Shared Segment Analysis: When a Match is both Paternal & Maternal

I'm working in matches at FamilyTreeDNA this morning and was looking at my brother, Michael's autosomal matches. Each of us have about 5 or so matches that show as matching our paternal & our maternal side.  My Mom, my paternal aunt,  3 of my siblings, and myself have our tests at FTDNA. So I gathered the segment data for one of Michael's matches that I'll call P. Smith just to get an idea of what was happening.  I then checked the match lists of my Mom, my paternal aunt, my siblings, my own match list,  and also my daughter's match list.  I was interested in seeing the size of the segments, how many of us had both or none and which segments each of us had.   I also wanted to know if my Aunt also had the segment that my brother had received from Dad.  Because of visual phasing and overlapping/shared/ICW matches I have a pretty good idea of the family groups that these segments were from but to simplify things I've only identified which of my grandparents passed on these segments.  

My brother was the only one of us tested that got both segments.  My sister got the segment from dad that was passed to him by his mother.  My other brother, and I got the segment from Mom that was passed to her by her dad.   My paternal Aunt did in fact have the same segment that Brother 1 received.  I have passed the segment of my MGF on to my daughter as well.  

From looking at the matches tree and also at share/ICW matches it appears that the PGM segment goes back along the lines of my Morrow/Sutton on back to the Knox Craig lines.  Not 100% certain but that is currently my hypothesis.  That would mean this segment is back around the 5th Great Grandparent level for me.  (screen snip from my working tree shown below)

The segment which my Mom passed to us(from our MGF) appears to be from my Mom's PGM's lines and from a person/couple who was born in the mid 1700s.

As a big fan of DNAPainter for analysis of dna matches, my next step is adding the matching segments to the profiles for each of the tests.  This is a simple process for the tests that just have one segment but has a few extra steps when there are multiple lines involved.  What I could do would be to add both segments under one group and then move the other segment to the appropriate group but I prefer to do it a different way.  I add just the one segment and then click on the option to add additional segments.  For me it works better that way.

It's important to note when we share more than one segment with a match, we cannot assume that both segments are thru the same lines without further evidence.  This drives home the importance of testing as many siblings and aunt/uncles/grandparents as possible.  Also I'm very thankful that this match was on a site that has a chromosome browser and that I had a good mix of tests with which to compare.

FamilyTreeDNA Summer Sale thru August 31st

FamilyTreeDNA is having their summer sale from now thru August 31st.  There are some great deals.  Also look for sale prices on upgrades by viewing the shopping cart for any test you have there.

The Ralston Project at FamilyTreeDNA

Today's blog post focuses on the Ralston Project at FamilyTreeDNA.  While I have no direct Ralston connection, I do have Ralston cousin connections thru my King and Manire lines.  One of those cousins happens to be one of the administrators of the Ralston Project.  

I asked him to tell me and my readers more about the project.  The following was his response:

As a Ralston, I cannot tell you how many times in my life I have been asked, “Are you kin to the Ralston in Ralston-Purina?” We’ve all heard of it: Checkerboard logo, Rice Chex cereal, Chex mix for parties, Purina Dog Chow, Animal chow for just about any animal you can name.

The fact is, there never was a person named "Ralston" associated with the Purina Feed company. It was a marketing ploy, to piggyback on the Ralstonism movement that was popular near the beginning of the twentieth century.

But the net effect has been that everyone in America knows how to spell and pronounce the surname “Ralston". Or to put it better, we North Americans have all been brainwashed to this mindset.

There are over a dozen legitimate ways to spell the surname. There are probably at least 6 distinct ways to pronounce the variations in spelling. But the marketing efforts of the Ralston-Purina Company, TV ads, and the rest, have homogenized the spelling and pronunciation of the Surname Ralston, in North America.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. It makes it easier for strangers to understand how to spell and pronounce the name.

But other spellings and pronunciations are accepted elsewhere in the English-speaking world. So, Americans and Canadians should be aware that "RAWL-ston" is not the only way to pronounce it. That is just the way it has been pronounced in advertising for the last century.

So, in this limited context, the word R-A-L-S-T-O-N is an acronym for the following: Regime, Activity, Light, Strength, Temperation, Oxygen, and Nature.

So, although there was no “Ralston” in Ralston-Purina, there are many Ralstons in the world, most just regular folks, but some notable or famous ones. Are they all kin – or are they of different lineages? These families may spell their names differently; for example, Roulston, Raulston, Rolston, etc. The Ralston Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com wants to find out how/if these Ralstons are connected and where they originated. If you are a male Ralston (or variant of the name) you can help us with this effort and help yourself learn more about your origins. We are specifically looking for Ralston men who are:

• Irish Rollestons with clear English descent
• English Rollestons
• Scottish Ralstons with ancestors from Beith, Kilwinning, Glasgow and surrounds.
• Irish Roulstons/Rolstons/Ralstons, etc., or descendants of such.
• Any Ralston who wishes to learn more about the origin of their paternal lineage.

