Get Your DNA to the Top of the Charts



Deep Into DNA*

Show me your DNA family tree. You don’t have one? This year, set a new resolution to build your DNA tree. You have a great family tree with names, dates and locations. I will be using fan charts to describe a variety of family trees including traditional, nationality, genetic and ethnic.

 

DNA gives us the ability to view beyond our nationalities to our cultural origins. You may have English ancestry on paper, genetically you might really be Celtic, Norman, Norse or Saxon. All nations are culturally and genetically diverse.

...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.


*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in the new Going In-Depth
digital genealogy magazine presented by The In-Depth Genealogist.

#gDNA

Stop the DNA Insanity!

    If you Google ‘DNA’ and ‘privacy’ you will get over 200 million articles describing the potential dangers. Imagine if your DNA information got into the wrong hands. Why isn’t someone doing something about this problem?

       A recent study claims that public DNA records can be analyzed to determine the surname of the donor and the algorithm is correct 12% of the time. This is outrageous! To think that an adoptee might actually be able to use DNA to find their birth parents. Unthinkable!

    Before you get a DNA test and add the results to a public database, remember, that your DNA is not yours alone. Your genetic information is a shared attribute across your entire family. You would be unintentionally sharing data about your children’s and your descendant’s DNA. Your genetic ancestry is also the ancestry of your parents and your cousins. You could be putting your entire tribe at risk.

    Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s cousin’s DNA is publicly available. I’m fairly certain that his genetic information was used against him and caused his bid to fail. This is serious.

    Sharing DNA data should be stopped. It’s not yours to share.

    There is too much data out there that puts our privacy at risk. Many States allow public access to vital records. Anyone can walk in and look at my birth record. They will figure out how old I am and where I was born. I’ll have to stop using that information as a challenge question on my bank website. My birth record will allow someone to calculate when my parents were intimate. I shudder with disbelief. A marriage record might tell you how many times the woman has been married - the harlot. A death certificate will tell you where they are buried. There’s no privacy even in death.

    If your family tree is public, then anyone and their brother could study it and then call you claiming to be a long lost cousin. They will be able to talk about great-aunt Edna and recently departed cousin Roy. Next thing you know you are loaning them money. Genealogy should be outlawed. History should stay history. I’m not sure it is worth the inherent risks.

