Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved?

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Davydd)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:23:40 GMT

Al,

I too have a French Huguenot ancestor that came to America in in the late 1600s and settled in Henrico County, Virginia. He was Guillaume Fouquet married to Jane Eyre in Virginia in 1687. The name in America evolved into Fuqua.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:34:25 GMT

I was unaware that my fathers family (way back) were French/Flemish Hugonots (sp) Protestants in a Catholic area, who were forced/chased/urged to leave, in 1739. I even have the ships name and sailing dates that the three DeBolt brothers took to the New World. 2 generations later they were in Central Ohio and the family burial ground is still in Centerburg..with Seven generations buried in the same location...not counting me, but I will join them when the time comes.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (ScreamingChicken)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:46:21 GMT

Ancestry.com got a shout-out on last night's episode of "C.S.I." Naturally, it contributed to the apprehension of a murderer.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Davydd)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:40:58 GMT

No horse thieves yet in my tree, but yesterday I found an ancestor, a trader/dealer in Annweiler, Germany "stabbed by Spaniards" as the reason for his death. Little stories that you would like to know more.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 08:04:20 GMT

Congratulations DDavy, That was a major step forward in the family research. Thanks for the update about the costs and scope of the DNA testing.
I have been a bit dormant in my research lately, but will get back into the digging shortly.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Davydd)

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:18:11 GMT

Bump.

I finally did the Ancestry.com DNA test that is now comprehensive both paternal and fraternal. The price had come down as well to only $99. I got my results back and it was a semi surprise until I did some research on what the test actually pass down.

My make up was:
56% Central European (mainly France across Germany)
33% Scandinavian
7% Turkish/Persian/Caucasus
4% Uncertain

The surprise was no British Isles in the makeup yet nearly all my trees go back there or Germany. Scandinavian was also a surprise but considering I can trace my roots back to the Norman Invasion (actually they were originally Vikings not French) and many of my British Isle ancestors were from coastal areas (again Viking invasions) maybe it was not so much of a surprise. Central European was no surprise at all. The Turkish/Persian/Caucasus however is a mystery as I have no paper trails there.

I do now have an Ancestry.com account and have posted my genealogy and have been building on it. I was starting to get excited this week because my wife and I both have a DIEHL German family name in our genealogy. I've built the databases and found other families with a link of one man that would connect us both. I personally think the data is incorrect from actual records I have but linked the man anyway to both our lineages just to see how we might be related. We were 9th cousins once removed to a common ancestor born in 1604. For accuracy I unlinked again and put a comment in as to why. One problem with online genealogy is families build trees lemming like without verifiable data. Then when you encounter several family trees with the same data you want to make the assumption it is true.

It's a fun hobby.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (HollyDolly)

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:20:26 GMT

Haven't participated in any of these dna studies.The one i did find for Weichlein,Wickline,etc families you have to be a man to participate.I too wish I had my dad write things down about the family,especially since he knew his grandparents and their brothers and sisters a few of whom came to America.My great aunts ,his father's sisters used to write relatives in the old country,even have a photo of a tombstone with three names on it from Himmelstadt that some cousin sent my greataunt,Sister Generose.At least my dad got to go to Garmisch when he was TDY to England and Germany in the late 1950s.Unfortunately he didn't have enough time to go to Nuremberg and consult the familyhistorian and our family history books . But he did get to look at parish records in Garmisch for information.
My mother and her brother and sister were orphans up in Buffalo,Ny .Oh my mom had some contact with relatives,but wouldn't know who in the world to contact up there about family history,or the family's history in Hungary.Glad you were able to make the connection with your family.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:54:28 GMT

I agree totally with both the above.

I have two members of the generation 'above' mine left , and am asking questions and taking notes as often as I can. Would that I had caught the spirit of the search when there were more sources still around me !

Joclyn, PARAGRAPH EDITED, SORRY, PRIVACY ISSUE AGAIN. MY CHOICE TO EDIT TO PREVENT POSSIBLE CONFLICT. al

One of the main reasons for us doing the DNA thing was to confirm the 'story' that we heard from the old country, that the two families involved "were related at some distant point in the past". While it would have been nice to arrive at a finite date, it was THE Answer that mattered. We Are Related. "Story Confirmed".

