Thursday, July 5, 2018

Y-DNA and Genetic Genealogy

Next Meeting of SWOHDNA
Date: Tuesday, August 14th, 7:00 pm
Location: MidPointe Library, West Chester
Directions: https://goo.gl/4B6b8p
Topic: Y-DNA and Genetic Genealogy
Presenter: Kathy Reed









In the Southwest Ohio DNA Interest Group (SWOHDNA), we have largely focused on autosomal DNA. At our August meeting, we are going to turn our attention to Y-DNA and it's significant impact for the genetic genealogist. Why is Y so important?


  • Y-DNA is inherited by males from their fathers, who inherited it from their grandfathers, etc.
  • Y-DNA lacks significant recombination making it nearly identical to the Y-chromosome possessed by his many great-grandfathers.
  • It can be traced back on the order of thousands of years.
  • Men are able to trace their patrilineal lineage, often with a common surname.
  • A male passes his Y-DNA only to his male children.
  • Women wanting to trace their patrilineal lineage must identify a brother or other relative who is a direct descendant  of the common male ancestor.
Currently, only Family Tree DNA offers Y-DNA testing. Understanding and interpreting the results can be a bit challenging to the first-time user. We will connect the results of testing for Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) to a surname project and discuss how Y-DNA results can be used to prove a relationship when autosomal DNA cannot.

If you've not attended a meeting of SWOHDNA and are afraid to jump in, now would be a good time. This is a relatively new topic for our group and unrelated to many of our previous discussions. If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, contact Kathy Reed at dna.interest@hcgsohio.org.

Note: We will not be carrying this talk live. We will be posting the talk and distributing a link ASAP after the August 14th presentation.

If you want to have some background on this topic before the meeting, consider reading one or both of these two books:

 Chapter 5: Y-Chromosomal (Y-DNA) Testing, p. 70.

Chapter 3: Genealogical Applications for Y-DNA, p.23.












Submitted by Kathy Reed
Chair, SWOHDNA
dna.interest@hcgsohio.org

1 comment:

  1. Just put a hold on the e-book, "The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy"!

    ReplyDelete

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