Living DNA and Find My Past are going to partnership to produce matching for the people who have tested at Living DNA. What great news!
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/ancestry-dna-testing/
This Blog will talk about researching my English ancestors from Canada but also the ancestors of our son in law whose families stretch back far into Colonial French Canada. My one name study of Blake and of Pincombe also dominate my blog these days.
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Thursday, July 19, 2018
Friday, July 13, 2018
Chromosome 23
Still working away on phasing of my grandparents and using DNA Painter which is a marvelous tool. I had this Excel file that sort of did the same thing collecting the common matches in a nice row and I was colouring them as it turned out but DNA Painter is so much better!
Because I do not have any first cousins (my father was an only child and my mother's brother did not have any children), acquiring known lengths on the X chromosome has proven to be difficult. I do not have any known second cousins that have tested and indeed I do not have very many second cousins other than my Blake line which doesn't help me with Chromosome 23 since Blake Chromosome 23 does not pass to either my brothers or my sisters. I have one known match (10.68 centimorgans) coming down from my Routledge side (my great great grandmother was a Routledge) and so coming down from my maternal grandfather's mother's mother). The X chromosome passed to my mother from her father would have come directly from his mother. But of course it is then blended with the X chromosome which she received from her mother yielding a Gray-Buller-Taylor X chromosome from her and a Rawlings chromosome from my father (would have passed intact from his mother to myself). The Rawlings I can see in the matches because my two sisters and myself will match that individual pretty much exactly the same (depending on the testing service) since there is just one X chromosome for my father to pass to us. The challenge is of course with the Gray-Buller-Taylor matches.
I am questioning myself as to whether or not the 10.68 centimorgans is sufficiently large to use it as a control length. Doing so lets me create a good scenario for the phasing of the Gray-Buller-Taylor chromosome which all of us have inherited from our mother although there is quite a bit of variability in that inheritance. Being able to definitively define this chromosome adds greatly to the entire phasing project. I have 15 really good matches on this chromosome and being able to then place them into one of the four grandparent lines is most helpful as it lets me look at the other chromosome where there are multiple lengths of matching chromosomes. But that being said, I already have six Pincombe matches (my paternal grandfather was John Routledge Pincombe) that let me define that line quite nicely over 17 chromosomes for my one sibling that is the strongest match to the Pincombe family and even myself being the weakest match have 9 chromosomes with Pincombe matches.
Trying to decide these days if I am spending too much time on DNA! I am also working on the writing up which involves photographing my set of fiche records and inserting the original into the document. This is for family only as all of these records carry UK Crown Copyright.
Because I do not have any first cousins (my father was an only child and my mother's brother did not have any children), acquiring known lengths on the X chromosome has proven to be difficult. I do not have any known second cousins that have tested and indeed I do not have very many second cousins other than my Blake line which doesn't help me with Chromosome 23 since Blake Chromosome 23 does not pass to either my brothers or my sisters. I have one known match (10.68 centimorgans) coming down from my Routledge side (my great great grandmother was a Routledge) and so coming down from my maternal grandfather's mother's mother). The X chromosome passed to my mother from her father would have come directly from his mother. But of course it is then blended with the X chromosome which she received from her mother yielding a Gray-Buller-Taylor X chromosome from her and a Rawlings chromosome from my father (would have passed intact from his mother to myself). The Rawlings I can see in the matches because my two sisters and myself will match that individual pretty much exactly the same (depending on the testing service) since there is just one X chromosome for my father to pass to us. The challenge is of course with the Gray-Buller-Taylor matches.
I am questioning myself as to whether or not the 10.68 centimorgans is sufficiently large to use it as a control length. Doing so lets me create a good scenario for the phasing of the Gray-Buller-Taylor chromosome which all of us have inherited from our mother although there is quite a bit of variability in that inheritance. Being able to definitively define this chromosome adds greatly to the entire phasing project. I have 15 really good matches on this chromosome and being able to then place them into one of the four grandparent lines is most helpful as it lets me look at the other chromosome where there are multiple lengths of matching chromosomes. But that being said, I already have six Pincombe matches (my paternal grandfather was John Routledge Pincombe) that let me define that line quite nicely over 17 chromosomes for my one sibling that is the strongest match to the Pincombe family and even myself being the weakest match have 9 chromosomes with Pincombe matches.
Trying to decide these days if I am spending too much time on DNA! I am also working on the writing up which involves photographing my set of fiche records and inserting the original into the document. This is for family only as all of these records carry UK Crown Copyright.
