Mining DNA data with GEDmatch

My readers may have wondered where I have been for the last six months. I have been analyzing my autosomal DNA using GEDmatch.

Dna by Виталий Смолыгин,
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/
view-image.php?image=42718&picture=dna

I found the best definition of GEDmatch in a pdf document “Using GEDmatch” that Kitty Cooper highlighted in her blog post: 

“GEDmatch is a FREE, non-profit, “do-it-yourself” genomics website that allows DNA testers to upload raw data from FTDNA, AncestryDNA, and 23andMe to compare with a large database of data that has been voluntarily uploaded by other testers.”

 After learning more about GEDmatch from my cousin Sallie Atkins, I decided to try it out. For anyone who learns best by listening and seeing, I recommend watching Angie Bush’s video “GEDMatch Basics” on youtube.com before even opening GEDmatch.

By 112.Georgia (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0

 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],

 via Wikimedia Commons

Depending on the company that you chose to test your autosomal DNA, follow the instructions (shown in the video) to upload your data. Remember to heed the caution given in several websites/blogs about this process: GEDmatch is run by volunteers and can be so inundated by users so that the program seems to freeze at times. Just be patient (and grateful for the wonderful tools this site offers) and try again. One more caveat on uploading: if another person in your household is on the internet at the same time you are uploading, the upload may fail.

After your data is on GEDmatch, you can begin using the tools to identify the people who match you. Aside from the technical aspects of getting your data on GEDmatch, something very important to your success in connecting with your “matches” often gets overlooked. After you run the “one to many” query and see all those potential matches, what do you do?

CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=58579

 Let’s look at how to communicate with our matches. Rachel Ramey talks about just this subject in her post “A Few Things I’ve Learned as aBeginner at GEDmatch.” Among her tips to include in your message to your matches is your kit number and why you are contacting the person. Also, highlight any surnames that you want your match to consider.

You will be surprised when you see just how many matches GEDmatch delivers in the one-to-many tool. I liked Ms. Ramey’s suggestion that you save GEDmatch tables into Excel or another spreadsheet tool of your choice.

: 2007 Nuno Pinheiro & David Vignoni & David Miller &

 Johann Ollivier Lapeyre & Kenneth

 Wimer & Riccardo Iaconelli / KDE / LGPL 3

You can do so much with the data columns using the “Sort” feature in Excel. Be sure to use the advanced sort where you can choose primary and secondary columns on which to sort. Depending on the sort, you can see different patterns in your data.

Well, now we have our data uploaded to GEDmatch, we have developed a template message to our matches, and we have some spreadsheets where we can organize our data in different views. What do we do when we start receiving e-mail responses from the matches? That’s where Excel again comes into play. And again, Kitty Cooper comes to our rescue. In her post of Jan 17, 2014, Ms. Cooper offers a guest blog post by JimBartlett, “Organizing Your Autosomal Information with a Spreadsheet” (actually with two spreadsheets.)

As you might have concluded from the topics covered in this post, understanding genetic genealogy is not a walk in the park. The field demands a lot of study and concentrated effort if you wish to harvest the rich information from DNA testing, including getting the most out of  the list of matches you receive. But from my experience, nothing in my genealogy research has given me the volume of information that DNA testing has done. It’s just there waiting for me (and you) to analyze and massage it into a usable format.

A great advantage for anyone interested in exploring how to use DNA is the large number of on-line resources. The basic go-to site to for information is The International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG). In addition to the professionals I mentioned in this post, be sure to check out Roberta Estes’ blog, DNAeXplained, for her amazing ability to explain esoteric subjects. Emily Aulicino is another person who is so adept at decoding technical information in her blog, Genealem's Genetic Genealogy, that non-scientists can understand the concepts.

I wrote this blog post for those who have been hesitant to try their hand at incorporating autosomal DNA into their genealogy research and for those who have tried but got bogged down because they didn’t know the resources out there to help them.

categories: DNA 

Uncover Adoption Secrets with Genealogy Research Methods

Could genealogy help adult adoptees search for their birth parents? Genealogists who usually begin their search with grandparents or great grandparents and adult adoptees who usually don’t have knowledge of their birth parents, generally employ the same set of strategies to uncover their heritage.

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How many adoptees are there in the US? According to the website, 

http://www.adoption.org/adopt/adoption-facts.php:

 “In the last decade (since the year 2000), the U.S. Census has attempted to collect national demographics on the adoption community. The data have helped the government estimate that there are over 7 million adult adoptees in America and 1.5 child adoptees.” 