For more information visit  Ralston Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com or The Ralston Project.

Changes to Account Settings & Preferences at FamilyTreeDNA

Earlier today I received notification via email that FamilyTreeDNA has made some changes that will bring them in compliance with the new European data protection law known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).  If you have an account or accounts with them you should have received this notice.  Check your Spam folder or filters if you haven't received a copy.

Changes to these settings will take effect May 28, 2018.  

Includes Changes to the Following:

• Privacy & Sharing--The ability to opt out of match email notification but still participate in matching.
• Project Preferences--The ability to select an access level for each individual Group Administrator.
• Email Notifications--Same as mentioned under Privacy & Sharing
• Updates to Account Information, and Genealogy sections of the My Profile page.

While you are logged on checking out the settings, you might as well make sure you have assigned a beneficiary for your account.  Also, please fill in the info for your earliest known ancestor if you can and make sure you are using the correct ancestors.  See my previous blog post on this topic.  

Savings on FTDNA Upgrades.

FamilyTreeDNA sent out an email to person's who have tested with them that has sale prices for upgrades.  I hope that the surname groups are taking advantage of this and upgrading the 12 and 25 marker kits to 37 markers.  I'm not sure how long this is running though I would imagine it will end when the holiday sale ends. 

You may also be able to find coupon codes which would save even more money on the purchase.  Check your FTDNA account(s) for further info.  Logging on the account you want to upgrade and then clicking on upgrade or CART(upper right corner of the page) will show you what is available for that kit.

A mtDNA full sequence, upgrade to Y67 and atDNA test for my only remaining paternal aunt

Family Tree DNA has their Holiday sale on with a variety of test packages and upgrades available.  I took advantage of the sale over the Black Friday Weekend.  I purchased an upgrade of my brother's YDNA-37 test to 67 markers, a Family Finder(FTDNA's autosomal test) for my Dad's only living sibling and a mtDNA Full sequence for my daughter. For the tests that I manage,  I have more Promo codes than I can possibly use so I am posting the ones from this week here if anyone needs them feel free to see if they are still active.

FTDNA Coupon Codes Expires Dec. 3, 2017

R29G306PJY3Y $30 off Y-DNA67 ($229 before coupon)

R292SNRLTF2F $30 off Y-DNA67

R24NNLLESIQJ $30 off Y-DNA67

R24NPHFTQ29P $20 off Y-DNA111($299 before coupon)

R29I62CN9KJ4 $30 off Y-DNA111

R24MV668ZWLC $25 off Big Y

R243MEFJ3C4O $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111($129--$229--$299 before coupon)

R29IQPH8SF6E $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **

R290PL8LF5XQ $20 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **

R29OVXD7IEE5 $30 off mtFull Sequence($169 before coupon)

R29RF52ROJOC $30 off mtFull Sequence

R298XY65U1OO $20 off any purchase of $150 or more

R29FEFEP6LGM $20 off any purchase of $150 or more

I will post the ones for this next week as soon as I get them.  I'm already really excited about seeing the results of the tests I purchased as well as seeing a bunch of new matches show up from all the sales at FTDNA and AncestryDNA.

If these coupons do not work they have probably been used by another one of my readers.  I offer them on a first come first serve basis.  

** Some people have reported that they were able to use the Y 37/67/111 coupons on upgrades.

Ethnicity--My results at FTDNA's MyOrigins 2.0

FTDNA launched MyOrigins 2.0 today.  Mine results are shown below along with my ethnicity reports according to DNALand, and AncestryDNA.  MyHeritage has promised to make it's full Ethnicity report available free to all those who have uploaded their raw data(I've uploaded 4 tests) there from any of the other sites.  This and the coming of a chromosome browser, and downloadable matches were mentioned in the MyHeritage Webinar that was made available for free at Legacy's FamilyTreeWebinar site last week.



The two biggest changes from the earlier version were the increase in Scandinavian(decrease in West/Central Europe) and the addition of 4% Sephardic Jew.   I've never had ANY Jewish amount even traces in any of my other tests results, so that was interesting to see.