Thursday, July 12, 2018
Miraculous rescue
The whole world gave a sigh of relief as a multinational team of divers (Thailand, United States, United Kingdom, Australia etc etc (and a Canadian was also in that long line of cave divers passing the children to the surface)) managed the impossible in Thailand. They brought 12 young boys and their coach back to the surface after two and a half weeks of being trapped. So many countries pulled together to make this happen. Where there is a will there is a way and I am thinking about NATO and our commitment as Canadians there. How prepared do we have to be? I do think, as others do as well, that we need to spend more money on ships to help in the North, jets etc for our Air Force and more troops to simply give more bodies on the ground to help in disasters both here and in the areas where we are committed to help. Spending 2% of our gross domestic product (GDP) is not an unreasonable sum given the protection it provides for us both internally from natural disasters and externally for the commitments that we make around the world through our participation in NATO and the United Nations (I wouldn't mind seeing it go to 3 or 4% to be honest). Many have said that for a very long time though it really isn't a new thought.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Newsletters on the FT DNA Website
The Blake Newsletter, Pincombe Newsletter and H11 Newsletter are now only available on the FT DNA website to members of the group. Because of the need to comply with privacy laws the copy of the Newsletter on my blog is generic removing any possibility of recognition of an individuals results (i.e. mutations are masked unless they are in the Control Area - Coding Area mutations are not mentioned other than in a generic way).
I am surprised that I have actually managed to keep up with the Newsletters this past year. Next year should be easier and hopefully back full-time working away on our Family Story, DNA and transcription. I was surprised to discover that I could still read the old handwriting quickly after a period of time away! I would like to complete the Wills that I have in my possession. Once done I will look again at what I can accomplish in the Blake and Pincombe one-name studies.
I am always looking for people interested in picking up these studies (in conjunction with me until I step back from them).
I am surprised that I have actually managed to keep up with the Newsletters this past year. Next year should be easier and hopefully back full-time working away on our Family Story, DNA and transcription. I was surprised to discover that I could still read the old handwriting quickly after a period of time away! I would like to complete the Wills that I have in my possession. Once done I will look again at what I can accomplish in the Blake and Pincombe one-name studies.
I am always looking for people interested in picking up these studies (in conjunction with me until I step back from them).
Sunday, July 8, 2018
Genealogy Meet-Up
We had a fun time at the Genealogy Meet-Up. A few people that I have not seen for quite a while and some faces that I see more often. Great chats on genealogy. Interesting chats on daily events.
I always find that talking to people stirs a memory or inspires a new thought. People do their research in so many different ways. I can finally see the method that I have moved towards with my genealogy. It was elusive for a while. But I have a central theme - writing up my family and I am at the 2x great grandparents level - and the DNA does occupy me as that is the bonus of this latest research tool. But as one of the members of the group mentioned we still have to do the paper work for the proof of the lines - the DNA is the icing on the cake for proving these lines. I check most days on the DNA and work with DNA Painter and it has become my new go-to tool for looking at matches. But primarily I am busy writing up my ancestors descendants. I have really taken this to a new level as I try to follow every line forward to the present. Obviously I am thinking of DNA matches being easier to look at but none the less my reasons for getting into genealogy in the first place back in 2003 still remain in place. I can see now that my principal reason for doing this is my mother wanting to have it done and in the 1970s/1980s she simply was not able to find the type of material that I can find now with the internet and traveling to various archives.
Ed and I shared a dish of hummus with toasted thin bread and water. The others had different items. I think we all enjoyed the couple of hours at the beach discussing our favourite hobby!
Thank you to John Reed for his organizing this yearly event.
I always find that talking to people stirs a memory or inspires a new thought. People do their research in so many different ways. I can finally see the method that I have moved towards with my genealogy. It was elusive for a while. But I have a central theme - writing up my family and I am at the 2x great grandparents level - and the DNA does occupy me as that is the bonus of this latest research tool. But as one of the members of the group mentioned we still have to do the paper work for the proof of the lines - the DNA is the icing on the cake for proving these lines. I check most days on the DNA and work with DNA Painter and it has become my new go-to tool for looking at matches. But primarily I am busy writing up my ancestors descendants. I have really taken this to a new level as I try to follow every line forward to the present. Obviously I am thinking of DNA matches being easier to look at but none the less my reasons for getting into genealogy in the first place back in 2003 still remain in place. I can see now that my principal reason for doing this is my mother wanting to have it done and in the 1970s/1980s she simply was not able to find the type of material that I can find now with the internet and traveling to various archives.
Ed and I shared a dish of hummus with toasted thin bread and water. The others had different items. I think we all enjoyed the couple of hours at the beach discussing our favourite hobby!
Thank you to John Reed for his organizing this yearly event.