    It doesn’t end there. There are other sources of your information. There are digital phone books and land records. If someone sees my driver’s license, they will know where I live. I’m not safe in my own home. It may be time to go off grid. Perhaps the Luddites had it right.

~~~

    Life is risky.

    Getting out of bed every morning is risky. You could stub your toe. We do it anyway because it is worth living. What we do in our lives and the legacy that we leave behind will define who we were. We don’t have time to worry ‘excessively’ about privacy. The bottom line is that if someone wants your information, there will always be a way to get it. Restrictions on public data of any kind would end genealogy research. Today, if I wanted some of your DNA, there is probably a dozen ways for collection - a drinking glass, envelope, cigarette butt or dirty tissue. Tomorrow, with advances in technology a person could walk up to you on the street, shake your hand and process your DNA in their pocket.

    With every new technology advance like DNA testing, there will be those folks that identify the potential risks. Depending on the severity of the risk, there will be other groups of folks who either fix the technology problem or create laws to mitigate the risks. The rest of us need to be actively vocal to make sure that we get the maximum amount of benefit for the minimum danger.

    The fastest way to stop a trend, good or bad, is to announce to the world that the trend exists. Corrective forces kick in and the ship gets righted. In the 70s, Alvin Toffler predicted that we would be overwhelmed by technological change. Forty years later and I’m still a bit underwhelmed.

    As genealogists, the best way to collaborate is to share. I want to find other researchers and I want to be found. None of that will happen if my DNA or family tree is in a box under the bed. DNA can help break down walls where paper records don’t exist. Our genes will unlock doors to our origins.

    Your DNA is your DNA. Unless you are an identical twin, your genes are unique. There are pieces of your DNA that are shared across families, which is why genetic genealogy works. As a whole, your DNA belongs to you and you have the right to use it as you see fit.

    Information wants to be free. Stop worrying and start living. Get tested.

Are You Special?

Deep Into DNA*

We are all special in our own quirky ways. How much does your DNA play a part in who you are? Perhaps you’re not who you think you are. If you’ve received DNA results from one of the major tests, y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA or autosomal DNA, you might already have a glimpse into what makes you special.

Beyond the big tests that give you distant paternal or maternal ancestry or a pie chart of your ethnic mix, there are many specific tests. What percent Neanderthal are you? There’s a test for that. The jury is still out on whether your Neanderthal genes are from a direct descendant or just shared from a common ancestor. When we start talking about what percent chimpanzee you are (yes, there’s a test for that) we are definitely talking about a common ancestor going back seven million years. Just to be clear, we are not descended from chimpanzees or any other living ape, but as cousins, we do share DNA.

...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.


*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology. Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

Testing All Your Genes

Deep Into DNA*

   We all have 46 chromosomes, 23 from mom and 23 from dad. Two of those chromosomes are the sexy kind, X and Y. We’ll ignore those for now. The other 44 chromosomes are your autosomes. Autosomal testing has become available only within the last few years and has become a very popular choice. It offers the broadest range of results, including cousin matches, ethnic proportions and health indicators.

...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.


*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology. Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

Your Mother's Mother

Deep Into DNA*

Your mother’s ancestry can be extremely challenging. Most of us live in a patrilineal society. The wife and the children take the surname of the husband. History shows us that recording the maiden name of the wife was often an afterthought. We have all tried traditional genealogy for our mother’s line. Some of us can go back a couple of generations and have hit brick walls. Some of us have researched a dozen generations. Mitochondrial DNA testing can aid a genealogist in discovering those lost surnames and validating your research.

Two months ago, I wrote about y-DNA and its use in tracing your paternal line. Mitochondrial DNA testing looks at your maternal line. There are many similarities and just as many differences between the two tests.

...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.

*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology. Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

Your Father's Father

Deep Into DNA*

   Raise your hand if you’d like to know more about your surname and your father’s ancestry.  I’m raising mine!

   Most of us live in a patrilineal society.  The wife and the children take the surname of the husband.  We can’t help but to associate with our father’s family, his clan.  The males in the family will inherit the Y chromosome virtually unchanged, though genetically, we can only attribute a small fraction of our overall DNA to that patrilineal line.  Psychologically though, 50% of our ethnic identity comes from dad.   

