Yay DNA! Post the Third

Well here I am, 5 DNA tests under my belt and SO much still to learn.  I'll start off with all of the test results I have.  Click the image for a larger view.

Here's a recap of my own results:

My sister's results:

My dad's results:

My mom's results:

My maternal grandmother's results:

Goodness, we are all over the place!  I think I'm the only one who doesn't have less than 1% of something.  Even Ancestry puts a disclaimer on those < 1% answers.  It makes me wonder just how accurate these things are, but since it's all I've got at the moment, what can I do but take it for what it is?

This, of course, has led me into the realm of DNA-aided research.  I said just this morning in a Facebook status that I did a report on Gregor Mendel back in probably elementary school.  After which, I promptly "data dumped" most of what I learned.  Today I've been reading up on DNA and genetic matching for genealogy purposes. God has a unique sense of humor.

I've been hearing about GEDmatch for a while, so I finally decided to check into that.  I uploaded my personal DNA test earlier in the week, and finally added all my tests there today to see what kind of information and connections are available.  I already noticed one "cousin" with whom I've previously made contact has shown up as a match.  I'm hopeful that there will actually be more for me to find on GEDmatch than ancestry.com, especially since GEDmatch is free.  In the meantime, I'm doing some reading on DNA and genetics because while GEDmatch is free, it's also a very "basic" and information-based website with not a lot of frilly graphics.  So I feel like I need to have a little bit of knowledge under my belt to understand what I'm looking at.

If there's anyone out there reading this, and you are a GEDmatch veteran, or know a little something about genetics and DNA in genealogy research, I'd appreciate a comment with your best advice.  In the meantime, I'm going to try to find some time to read up a little on this stuff so I can make sense of what I'm seeing. :)

Yay DNA! Post the Two-and-a-Halfth?

Hey y'all, I know it's been like 2.5 years and all, but I just wanted to pop in to mention that I'll probably have more to share soon! :)  I haven't had an active ancestry.com subscription in quite a while, and life has been monopolized by other hobbies and adulting to the nth degree, so my research has unfortunately been hanging out in the back seat for a while.

However, I just celebrated my 33rd birthday, and my family gifted me with THREE AncestryDNA tests!  I'm so excited!  I just had to check and see if I'd shared that my sister has had the test done, and apparently I didn't.  Gosh I've been out of this loop for a while...  Anyway, both of my parents and my maternal grandmother are the subjects of these three tests, and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the answers they could bring!  (Still haven't spotted those elusive Cherokee ancestors I've been repeatedly told I have).

In the meantime, I thought I would share that if you're interested in taking an AncestryDNA test of your own, I ALWAYS recommend folks to get them on sale or with a coupon code.  They can get pretty pricey, you know.  If you feel obliged to save yourself 10% and in return earn me a $10 referral reward, THIS LINK will benefit us both. :)  Looking forward to sharing more when the results are in, and hopefully get back to writing here now and then and maybe even researching once in a while.  Happy hunting!

Yay DNA! Post the Second

I find myself wishing that there were some way for me to be employed as a genealogist... but not in the way that you think.  I'd like to be paid to research my own genealogy.  I mean, I'm not above helping someone else with their research, and in fact, I've sort of inspired some friends to look into the hobby as well.  But to have the time to freely research, among the many other things that make demands on my time, would be pretty stinking awesome.  And maybe, as a result, you'd hear a little bit more from me on this blog.  Alternatively, I could just call you about once a week and fill you in on any progress I've made, Dad.  You who are likely my only faithful reader. ;-)

In the time that has passed since I shared the results from my AncestryDNA test, Ancestry has updated the program.  This was exciting news for me, since, I confess, that 7% "Uncertain" was haunting the genealogical corners of my brain.  You just can't see "7% Uncertain" and not question your existence.

Who am I?

In particular, I couldn't help wondering if the elusive "pure-blooded Cherokee" relative was in there somewhere.  And what about that humongous percentage of "British Isles?"  There are 4 different countries included in there, you know...

Well a little more of the mystery has been revealed, and once again, the results were unexpected.

(Click for a larger image).

The "British Isles" has been split up and that's where my first shocking piece of information came from:  I had no idea that I had so much Irish blood!  I mean, 30% isn't huge, but when you consider that it's almost a third of my DNA, I still call it pretty significant!  Now what I'd really like to know is if my results can be further pared down to indicate the amount of Scottish vs. English.

And let's talk about Germany for a minute.  What in the world???  This update is pretty significant in how it shows those "Central European" areas differently than before.  Where it was once a collective 13%, that figure has completely changed.  Germany is now considered part of "Europe West," which makes up a mere 3% of my total ethnicity.  This has been a pretty big deal to me, because I know that I have German ancestors.  I am still working on proving all of that information for myself, but I feel sort of excited to know that I've only scratched the surface of my origins by knowing about potentially less than 3% of my lineage originated in Germany!  It motivates me to find some of that 30% Irish and that 31% British!

