Genealogy — DNA for genealogy — takes us all around the world — and sometimes back again. Traditional genealogy documentation requires death and birth records and every conceivable in-between and a number before and after.

Much of my DNA for genealogy is not in the United States of America; my research leaves the amber waves of purple grain for the revolution against an amber room quickly back in time. I do have the wee bits and pieces of Native American on both my paternal and maternal side, and I have slices and chunks of the British Isles, Finland and generally Western Europe. But it is the sizable pieces of southeastern Europe that calls me home – the admixture might be smaller than impressive but it also includes the mt-DNA haplogroup – and the ancestries and histories of my matches.

I search for my ancestors who immigrated to the US in the 1840s, 1860s and 1870s and, although their records are sparse for their times in their places, the added clues from DNA direct me to old homelands.

I could not call myself any kind of aboriginal in any of these places – I am an earthling nobody everybody. I will forever roam the world as a never-indigenous anything – a mixed mongrel of the first order.

Often people see their DNA and records of genealogy in one dimension. But there is so much more to see, so don’t miss any of it.

For the DNA – once you have tested at certain companies, you can then not only download and back up your raw DNA data (that you want to keep careful copies of anyway). You can also upload DNA raw data from ‘certain’ companies to ‘certain’ other DNA-reading-company websites.

All can read in my blogs about medical DNA info – (see the contents) – I will never recommend doing the medical testing and suggest that if you do, then have a doctor handy to decipher it. But there are lots of medical readers now – some that just give to research and others that give back readable info about your genes from a medical view. Promethease is all the rage for those in the know and there is an unofficial Facebook page that is covered by volunteers to help you find links to information. https://promethease.com/

DNA.Land is one I have supported where you will also get a wee bit of added matching and admixture reading. Nebula.org is so new there is nothing to say yet except that I ordered the day it came out.

But traditional research is still the foundation of all the genealogy history – and in Probate Courts – they want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. In many estates there needs to be proof of relationship to identify a person’s heirs.

How DNA is going to continue to shake up this industry remains to be seen but the work to locate the heirs of the deceased still is dependent on the good old-fashioned primary records of standard documentation for genealogical proof aka a preponderance of evidence.

When one can make the case with traditional research and then add DNA evidence one can say they have their ancestry. There are no breaks of non-paternity events in a line of hundreds of years if a family line is studied with multiple descendants. And, if a person of unknown parentage can prove identity using DNA for genealogy and then add the traditional research of their new-found ancestors then the family history can be enjoyed by all.

DNA for genealogy has now spread around the world – countless people who are recent migrants can search back through their genes – a cherry-picking of sorts — and go visit a homeland. There may be no names to look for in cemeteries with a grave and a headstone, but they can know haplogroups that reach back deep in time, and an archaeological dig with sequenced skeletons can take a displaced person to the place where an ancestor lived.

All the DNA-for-genealogy companies tapped into the soul of memory – may they guide us back through time.

The DNA for genealogy project with the company that I reccomend the most – because they test not only autosomal DNA but also y-DNA and mt-DNA

https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=FrenchBroadRiverFamilies

If you already have your test there, or have tested with some other companies, you might be able to upload your raw data and then join our project. We started with 3 dozen people and now we are pushing 100 members. I hope we can continue with new generations of researchers joining us to help for the future

https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/french-broad-river-families/about

Of course the standard companies  offering DNA for genealogy and medical is 23andme. (23andme does not take uploads)

The biggest database is of course at AncestryDNA – so if you are on a budget this might be the way to begin and add your DNA in the places that take uploads. (Ancestry does NOT take uploads)

I still cry out to all to learn about the mt-DNA – which gives little for genealogy and also all the men test y-DNA. To prove families and all kinds of relations one can use the autosomal DNA matching and verify your relationships with male and maternal lines cousins of all ancestral lines and learn about genetic ancestries from all your own lines.

Based on matches in my relatively rare mt-DNA haplogroup H10a1 – the ancestry of these mothers can be found in south east Europe. Whether a trip of a lifetime or travel via Google Earth – go see do

Enjoy a latest trip to Uncle Sherman’s last home as a free man.

https://cherielynnsherstory.com/2018/12/27/seeking-sherman-a-florida-story/