Ultimate Blog Challenge
Continuing with the theme I’ve chosen for the April 2020 Ultimate Blog Challenge (Genealogy), today I'll be sharing my thoughts on DNA testing and why I feel people should test. Let me say this upfront, these are my personal views and they may or may not line up with others. That's why they are my thoughts.
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DNA testing - what is it? A genealogical DNA test is a DNA-based test that looks at specific locations of
a person's genome, in order to find or verify ancestral genealogical relationships or (with lower reliability) to estimate
the ethnic mixture of an individual. Since different testing
companies use different ethnic reference groups and different matching
algorithms, ethnicity estimates for an individual will vary between tests,
sometimes dramatically. (Wikipedia) 
In other words,
using a person's DNA results - people from across the globe can learn of
relatives that descend from Ancestors such as grandparents, aunts/uncles, great
grandparents - all the way back to our great-great-grandparents. There are
many entities that offer DNA testing, such as Ancestry, 23 & Me, FamilyTree DNA, My Heritage just to name a few. There are many other testing sites
available.
DNA testing can
also reveal potential health issues that may be genetic or hereditary.
In 2015, I did
my DNA testing through Ancestry. The reason being, that's where I had started a
basic account a few years prior and my tree was associated with Ancestry. I
began building my tree in the '90s with my quest of looking for and learning of
my paternal lines. Although, I had done genealogy research long before I put any
of it into an actual family tree. I used the old school method with all the
different forms available at one's local library as well as ones I found
online. Forms like the Family Group Sheet, Pedigree Charts, and, Census
Forms. Having these documents helped when I started building my tree in
Ancestry.
Although I had submitted
my DNA to be processed – in the beginning, submitting my DNA to have it
analyzed wasn't about seeing my origins or meeting new people who were family –
it was more or less to find out who was associated with my grandparents and
great grandparents’ so I could learn of the history as well as hoping to find
photos of them from people I had a DNA match with.
When I submitted
my DNA test, the turnaround time was 4 - 6 weeks for it to be analyzed.
Nervously, I waited. I say nervously because I wasn't sure what the test would
reveal. Would there be other siblings that I didn't know about? Would my mom ‘not’
be my mom? Would there be grandparents that I wasn't aware of? Would it confirm
several theories that I had in the past? I didn't know. I continued to wait
patiently. One week passed. Two weeks passed. Three weeks passed…and I
waited. Finally, I received an email telling me during the 6th week
that my results were in and ready to be reviewed.
When I opened my Ancestry account
to view the results -what I saw were a lot of names. I recognized a few 1st
cousin DNA matches, but past them, they were a mystery to me. You see, I hadn't
built my family tree out enough to recognize most of the matches. They were
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th/6th (distant) cousins. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
When I submitted my DNA to have it
analyzed, my tree at the time only had about 100 people on it – now I have well
over 25,000 people and I know many more people who have much larger trees than
I.
Continuing to be overwhelmed, I put
the DNA results on the back burner for almost 4 months. In the meantime, I
began working the hints on the siblings and children of my grandparents and
great-great-grandparents in order to get my tree where I could at least start
figuring out who my DNA matches were. After about 4 - 6 months of building my
tree out and working the associated hints for each person (I'm still not through
doing that), I pulled my DNA results back up.
Now I could do a search on 'common
ancestors' - in other words, great grandparents that other people have in their
tree that match my great grandparents. Awesome - I was now able to start making
sense of my DNA matches. I could also do a search on specific surnames and
that's how I started working through my DNA matches. Because I had recently
built out my great grandparents - I was able to recognize many of the surnames
from my DNA matches. I started working through the matches, marking them
off one by one and adding them to my tree. When I confirm a match, I will use
the icon above for their profile picture unless I have an actual photo of that
person. (I love having photos on my tree and I have many of them!)
To date, I have worked most of my
DNA matches as much as I can. However, new matches show up daily. It's funny to
me now when I think of my new matches - it's still about learning the family
history and hoping to see photos of my great grandparents -but I'm MORE excited
to make new family connections and build new family relationships by way of
DNA. I have to say since 2015 and working through the matches, I've met through
social media and face to face many wonderful "new" 1st - 5th cousins
and it's been amazing!!! I’ve even had the opportunity of meeting ‘new’
nephews on my paternal lines that I didn’t even know existed and twin half-sisters.
DNA testing opened much more to me
than just obtaining my origins and matches. Today, because of my personal
journey doing ancestry and my stance on not throwing in the towel - I have been
able to help many other people figure out their DNA matches, help them find
parents and grandparents that they didn't even know existed. I've opened many
opportunities for myself with the experience and knowledge I have when it comes
to genealogy.
I don't claim to be an expert in
genealogy, but I do know quite a bit and I'm always ready to lend a hand when
it comes to building a family tree and looking for 'that' needle in the
haystack.
What are you waiting for? Have you
researched your family roots? Do you know who your ancestors are? Have you DNA
tested? If so, how far have you gotten?
Let me hear from you.
Heart to Heart Soul Creations
H2h2sc2020
#BlogBoost, #ancestry, #familytree, #familytreeDNA, #myheritage, #23&me, #ancestors, #DNAtesting, #storytelling, #homeschooling, #homeschoolmoms, #research, #family
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