Now I had just started getting familiar with the "cousin matches" that are part of the DNA program.  Based on your own DNA and that of others who have taken the test, they can share with you who has similar results and potentially similar ancestors, estimated within a certain generational range and percentage of confidence.  Also, if you both have family trees on Ancestry.com, they can show you the common surnames and/or common people in your family tree, (if the other person's tree is public).  Of course you are also given a way to contact the person to request further information.  I haven't had any revolutionary breakthroughs with this system (yet), but there have been some interesting matches.  Now that things have been upgraded, I haven't had an opportunity yet to check it out and see if the cousin matching has had an upgrade also.  I'm excited to check that out as well.  Maybe this will eventually lead to clues for that unknown 1/4 of my tree.

Expecting the Unexpected

I know, I know... I said "soon," and it's almost a year later.  Shame on me.  But this post has been in the works for a while, I promise. :-)

There is a whole side of my family tree that is still waiting to be discovered.  In the meantime, I'm left to ponder all of the infinite possibilities surrounding my heritage from that branch.  They could be from anywhere...  even Africa!  With this level of uncertainty, I was looking VERY forward to my AncestryDNA test results.  Maybe they would finally give me a clue about this side of the family.  I already know that one set of ancestors are from Germany, and that another set are supposedly from Scotland.  So I hoped that I would get some confirmation on these origins.  And of course, as all of us are told if we live in the USA, there is the elusive great grandparent who was full-blooded Native American - usually Cherokee, specifically.  Perhaps my test results would solve several mysteries.

So let's check it out, shall we?

(Click for a larger image).

These are my personal results.  Now, of course there is a lot more to it than this, but this is the most concise visual "summary" of my heritage.  I have to say that I was surprised to be less surprised!

As I said, I already had heard from various family members that we had Scottish ancestors, and being a Caucasian American, of course I figured that there would be a significant amount of overall British Isles in my background.  Germany, also, was expected and so Central Europe was not a big surprise.  Not quite sure what to think just yet of the percentage, though.  I've just brushed the tip of the proverbial iceberg where my German ancestry is concerned, so it makes me curious about whether there could be other Central European countries involved.

The one thing that I actually was surprised to see was Southern European.  I did mention there is a whole 1/4th of my ancestry that is currently a mystery.  I have a strong feeling that perhaps it's that 1/4th that contains the Southern European blood.  The uncertain is just that... uncertain.  I've watched some of the seminars ancestry.com has had and asked about this personally.  To sum up from memory, when it comes to this DNA project, ancestry.com has certain regions where they've obtained DNA.  There are 20 of these regions where they can compare your submitted DNA to their reference DNA panels, and thus come to a conclusion about your ethnicity.  If you have "uncertain" in your ethnicity results (and I imagine almost everyone would), there could be a couple of reasons behind it.  Either you have some ethnicity from a region in which AncestryDNA does not currently have a reference panel, or the percentage of your "remaining" ethnicities are so small that it is difficult to accurately classify them.

So while I was expecting the unexpected - to perhaps find some African or Eastern European - it turns out that my DNA ethnicity is slightly less interesting than that.  However, I was still surprised by the Southern European finding, and can't help wondering what part of southern Europe my ancestors could have come from.  Italy?  Spain?  Portugal?  For reasons I can't quite explain, part of me is hoping for some Italian blood. :-)

I'm still learning about all that the AncestryDNA program has to offer and how to make findings based on my results, but I've heard and seen a lot of people ask if it's worth it.  It's hard for me to answer a strong, resounding "YES!" at the moment because, well, to be blunt... it's $99.  As I'm about to enter my 7th year of marriage this fall, I can tell you that $99 is not something we have just lying around waiting for a frivolous DNA test to be spent on to feed my obsessive genealogy hobby.  But it made a great birthday gift! :-)  (Thanks mom and dad!)  And this certainly bumped it up a few notches of worthiness.  (Now if $99 is chump change for you, then I would most definitely say it is worth it).

What, then, would make it worthy of that resounding "YES!"?  Well I'll tell you:  In the process of watching some of the informative videos that Ancestry.com has created about the DNA program, I have come across a surprising but extremely relevant bit of information:  You don't have all the DNA you think you have.  That's a topic for another day, but my point is that if I could afford another $300, I'd order a DNA kit for my sister, my mom, and my dad for more thorough results and information.  THAT would be absolutely worth it.  Maybe someday it will happen and a little more will be revealed!

Interested in checking it out for yourself?  You can purchase the DNA kit now on ancestry.com.

Yay DNA!

When ancestry.com announced their new AncestryDNA project, naturally I jumped on it.  As soon as I possibly could, I put my name on the waiting list, and promptly put it out of my mind so that I wouldn't drive myself crazy.  I knew there was a waiting list and that it was probably miles long, so I did not expect to get my invitation for a while.

Well it finally happened.  As a birthday gift, my parents and sister went in together and were going to give me 6 months of my ancestry.com subscription.  Not long after that, I got my invitation, so instead, my gift went toward the cost of the DNA test, and I paid the difference.  Less than a week later, my little kit arrived at my house!

My husband, who doesn't really get my obsession with "dead people," found it funny that I was so excited about "spitting in a tube."  But I was SO excited!

