Genealogy Chat

Dont think Ill bother, but have received this email today:

The East Anglia Geographic DNA Project has been started as a tool to help further family research for anyone whose paternal or maternal ancestry traces to the southeast region of England, collectively known as East Anglia. For the purposes of this project East Anglia is defined by its historical boundaries, which include the counties of Suffolk (SFK), Norfolk (NFK) and Cambridgeshire (CAM); plus northern Essex (ESS) and southeast Lincolnshire(LIN). Please contact me off-list for further details. Thank you. David Weston Group Administrator East Anglia DNA Project

So - how much is it? If its free, then go for it - it will be interesting, in a broad, historical sort of way. If its not free, ha ha, then what are you hoping to get for your money? You may get the information that you are one of the, say, 22% of men in the region who share a common male ancestor. Won't tell you his name though, or when he was on this planet. My personal view of these DNA projects is that it is a rip-off for Family History purposes. Most of us are searching for our named ancestors as individual people and are only mildly interested to know that we are members of a clan. Even if this project COULD put a name and a date to a common ancestor - Thotgild the Bold, who lived in the year 213 - he is only one of the MILLIONS of ancestors from whom you are equally descended, and the genes you have from him are so diluted as to be completely insignificant in your make up. Olde Crone

Very sceptical about the family history benefits. Most people are related to themselves in several ways, thanks to small villages and limited migratory patterns. There is also the small flaw that you can never be certain that you're not descended from the lodger rather than the husband :)

Well, Im not interested, but I thought some people may be as there was a thread on here recently. It all smacks of something a bit sinister to me, but perhaps thats just me.

I agree with Twinkle. It would be no surprise, not even news, that my ancestors share a common male ancestor. I already know this, because I have researched my tree! In a tiny village, my 15 x GGPs 'meet again' in my 12 x GGPs, again in my 9 x GGPs and again in my 4 x GGPs. Where I 'ought' to have, say 30 couples, I only have five. Stands to reason that almost every male in that village shares his Y chromosome with all the other males in the village. Ditto for the females. Suppose though, that DNA testing showed my line to be the odd one out, i.e. NOT one of the common group - where do I go from there? I can only research using official records, what people SAID, I cannot go back 300 years and demand that they all take a DNA test. Most of these projects appear to be American in origin. I do understand that for them, it is a useful way to find the likely origins of their ancestors - but they want ME to pay for the privilege of helping them do that! I don't actually think there is anything sinister in it, but I do think it illustrates a widely-held misconception of what DNA testing can actually tell you Olde Crone

Go on ROOTSWEB then subscribe or browse some of the mailing lists and message boards covering that part of the country and see what the is general consensus. There is no point in joining the project if not many people are interested. It would be nice to look for patterns in surnames in different parts of the country to see there are connected but, as you write, most projects seem to be US based. MB

I googled it and found that for the cost of $895 (and a sex change as there's no mitochondrial DNA projects yet) I could join the other 14 people searching for roots in East Anglia. Give it a few years though.

My gawd, thats a lot of money! Yet the world wide DNA program was on what was it Lost Cousins a while back or somewhere offering a DNA test for £80.

Sounds interesting, but like you say Heather, but I don't think I both, I think it was you that metioned a web site last week, about where your family name was most common in 1881 and then again in 1998 (or there abouts) anyway I checked it out, like you do, and it seem that in the last 200 hundred years, my grandfather was the only one that actually left Norfolk/Suffolk, (he was in the Army) still loads and loads of the family up there still, so, I might as well save my money lol......hows Ralph???......Lilly

Hi Lilly, Ive just bumped up a thread about that map profile thingy - waste of time. The most intense and least coverage isnt based on the number of your ancestors milling about but just on the percentage of your name against the rest of the people in that postal district. What a waste of time! Ralphie bit quiet today which worries me. He jumped off the sofa last night and landed a bit hard. He didnt cry but must have jolted his stump. He is a lovely little boy and I so worry about him. We went down to Kent on Friday. I had to pick up my dads ashes and then went to (illegally) scatter them in his favourite place. Ralph was as good as gold all the way there and back in his travelling box. Of course we made a few stops for him to pee and run about - in fact he pulled me over at one stop - the ground was very muddy and he saw some people (he just LOVES everyone), pulled towards them and whoops I ended up on the ground - most undignified for a lady of my age.

895 dollars???!!!! Good God! Just think how many certificates, Wills etc, you could buy for that! Someone is making money out of that - your local Boots the Chemist can do a Y chromosome test for about 65 quid. Unless, of course, they are doing a full-spectrum test of recombinant DNA, rather than sex-linked chromosome, which would give a much fuller picture of your ancestors both male and female? This is much more costly than the Y thingy. Nope, think I'll just plod on in my old-fashioned and quaint little way, getting the certs, looking at Parish Regs and Wills etc. Olde Crone