   We have all tried traditional genealogy for our father’s line.  Some of us go back a couple of generations and some of us have researched a dozen generations.  A few of us are adopted and know nothing about our paternity.  Y-DNA testing has benefits that aid a genealogist in all these situations...

...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.

*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology.  Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

The Future of Genealogy: Four Stories

   Come in and close the door. Sit down and make yourself comfortable. Would you like a nice cup of Darjeeling tea?

   I have a crystal ball. It does not show a singular future, it shows multiple possible futures. That’s what you get when you drop it one too many times.

   You want to know what the future of genealogy holds? I could ‘read’ you and tell you exactly what you want to hear. My first impression though, is that you didn’t just fall off the turnip truck and that you will appreciate seeing the whole picture without the sugar glazing. I will regale you with four very different stories of the future and since you look very trustworthy, I will let you peek behind the ‘curtains’.

   The future is not carved in stone waiting for the sunrise to reveal a new chapter. Telling the future is not mystical, it is a combination of science and plausible fiction. All you need to do is analyze the social, political, opportunity, innovation and legal trends that are driving the future. There are many more drivers, including environment, economy, education and technology, but I was looking for a cool acronym (SPOIL).

   For this prognostication to work we need the biggest drivers as they relate to genealogy. I’m going to rule out the economy. Even in a down economy, folks are still spending. Environmental factors, while huge, don’t play a significant role. Education is key, but it rolls up to larger social issues. I think the big three are society, technology and the law.

   Federal, State and local governments have the ability to enact laws that could either help or hinder genealogical research. The trends within this aspect are well understood. Unless an Amendment is repealed, I expect that as a whole more records will be available rather than less.

   There are quite a few social issues. The baby-boomers are still retiring and actively trying to get in touch with their roots. The next generation is interested in family history, but not necessarily traditional genealogy. Professional genealogists are concerned about proper sourcing and the growing surge of ad-hoc genealogy. Genealogical societies are struggling with increasing their memberships as the oldest generation is becoming history.

   Technology is a double-edged sword. It can drive adoption and it can be a gatekeeper. New tools will make it easier to do genealogical research, but perhaps it will make it too easy. As more family history becomes technology driven a portion of the community will become disenfranchised. Can technology solve all our problems or will it be our downfall?

The Stories:

Wild Wild Web
   My friends and my enemies call me Dr. Bob. I consider myself a modern day scoundrel. I’m known as the go to guy for anything genealogy related. Ever since AncestorBook accidentally released financial and privacy info on their one billion customers, the web has been more like a ghost town. My clients are always amazed at the detail of my research results. A little fiction goes a long way. After a search and replace on a few surnames, I can sell the same family tree over and over. It’s not like anyone is going to check up on my work or my lack of credentials. If you look up genealogy in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of me. I redefine family history every day.

Genealogy is easy money.


Golden Age
   Hi, I’m Bonnie Jean and this is my first week as a genealogical consultant for Gene-way. I can’t tell you how hard I worked at having the right dinner parties and getting introduced to the right folks down at the club before I finally received my invitation to join Gene-way. As soon as I have one hundred clients under my belt then I can start inviting and sponsoring my own associates. That shouldn’t be hard, if folks want an official genealogy following the Gene-way Genealogical Standard, then they are required to go through a Gene-way consultant. The internet has become such a place full of filth, corruption and social openness that no right-minded person will go there. Even though the libraries and archives are thriving and busy, I’m still home from researching in time to make dinner for my family.

Genealogy is big business.


Woodstock 3.0
   Skye here, casting to you via the socialnet. I’m here at GeneaCon, the largest virtual family history convention this month. As you can see, I’m sporting the latest tie-dye fashions because I’m heading for the Woodstock pavilion. The fans there have given the storytellers over a million thumbs-up. One of the stories coming up is going to be about my great great grandfather. I’m not sure who he is or how he is related, but my Ancestor App is telling me that this is a must-see. With Genealogy 3.0 I don’t have to worry about names and dates and records, the apps just do it all automatically. Genealogy is about the hardships and the emotions and the exciting events that my ancestors have been through. Someday I’d like to be a professional story weaver. Now that’s real entertainment.