Of the approximately 7 million adult adoptees alive today in America, many are searching for their birth parents:

“Between two and four percent of all adoptees searched in the year 1990.” (American Adoption Congress, 1996)  

But there is another interesting statistic:

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“The psychological literature has established that the desire of 60 to 90 percent of adoptees wanting to obtain identifying information regarding their biological parents is a normative aspect of being adopted.” (American AdoptionCongress, 1996) 

If 60 to 90 percent have the desire to learn about their birth roots, why are only 2 to 4 percent actively searching? What holds adoptees back from searching for their birth parents? Many people may consider a search for many years without taking a step because of many obstacles, such as fear of failure, not knowing where to start, or any number of other reasons. But once a person decides to start a search, some help from genealogical research methods might come in handy.

Richard Hill, an adult adoptee who didn’t find out that he was adopted until he graduated from high school, shared his story of how he conducted his successful search for his birth parents in a book, Finding Family.

Used by permission of author

His experience can be enjoyed on one level as a riveting detective story with ups and downs, twists and turns, lucky breaks and disappointing dead ends. 

On another level, Finding Family is a road map of how to use many different kinds of sources that genealogists regularly employ to find ancestors. Richard started with the step that many genealogist gurus suggest that you begin with – interviewing family members and family friends. Ann Fleming Carter  explains more about how to approach the person you wish to interview, how to build rapport, and what questions to ask in Chapter 1 “Where Do I Start?” of her book The Organized Family Historian. 

While Richard digested and analyzed the information he collected from his interviews, he also began checking vital records, an often difficult and frustrating experience for adoptees. A search for vital records brings a researcher into contact with the keepers of such records, and these are often courts and health departments (Fleming provides a website, http://www.vitalrec.com/ in her book, which lists where to find vital records by state.) Richard wrote to the Ingram County, Michigan Probate Court to

Photograph by Tim Hollosy,Ingham County Courthouse in

 Mason, Michigan, USA. December, 2006,Wikimedia.

request his non-identifying information. In Michigan, the probate court in each county holds the sealed adoption records for that county. This initiated a long relationship with the Probate Court that you will see described in the book.

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He also wrote to the state health department to see if there might be some kind of birth record on file. As his search progressed and he found out more details, Richard was to repeat this request several times with different results! While many genealogists find challenges in searching for birth records from more than 75 years ago, adoptees can have trouble getting their own birth record!
And it’s not that the courthouse burned or that birth records weren’t required by the state at the time they are searching.

After finding out where his mother went to high school from one of her friends whom Richard had tracked down, he consulted old high school yearbooks for possible photos of his mother.

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When he found out some places where she had worked, he searched for former co-workers to interview and newspaper articles about the target businesses. He employed a tactic that was new to me; he wrote to the Social Security Administration

US Social Security Blding: AgnosticPreachersKid,15 September 2008,

 Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, 330 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. A.K.A. the Social Security Administration Building, Wikimedia.

to request an earnings report for his mother for his target year and received a list of places where she had worked during a critical year of his search!

Richard talked about his search and mentioned some of the problems that plague many genealogists – the difficulty of staying motivated, the way day-to-day life gets in the way, and how some person will come along or some event will happen that gets you right back in the game! A critical step in Richard’s search was making contact with affinity groups in the area he was researching.

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It was through these groups that he found experts in this field. Just as genealogists sometimes find that networking with like-minded people or working with a professional can move their search forward, so did Richard.

First, someone recommended the Adoption Identity Movement (AIM) where adoptees who were searching could get together and share stories, strategies, and contacts. A person he met in an AIM meeting led him to Adoptees Search for Knowledge (ASK), a search group in Lansing, MI where Richard was born. It was at an ASK meeting that Richard found a person who would be key in helping him reach his goal.

Another record source, very familiar to genealogists, that Richard used was the newspaper. But he went beyond searching for obituaries in the library. He put an ad in some small, local newspapers

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that served communities near where his birth mother had lived and worked. Since Richard had found out, first in a general way from his father and then the specific details from his other family member and his mother’s friends, that his birth mother had died in an accident, he used this information to create the newspaper ad. And he received responses!

As a retired scientist, Richard knew the value of keeping copious notes of his search process.

