Ancestry com Genealogy

Genetic Genealogy or Genetic Geneology

I am familiar with genetic genealogy as my sister paid for me to do a cheek swab several years ago for a company called Family Tree DNA, which I did with only a bit of trepidation.

After all, who wants their chromosomal information posted on the internet for others to point at and laugh about.

We have an MD in our line, Barbara Baker, who has been doing a lot of genealogical research on the Baker and Logan families for a number of years. Somehow she and my sister Nancy got connected, and I was the male picked most likely to give up his Y chromosome.

So I sent off my swab, and within a few weeks there was a furious exchange of information. My Y chromosome had provided a clear line on the male side back to some ancient time in Ireland, which included a Revolutionary War General. (Honest, I can prove it.)

If he was Irish, I can understand why he would enjoy fighting against the British.

But the most disconcerting thing about genetic genealogy is that I have a large number of genetic twins wandering around.

Right after the test, I was linked to perhaps twenty others who share an ancestor in common somewhere within the last 800 years, if I remember correctly. Actually they may say something about generations rather than centuries.

And every once in awhile, I still get an e-mail from Family Tree DNA reporting that another 25 or 37 point match has been found, and I am left to wonder if he looks like me, you know, bald, chubby, and does he like the Green Bay Packers?

Is he a little ADD, like kids, a mystic at heart, loves Mark Twain, ect.

I am telling you, that information is disconcerting. And fascinating.

Like the information my sister sent me several years ago about the dark side of the Logan family.

Ever heard of Harvey Logan? He was a very mean guy who rode with the Hole in the Wall gang, and they were not nice people.

Of course, now when I want to quote from it or look up a source, I cannot find it, but when I do, I will update this page. Nanette Varian wrote this about DNA genealogy for AARP in their spring magazine in 2005;

The DNA Connection

By Nanette Varian, March & April 2005

One of the most exciting advances in genealogical research is the use of DNA

Just as scientists proved that the descendants of slave Sally Hemings had also descended from Thomas Jefferson or a close male relation of his, you can compare your chromosomes to those of other folks to whom you may be related. Every man's cheek swab contains a Y chromosome identical to his father's—and his father before him. And anyone's sample contains mitochondrial DNA passed intact from his or her mother. Any two people whose Y chromosomes or mitochondrial DNA match have a forebear in common.

Genetic database companies such as Family Tree DNA perform family or surname "reconstruction projects," comparing DNA sent by people with the same or similar surnames to see if they share the same ancestors. They can also study two clients' genes to help prove they are related to each other.

And they keep the information in a computer database, so that if you like, you'll be put in touch with anyone else in the database who shares a common ancestor with you.

In keeping with the theme of this website, creating affiliate marketing income for us seniors, please check out the link below, for ancestry.com.

Seventeen years ago, in early December 1989, I attended a New Warrior Adventure Weekend, a wonderful experience done by men for men. Part of that weekend was to honor my masculine lineage, by standing up and reporting my name, and then my father's name, and then my grandfather's names.

The process went, "Mike Logan, son of Claude, Grandson of James, Grandson of Bartholamew, GreatGrandon of ..." and so on.

I did not know either of my grandfather's names. And I was embarassed by that. No more. I know them and I am proud of them.

Find your ancestors -- Ancestry.com!



And for some genealogical books....