Genealogy just wants to be free.


The Empire
   Hello...hello...this is Simon. Our location has been compromised and this may be my last transmission. Moments ago we finished hacking ProGene’s 1950 US Census database. Our breach did not go unnoticed and the feds are massing outside. ProGene used to protect the genealogists. They made sure we had access to records. Just when technology was getting easier and digital records were becoming more accessible, ProGene inked a deal with the feds to get proprietary rights to the records. ProGene claimed that this was the only way to keep data free, but it essentially locked it away from the average user unless you engaged with ProGene consulting. We won’t stop until all genealogical records are freely avail........damn, they’re coming through the door and they have mind erasing gear. Simon out....

Genealogical freedom is not free.


   I have painted four dystopian pictures of our genealogical future and have used a fair amount of hyperbole. Technology is wonderful, it has brought us the digital revolution and made records available, creating a genealogical boom. Technology should never replace good research practice or become so integrated into our lives that the loss would be devastating. The definition of what genealogy is should not be defined by any one person or group. I was once told that if I didn’t have proof, then it wasn’t genealogy. That is not the way I want to practice. I am perfectly happy living in a genealogical world that combines proof and theory.

   Predicting the future is like announcing the latest fashion trend. As soon as you tell everyone about it, you have guaranteed that the trend will die. You are no longer in fashion if everyone is wearing the same thing. When you announce the future, there will be groups that will actively work toward and against that vision. The net gain falls somewhere short of the prediction and usually to the benefit of the human race.

   I've shown you four stories that I don’t want to come true and they won’t. The intention is for you to think about what the future of genealogy should look like.  What would you want to happen or not happen?  Meanwhile, each new generation will shape some aspect of the future. We can choose to understand their needs and shepherd them or we can sit back and enjoy the surprise of what Genealogy 3.0 will bring.

   For now, relax and finish your tea. The future is not here....yet.

An Imperfect World

Deep Into DNA*

   Anthropology is the study of humans.  Cultural anthropology is a branch that studies the knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws and customs of the world’s people.  I include genealogy, the study of the generations, as a very focused branch of cultural anthropology, the study of your own heritage. 

   For centuries anthropology relied on the study of languages and the discovery of artifacts to build a model of human history.  Today and for more than a decade, anthropologists have used DNA to support their arguments.  This as a tripod of evidence and adds balance.  Language, artifacts and DNA give anthropology three legs of support.


   As genealogists, we rely on oral tradition and historical records.  With DNA for genealogy, we can build our own tripod of evidence...



...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.


*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology.  Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

The Library of You

Deep Into DNA*

   Imagine getting a letter that a distant relative has passed away and that you are invited to the family home. There is a gift waiting for you there. When you arrive, you are handed a skeleton key with a little tag. Handwritten on the tag is your name in faded, old ink. The caretaker tells you that the key fits the door to one of the rooms in the house and you should feel free to look for it.

   As you wander the old home, you see priceless antiques and old photos.  In the study, there are volumes of genealogies of surnames both recognizable and foreign.  The entire place is a treasure trove of information and memorabilia.  You would be happy with even the smallest of gifts...


...continued at The In-Depth Genealogist with a free membership.


*The Deep Into DNA article series is published each month in The In-Depth Genealogist Newsletter and will demystify genetic genealogy and make sense out of DNA testing terminology.  Each month we will talk about the types of tests available from major labs and show relevant examples on how to use DNA in your genealogy research.

#gDNA

Armenia, DNA and Ethnicity

   Self-identity, what culture or ethnicity do you identify with?  Your current culture?  Your immigrant ancestor’s culture?  Perhaps you identify with a culture buried deep in your DNA.

   See this article as a great primer on the differences between - Ethnicity, Nationality, Race, Heritage, and Culture.

   Culturally, my wife is an American.  I could even say that she is a New Englander.  She grew up in an Armenian family, but she doesn’t know the language.  What she does identify with is the food and family.  Her immigrant grandfather, Reuben, was born in Turkey.  Turkish was his nationality, but culturally he associated deeply with the Armenian heritage that was strong in Adana.

