mtDNA results of my Paternal Aunt

I woke up to find that my Paternal Aunt's mtDNAFull test results were finished processing.  What a great way to begin 2019.  After reading over her results and her match list I did what I have done any other time that I get new DNA test results.  I work the closer matches.  Regardless of whether it's atDNA, mtDNA, or YDNA I build floating trees which contain the matches ancestors. YDNA and mtDNA matches may not connect with your line til back about 500 or even a thousand years but having the trees(Or the direct Father or Mother line for YDNA or mtDNA) of the matches will help you see how they connect with each other and sort new matches.  With mtDNAFULL,  I would only work with the genetic distance of 0-1.  In YDNA I use genetic distance 2 or less at the 37 & 67 marker and 0-1 at 111 markers.

My daughter had tested a while back so I had the mtDNA for her, myself and my Mom.  She had a backwards mutation which was present in the descendants of my 4th Great Grandmother's sister so I haven't felt compelled to test myself or Mom.

Dad's YDNA   R-M269 tested Y111 markers
Dad's  mtDNA   Haplogroup:  U3a1c
Mom's mtDNA Haplogroup:   H3-T152C!


The Y and mtDNA tests are at FTDNA and I purchased the autosomal tests there also for the ones who did the other testing with the exception of my daughter.  In her case, transferred her autosomal from AncestryDNA into the account at FTDNA in which she did the mtDNAFull test.

The research trees that I work with are all at Ancestry.  I have them set as private trees and selected the option that keeps them from showing up in searches.  I do have trees on FTDNA so that my matches can see my pedigree chart but I don't really add to them much other than linking matches so that they will sort out Paternal and Maternal.

I have trees named:

• Y-DNA Cook(e)--This tree contains each of the closer matches for my brothers YDNA test at  37, 67 and 111 maker levels   For our family this is a group of Cook(e) men who are from the Shem Cook(e) and Amelia Co Virginia Cook(e)s the exception being a group of Patterson men who also match us closely even at 111 markers who likely descend from a Cook who was raised as a Patterson.  I note the  highest level of testing in the Suffix field and the Genetic Distance(ex.  First & Middle Name:  John F  Last Name:  Cook   Suffix:  Y67 GD=1)  While I do keep a spreadsheet with the closest ones I include as many as possible of those who have trees and check the hints to see if I can find additional information as we are still looking for the connecting generations despite knowing which group we most closely match.  
• Dad's mtDNA Tree- this is the one I started on today including the matches of my Paternal Aunt's mtDNA who had trees available.  Of the 12 GD=1 matches about 7 of them did have a pretty good tree.  mtDNA surnames generally change every generation but I am finding names which I'm familiar with in the matrilineal lines of these matches(Deason, Sheppard, Rushing)  These are families that all travel together from Maryland on down thru the Carolinas with some coming thru Georgia and settling in Bedford Co TN and Lower Middle KY before moving on to other parts of the SE USA.  The matrilineal line for Dad and his sister was also a line that appears twice in their ancestors as they have pedigree collapse back at the 2nd Great Grandparent level.
• Mom's mtDNA Tree--This tree consist of the GD=0 matches of my daughter. There is an unusually high occurrence of the Combs family in this tree.  My mtDNA goes from my maternal Grandmother's Hale line, on back thru Hitchcock, Fleming, and Combs.  My research on Nancy Combs Fleming has pretty much been at a standstill for a good while as I've not been able to find many sources though I do find lots of claims in online trees.  Like the names in my Dad's mtDNA tree, they seem to be repeating and could be people that the Combs and Hitchcocks traveled with coming South and West when the lands opened up.  
• Paternal Line DNA Puzzles  --This tree contains the trees of matches that I have built out when I was studying a triangulation group at other sites or shared matches at Ancestry.  I can generally tell if a match is Paternal in that they won't match with my Mom's results.  She Tested at Ancestry but we have her file at MyHeritage, FTDNA and GEDmatch.
• Maternal Line DNA Puzzles--I use the same technique described in the one above adding matches that are maternal for me and or my siblings.  Sometimes I will put the shared cM amount in the suffix field of the Puzzle trees.

This process works for me.  It might not work for everyone especially if you don't have many matches  but it does seem to keep me on track.  I hope you find this useful and I'd like to hear if you try it or if you have a process that helps to keep track of your matches and their connections.

My daughter's Full mtDNA results and analysis

During what has to be the busiest week for me in some time,  I've actually managed to make a bit of headway with my daughter's mtDNA results.  Her full mtDNA test was done thru FamilyTreeDNA. Usually, it's Tuesday when we get notifications of new matches.  I received a notification that she had a new match and was a bit confused when  I checked and it was actually a 4th cousin from my Hitchcock line but on his Dad's side  This is really interesting because while he does descend from Millie Riddle Hitchcock (see link for more info) who many Family Trees list as Millie Combs and sister to my Nancy Combs Fleming.  Millie's line is NOT his mtDNA line.  His matrilineal line goes back to a Sarah Combs who could be an older sister of my Nancy Combs or at least connected to Nancy's direct mother line..  So I've been looking at the full mtDNA matches who are Genetic Distance of Zero.  There are about 18 matches at that level,  of which about 7 have trees. In addition to those 7 with trees, 2 matches have their most distant FEMALE ancestor listed.  In between everything else I needed to get done I began building a mtDNA tree with the mtDNA lines of those that had trees.  If I can identify the others Most Distant Female Ancestor I will add them to the tree also.  I also added my daughters mtDNA line to the tree.  I build these out from the tester and add GD=0  in the Suffix box of the tester's profile so that I can identify & view their pedigree easily.

