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DNA: testing August 3, 2021 DNA Testing Is A Valuable
Tool In The Genealogy Toolbox DNA testing has come a long way during
the past 20 years. Initially Y-DNA
testing was only available to men who were interested in learning more about
their patrilineal line – that is, their father’s father’s father’s line. But for more than ten years, autosomal DNA
testing has been available as a tool for everyone to identify cousins and
ancestors on every branch of their family trees. One common question that people ask is
why they should take a DNA test. After
all, I already know my family tree and I’ve been researching these lines for
years! What could a DNA test tell me
that I don’t already know? That’s a
fair question, but the truth is that you don’t yet know what you don’t know
yet. DNA testing can reveal answers to
questions that you never knew to ask!
It can also help solve mysteries that have frustrated researchers for
years due to a lack documentation caused by a courthouse fire, lost records,
or simply a lack of written proof. We all have branches of our family tree
that end at a point where we don’t know the maiden name of one of our
maternal ancestors. In my tree, I
descend from Joel Pruitt and his wife Polly.
Joel was born in 1786 and died after 1870. They lived in Wilkes County along Little
Sandy Creek near Round Hill Church south of Traphill. Polly is listed as Joel’s wife in the 1850
census, and she likely died before the 1860 census. There aren’t any written records that
provide Polly’s maiden name, and, as far as I know, there’s no family story
about what her maiden name was. I’m in
the process of analyzing my grandmother’s DNA test results to determine which
DNA segments are from the Pruitt branch of her family by comparing her test
to those of her cousins. I don’t have
an answer yet, but we’ll have a better chance of solving that mystery as more
people submit their own DNA tests. The Pruitt branch of my family tree is
extra challenging because not only do we not know Joel’s wife’s maiden name,
but we also don’t know his mother’s maiden name. Joel was the son of Joseph Pruitt (born
1754). We don’t know the first or last
name of Joseph’s wife. It’s been
speculated that she was a Holbrook, and that’s very possible. Joseph Pruitt and his wife had at least
seven children, and the youngest was Ralph who was born in 1798. Ralph, or Randolph, was a common name in
the Holbrook family at that time, and perhaps young Ralph Pruitt was a
grandson of Randolph Holbrook (1733-1793).
Several of my grandmother’s DNA cousins have Holbrooks in their family
trees, and some of these particular DNA segments are also shared with other
Pruitt cousins. I’m still working on
this mystery.
My grandmother descends
from Hardin Pruitt. The full names of Hardin’s
mother and grandmother are unknown. Another place where DNA has helped me
with my Wilkes County ancestors is the Shew family. One of my lines goes back to Nathaniel
Ingool who was born in the Dockery area in 1831. He was the son of Frederick Ingold and
Susan Shew, and both of their families were from Guilford County. Susan was born in 1809, but there’s no
documentation about who her parents were.
I was fairly confident that she was a granddaughter of Phillip Shew
who was first listed in Wilkes County in the 1810 census. But which of his many children was the
parent of Susan? My grandmother has several DNA matches
who have Shew ancestors. The closest
of these matches descend from Sally Shew who was born in 1808. The problem is that Sally’s parents are
also undocumented! After studying Shew
census records for 1810, 1820, and 1830, it looks like the best candidate is
Jacob Shew (born 1780). In 1810, he
and his wife had two young daughters who haven’t been accounted for in other
records, and I believe that Sally and Susan are his daughters. While this isn’t proof, it’s a good example
of how DNA evidence can support written records to justify a working
theory. When you get your DNA test results
back, it won’t immediately answer all your questions. What you get is a list of “matches”. This is a list of people who have also
taken a DNA test and who share at least a small piece of DNA with you. Generally, the people who share a lot of
DNA with you are close relatives, and the people who share only a small
amount are more distant cousins.
Unless the DNA match is a known and very close relative, you might
need to do some research to find where their family tree intersects with
yours. But if you share DNA with
someone, you share an ancestor with them. Anyone who is closer than a second
cousin is guaranteed to share DNA with you.
As the relationship becomes more distant, there’s a possbility that
you might not share DNA with them even though you are distantly related. After 5 or 6 generations, the inherited DNA
segments have been chopped into smaller and smaller pieces to the point where
they are usually no longer identifiable.
For that reason, it’s helpful for older generations to also take a DNA
test. That means asking parents,
grandparents, aunts, and uncles to take a test. They are one or two steps closer to those
earlier generations. Below is a chart
showing the approximate likelihood that relatives will share DNA.
The more distantly two
people are related, the less likely they are to share DNA. There are four major companies that
offer DNA testing: Family Tree DNA,
MyHeritage, 23andme, and AncestryDNA.
Each company has their own advantages and disadvantages, and different
people have their opinions about which is best. In fact, my own opinions about each company
have changed over the years as they make updates and improvements to their
websites and to the way they present the results. I’ve used all four companies for my own
research, and I’m convinced that they all provide a reliable and accurate DNA
test. The question becomes which
company provides me with the most information and is most likely to help me
solve my genealogy mysteries. The testing procedure is quick and easy
and only takes a couple minutes.
Depending on the test company, there are two ways the sample is
collected. Some companies provide a
cotton swab to rub the inside of your mouth.
