DNA Testing?

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john_dominic
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DNA Testing?

Post by john_dominic »

Hi,

I'm just curious if anyone has done any DNA testing, in terms of their own genealogy.

Is there any benefit to doing it?

What can I gain from such a test?

An example is this:

http://www.familytreedna.com/descriptio ... llSequence

Or this:

http://www.familytreedna.com/description.html#37mtplus

So far, the only benefit i've seen is that I may be able to trace my family line back to Albania, if I can find someone with the same last name there.

Thanks!
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by JamesBianco »

This has interested me for quite some time, it is just that I have trust issues with the validity of these tests, and of course there is the cost.

If you decide to try it, please let us know.


Jim :)
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barbalatte
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by barbalatte »

I'm actually trying it at the moment. I did the swab samples and have sent it back. Its been 3 weeks now. Apparently it takes 4-6 weeks. Keep you posted.
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by nuccia »

Thought you might be interested in reading Lou's website. He's done a lot with DNA. Lou and I have been in contact over the last few years but I'm still not sure if this is an avenue I wish to pursue. Like James, I worry about the validity and reliability of such tests and about the false negatives, false positives, etc. I haven't inquired about the cost though...

http://www.calabriadna.com/

I think I'll email him and ask him if he'd care to share some of the process with us.
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huskyItalian
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by huskyItalian »

Hi everyone,

My name is Louis Loccisano, the Administrator of the "Calabria DNA Project" at FamilyTreeDNA. I appreciate Nuccia letting me know about your discussion, and I will be happy to let you know my opinions on Genetic Genealogy and what DNA testing can show.

I became involved with DNA testing back in 2002, after I did a huge family tree for my dad's ancestors from 2 small towns in Calabria, Italy. I started off doing a Y-DNA test on my Loccisano line, as my Y-DNA was inherited from my original Loccisano ancestor, virtually unchanged, from 1000s of years ago.

Here is what you can find out from a Y-DNA test:

1) If you end up matching any other family in FamilyTreeDNA’s database, you will know that you shared a common male ancestor with them within the last 500 years. Something interesting that I found is that my Loccisano Y-DNA matches a Sorbara male also from the Gioiosa area of Calabria, so even though we have 2 different surnames, we are really the same family!


2) It will also tell you the "deep" origin of your surname line--- was it an original Middle Eastern line or a European line, etc?

FYI, my Loccisano Y-DNA was found to have a marker that shows it orginated around Caucauses mountains, and is not very common in Europe. But, other families from the same village, have very different origins, showing a big diversity in Calabria.

AS FOR SCIENTIFIC VALIDITY: I feel very comfortable with the accuracy of the results, because if you use FamilyTreeDNA, all the DNA samples are done by Professor Michael Hammer's lab at the University of Arizona, where he is a geneticist. Actually, here are the scientists working at FamilyTreeDNA: http://www.familytreedna.com/about.html

Infact, National Geographic Magazine has become involved, and even they are using FamilyTreeDNA's scientists to do the testing of the publicly purchased DNA samples. Here is National Geographic's website, to get their explanation on the DNA tests: http://www.genographic.com

AS FOR PRIVACY: http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. You can also call FamilyTreeDNA, as they are usually very helpful in answering questions.

Best,
Louis Loccisano
www.calabriadna.com

P.S. An mtDNA test shows the same thing as a Y-DNA test, but for a person's mother's maternal line, rather than their father's paternal line. The one drawback to DNA testing is that it only tests ONE of your ancestors lines at a time, so you can find out where your fathers father's line originated, but not about your other 1000s of ancestors. However, I personally have tested for the "DNA sequence" of all 8 of my great-grandparents, but had to find long lost cousins to help me by sending in their DNA samples.
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by john_dominic »

huskyItalian wrote:Hi everyone,

My name is Louis Loccisano, the Administrator of the "Calabria DNA Project" at FamilyTreeDNA. I appreciate Nuccia letting me know about your discussion, and I will be happy to let you know my opinions on Genetic Genealogy and what DNA testing can show.

I became involved with DNA testing back in 2002, after I did a huge family tree for my dad's ancestors from 2 small towns in Calabria, Italy. I started off doing a Y-DNA test on my Loccisano line, as my Y-DNA was inherited from my original Loccisano ancestor, virtually unchanged, from 1000s of years ago.

Here is what you can find out from a Y-DNA test:

1) If you end up matching any other family in FamilyTreeDNA’s database, you will know that you shared a common male ancestor with them within the last 500 years. Something interesting that I found is that my Loccisano Y-DNA matches a Sorbara male also from the Gioiosa area of Calabria, so even though we have 2 different surnames, we are really the same family!


2) It will also tell you the "deep" origin of your surname line--- was it an original Middle Eastern line or a European line, etc?

FYI, my Loccisano Y-DNA was found to have a marker that shows it orginated around Caucauses mountains, and is not very common in Europe. But, other families from the same village, have very different origins, showing a big diversity in Calabria.

AS FOR SCIENTIFIC VALIDITY: I feel very comfortable with the accuracy of the results, because if you use FamilyTreeDNA, all the DNA samples are done by Professor Michael Hammer's lab at the University of Arizona, where he is a geneticist. Actually, here are the scientists working at FamilyTreeDNA: http://www.familytreedna.com/about.html

Infact, National Geographic Magazine has become involved, and even they are using FamilyTreeDNA's scientists to do the testing of the publicly purchased DNA samples. Here is National Geographic's website, to get their explanation on the DNA tests: http://www.genographic.com

AS FOR PRIVACY: http://www.familytreedna.com/privacy.html

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. You can also call FamilyTreeDNA, as they are usually very helpful in answering questions.