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Davydd)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:30:42 GMT

One problem with genealogy is most don't get started until they are older and consequently opportunity is lost. I am now the patriarch in my family line at age 66. I no longer have anyone in the family to ask. I was a bit fortunate in that I got the bug in meeting a great uncle for the first and only time filling me with family history that ultimately I proved wrong. But I got started early and preserved some family records, letters, deeds, lists, tax records, other papers, etc. that I got from my grandfather at an early age. Trivial stuff we all throw away. They were a jumbled mess in a desk drawer and probably would have disappeared had he not given them to me. It was also information impossible to dig out of courthouse records that dated back to the 1820s. Then when my grandfather died at age 93 in 1983 I met all kinds of great aunts at the funeral from my maternal grandmother's side of the family who were contemporaries of my grandfather. My grandmother died two months before I was born! I listened to them reminisce about her side of the family I knew nothing about. Those few clues opened a treasure trove of information. Still, a lot of information was lost and that branch has few genealogical seekers to compare notes with and I keep looping back to only the information I discovered and dug out. I contacted over the years many other family genealogists that have long passed on along with their records.

Moral of the story is don't wait.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (joclyn)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:31:32 GMT

i'm waiting to do a pay-subscription until i have enough basic info compiled from my own searching as well as from what other family members can provide to have a good base to start from so i can make the most of the subscription. i also need to have sufficient time to do it (which i'm not at the point in life that you are mayor, so, i'm just stockpiling stuff at the moment).

tried to get info from my great-grand years ago when i was a teenager and she didn't want to provide any info. she came here at a time when you left the 'old country' behind (physically, emotionally and mentally) and integrated fully into the 'american' society. it was like pulling teeth to get her to talk about anything - and don't even think about learning the language!

all the older generations (that came from the old countries) are gone now, so i really need to step up my efforts while the generation before mine is still here - they still have plenty of memories and some oral history info that will be useful...

good to know the lds database isn't reliable. i'd looked at that years ago when i first got a computer. seemed to be pretty extensive then. more recent experience shows they've changed things a bit and it doesn't seem all that good a resource now.

i DO hate that things have become commercialized and what really is public info is so hard to actually get without paying fees to ancestry.com and the like.

when i do get a good amount of basic info compiled, i'm going to take the time off of work to go into philly to access the national archives info for imigrant info, marriage/death/birth/censu info, etc - once i have all i can get from that, i'll do the payed sub bit for access to other countries info.

http://www.archives.gov/

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Davydd)

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:18:05 GMT

I have 2,398 marked people meaning direct ancestors in my genealogical database. I started long before computer search and gathered information from more direct sources (actual records). It seems my information has been copied numerous times, even bastardized after a while, and now I find info online that I absolutely know to be incorrect because I possess the actual physical family evidence dating back to the early 1800s. The LDS records are the worst because they seem to accept everything without verification. Genealogical information used to be more freely available but now most of it seems to be locked away in places like Ancestry.com. I'm debating with myself whether I want to try to dig deeper or not and sign up with Ancestry.com.

Interestingly, every ancestral line I have traced has gone back to before the American Revolution. I have no known ancestor immigrants to America after the Revolution. Primarily they come through Maryland and Virginia to Kentucky to Indiana on my dad's side and Pennsylvania to Ohio to Indiana on my mom's side.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:01:33 GMT

I have been reluctant to pay a subscription to any of the on-line genealogy services to do my 'research', however a trial period with Ancestry.com was part of the DNA testing offer, so I did it, then extended the membership for a year when I began to find a lot of information that I wasn't aware of, or had only oral-history hand-me-downs for a source. It has proved very valuable so far, and each day I seem to be able to solve questions that were left hanging in the past.

It's really funny how one's priorities and interests evolve over time. I worked hard for many years to raise, and support, a large family. There was no time allocated for this sort of introverted historical search. When I neared retirment I had passed the complusvive career climbing point, and had a few years near the end of my work-years when we could take a lot of time to get closer to my Mom and her (Czech) history, and my Dad who passed away when I was only 4 years old, and to travel the USA with Janet who had not been outside of SoCal before.

Those activities, which blended well together, gave me a new direction for these years when I don't travel as much, and my family seems to be going it's own directions most of the time. Now is the time that I can use to search out my own heritage.."ROOTS" (so to speak!). A couple of my children have a little interest in the process, but much prefer for me to write-it-up and send them the Reader's Digest version !! No hard feelings on my part, as I recall the many times when I only half-listened to my Grandfathers rants about what the Nazi, and later the Soviets, did to our relatives in the old country.
Now I communicate with the elderly survivors (and their children) about what grandfather told us...and try to preserve the history as well as the family tree.

