DNA Sales?

Right now, some DNA tests are on sale for greatly reduced prices for Christmas. 

I see that MyHeritageDNA is $52 Canadian rather than $129. Other companies are also offering sharply reduced prices right now.

If you are thinking of taking a DNA test, the prices will probably never be better.

These are normally "autosomal DNA tests", sometimes called "family finder tests". They are most useful for finding 4th cousins or closer relatives. 

For more distant relatives, YDNA (Y-chromosome paternal lineage) and MitochrondrialDNA (X-chromosome maternal lineage) tests may be helpful, but are typically more expensive and are exclusive to one  line. (In contrast, autosomal tests check for matches on all lines.)

DNA tests tend to be most useful when paper documentation of ancestry is absent, (e.g. adopted children)

 My Buchanan ancestral line can be documented to Ireland in the mid 1700s. My cousins have taken YDNA tests, which identify our family as a "typical chiefly line of Clan Buchanan" in Scotland, which may be frustratingly vague, but is more information than we had. These chiefs claimed to be descendants of the ancient kings of Ireland, going back into times of myth and legend.

It can be interesting, just to see if you can identify your connection to people who match your DNA. 

Anxestry.com currently has the largest number of tested individuals, so the best chance of finding lots of matches. If you have been tested and want to see how someone matches your results, you might try giving them a DNA testing kit for Christmas. But make sure it is from the same company that tested your DNA, Different companies use different criteria, so trying to match results from different companies is hard.

If DNA interests you, now is a good time to be shopping. Mothers Day is the only other time during the year when the DNA testing companies tend to have sale prices.

Some Family History Research Essentials

 To identify someone, I look for these points:

1. Does the name match the person I am looking for?

2. Does the date fit this person?

3. Did this person live in the same specific location?

4. Do the family relationships fit?

1. Names can be tricky. Don't obsess over the spelling.

When you get back to the mid 1800s, many of the people were illiterate, in other words they did not know how to spell their names. They often signed documents including marriage documents with an X. Next to the X, the clerk may have written "John Fletcher - his mark" (or something similar).

Even in later generations, the spelling of names on documents often depends on the clerk.

Patronymics - In some cultures, the family name will change in each generation. Children are given the father's given name plus a gender marker.  Hans Andersen might be the brother of Marit Andersdottir.

Elsewhere, Katerina Gorska may be the sister of Dmetro Gorski (or Gorsky), and so forth.

Try to be aware of surname variations for the area you are researching.

Translations - Immigrants occasionally translated their foreign name into the language of their new country, Sometimes these are similar. Goldschmidt might be recognized as Goldsmith, but Orfèvre?

When I was researching a German community in Ukraine, the parish register suggested ignoring the vowels in the surnames because of alternative spellings of similar vowel sounds.
Sites like Ancestry, FamilySearch and MyHeritage often do an amazing job of finding alternative spellings.

2. A first marriage commonly involved a man aged about 25 and a woman about 20. Children were born about every 2 years. Note that ages on censuses should usually be treated as approximations.

3. Prior to the construction of railroads, people seldom travelled further than 6 miles for everyday activities. This is especially true of ordinary people who did not own horses or carriages.
So if a family is shown with children born at a greater distance than that, some of the children may be from a different family with the same name.
Online maps such as Google Maps provide an easy way to see how close two places are.
Remember that children were usually born at home on the farm and not in a hospital in a nearby town. So if the birthplace differs on two documents it may mean that the child was born on a farm situated between two nearby towns.

4. Children will usually be 20 - 40 years younger than their mother, Children were always born someplace where their mother was, If the mother never left England, all of her children were born in England.
A census record is wonderful help in sorting-out family relationships, but may not distinguish between biological, step, and adopted children (if this is important to you). The term "in-law" may be used for step and adopted children.
Legal adoptions are a recent thing. (Prior to 1900 adoptions were usually informal.)

I hope these points help you in your research.

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I was recently looking at a genealogy of John Hodgson, a former Chief Factor of Hudson Bay Company Fort Albany. It was immediately obvious that the family of his son John listed several siblings as children. As I was sorting out the two families I came across the wonderful Red River Ancestry site that had them already sorted out, plus additional information that I had not found on other sites such as the Hudson Bay Archives. I really appreciate the people who make such sites rewarding to use.