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This helped him immensely when life put his search on the back burner several times over the decades of his journey to identify his birth parents:

“…I kept careful notes of my research, phone calls and meetings, plus copies of all correspondence.” (p. 70)

Each time Richard re-started his search after a long hiatus, he would review his notes, which brought him up-to-date. Also, when he uncovered people with new information, he could use his notes to see how these new pieces would fit with his existing knowledge.

Although Richard demonstrated persistence, patience and putting-in-the time in his search, he might have never discovered the identity of his father without the help of DNA testing.

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Richard’s story clearly demonstrates how DNA testing works hand-in-glove with traditional research methods to help untangle ancestry questions. That said, Richard’s experience also tells us that we can’t rely on DNA testing alone. It was through a combination of traditional research, the yDNA test and the autosomal DNA test that Richard successfully identified his father.

Adult adoptees searching for their birth parents use many of the same strategies that genealogists do in their search for ancestors. In fact, this type of search could be a gateway for adoptees to turn thinking about searching to taking the first steps.

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 Both adoptees and non-adoptees begin exploring family history because they want to know the people who came before them. Whether you are searching for parents or ancestors further back, you will be using many of the same research methods to find official records of many kinds, living people who might be able to provide information, books, and other types of source material. Kimberly Powell  in her online article, “Adoption Search: How to Find Your Birth Family”, presents a good introduction to searching.

Bibliography

1. Richard Hill, Finding Family (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Privately printed, 2012).
2. Ann Carter Fleming, The Organized Family Historian (Nashville, Tennessee: Rutledge Hill Press, 2004). 

I Need Your DNA!

In the past, all that genealogists wanted from possible cousins was their family tree. But since the advent of DNA testing, made available to everyone at an affordable price thanks to companies like  FamilyTreeDNA, "23 You and Me" and Ancestry, we now want suspected cousins to hand over their DNA!

Genealogists welcome the opportunity to further explore ancestry that DNA testing gives us, and we have trouble understanding why everyone doesn’t jump at the chance to take advantage of this new and wonderful technology.

On the other hand, we all recognize the assaults on privacy that are an everyday nuisance in our modern society. So when we cold-call a possible cousin, we have to be prepared for a cold reception. At the very least we may be seen as a solicitor, or we may be suspected of scamming or perpetrating identity theft.

No Soliciting, 10 June 2007, Marcus Quigmire from Florida, USA, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

I had the opportunity recently to hear Bennett Greenspan speak at a conference sponsored by the South Carolina Genealogical Society about one of his experiences asking a possible cousin to take a DNA test. He had met Alan Greenspan, at a conference. When they chanced to meet at the beginning of the event, Alan, seeing Bennett’s name tag, said “Oh, we might be related.”

At the end of the conference, Bennett caught up with Alan and asked him if he would take a DNA test to see if they were indeed related. And very politely, Alan declined.

When we brave a cold call to a possible cousin, how can we minimize the chances of having the person immediately hang up and maximize the opportunity of having a conversation? Before you can get to the point of asking someone for something, you must first give the person a reason to listen to you.

I think here is where I should tell you my qualifications to be writing this guide to persuading people to share their DNA. Before I made my first call, I decided I would pay for the test if my target would agree. You may decide to negotiate when you begin “courting” a possible relation. I started with my brother, Roy Spears, about four years ago. This took a little work as my brother wasn’t sure about the privacy of DNA testing for genealogy. But when his questions were answered, he agreed to be tested. After my success with my brother, I decided to seek DNA from my paternal first cousin, with whom I had had no contact since we were children. In this instance, I needed more time to develop a relationship before I could hope to have a chance to get a “yes” to my quest.

When my brother’s DNA results came back (I used FamilyTree DNA as my testing company), I had two matches: “Frederick Johnson” and “Asa (Carl) Atkins.” I didn’t realize until later that matches other than “Spears” (my birth surname) are a red flag.

It wasn’t until Sallie Atkins, the wife of Carl, e-mailed me that I had a big surprise. Sallie said that she had been studying the Atkins and Johnson families for over thirty years, and she had come to the conclusion that her husband and my brother were both Johnsons! We became friends and decided to look for a living Johnson from this line so we could check his DNA against my brother and her husband.

We were fortunate in that our Johnson/Atkins/Spears ancestors lived in a small town so the number of Johnsons I had to call was manageable. Actually it was the second person I called who turned out to be the one!! It took the combined efforts of Sallie and I (and two personal visits) to form a relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. But eventually he agreed to take a DNA test, and the result confirmed Sallie’s conclusion of how we were related. Both her husband and my brother (and me) are Johnsons!! 