AncestryDNA

Notice the high amount of Irish at AncestryDNA and the low Scandinavia.  Also the Finland amount intrigues me as that region is showing up in my sister's results

DNA Land Results

To give you an idea of what is included here is the listing that pertains to my results from DNAland

Northwest European

Includes: Scottish Argyll_Bute_GBR and British in England; Icelandic in Iceland; Norwegian in Norway and Orcadian in Orkney Islands

Does not include: Saharawi in (Morocco) Western Sahara; Piapoco in Colombia; Estonian in Estonia; Basque/French and French in (South and 1 other site) France; Basque/Spanish and Iberian Population in Spain; Finnish in Finland and Gambian in Western Gambia

Indo-Iranian

Includes: Balochi, Brahui and Makrani in Pakistan

Does not include: Turkmen and Uzbek in Uzbekistan; Hazara, Pathan and Sindhi in Pakistan; Iranian in Iran and Gujarati Indian from Gujarat (expat in Houston TX)

Finnish

Includes: Finnish in Finland

Does not include: Nganasan and Russian in Russia; Belarusian in Belarus; Estonian in Estonia; Norwegian in Norway; Ashkenazi Jew in Poland and Ashkenazi Jew from East Europe especially Lithuania (expat in Baltimore MD)

Ambiguous Northeast European

Northeast European is a general category containing Finnish and North Slavic

Ambiguous West Eurasian

West Eurasian is a very general category containing Arab/Egyptian, Ashkenazi/Levantine, Central Asian, Northeast European, South Asian, South European, Northwest European, Southwestern European and Central Indoeuropean

GEDMATCH

From the Eurogenes K13, one of the Admixture tools at GEDmatch

There are many other Admixture tools at GEDmatch that you may use once you upload.  I chose this one because I thought it would be the most accurate for my lineage.  I think we can all agree that I'm mostly European.  :-)  In my opinion, being able to validly interpret a person's Ethnic mix using their DNA data is still in the infancy stage.

Dear Cousins: If you have taken an atDNA test, please consider uploading to GEDmatch

Downloading Your Raw DNA Data

AncestryDNA ---- FTDNA ---- MyHeritage ---- 23andMe

If you have taken an Autosomal DNA test PLEASE consider uploading to GEDmatch. Even if your only reason for taking the test was to find out your ethnicity.  When you test, your matches are restricted to those who have also tested at that same site.  By uploading to GEDmatch you are able to compare with others who have taken an autosomal DNA test at any of the other companies and uploaded to GEDmatch.  Below are instructions for downloading from AncestryDNA, FTDNA, MyHeritage and 23&me. Follow the instructions for the download and then scroll further down the page where you will find the instructions for uploading to GEDmatch.

If you tested at AncestryDNA
From your DNA Insights page click on Settings in the upper right just below your DNA Page header.

On the settings page you will see the option to Download Raw Data.  Click on that and follow the instructions.  Also while you are at the page consider linking your DNA to  your Tree.





After you have downloaded your file from AncestryDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section.

If you tested at FTDNA
From your myFTDNA Dashboard:

Or from the myFTDNA Menu on the Left

After clicking the Download Raw Data link you should see a screen like this.  You can download Builf 36 if you are uploading to regular GEDmatch and build 37 if you are uploading to GEDmatch Genesis.
;Save the file somewhere you can  Browse to and DO NOT open the file.  You will upload the zipped file to GEDmatch.

After you have downloaded your file from FTDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section


If you tested at 23&me

The transfer of the raw data from 23&me to GEDmatch is easier than ever. You can now transfer straight from 23&me to GEDmatch see image below.  No need to deal with the upload section of this page if you are able to transfer a copy straight to GEDmatch.

****Please note if you received your results after Aug 9th you may not be able to upload to GEDmatch but should be able to upload under the GEDmatch Genesis section located at the bottom of the column on the right. ****

I've retained the old instructions for anyone who would rather download their data and then upload the file to GEDmatch.
From your 23&me page. Log in.  It should give you a warning that DNA can contain sensitive info.

Select the Tools Tab from your top and then you should see the Browse or Download tabs. Choose Download and scroll down the page. Click on the button to submit your request. You will be prompted to select what DNA you want to download.choose the autosomal test1-22 and X and follow their instructions.

If you tested at MyHeritage

Uploading to GEDmatch.com

Once you have downloaded your Raw Data.....it's time to upload to GEDmatch.  If you have not registered you will need to do so in order that you may access the site.

After registration, you should be able to log in with your email and password which you chose.

Upload your Raw Data and fill out the info for your kit.  Your kit is usually ready shortly after uploading for One To One comparison but it will normally take at least 24 hours for the batch it is in is completely processed so that you can run the  One To Many for your kit and begin trying to figure out how you match to all those folks.

A listing of the DNA kits you have uploaded will show in the "Your DNA Resources" section located in the left panel of your GEDmatch dashboard page.  You may have to scroll to see it.  See the example below.

While you are waiting for the batch process...you might consider uploading a GEDCOM and linking it to your test results.

Hope you have found this helpful.