   Nations redraw their lines, form and dissolve over the course of decades.  If you had lived in central Europe over the past few hundred years, one day you might be French and the next day German, only to be French again in a week.

   How long does it take us to lose our ethnicity?  If I took my family to Armenia and we stayed there for three or four generations, would they think of themselves as Armenian American Armenians.   I doubt it.  Each generation would absorb the culture around them to a greater degree.  Given enough time, some descendants might think that it was just family mythology that they ever lived in the US.  We’ve always been here.

   We are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants.  That goes for the entire planet.

   If I look at another side of my wife’s family, they’ve been in America for over 350 years.  Their immigrant ancestor, Edward Clark, was ethnically English.  In turn, Edward’s immigrant ancestor was Norman and the immigrant ancestor before that was Danish.  I can keep going back, Iberia, Asia and Africa.  Which culture should they identify with?  Nationality is fleeting and uncertain.  Ethnicity is in your genes, embrace all the cultures of your ancestors.

   About 50,000 years ago, there were no humans in Armenia, or for that matter, Asia Minor.  Over the intervening years, folks trickled in from every direction.  Let’s look at the current distribution of Armenian y-DNA.

Haplogroup	Percentage	Culture
J1c & J2a	32%	Arabic / Semitic
R1b	25%	Iberian/Gaul
G2a	14%	Caucasus
E1b	8%	Alexandrian
I2a & R1a	8%	Balkan
T1	6%	Mid-eastern
L2a	4%	Dravidian
Q1	1%	Hun

   This is a snapshot of modern Armenia.  Without analyzing individual haplotypes from this dataset, it is difficult to determine which group arrived first.  More than likely each group had multiple waves of immigration across history.  I’ve created the map below for you to get a feel for the origin and flow of the major haplogroups.

   It’s not unusual for groups J1c, J2a and G2a to have high percentages.  Those groups also have their origins in that region.  The large portion of R1b can be attributed to the crusaders passing through for hundreds of years.  Many of the taverns in this region have signs that say, ‘Alexander the Great slept here’.   His empire would have contributed the E1b DNA as they conquered eastward and the Dravidian DNA flowed back toward Greece with the spoils.  The Roman and Byzantine influence brought the Balkan DNA.  The Huns also stopped by on their way to conquer Eastern Europe.

   My wife can count Armenian as part of her heritage, with roots on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.  Someday I will find her living Armenian cousins in order to get DNA tests.  Those results will allow me to identify her deeper ancestral ethnicity.

   On another line, she is descended from four generations of Sea Captains from Maine with Scottish origins.  Should my wife self-identify with all the cultures of her ancestors?  Probably not.  Should she learn about and understand all those cultures?  Definitely.  We can pick and choose the best parts of our ancestral heritage and create our own unique ethnic identity.  She has a love for the ocean that didn’t come from any early family experience.  It’s in her DNA.

Recommended: 20 Must Read Genealogy Books

It’s a new year and I wanted to share some of the great genealogy books that I have been reading.

• The 7 Habits of Highly Addicted People:  Handling Your Genealogy Addiction
• The Art of the Blog View:  Blogging for the Future in an Uncertain World
• The Blank Tree:  Coming to Terms with Illegitimacy
• Creating Better Descendants: Offspring Planning as a Tool for a Better Genealogy
• Digital Genealogist:  Hiring an Artificial Family Historian
• Eye Wide Open:  Myths, Legends and Your Relation to the Royal Family
• Genghis to Great:  Creating a Fantastic Family Tree
• Group Consciousness Explained:  Why Thinking as One Brain Hurts Your Research
• History Shock:  Coping With the Torrid Pace of Historical Discoveries
• Inevitable Evils:  Researching the Dark Side of Family History
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Census Record:  And Other Cynical Genealogy Tales
• Our Social Network, Ourself:  Looking for Records in All the Wrong Places
• Overcoming Y-DNA Problems:  Understanding and Living with Untested DNA
• The Pinch Point:  Why Your Family Trees Doesn’t Branch
• The Social Life of Your Information:  Under Control or Loose in the Wild Wild Web
• Sync or Sink:  Managing Your Family Tree Across Dozens of Devices
• Ten Degrees:  How Kevin Bacon is Related to You Within Ten Generations
• The Translucent Society:  Digitized Genealogical Records at What Cost?
• Unlinked:  Pruning the Family Tree
• Unweaving the Malarkey:   $#@%! Your Grandmother Told You

These books can be purchased at A-Squared, the new joint venture between Amazon and Ancestry.  If you buy the e-books they will send you the complimentary dust jacket that can double as a screen protector for your tablet.

Happy reading!

Displaying Your Genealogy: The Royal Wall Mosaic

   I’ve spent a number of years telling my children how they are related to the royal families of Europe.  I’ve rattled off famous names and talked about how far back in time each line goes.  I’ve told them that genetically there is a little bit of all these kings and queens in them.  Essentially, I got – “That’s nice Dad.”