From this auspicious beginning, Sallie and I have recruited more possible cousins to share their DNA with us in the cause of tracing family lines and seeking to solve puzzles that have challenged researchers for decades. So far we are at 7 successes out of 7 tries!

In addition to my track record on obtaining DNA tests, my second qualification is a skill I possess. I have been told by many people that within a few minutes of meeting them, they feel comfortable talking with me. I think it safe to say that this ability is paramount to gaining a person’s trust.You may wonder if this is something you have to born with, but I believe anyone can learn to put people at ease through practice. Now let’s talk about the steps to follow in a DNA-seeking scenario.

Woman Talking on the Phone, National Cancer Institute, 

July 1990, image is in the public domain.

You dial the number of a possible cousin. When the person picks up the phone, you have just a few moments to separate yourself from “nuisance” cold-callers. With a smile on your face (even though the person can’t see you, a smile affects your tone of voice and your manner in a positive way), say your name, that you are studying family history, and that the two of you may share a common ancestor. Then wait for a response. If the person seems at all interested, move to step two.

This is the point where you want to show the person that you respect his/her time. Ask if this is a good time to talk. If the person says that it isn’t a good time, ask if you might call again. But if the person signals that it is okay to keep talking, then do so! It’s important to strike while the iron is hot!!

Step three is where you establish a connection between the two of you. Here’s where you have to be well prepared and know the family line backwards and forwards that you believe the two of you share. Start by asking, “Is this your father’s name?” And go up the

ancestor chain to the great grandfather. Most people won’t know the names of their ancestors past their grandfather, but you may get lucky.

Now that you have the person’s attention, you need to establish some common ground. After all, sharing an ancestor 50-100 years ago may not mean much to a non-genealogist. Before you even make the call, consider some things you might share with the person: locality in the US, job status (working or retired), field of work, children/grandchildren. Talking about these topics can help start a relationship.

As you come to the end of your call, offer to send a family tree or a photo of a common ancestor. Ask if the person has any questions.

Sometimes people have a family story they have heard over and over and wonder if it is true. You may not know if the story is authentic, but it gives you something to look into and raises your standing with the person.

I believe that getting people to say yes to a DNA test is a lot like getting people to yes to many things in life, including coaching a little league team, attending a charity event, or agreeing to chair a church committee. In 2006, Brian Clark started a popular blog on marketing that is still going strong. Dean Rieck, a recent guest writer on Copyblogger, wrote a post called  “Six Ways to Get People to Say ‘Yes’”, where he explains compliance triggers – six things you can do to get a person to comply with your request for a DNA test.

One of the triggers Mr. Rieck discusses is “reciprocity”: if you do something for someone, the person feels more obligated to return the favor. So you start with offering to send some family information. Another trigger is “liking” – Mr. Rieck reminds us that people are more likely to comply with a request if they know and like you. That’s why you want to be patient in your  DNA-seeking. Remember, it’s hard to turn a “no” around, so don’t ask too early. Take time to build a relationship.

In conclusion, although DNA testing has changed the world of genealogy research in a dramatic way, it behooves all of us to remember that this tool doesn’t replace other research avenues (including vital records, land, census and court records.) Instead, DNA testing is one more arrow in our research quiver.

Also, in order to make use of this wonderful tool, we have to learn how to persuade those who possess the DNA we need to agree to take a test.

Categories: DNA

Serendipity in Genealogical Research

Have you ever noticed how diligent working on records can only get you so far in hunting for information on your ancestors? So many times we search for years for tiny glimpses into the lives of our forbears. Sometimes it seems that we go for weeks or even months without seeing any light on a particular question we are trying to answer.

But then, voila, something incredible happens. We get a lucky break. We find a massive clue in a place we wouldn’t ordinarily be looking. We find a person, just by chance, who has valuable information to give us. This wonderful phenomenon is known as “serendipity”.  

 

Just a few weeks ago, in early November, I had a serendipitous experience. I was doing a Google search on my Kreis line. I have been confused about John Kreis’ birth place as it is stated as “Switzerland” in some documents and as “Germany” in others. Just on a whim, I typed “Kreis surname: Switzerland” in Google. The second item that came up was the “Krise Surname DNA Project”. 

And right under this title were these words:

“Another surname in this group is Kreis. ... in the Habsburg project, two more matching profiles in the FTDNA databank belong to living Swiss men named Kreis. ...”