I realize mtDNA connections can be a good way back--many generations-a thousand(s) years even.  Our Haplogroup is H3-T152C!  Those who had trees with the exception of 1 seem to all lead back to early East Tennessee.  Unlike YDNA,  the surnames associated change with each generation.  I keep seeing Combs, Campbell, Wallace, Hoskins which makes me wonder if I am about to the point where we connect or have a group of families that traveled and interacted whose matrilineal line is intermarrying.  My mother, while she hasn't done the mtDNA, has done an autosomal test.  Her mtDNA should be the same as my daughter's since the mtDNA which I passed to my daughter was mtDNA I had received from her.  It also seems to me like the backward mutation was prior to 1800s as those Genetic Distance 0 folks who have their tree back beyond that point and have still not connected likely got it back before that point. We do have one of the Hoskin/Parkers who matches with us in our Autosomal tests(Moms)

Hopefully, I will get some time this next week to search thru our matches for some of the surnames that keep appearing within the early East TN time frame. 

I would be interested in hearing how others go about working with their mtDNA results--especially if they have done the mtFULL.  I've heard so many say they are disappointed by the results or don't know what to do with them.  I guess if you have a more common haplogroup that can really be hard to work with but still I think I'd be looking for those in the area where my mtDNA line was just to see if I could make connections that extend my research further back.  I'd be glad to inch back a generation at a time.  Everyone's approach will likely be different and dependent on how common the haplogroup is and the number of close matches.  If you have tested, what's your approach with your mtDNA results?  What works for you? 

Is Your Earliest Known Ancestor listed correctly in your FTDNA account?

Over the past 5 months, I've spent time working with my family's YDNA and mtDNA results at FamilyTreeDNA(FTDNA).  When I initially registered my account at FTDNA I was doing so in order to transfer a copy of my autosomal results from AncestryDNA.  Admittedly, I did not fill out all of the information other than what was required until after my results processed.  The Earliest Known Ancestors tab was a bit confusing to me.  I did finally realize that they were wanting my most distant patrilineal line and my most distant matrilineal lines.  I believe since that time(3+ yrs ago) they have changed the wording but it is still a bit unclear to some folks.

In the example below I am using the pedigree of my maternal Great Grandmother.  If she had an FTDNA account(oh how I wish) and need to fill out that information the path she would follow on her pedigree to get that info is marked by the arrows.

Blue arrows mark her patrilineal line.
Red arrows mark her matrilineal line.

I have used the LARGE arrows to indicate the ancestors that should be listed on her Earliest Known Ancestors tab.  Of course, this is from my perspective and she may have known those lines further back than that.   If so, she would have included the most distant one from each of those paths.

FTDNA asks for this info because if you are a male, the patrilineal line will be that associated with your YDNA test.  Females do not have a Y and cannot take that test but fathers, full brothers, and paternal uncles etc. can take those test so they should list their father-line as well.  The matrilineal line shows the path of your mtDNA or your mother-line.  Males AND females can both take mtDNA tests but only females pass on their mtDNA to their children.

Below is a snippet showing my Earliest Known Ancestor Tab. If my Great Grandmother shown in the pedigree above were entering the information she would use John N. Hale(blue arrow) for the Direct Paternal and Nancy Combs for the Direct Maternal(red arrow)

If you have an account(or accounts) with FamilyTreeDNA, PLEASE take the time to check and make sure you have this information entered correctly.  While you are doing that, it would also be a good time to make sure you have designated a Beneficiary for your account.  Hope this helps!

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.

Edward Wright Fuller--my 2nd Cousin 3 times removed

I've been on a search for those who carry mtDNA of Milly Riddle Hitchcock(my 4th Great Grandmother).  You can read more about the reason in my earlier posts.  Only females are capable of passing on the mtDNA to their children.  Although he would have never been able to pass the mtDNA on, Edward was a carrier of Milly Riddle's mtDNA.  His mother Omelia was the daughter of Rebecca Hitchcock and Rebecca was the daughter of Milly Riddle Hitchcock. He died at 23 years of age of diabetes mellitus.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Wills and Probate Records, 1584-1999 [database on-line http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8994 accessed Oct 2, 2017 search for Edward Wright Fuller]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

Digital images in online database Ancestry.com. Maine, Death Records, 1761-1922 [online database http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1962]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. accessed Oct 2, 2017.

Why I have not tested my mtDNA path

After reading Roberta Estes' blog post about mtDNA The Forgotten Test, I thought about the reasons why I haven't mtDNA tested.  Let's face it....I'm cheap.  I repurpose many fabrics and mend clothes til they are thread bare.  I save seeds and divide plants and bulbs every chance I get.  So my reason would be a financial one in that I can't justify the amount of money spent on a mtDNA test because it doesn't answer as many questions for me as an autosomal test.  If I did do the mtDNA testing I would want to do more than the minimal test and I don't have that kind of extra money available. The atDNA testing is all I have had and all I have bought for several others while they were on sale.  Thinking about this also made me want to recognize the ancestors who are responsible for passing me my mtDNA

Until then I remain a mtDNA carrying descendant of:
Beatrice Luna Cooke
Minnie Acuff Luna
Emma Frances Hale Acuff
Nancy Arminda Hitchcock Hale
Charlotta "Lottie" Fleming Hitchcock
Nancy Combs Fleming
Wife of Mason Combs Jr.