Where do I come from?

We are not human if we don't wonder about our heritage, and even though we are all made of atoms and star dust, we also carry within our DNA the patterns and coding of our ancestors.  Sometimes I find myself thinking of all these long lines of people, stretching back in a linear, fanned-out pattern behind me and wish I could speak to them and ask them the myriad of questions I have. But, I can't, obviously...  But I can see where I originate thanks to my DNA!


This is my 23andMe result showing my sub-regional breakdown:

This is my split view (23andMe) showing what I inherited from both my mum and my dad.

This is the Ancestry.com breakdown:

And this is the Family Tree DNA version:

Clearly I'm 100% European but some of those results are a little different and it's to do with the different testing (can't remember the correct terminology) that they use... apparently the Ancestry.com 'Irish' result is often English because their 3% is remarkably low when about 80% of my known ancestors were born there!

It's All in Your Genes! (part 2)

Since writing my last blog post (which I actually transferred across from a previous blog) I have had the results of my sons' and my sister and parents DNA results.  This has been fabulous in allowing me to narrow down which side of the family new DNA relatives belong to.  Weirdly, there are a number that I am related to on both sides!  Are my parents related?  Well, yes and no, they share a common ancestor in Sir Hugh Ridley who was born in Willimoteswick Castle (pictured) in Northumberland in 1498 and makes them 14th cousins once removed. However, speaking of DNA, the trace amounts are negligible so they don't show as DNA relatives until you drop the parameters significantly. What these new DNA cousins most likely reflect is that they come from one or more pairs of common relatives.  In other words, a relative of mum's has obviously married a relative of dad's and they therefore have DNA from both sides like I do.  Considering a number of my ancestors come from similar areas on both sides of the family, this is not really all that surprising.  Durham in Northern England is one such area that both mum and dad have recent ancestors, so is Staffordshire - Leek in particular, parts of Derbyshire and also Ayrshire and Lanarkshire in Scotland.  There are a few names that appear in both sides in more recent times too, although I'm, as yet, unable to match them up.

I have found 23andMe a little frustrating with finding relatives - yes they are all listed there, but very few of them respond to emails.  I'd say I have gotten about one response from every 10 emails I've sent to relatives.  I guess many of them may have just wanted the raw data for health or other reasons, or maybe just to verify their connection to one particular relative?  I have had a number of those with adoptions in their family history reach out, as they want to solve the puzzle of their origins.  I certainly got more response from Gedmatch as people seem to be more about connecting on there.  I decided to go the Ancestry.com DNA route as well, to expand on ancestral connections and I'm so glad I did.  That has given me some connections that match the paper trail - FINALLY.  So if you are wanting to be DNA tested for family tree reasons, I would recommend going with Ancestry from the beginning.  The other bonus with using Ancestry.com as opposed to 23andMe is that you can then upload data to Family Tree DNA and I have found so many CLOSE connections on ftdna that I haven't come across at any of the other sites.  You can also find common relatives and generally look at their family tree on there as well.  One of the things with Ancestry.com testees that frustrate me is that many of the people who've been tested don't even have trees or have private trees, but on ftdna they seem to be wanting to genuinely connect (although my closest connection still hasn't responded to my email).

Having the entire family tested has been fabulous though, we can see the differences, we can see the inheritances, I love comparing our raw data and seeing who got what - especially with my sons - two of them inherited my dodgy MTHFR gene mutations and only two of them are carriers for hemachromatosis.  I'd love to know more about their ancient DNA though, as I'm 100% European, as is my sister and parents, but my boys show a few traces of North African, East Asian and even Far Eastern Russian or American Indian.  There recent ancestry is all British though, it really makes you wonder where and how these other traces came through...

It's All in Your Genes! (part 1)

For many years I've had an absolute passion for Family History and often get lost in the pages of Ancestry.com as I'm extending branches and adding leaves to my tree. To me, family is so much more than just those we were born to and raised alongside.  To me it is all of those who share ancestors and the further you go back, the more people that entails.  I met one of my cousins - who went on to become one of my closest friends - via ancestry.com a few years back and last year we got to spend a couple of weeks together in the USA and she IS my family even though we are fifth cousins - there is a connection that is stronger than merely friendship, it's a kinship if you will - a shared history - we share blood and DNA from our forebears and that unites us.

In my quest to collect a few more cousins, I decided to take the next step that any Genealogy Junkie may embark on and that is to get my DNA sample assessed.  I sent off for a kit to 23andme and waited eagerly for the delivery.  It was a simple test that collected a vial of my spit and then after posting it back - an agonising four week wait (which I am NOT good at) - to have the first of my results published on my account.  When you join 23andme there are lots of questionnaires and surveys which help them to gather information to do with health complaints and genetics - it's just incredible.

So far, in the space of just a few weeks, I've connected with a number of cousins across the world. Many of them have very little connection to their biological families as they were adopted.  I enjoy helping them to try and find a little more information about their family of birth, even if that is many generations back.  I'm just so very grateful that my Aunt and other cousins had paved the way for me to take our tree to the next level and end up with almost 5000 ancestors on it - it's proving to be very helpful in matching me with DNA cousins.