Best,
Louis Loccisano
www.calabriadna.com

P.S. An mtDNA test shows the same thing as a Y-DNA test, but for a person's mother's maternal line, rather than their father's paternal line. The one drawback to DNA testing is that it only tests ONE of your ancestors lines at a time, so you can find out where your fathers father's line originated, but not about your other 1000s of ancestors. However, I personally have tested for the "DNA sequence" of all 8 of my great-grandparents, but had to find long lost cousins to help me by sending in their DNA samples.
Louis, I must ask:

My mother's line is DiMaggio, but Arbëreshë, meaning the village they came from in Italy was all Albanian, and refugees from a specific city in Albania, Himarë.

Now, what happened when they went to Italy was that they adopted Italian names, therefore it was not originally DiMaggio.

My theory, at this point, is that the name was originally Dhima.

Dhima comes originally from the goddess of Fertility, Demeter, just like DiMaggio sometimes came from Maia, a Roman goddess of Fertility.

Not to mention, the names DO sound remotely similar.

How would I go about testing this?

For what i've gathered, I could getting an uncle of mine (on her side) tested, as well as a person from Himarë, carrying the name of Dhima.

And, if the Y-DNA test matched, i'd be correct.

Am I right with this?
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by Gina501 »

Hi. I just did DNA testing for both of my parents through familytreedna.com I have to say that the experience was amazing. We just got our results back and we sent in our samples on February 9 so it was about 5 weeks. It was costly, because we did the full range, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I have found things that are truly amazing and would not have known any other way. I highly recommend it!
Gina
Searching for surnames Ignazio, Graziano, Trella, Del Principe, Biani, Subrizi, Della Valle

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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by john_dominic »

Gina501 wrote:Hi. I just did DNA testing for both of my parents through familytreedna.com I have to say that the experience was amazing. We just got our results back and we sent in our samples on February 9 so it was about 5 weeks. It was costly, because we did the full range, but I wouldn't have done it any other way. I have found things that are truly amazing and would not have known any other way. I highly recommend it!
Can you tell me a few things you discovered?

I'm at a hold, since it's going to be $400/person and that's a lot of $$$, especially considering I need to get a 2nd cousin (since I have no direct uncles) for the DiMaggio -> Dhima thing, as well as both parents and my living grandmother...
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by Gina501 »

It seems as if you are doing the full testing. Good for you. I know it's expensive but the 12 marker DNA doesn't tell you what you really need to know. My cousin was so excited that he matched people 12 out of 12 markers. When i did the research of what that meant, I found that it meant that they matched with 50% accuracy in 7 generations. To get a 97% accuracy on a 12 marker DNA test you go back 29 generations. That's like 800 years. How many of us can trace our ancestors back that far? Probably none. You need the full test to get some good results. You will find better matches, you will find where your lineage really stemmed from with deep ancestors, what was the path of migration. You get a list of all matches and their email addresses. Also, you can take your DNA and compare it with databases around the world to find more matches. That can be invaluable information. I have already corresponded with several that have been a big help with information. My father tested both his paternal and maternal and also maternal for my mother. We are now asking her brothers to test for the paternal. I would recommend it, but only if you are comfortable with the amount of money. It could really help.
Gina
Searching for surnames Ignazio, Graziano, Trella, Del Principe, Biani, Subrizi, Della Valle

http://ignaziogenealogy.com
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by john_dominic »

So, basically you proved what you already knew, that your cousin is your cousin? :|
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by Gina501 »

Well yes, but we were after something specific when we did the testing. We heard rumors that his grandfather and grandmother were cousins when they married. We were trying to disprove that theory. We did, but then we found out a whole lot of information that blew our minds. Unbelievable stuff. My cousin discovered from his father (not my relation, I am related to his mother), that his is of Davidic lineage. Descended from King David's ancestors. He's now been able to trace his ancestors back to 1492 when they were Spanish Jews forced out of Spain, where they traveled to Italy and adopted Italian names. He would have never known that without the DNA testing.
Gina
Searching for surnames Ignazio, Graziano, Trella, Del Principe, Biani, Subrizi, Della Valle

http://ignaziogenealogy.com
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by MikeSavoca91 »

Gina, that sounds crazy!!! Do you think my mom would let me do that? That would be so awsome!!!
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by Gina501 »

Well Mike, it is expensive, so maybe you could talk them into it. But if you want to test your paternal line, get your dad to do it since he is still alive. Even better, your father's father if he is still alive. That goes the same for your mom's side. Get the oldest living female alive to do it. But I definitely recommend it. It will tell you a lot.
Gina
Searching for surnames Ignazio, Graziano, Trella, Del Principe, Biani, Subrizi, Della Valle

http://ignaziogenealogy.com
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by Gina501 »

And Mike, I can drop a hint if you'd like.....he he he.
Gina
Searching for surnames Ignazio, Graziano, Trella, Del Principe, Biani, Subrizi, Della Valle

http://ignaziogenealogy.com
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Re: DNA Testing?

Post by MikeSavoca91 »

Great, I would love to see how far I could go back.
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