Sorry if I belabor the point so much, but I am very aware that the catch-phrase "If we don't learn from the mistakes we make in our history, we are doomed to repeat them"...or something close to that. I am finding myself in the role of preserver of the family history at this point, and want to do the best I can to help my future family understand how important the family past really is.

End of Rant. Thank you all for sharing my interest in this 'quest'.
AL

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (joclyn)

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 16:06:01 GMT

i don't know how i missed your post with the test results! i'm glad things worked out - sounds like you got a bit more info & connections with family than originally expected. that's a very good outcome!!

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:38:23 GMT

tmiles,
I do understand how the volume of 'family' may preclude the need for a DNA testing situation. This particular case was one that we 'knew' thru oral history from the old country that we were 'probably' related. The DNA testing actually did lttle more than confirm that supposition. Since it puts the connecting link at "up to 14 generations" back It takes us out of the searchable history of any documentation in the old country of a link. It does, however, confirm the link is really there, and that we are on good terms, exchanging communications and making periodic visits to each other. That's a good feeling for us.

The whole activity has proved to be a real "Bonding" experience for all of us.

MAJOR EDIT ON THIS POST TO PREVENT PRIVACY ISSUES WITH FAMILY NAMES.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (tmiles)

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:56:34 GMT

I've thought about it, but never pulled the trigger. I have more known family than I can keep track of, so there has been no rush to add to the mix. One of my wife's cousins likes the phrase "cousins by the dozens", and uses it often.

I consider myself a true American, and suspect that I had people on both decks of the slave ships. DNA proof that I have some native American blood , too, would be nice.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mar52)

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 18:14:23 GMT

How exciting! I'm happy you got the results you were looking for.

Very interesting at the least!

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 17:53:28 GMT

OK The Test Results are in !!!

We have found that the two individuals are indeed related. The DNA results show that we are linked 14 generations back (300-350 years back). We were almost certain there would be a link, and we knew it had to be at least 6 or 7 generations back, as we have family data that only mentions (from both sides of the discussion) that we were 'distant' relatives at that point.

Now we know the real story. In addition, as I mentioned above, both samples brought the same returns, showing a man in Alberta, Canada who is 8 generations removed from both of our guys...and another fellow in Nebraska who is 9 generations back from both of our samples. We are contacting these two men to see if they would like to swap info about how a link might be found between us.

This has been a great experiment. According to the folks at the test company, the Maternal DNA test will not give the depth of specific detail that the Paternal test does. It will give basic yes or no answers to the question "Are these two related?" but it won't measure the generations to the link.

OK That answers that question. I recommend the DNA process to check out any 'possible connections' you may have in your family tree. It was a real neat experience and has brought out a lot of interest from many family members here.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mar52)

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:56:51 GMT

Another good thing about Ancestry.com is that they check with alternate spellings.

My last name although pronounced similarly is spelled very differently in the different countries where we all live. These sites check them all.

www.familysearch.com is a free site where I found some good information.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:30:07 GMT

Yeah, A number of my Czech relatives Americanized their given name when they arrived here to make pronunciation and spelling easier...and maybe to become part of the 'new' country a bit faster. The surnames received the same treatment, but normally not as often, or as radical a change.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (joclyn)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 22:20:39 GMT

interesting about the other matches!

different surname may be due to remarriage and the kids being adopted by the step-father. or it could be a matter of emigrating that the spelling of the surname was mutilated and/or changed to something else entirely (that was a frequent occurance with the slovak and russian names since they are sometimes so complicated and with the variance of consonants between the native language and english).

hope you can figure out the connection!!

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 18:25:23 GMT

First results for one of the Sample-givers was posted today. He had positive results on 44 of the 46 point test, so hopefully whom-ever he matches with will also have a wide-base of results. That gives a much better chance for accurate measurement of the 'generations' between us.

We have to wait until the second person's Test results are completed in the lab before being able to compare our two family lines.

One interesting side note. The sample test that is completed shows several matches to others who have tested. In fact two of the 'other tests' show a connection at the " 8 generation back" point. This is a real surprise. Neither of those two have the same family surname. We will be contacting the two folks via the secure message line on the dna site to see how we may be linked??

