DNA Testing for my Family History

I am using a new tool for genealogy - DNA testing! It can show ethnic origins, confirm relationships (or prove that two people cannot be related), and put family historians in contact with others who share the same ancestry.

My 91-year-old uncle agreed to be tested, so I took advantage of the sale at Family Tree DNA, an established, respected company recommended by genealogists who are experts in this field. Family Tree DNA will match my uncle's test results against their database (the largest of its kind in the world) and let me contact anyone whose results show that they are somehow related to us. The database is growing rapidly as more people are tested, so I log in regularly to check for new matches.

I started by ordering the FamilyFinder test, which uses autosomal DNA inherited from mother, father, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, etc. This has the potential to identify descendants of any ancestral lines within about the last six generations. Those descendants may have vital information, or photographs or letters from my direct ancestors.

Part of a document held by Joe Hudson

I am a great believer in researching all siblings. Some of my most exciting discoveries were a direct result of contacting distant cousins. The image above shows part of a family document held by Joe HUDSON. It confirmed that a baptism I'd found was for the right William HUDSON. (The baptism register for Bossall, North Yorkshire, gave a birth date and named the child's maternal grandparents!) Joe also sent me a copy of a letter written in 1879 by my great-great-grandfather.

The FamilyFinder autosomal DNA test is available to men and women, so I could have been tested myself. However it made more sense to test my uncle (my late father's only surviving sibling) because I am currently more interested in my father's ancestors than my mother's. The autosomal test may help me to confirm and expand the paper trail for various families including BUTLER, CAMPBELL, GIBLETT, HARLEY, NICHOLSON, PORTER and SHEPPARD (on the WEBSTER side) and AGAR, ASHTON, BARBER, BIRKS, CLARK, HUGILL, MATTHEW and PEACOCK (on the HUDSON side).

Our FamilyFinder test results arrived just before Christmas. My budget for genealogy is limited, so I am hoping that interested relatives will contribute a small sum towards the cost of ordering two additional tests. A mitochondrial DNA test could get us back beyond Mary PEACOCK nee HUGILL (born about 1813); and a Y-DNA test might help to confirm the story that our WEBSTER family in Surrey and Middlesex originally came from Aberdeen in Scotland.

If you want to know more about using DNA for genealogy, I recommend the series of four easy-to-read articles by CeCe Moore. The summary in part 4 explains how to decide which DNA test is right for you.

Postscript no.1:  Kerry Farmer has just reminded me of two important points that I forgot (thanks, Kerry!)  'Another good reason for testing your uncle's DNA is that it gets you a generation further back to looking for ancestors in common. And Family Tree DNA will hold DNA samples for 25 years, so your uncle's DNA will still be available for testing should a subsequent test become available in the future.'

Postscript no.2:  I have started contacting people who match with autosomal DNA, and I send them a list of all names (except living people), not just a pedigree chart - because the name they will recognise may not be my direct ancestor. As Gedmatch points out, "siblings (and descendants of siblings) of one family often turn up as 'spouses' (with no recorded ancestors) in another family." There is a diagram that illustrates this clearly.

Postscript no.3:  For good examples of what DNA tests do (and do not) tell you, see Combining Tools - Autosomal Plus Y-DNA, mtDNA and the X Chromosome.
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A is for Asylums, Arndell Index and Ashton

I'm sure Alona will forgive me for being late in joining the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge.

A is for...

• Asylums.  If someone in your family tree 'vanished', look in mental asylum records. Causes of depression and other forms of mental illness included childbirth, epilepsy, head injury, alcohol, syphilis, congenital defect, jealousy, bereavement and 'domestic troubles'. Many patients (and their relatives) had been in asylums in other States and/or other countries. My Web site lists thousands of names from my indexes to mental asylum records. Start by reading the article about asylum case books.


• Arndell Index.  Originally on 48,000 cards, this index was compiled mainly from early parish registers for the Hawkesbury region of New South Wales, Australia. It is thought to contain complete indexes (1811-1971) for St. Matthew's, Windsor; St. John's, Wilberforce; St. James's, Pitt Town; St. Peter's, Richmond; and the Presbyterian Church, Ebenezer. The index is held by the Society of Australian Genealogists. (This information is from the book Specialist Indexes in Australia: a Genealogist's Guide, which is described on my Web site.)


• ASHTON.  Catherine ('Kitty') ASHTON of Kirby Misperton, North Yorkshire, England, married Peter MATTHEW or MATHEW of Crambe, North Yorkshire, in 1803. Census records imply that Kitty was born about 1777 at Swinton, Yorkshire. Was she related to James ASHTON and Thomas ASHTON who witnessed marriages at Kirby Misperton 1804-1807? If you are researching ASHTON of Swinton or Kirby Misperton, please contact me.

You may find some useful tips in my other articles in this series.