The ancestral connections is what first drew me to order that kit from 23andme but it's actually proved to be incredibly beneficial in ways I wasn't yet aware of.  The raw genetic data is available for you to download and there are so many incredible sites and applications across the web that have helped me to understand my rather complex health conditions.  The first thing I did was upload my raw data to promethease.com so that I could search for a number of genetic mutations as I knew that a couple of my illnesses were linked to particular mutations and wanted to see for myself.  Yep, I had those mutations which I found fascinating.  I played around on this site for a couple of days - fascinated at what my DNA could tell me - from my raw data someone could give a basic description of my physical appearance; blonde, skin that tans and doesn't freckle, light blue eyes, taller than average and a propensity to be overweight :D  I found the forums on 23andme to be pretty useful too and that led me to find livewello.com which, for a small fee (don't remember but cheaper than a visit to the GP who rarely offers any insight), I was able to upload my raw data and run it through their protocols which checks for particular diseases and pulls up a list of your mutations and a little explanation of it all.  There are also a number of pre-written variance reports for particular diseases that you can run data through and it will bring up any polymorphisms and show whether you are heterozygous or homozygous to any of the markers.  I've had a lot of confirmation from this site - stuff I've known and other stuff I've suspected - now to tell my Doctors and watch their eyes roll.

Sometime during all this I was contacted by a cousin from the USA and through chatting discovered that we share a lot of these weird health disorders and she was able to direct me to nutrahacker.com which has probably been the most beneficial.  I ordered two reports which cost me $US50 and well worth it.  Once again, you upload your raw data, the program does it's magic and in a few short minutes you get a whole lot of information.  This one offers a list of genetic diseases that you are checked against to see if you're homozygous (likely to have or develop this disease) or heterozygous (a carrier) and I found out I'm a carrier of hemochromatosis.  So, now it's time to check the kids DNA to make sure none of them are homozygous.  My parents and sister have all sent their DNA tests off which will also narrow down where I've inherited that gene from so that I can alert the rest of the family on whichever side it comes from.  I also got a toxicology report from Nutrahacker which told me which foods and supplements I should avoid (which contained a number of things I'd worked out I should avoid anyhow - and a lot more) and also a list of things that I should include in my diet and supplementary needs.  I am so glad I found this website!

But back to the main reason I first sent off for that DNA kit - ancestry...  I was linked by another of my new cousins to Gedmatch.com where you - yep, you guessed it - upload your raw data.  But wait, there's more!  You also upload your gedcom!  For those of you unversed in genealogy speak - that's your downloaded family tree.  A gedcom is a universal file type so no matter where you store it you should be able to download and upload it all over the place...  Gedmatch then matches you both genetically and via your gedcom AND they have all sorts of fun stuff as well, such as the opportunity to run your DNA against Ancient Human Remains DNA - and I'm related to some woman who lived in Hungary 5, 300 years ago as well as some from Sweden, Germany, Russia and the UK :)  I also have 3% neanderthal DNA - go figure! There's a little thing where you run your DNA through an eye-colour match thing and it showed an image so similar to my eye it was scary!

All in all, I kind of feel like I'm being sucked into a rabbit hole - but that's ok as I have a 'warrior' gene apparently so will be ably equipped to fight off any half-crazed cousins or the like.  I have an addictive nature (yep, shows in my chart) along with a propensity to ASD and that in itself makes me a person who becomes rather fixated on something. I also got two copies of the intelligence gene, but I've probably already told you that ;)

Anyhow, enough blogging - I have charts to upload and new cousins to discover!

We Are Family

Family.  That one word means different things to different people.  Some consider it a plural term to lump all those related by blood into one basket.  Others see those people they gather close to their heart, chosen on merit and not DNA to be their family of choice.  Far too many are dysfunctional.  The storybook picture of what constitutes a family is just not a reality for many people anymore; that doesn't mean that the strong and loving bonds of family are lessened by an absent parent or two parents of the same sex or being raised by parents who chose you but didn't biologically create you.  Your family is quite simply - your family.

My family is the single most important thing in my life.  I'm fortunate to come from a family who all feel the same way.  From outsiders we have as much criticism as we have envy from those who wish they were a part of our large, encapsulating embrace.  My family consists of my three teenage sons, my parents, my sister and her son and myself.  I live with my two younger sons and my parents in a large home with more than enough room for when the rest of the family are here a few nights a week for dinner or sleep overs. My older son lives with his partner and she is the daughter I never had and although they are only 22, she has been a part of our lives for many years.  Our lives are full and chaotic, certainly never quiet or lonely and I would never want it to be any other way.

But family doesn't stop beyond these walls.  My ex husband and his partner and her children are also a part of my family.  We go out for dinner as a big group every so often and I think my boys love the fact that they have both of their parents together, accepting one another for who we are, enjoying the company, forgetting the expectations of society and generally having a great time. My ex has been with his partner for around 12 years now - longer than we were together - and I can honestly call her my friend.  Letting go of those ideas set by society that there should be some kind of cold war between the new partner and the old is damaging to all concerned and I can tell you from experience it's so much nicer when everyone gets along.

I think most people would agree with me on this... when thinking of childhood memories, many of the best ones involve siblings, cousins, and trips to grandparent's homes and generally centre around traditional family gatherings.  I know for me this is true.  Cousins are another interesting topic.  I have friends whose cousins are as close or closer than their siblings and other friends who have cousins they rarely see or haven't even met.  My cousins are great (for the most part) and thanks to facebook we have actually grown closer as distance had been an encumbrance.

There is something to be said for the blood ties, even as watered down as it becomes as generations spread their proverbial wings and plant seeds on diametrically opposed sides of the planet. I am passionate about genealogy, well, family history to be more accurate (as I like to put leaves on the trees and flesh on the bones) and my incessant search for fleshing out my own tree led me to discover a few of these kin united by blood.  In particular I found (actually she found me but that's by the by) a fifth cousin once removed who is so much like me that it's as if we were identical twins separated at birth and not by a protesting brother torn from his sister and shipped to The Colonies in 1831.  She is my soul sister, my dearest friend and my family.  Her family is my family too.  Actually, sinking your teeth into your ancestral roots not only gives you a great understanding of where you come from but it helps you to understand who you are and why you are the person you are.  It also helps you to realise that we are all connected.