TMRCA: DNA and the 4th Dimension

Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor

TMRCA answers the question, ‘OK, you and I are related. How far back in time do we have to go to find the connection?’

Take any two organisms, two mushrooms, two rabbits or two humans and compare their DNA. If you know how the DNA is different and you know the rate of mutation for the differences then you can calculate how far back in time they have a common ancestor.

In this mini-webinar I will explore how close or distantly in time various DNA tests will take you and various tools for calculating and visualizing TMRCA data.

You can find the webinar on my YouTube page.

#gDNA

Mapping Your Tribe

If I asked you where your ancestors were last year or 100 years ago, you could probably tell me.  If you have a yDNA or mtDNA test in your hands, you could tell me where your ancestors were 30,000 years ago.

Where were your ancestors 1000 or 2000 years ago?  What events did they witness?  What history did they make?

Join me as we combine DNA and history to Map Your Tribe.

Tuesday, March 27^th at 7pm

Central Massachusetts Genealogical Society

22 Elm St, Gardner MA – American Legion Post #129

Where did you come from? 

#gDNA

What’s in My gDNA Toolbox

   If I were talking about my regular genealogy toolbox, I would be listing links to all the great websites with digital records (e.g. FamilySearch).  I would also talk about great repositories like NARA, BPL or the Mass Archives.  Or, I would mention tips and techniques like Nearest Neighbor and the Hidden Treasures in old photos.

   Now that we are adding DNA as a tool for genealogy, we have to pack a new toolbox.

The Databases – record sources to compare your DNA against

· Ysearch.org – Y-DNA database
· Mitosearch.org – mtDNA database
· FTDNA.com – DNA Project database
· WorldFamilies.net – DNA Project database
· SMGF.org – DNA Project database

The Testing Companies – many different testing companies that are not all equal – do your homework

· FTDNA.com – DNA testing  (my favorite)
· 23andMe.com – DNA testing
· SMGF.org – DNA testing
· Ancestry.com – DNA testing
· GeneTree.com - DNA testing

Sources of gDNA Knowledge – There are many areas of genetic genealogy that are open for interpretation.  Read everything and come to your own conclusions.

· ISoGG.org – Advocates for the use of genetics as a tool for genealogical research
· Wikipedia  - Haplogroup details
· nationalgeographic.com/genographic

Analysis Tools – DNA results love to be compared and analyzed

· hprg.com/hapest5/index.html – Whit Athey’s Haplogroup predictor
· mymcgee.com/tools/ - Dean McGee’s Y-DNA comparison tools
· www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/FF23utils/ - David Pike’s autosomal comparison tools
· http://gedmatch.com/ - Autosomal comparison tools
· PHYLIP – phylogenetic tree creation

DNA Data Management – you need to organize and manage your DNA records

· Legacy Family Tree – supports DNA records (the one I use)
· Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Ancestral Quest and The Master Genealogist – supports DNA
· Excel – spreadsheet tools
Misc
· Google Maps – User defined maps – you never know when you might want to build your own custom map

   This is hardly an exhaustive list.  I use most of these tools on a weekly basis.  I’m always looking for new tools (or creating ones that don’t exist).

   What's in your toolbox?  Let me know what tools you are using.

#gDNA