The DNA of our ancestors tells the long ago story of the places and peoples that we’re made of…
DNA has become a valuable addition to genealogical research as DNA is the carrier of our genetic information, and is passed down from generation to generation. All of the cells in our bodies, except red blood cells, contain a copy of our DNA.
Genealogical DNA is often used:
- to verify existing research,
- to identify geographic locations for further genealogical research,
- to help determine the ancestral homeland,
- to discover living relatives,
- to confirm or deny suspected connections between families, and
- to prove or disprove theories regarding ancestry.
AUTOSOMAL DNA includes the 22 pairs of autosome chromosome genes:
Autosomal DNA is inherited from both parents, and includes random contributions from their parents, grandparents, and so on. Therefore, your autosomes essentially contain a complete genetic record, with all branches of your ancestry at some point contributing a piece of your autosomal DNA.
Autosomal DNA tests for genetic genealogy are provided by 23andMe, Family Tree DNA (the Family Finder test), and AncestryDNA. Autosomal DNA tests can be used to search for relative connections along any branch of your family tree.
Unless the connection is so far back that the shared DNA has essentially been eliminated through too many generations of recombination, any autosomal match between two individuals indicates a possible genetic connection. There is nothing in this test that will tell you which branch of your family the match is on, however.
By comparing autosomal DNA across populations, researchers are beginning to dial in where in the world others with our DNA reside and might have come from in earlier generations.
Our Paternal line – Walter // McKay/Miller
Our Maternal line – Verry // Calvert
Y-DNA haplogroup includes the Y sex chromosome gene that is passed on from father to son (and only present in males):
The 23rd chromosome is known as the sex chromosome. As with the other chromosomes, one is inherited from the father, and one from the mother.
- The 23rd chromosome from the mother is always an X.
- From the father, a person either inherits an X chromosome or a Y chromosome.
- The chromosome inherited from the father determines their gender.
- An X from the father would result in an XX combination, which is a female.
- A Y from the father would result in an XY combination, which is a male.
A Y-DNA test is a genealogical DNA test which is used to explore a man’s direct father’s-line ancestry. The Y chromosome, like the paternal surname, passes down virtually unchanged from father to son.
Women who wish to determine their direct paternal DNA ancestry can ask their father, brother, paternal uncle, paternal grandfather, or a cousin who shares the same surname lineage (the same Y-DNA) to take a test for them.
A Y-DNA haplotype or haplogroup is the numbered results of a genealogical Y-DNA test. Y-DNA testing is provided by Family Tree DNA.
Our Paternal line Y-DNA haplogroups
Walter – R-PF6570 a subgroup of R-M269, R-L23, R-M412, R-P311, R-P312 then R-PF6570 (new notation system).
Previously it was z36, and came from S28/U152 (also called R1b1a2a1a1b3d).
Below is chart with Y-DNA Phylotree for R-PF6570…
McKay/Miller – (coming)
Our Maternal line Y-DNA haplogroups
Verry – looking for test candidate
Rogers – looking for test candidate
Terpening – looking for test candidate
Queal – (coming)
Mitochondrial or mtDNA haplogroup includes the mitochondria chromosome passed on from mother to daughter (or son):
We inherit our mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, from our mother, and none from our father. Mitochondrial DNA is located outside the nucleus of the cell. Mitochondrial is passed from mother to child. Since only females pass on their mtDNA, testing the mtDNA tells about the mother, to her mother, and so on along the direct maternal line.
Both males and females receive mtDNA from their mothers, so both men and women can test their mtDNA. While mutations occur in mitochondrial DNA, the rate of mutation is relatively slow. Over thousands of years these mutations build up so that one female line will have a sequence distinguishable from another. As people spread throughout the world, mutations occasionally occurred in different populations over time. This allows us to test the mtDNA to identify the world origin of a person’s lineage.
Mitochondrial haplogroups are labeled alphabetically. Today, anthropologists have identified certain haplogroups that originated in Africa, Europe, Asia, the islands of the Pacific, the Americas, and sometimes particular ethnic groups. The ability to trace back a person’s maternal haplogroup back so far — more than 50,000 years — has to do with how it is passed down to each of us from our mother, and her mother, and her mother’s mother, and so on back in time. MtDNA tests are provided by 23andMe and Family Tree DNA.
Our Paternal line mtDNA haplogroups
McKay/Miller – H3g
Our Maternal line mtDNA haplogroups
Calvert/Rogers/Terpening/Queal – U4a1b1