   So, in order to get my children more interested in genealogy I needed to get more creative, more visual.  OK, I wouldn’t say that I got as crazy as Richard Dreyfuss sculpting Devils Tower out of mashed potato or Kevin Costner building a baseball diamond in a corn field.  At one point, I think I heard one of the kids say – “Mom, what’s Dad doing?”

   I started printing and cutting and pasting.  I began on a small corkboard, then moved up to a larger corkboard and realized that it still wasn’t enough space.  Then I laid claim to an entire wall in the cellar and the Royal Wall Mosaic was born.

   I printed every generation in a direct line so that the connections were clear.  I scoured the internet for images of as many royal ancestors as possible.  I displayed the royals across the wall from Brian Boru, King of Ireland, at the far left (representing the West) to Alexios Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor, at the far right.  In between were the kings and queens of Scotland, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Russia and Hungary.  I tied it all together with bright red adhesive lines connecting all the families.

   Now this had the intended effect.  For days, my kids would go to the cellar and look at the wall to check out the Who’s Who.  I would point at the middle and tell them, “See that guy there.  He sentenced Joan of Arc to death.” or “You know the story of Robin Hood and Prince John?  Well guess what, you are descended from John.”

   My children even started to show their friends.  One friend was quoted, “You have the coolest parents.”

   The point of my story is that your genealogy shouldn’t hide in a book or in a computer program.  Your genealogy wants to live large.  Print your family history as large as you can and paper a wall, sew it into a quilt or turn your ancestors into ornaments and hang them on a real tree.  All your hard work won’t matter if your history is covered with dust.

   Start working on your Mosaic.  If you build it, you never know who might come.

Andrew Aitken “Andy” Rooney (1919-2011) R.I.P.

 (Rene Perez / Associated Press)

   I wanted to write about Andy Rooney because I have always found him interesting in a curmudgeon sort of way.   I had intended to say something about his origins and maybe dig up a few interesting skeletons.  As soon as I started researching, the thing that hit me first was Andy’s middle name: Aitken.  Since Aitken is one of my family surnames, my article immediately changed directions.

   OK Andy, so how are you related to me?  Where did you come from?

   I have found that Wikipedia is a good informal source for biographical information and easily verifiable.  Andy was born in Albany on January 14, 1919 to Walter and Ellinor (Reynolds) Rooney.  If I’m lucky Aitken is either Walter’s or Ellinor’s mother’s maiden name.  The family shows up in both the 1920 and 1930 US Census for Albany.  Wikipedia information verified, check.

   The Census lists Walter as being born in Massachusetts and his parents are from England and Scotland.  More bells are going off now as Scotland is in the record.  The surname Aitken is uniquely Scottish.  I’m going to have to find Walter’s mother.  The Census lists Ellinor’s birth in New York and both her parent’s origins as England.  I can stop looking at her, at least for now.

   My next step is to find either Walter’s death or marriage record.  Based on the time period it would be easier to find an early 1900’s marriage record.  The marriage record I found had almost everything a genealogist could want.  Best of all the record had Walter’s parents listed as Charles and Annie (Aitken) Rooney.  There’s the Aitken connection I was looking for.   Just as a double check I found Walter’s 1900 US Census record with his family including Charles and Annie. 

   Walter and his older brothers were born in Massachusetts, so I searched for a Massachusetts marriage record for Charles and Annie next.  I found two.  One record was registered in Fitchburg and one was registered in Leominster.  Charles was from Goosige, England (at least that is the way it was transcribed).  I couldn’t find any reference to Goosige anywhere.  I took a closer look at the digital image of the marriage record and the second “g” looked more like a “y” – giving me Goosiye.  Other researchers have Charles from Keighley in Yorkshire.  Another search and I found Goose Eye, just outside of Keighley.

   Annie was listed from Edinburgh with parents Andrew and Nicholas.  I had to go back to the image again to see if there another transcription error.  Nope.  It really said Nicholas for the mother’s name on both the Fitchburg and Leominster records.  An IGI record and an 1851 Scottish Census record confirmed the spelling as Nicholas.

   The trail starts to get cold at this point. My Aitkens are from Dunbartonshire and Lanarkshire and Andy Rooney’s are from Midlothian.  Aitken means Adam, which would make it a very common and not necessarily related surname.

   I didn’t find any connections or skeletons but it is interesting that Andy Rooney started out in the newspaper business and his grandfather, Charles Rooney, managed a paper mill and his g-grandfather, Andrew Aitken, was a paper maker.  Looks like paper ran in his blood.