DNA ethnicity estimation has improved significantly from its earliest days. In my article DNA Testing, What Do My Origin Percentages Mean? from 2016, I noted that ethnicity estimates are generally accurate to the continent level, and should improve with time. Now two of the major testing companies are attempting to pinpoint origins in regions within… Continue reading France a Weak Area in Ancestry Ethnicity Estimates
MyHeritage Photo Colorization
This is really cool. MyHeritage has just added a photo colorization tool. It extrapolates the colors that were likely present when a photo was taken, and adds those colors to the photo. RootsTech is coming up next week, so now is the season for announcements from genealogy companies. Judging by the positive response to this… Continue reading MyHeritage Photo Colorization
Mayflower Costuming for the 400th Anniversary
This year we celebrate 400 years since the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock. Many will be celebrating this year and next year, the 400th anniversary of the first Pilgrims' Thanksgiving. My daughter and I were invited to ride on the Mayflower float in the 2020 Rose Parade. We needed to wear period-appropriate pilgrim… Continue reading Mayflower Costuming for the 400th Anniversary
Fan Trees at FamilySearch
Did you know that FamilySearch can display a tree in fan format? And that within this fan format you can show countries of origin, which ancestors have pictures, and more? First of all, I recommend you register for a free account at FamilySearch and build a FamilySearch Tree. You can share your research on this… Continue reading Fan Trees at FamilySearch
23andMe Automatic Family Tree
23andMe has a cool new feature, Your Family Tree, a family tree that 23andMe builds using some of your closest matches. This is a Beta feature, not yet available to all users, but expected to be refined and released to all users eventually. If you would like to use Your Family Tree, log into your… Continue reading 23andMe Automatic Family Tree
DAR and Autosomal DNA
Currently the Daughters of the American Republic only accepts Y-DNA as evidence of lineage. Hopefully autosomal DNA also will be accepted in the next few years. For the current policy about how Y-DNA can be used for DAR applications, see DAR and DNA Applications. On August 26th, the DAR Registrar General emailed " 'Sunrays' from… Continue reading DAR and Autosomal DNA
23andMe Collaborates with FamilySearch
This is an exciting development. Today one of my 23andMe profiles was invited to add tree information from FamilySearch. Relatively few people have added family information to their 23andMe profiles, possibly because many took the test for the health information. Hopefully this will encourage more uses to get interested in the family connection aspect of… Continue reading 23andMe Collaborates with FamilySearch
23andMe Health Test New Tax Treatment
DNA testing company 23andMe has been in the the news recently. This week The Wall Street Journal published IRS Greenlights Tax Breaks for Buyers of 23andMe Geneticts Tests. The tax break article describes a new ruling by the IRS. Now some costs related to 23andMe health testing can use FSA or HSA medical spending account… Continue reading 23andMe Health Test New Tax Treatment
New AncestryDNA Communities
Ancestry recently announced they have created several more AncestryDNA communities. These 225 new communities are focused on the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and French North America. The announcement is here. Ancestry communities are formed by combining information in Ancestry family trees with DNA match information. This is different from ethnicity percentages, which compares a… Continue reading New AncestryDNA Communities
Gedmatch Contacts Users about Terms of Service and Law Enforcement Use
This is perhaps a first. This morning Gedmatch emailed its users to explain the new terms of service. Recently all kits were opted-out of law enforcement searching. Some people have opted-in, but not all members of the community were aware of this change. Now the full database has been contacted (or attempted to be contacted). … Continue reading Gedmatch Contacts Users about Terms of Service and Law Enforcement Use