The nifty little box that came in the mail.

This is SO exciting!

Much more simple than I imagined.  Inside the box was a small plastic container.  The right side (or bottom, in this picture) held the instructions, and was a flap that opened.  On the inside of the flap was a padded envelope that you use to mail the sample back to them, and the code that you use to activate your kit online.

Simple, but thorough instructions.

Inside the plastic container was a biohazard labeled bag for the "specimen" to go in.  I never really thought about saliva being a biohazardous substance, but I guess in today's world, anything is possible.

I was a little concerned at first that I would have to fill up this whole tube.  That would require quite a bit of spit!  But what you can't really see from this picture is that there is a little "stopper" about where that white sticker starts.  So it really didn't take much spit at all.

That lid hanging off to the left was filled with a blue liquid that, upon closing, would be released into the tube. The information said that it would "stabilize" the DNA in my saliva.  They must already know something about my family if they think my DNA is unstable...  Either that or saliva has explosive tendencies we were never informed of in public schools.  What is this, nitroglycerin?

Post-spit (not that y'all wanted to see that), and post-blue stuff.  Then you remove that nifty "funnel" and secure the screw-cap onto the tube and shake.  Because that unstable DNA needs to be shaken within an inch of its life...  That sounds like a great idea...

And thus, the stabilized DNA (aka spit n' blue stuff) creates lots of bubbles and gets deposited inside the biohazard bag.  I tell ya, it's enough to make you wonder what's going on inside your mouth...

Securely packaged, the specimen bag with biohazardous saliva inside is inserted into the padded envelope and mailed back to be analyzed.

The entire process has moved along fairly quickly.  Much faster than I expected, in fact.  I don't remember what day I put my name on the waiting list, but I got my invitation on August 28.  I ordered my kit 4 days later, on September 1.  After 4 more days, it shipped on September 5, and arrived at my house on September 10.  I completed it and mailed it back on September 11, and they received it on September 14.  My results were emailed to me on September 26, and I will share those soon. :-)

1940 Census = Exciting!

It has become a running joke in my immediate family that I am officially a geneageek.  Here's why:  They think I rarely get excited.  That's not entirely true.  I get excited, I just am not very good at showing excitement.  So a few weeks before the 1940 census was released, I'm riding with my sister somewhere and we're talking, and I make the comment "I'm so excited!  The 1940 census will be out soon!"  She thought this was super funny, and so now it's kind of a running joke that you had to be there for.  I guess the only things that really excite me these days are "super boring census records" and creepy cemeteries.

Well, as soon as this census came out, I immediately started browsing the Grayson County, VA section of the census to find the CREED family: John Roby, Gladys, Cornelia, Bobby, and Curtis.  No luck.  I searched the entire county and they were nowhere to be found.  Their known friends and relatives were still in Grayson, so why weren't they?  "Where on earth did this family go?" I asked myself.  But I decided to be patient.  Ancestry.com (to the rescue!) was in the process of indexing anyway, so it would only be a matter of time until they completed VA.

And they have. :-)  And I have found the CREED family!  Apparently they moved to Sulphur Springs at some point in the 1930s, most likely due to Gladys' bout with Tuberculosis and subsequent stay at the Catawba Sanatorium.  I think it says something for the love between them that the family moved closer to the sanatorium.  I don't know why exactly, but I didn't expect that.  I sure wish Mr. Roby was still around to talk to about all of this.  I would love to hear his story... and hers... and theirs.

Update:
After looking closer at the census, apparently this is still before Gladys was out of commission with Tuberculosis.  As of the census, she and Roby were both working in the local mill.  Interesting... :-)

Breakthrough!

Finally!  After over 5 years of researching, I finally found records for my great-grandmother, Mary Tee OAKLEY!

Mistress Mary has been quite the contrary genealogical hermit over the years.  I've looked in so many places, but there is something you have to understand about all of this.  The surname OAKLEY is rampant in Person County, NC, which is the county where I live, and where many of my CHAMBERS ancestors were residing.  You see, Mary Tee OAKLEY married into the CHAMBERS family of Person County, and lived a large part of her life there as well.  My dilemma was that I had nothing to go by other than her name and the family she married into.  As common as the name Mary is in... well... every town, the name OAKLEY is extremely common in the area where she lived, so it was difficult to know just who she belonged to before she married the CHAMBERS.

Thanks to my mother, I had a second married name and rough estimate of the year of her death, which I promptly added to Mary's profile on my ancestry.com tree.  For a long time this turned up nothing.  But suddenly, with an exciting development of my acquiring a 14-day free trial, I got a chance to look again.  Lo and behold, there sat a quivering leaf on Ms. Mary.  Imagine my joy to discover that there was a death certificate I'd never seen before!  I now have parents for Mary, as well as a location of her burial and the name of the funeral home where she'd been prepared for burial.

It's not a large amount of information, but it is a start!  From this information I will be able to find census records and many other things that will help me discover who my OAKLEY ancestors were. :-)  A whole new world of possibilities just opened up!