I sent to help my Cousins understand what I have been doing.

Yes there can be pitfalls, but there are benefits, I am in contact with DNA Cousins (2C’s) who I never knew existed and they in turn have supplied plenty of family information.

The book by Blaine Bettinger is a good place to start.  He is the guy behind the DNA Painter website that you will have seen commented on and suggested here many times.

Thanks I will take you up on the offer. I take it you have to pay to submit your DNA to Ancestry? Such as pay for a DNA testing kit?

Yes, but if and when you want to buy do keep a look out for lower cost offers i.e. £60 ish.

No need for having traits things like that can be added retrospectively for a smallish fee.

Ancestry is the one to take as you can download the DNA Data and upload it to My Heritage, ftDNA, Gedmatch etc and hence maximise the hunt for DNA matches.  A My Heritage DNA test is cheaper BUT, the database of testees is substantially less than Ancestry and you cannot upload to Ancestry which makes Ancestry far better vfm.

You do have limited information available to view without an Ancestry subscription but a subscription is really necessary, at least for a short time, to maximise making use of the probable 20,000+ DNA matches that one is likely to be presented with.

As an example my Nephew took a DNA test and I have his log in details, such that I could only see his Ethnicity results.  I had to transfer Management of his DNA kit to myself to be able to log in under my user info and I could then view his results so now I have access to all the DNA matches he has of which those via his Mum, my Sister-in-Law is the research area of interest in expanding this side of our family tree.

Thanks. As we all know DNA can rubber stamp paper trails but also can disprove them. We can get strong circumstantial evidence of a father of an illegitimate child through poor law records or he says he was the father on the baptism or birth cert but only DNA testing will prove or disprove it.

[Biggles50]

Yes Coombs that is right.

Just because a Certificate list the parents it does not necessarily mean that that they are.

Probably they are correct, but there for me will always be a but, in that I have to have DNA matches linking via the person names on the certificate.

BTW

I am seeing Ancestry DNA tests listed on our account at £59 + postage.

[coombs]

Yes Coombs that is right.

Just because a Certificate list the parents it does not necessarily mean that that they are.

Probably they are correct, but there for me will always be a but, in that I have to have DNA matches linking via the person names on the certificate.

BTW

I am seeing Ancestry DNA tests listed on our account at £59 + postage.

£59, that is quite a bargain.

[brigidmac]

Postage costs from USA always have to be added to that . & There can be a long wait for delivery then an even longer wait for results to come in

Coombes I  bought 4 in one go to save on postage costs for a cousin.sister +  brother in law & one for a friend

My sister decided not to take hers so
I actually have a spare if you'd like it for £60 plus whatever it costs to post from UK
They are very light and smaller than the boxes 10 years ago