Not much to update this Genes Day. The matches I'd found for my grandpa's autosomal DNA have pretty much stopped corresponding. I'm not sure, but I think it's because of a lack of any discernible common relatives. It's tough, because I've traced his mom's side back several more generations than his father's, so I feel like I'm at a disadvantage in looking for relatives on his dad's side. I really need to get going on my Gibson side at some point, and see if I can't extend my pedigree.
My paternal grandma's test turned up fewer matches, so I'm trying a different approach in contacting the matches. I'm looking for people that list the same or similar surnames as I've found in my family history research, and emailing them with some info on who we might be connected to. So far, no one has responded yet, but I'm hopeful. I can see why people usually submit these tests with a common relative or proposed common relative already located. This fishing for relatives is hard work!
On the up side, my dad took an mtDNA test and my mom took an autosomal DNA test this week. I was waiting for my grandma to get back from vacation when I realized - my dad has the exact same mtDNA! So that takes care of all the DNA tests I was going to put my grandparents through. Plus, now that my mom and her mom have both completed autosomal DNA tests, by comparing my mom's autosomal results to my grandma's, I can begin figuring out what my maternal grandfather's DNA looked like. Anyone who matches my mom but doesn't match my grandma is more than likely a relative on my grandfather's side, so I'll (hopefully) be able to start assigning specific parts of her DNA to my mom's dad's side of my family. I'm also interested to see who matches my grandma, and how many of her matches also match my mom, and what the predicted relationship is. I'd like to get my aunt and uncle to test as well, but that can wait for now (especially since those tests are now $300 a pop!).
A relative on my paternal grandfather's Joseph side is going to have his aunt or uncle (my grandpa's 2nd cousin) take an autosomal test as well. This is the first known relative on my grandpa's side to take a test, so I'm excited to see how they match up. I'll be able to assign any common DNA between them to my Joseph side. Plus, anyone that matches the two of them is bound to be a relative on that side as well.
I'm still waiting to hear back from FTDNA on my grandpa's Y-DNA test and my maternal grandma's mtDNA test. Feels like I've been waiting forever! I know the results will come in eventually, but this waiting thing is just killing me.
I'm starting to think that I've just been building the foundation of a very complicated, long-term project. I love long-term projects though - gives me something to work towards, and a purpose for all this DNA testing. Plus it's exciting to see it begin to take shape and come together. What will it be when it's done? Well that depends on two things - how many relatives I can find and convince to get tested, and whether I ever decide that I'm done.
1 comment:
How is my DNA Testing going ?
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