More to follow when we get the data for my other cousin.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:50:29 GMT

DNA Test samples arrived safely at the lab. Email notice of this arrived overnight to me. The clock is ticking...

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:32:59 GMT

OK, Progress Report--- Both donors have swabbed their cheeks and put the samples in the return shipping packets provided. Now we wait (a week for shipping, and 4-6 weeks for processing the samples and posting the data).
I will post the connection or lack of when we get the data.

Since you guys have posted a couple of genealogy-related sites I will put in a comment about Ancestry.com, the outfit that does this DNA testing. I have used them several times for assistance with my Family Tree Maker Program over the past 20 years. I have always been satisfied with the responses they gave to questions. Well this time they have really outdone themselves. In addition to a very good oral response to my questions, they have provided automated assistance in my search for documentation of various family activities (When did great-grandfather come to the USA??) They answered with the shipping manifest for his original arrival in 1913 (a year after my Mom and her parents came) and also his passport Application in 1920 and manifests from passenger ships he used when returning to the USA from Europe in 1921, 1927, and 1931. The old guy really got around ! I would not have thought to check that, but Ancestry.com did and sent me the data !!!!!

I am pretty happy with the service I am receiving from them.
AL

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mar52)

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:37:36 GMT

VERY interesting!

I've just found a whole bunch of cousins (first, 3 times removed and 3rd cousins, etc) who llive in Argentina. The woman who I wrote about in my last post realized that the names I sent her were also part of her family.

If you want to do a family tree, www.geni.com is a wonderful site. I'm addicted to it and chocolate.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (enginecapt)

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 22:08:07 GMT

I'm pretty sure he was from a distant enough branch that no one was all that familiar with. Our side had been in the country since the 18th century and his side was still in the ancestral part of England.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (joclyn)

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 21:50:49 GMT

enginecapt

One of the many surprising results of our research is this relative. Carbine (with the s dropped) is a family name here in the USA.

interesting find and i'm surprised it wasn't common knowledge in your family.

that is a fantabulous site!!!

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (enginecapt)

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:28:52 GMT

One of the many surprising results of our research is this relative. Carbine (with the s dropped) is a family name here in the USA.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:00:15 GMT

The test kits have been received by the two "donors". Next to swab the cheeks and ship the samples back to the company.

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (mayor al)

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:45:09 GMT

My nuclear family (Mother and grandparents) came in 1912. Prague was then part of Austria/Hungary. The male sample from our side of the family is a 60+ yr old cousin.

The sample from the other family who was born in the same village in Czech as my grandfather, (same surname) left due to the 1968 Russian invasion. Both sides have living relations in the old village and both side relatives have said we "May" be distant relatives but no one knows (or seems to care) and details or info about a possible link.

We are really looking forward to receiving the info about the link between the two families. Yes the test will put these two individuals (assumming some sort of match) into a group of 250 who come the closest to matching our samples.

Our American branch of the family did indeed maintain communications with the Czech family all during the period 1912-present day. During the Nazi and Soviet occupation my Grandmother and Mother spent a lot of time fixing clothing to send and in some cases sewing coins into the lining etc to provide support for those in need in the old country. I don't have the language skills that my Mother had, so my communications has been thru written letters and email, save for some personal visits with Czech family who vacation here at times.

For the past 15 years the gentleman who is the sample for the "other family" has assisted me with translations of notes received in Czech. We get along quite well !

Re:Family Tree Genealogy DNA Testing. Anyone involved? (Born in OKC)

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 20:17:40 GMT

mayor al -

I am indeed male and probably should have said so although I think that that your remarks made that a given if I had anything valid to say. My remote ancestor, '"C" as designated above, lived from ca 1605 - 1687 and IIRC I am ten generations down so our circumstances are similar.

I suspect that your genetic test service will if you desire, like mine, send you the names of others with the same markers as you have. In my case only a few of the names are the same as mine and mostly I have never heard of them. It is very interesting.

It is interesting also that you have a Czech heritage. I DO NOT, SFAIK, but my mother's family was in the 16th century likely living in the Sudetenland, South Germany, the border territory that was Hitler's excuse for grabbing part of and later all of Czechoslovakia in the late thirties. I am sure that your family there has horrific stories to tell about those times and the Communist era after the War. My mother's family moved to Prussia by the 18th Century and later to Russia before coming to the USA in the 19th Century.