When you’re finished, that swab is put inside a tube and mailed back
in the provided envelope. The other
way is to spit into a tube, seal it up, and mail it in the provided box. Before I get into the details of each
DNA testing company, I need to talk about a chromosome browser. If you want to do a complete investigation
about “how” you’re related to your DNA matches, the test company must provide
a chromosome browser. This means they
need to tell you which segments of DNA that you share with your matches. For instance, it’s not enough to know that
I’m related to John Smith of Boise, Idaho.
I want to know how I’m related to him. That is, which piece of DNA do I share with
him? If I can identify that segment as
a piece of DNA that I inherited from the Pruitt branch of my family, then I
have one more piece of evidence to go toward solving one of my Pruitt
mysteries. Perhaps this piece of DNA
came from one of the Pruitt wives whose maiden name I don’t know. It takes a lot of investigating and
research to determine this, but without paper evidence, DNA is the only place
to find answers. Even if you don’t
have the time or patience to study your DNA results, your test might allow
someone else to make those new discoveries.
After all, not only do you have DNA matches with them, but they match
you as well. You both benefit from
having this new information to investigate.
The chromosome browser from
Family Tree DNA shows the shared segments of DNA on all 23 chromosomes. The dark shaded areas are the shared
segments between first cousins in this example. Fourth or fifth cousins might only share
one or two small segments. Below is a very brief summary of each
testing company. They have sales and
specials throughout the year, especially around holidays, but tests are
usually between $60 and $100. The
lowest I’ve ever seen is $39. • Family
Tree DNA (http://familytreedna.com). This is the company I use for all of my DNA
testing. They were one of the first
companies to begin offering consumer DNA testing 20 years ago. They provide a chromosome browser that
allows me to see which pieces of DNA I share with my matches. Their test uses the cotton swab method
which might be easier for people who have difficulty spitting into a
tube. Their Family Finder test is for
finding cousins on every branch of your family tree. They are also the only company to offer
Y-DNA testing for men to trace their patrilineal line. The same sample can be used for both tests. • MyHeritage
(http://myheritage.com/dna). MyHeritage has made a lot of improvements
to their website since they entered the business. They have a great chomosome browser that
allows you to see if matches share DNA with you AND with each other. They also accept uploads from one of the
other companies. That is, you can buy
a test from one of other three companies and upload it to MyHeritage for free. • 23andme
(http://23andme.com). Of the four companies, 23andme probably has
the smallest database. That is, fewer
people have tested with them than with the other companies. That might be because they’re usually the
most expensive. Their basic test is
$99. They have more of a focus on
reporting health conditions related to DNA, and that test costs even
more. They do have a good chromosome
browser. • AncestryDNA
(http://ancestry.com/dna). The best feature of AncestryDNA is the size
of their database. More people have
tested with AncestryDNA than with any other company, so you’ll likely have
more matches than with the other companies.
The big drawback is that they don’t offer a chromosome browser. They are the only company not to do so, and
without it, I feel like I’m being teased.
They tell me I have a DNA cousin, but they don’t provide enough
information for me to determine how I’m related to that person. It doesn’t allow me to solve a roadblock in
my family tree, and this negates the benefit of having a large database of
testers. I manage several DNA tests for friends
and family, and I always test through Family Tree DNA. After those results complete, I upload the
raw data file to MyHeritage. This is
usually free, but even when it costs $10 or so, it’s still much less than
buying another test. Even though I
only bought one test, I can fish in two ponds for DNA matches – one “pond” is
Family Tree DNA, and the other is MyHeritage.
Some people might want to fish in all four ponds for the best chance
of getting answers to their questions.
For instance, an adoptee who is looking for a close relative might
want to have their DNA test at all four companies for the best chance of
finding a parent or sibling who has also tested. If you buy a second test for this purpose,
you might want to choose AncestryDNA since they have the largest database
with the most users. No matter which company you choose to
buy your DNA test, after you get your results, you’ll want to upload your raw
data file to Gedmatch. Gedmatch is a free site that let’s you compare
your DNA test results to people who tested at any of the four testing
companies. Unless you’ve already
tested with all four companies, you’ll find additional DNA cousins on
gedmatch. They provide a great
chromosome browser and many other comparison tools, and, again, it’s
completely free. If you have questions about DNA
testing, I’ll be glad to help. Until
you’ve gone through the process and spent some time with your results, it
might initially appear overwhelming.
But don’t let that be a deterrent because it could lead to some
exciting discoveries. A great resource
online is a blog by Roberta Estes, “DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy”. She’s written hundreds of articles on
everything related to DNA testing from the very basics to more advanced
topics. She has Shepherd ancestors
from Reddies River, and that makes her my distant cousin. I’ve learned a lot by reading her articles about
how DNA inheritance works, the differences in the four testing companies, and
how to use the information once your results have completed. I like to think of DNA testing as the
newest tool in the genealogy toolbox.
It doesn’t replace traditional research at courthouses and libraries,
and it’s still important to visit other family members to learn the stories
that were passed down to them. But
sometimes there aren’t any stories and there isn’t a paper trail that
documents a particular part of your ancestry.
For those situations, DNA testing is a valuable resource for finding
answers to all kinds of genealogy questions – both the questions you have
asked, and the ones you haven’t.
Comment below or send an email - jason@webjmd.com |