Well, this certainly got my attention. I clicked on the “About this Group” tab at the top of the page. There I found the purpose of the group:

 “The Krise Surname DNA Project has been established to create a databank of Y-DNA profiles of families with variations on the surname Krise. The primary purpose is to provide a basis for documenting and distinguishing different family lines which share a common surname.”

Now I was really excited; I wanted to communicate with this group. Here I might find another research tool.

 On the same page I found the name of the project administrator, Gary Kriss, and his e-mail address. I e-mailed Gary and introduced him to my Kreis line, starting with Johann (John) Ulrich Kreis and mentioned that I would like to join his project. Gary responded on the same day.

First, he said that he would welcome me to the group but the only way to get in was to get a yDNA test from a Kreis male cousin. Now, this was perfect timing! I had wanted to ask my cousin, Frank Kries, to take a yDNA test. I guess I was just waiting for an opportune time. I called Frank and he agreed. I was on the phone ordering the test from FamilyTree DNA.

In his first message, Gary gave me some invaluable background on the Kriss/Krise/Kreis/Kries surname that he had done. He said that he tended to believe that Switzerland was the origin of his Kriss forbears and perhaps mine also. And he offered this startling fact:

“We have living genetic cousins in Switzerland who spell their name Kreis. Since the Habsburg Project identifies our deeper roots in Switzerland and your family tradition recalls Swiss roots, there is a good chance that you are part of our genetic family. But the only way to prove that is with Y-DNA.”

This was the first glimmer of hope that I had in trying to pinpoint where John Ulrich Kreis was born. I will find out more when Frank takes the DNA test.



Gary also told me that his family’s American origins are in Pennsylvania and Maryland. I know that one of the families that the Kreises married into, Hausmann/Hannaman, also landed in PA on their way to NJ and IL. Perhaps the Kreis clan also spent some time in PA.

I feel so lucky to have found Gary Kriss and the Krise Surname DNA Project. It is wonderful to find others who have been bitten by the genealogical bug. This one lucky break has moved my research on the Kreis line a step forward.

Categories: DNA

The Power of Conferences To Increase Your Genealogical Skills

As a former teacher and a life-long learner, I really enjoy the academic aspects of genealogy, including: understanding the fundamentals of DNA, becoming familiar with the historical periods our ancestors lived in, and learning more about methods of research. Genealogy conferences provide a great opportunity to sharpen our skills in these areas.

I just got back from the day and a half Family History Expo (Nov 11-12) in nearby Duluth, GA, sponsored by FamilySearch. I was really fortunate that they had four workshops devoted to German research to help me with my Kreis line. The presenter was Tamra Stansfield, a German Research Consultant at the Family History Library in UT, who is accredited in German Research though The International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). I was able to attend three of the workshops:

1.    "Historical Events and Their Impact on German Research" -- good snapshot of major events in German history

2.    "Hansel and Gretel: Finding and Following the Trail Home to Our German Ancestors" -- summary of US and German record sources (I learned about the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American archives.)

3.    German Records Other Than Parish and Vital – including citizenship, city, and emigration records

I also took a workshop on DNA. I figure if I take enough classes on this subject, maybe, maybe, I'll understand it! I learned that over 1,000,000 people have been tested in the last 12 years since the test was first available. 

A great thing about conferences is that part of the registration fee covers a CD with the hand-outs for all the workshops. This gives you a chance to look over materials from workshops that you weren’t able to attend.

The exhibit area was only one room since it was a local event (much smaller than the exhibit area at the National Genealogical Society National Conference in May 2011 in Charleston, SC), but it had some great materials which I am adding to my genealogical library:

1. a large colorful chart of “Kinship Connections” showing relationships back seven generations
2.  a guide, Understanding Meyers Orts by Fay S. Dearden, a gazetteer for Germany that I learned at two conferences is absolutely essential for locating towns and places in the old German Empire. You can learn more about Meyers Orts from a FamilySearch wiki.
3. Witter’s German-English Primer for Public Schools to learn how to decipher old German script that you find in German records.

Another thing that I love about attending conferences is that you often leave with a clarion call to action. My spur to action came from the presenter, Anna Swayne, of the DNA workshop, “The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships”, said that there are two paths people take after they get their DNA results: sit and wait for possible matches to contact you or be proactive and upload your results to different 3^rd party databases. Well, I came home and immediately started scouring the internet to see how this can be done. In a future post I will discuss how this process works.

Categories: genealogy education, DNA