DNA

Quick… Five Steps to Using DNA with Genealogy

1.  Buy a DNA test. Everyone should order a basic DNA test from Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA (Family Finder), 23andMe (Ancestry), or MyHeritage. (The resulting raw DNA data is virtually identical from all these companies. This basic (autosomal) test will give you a list of all the people who have tested with that company AND whose DNA matches yours, meaning they are related to you. (It will also provide some insight into your ethnic origins, but this is far less dependable.)  Other options are also available. 

2.   Study your list of matches. Notice that the list of matches is sorted with your closest relatives at the top and your most distant relatives at the bottom. Start at the top to analyze how these matches are related to you (i.e., where they fit into your pedigree). You may share parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc.

3.   Update your genealogy to incorporate new findings based on your DNA matches.

4.   Repeat Steps 2 and 3 often. 

5.   Learn more.

5a. As new people test and match you, each company updates your list, so check back often for new matches. 

5b.To find even more matches (to people who have tested at other companies), start by downloading your raw DNA data from the company and saving it to your computer. Upload this downloaded file (as is) to all the companies in item 1, above, except Ancestry and 23andMe, for little or no cost. You will have to purchase a new test from these two companies to find your matches with people who have tested only with them. 

5c. Upload your raw data to Gedmatch.com also, a company that does not itself do testing but serves as a central repository and research agency. That is, it accepts your DNA test results file at no cost and provides a matching service against a master database that contains submitted files from all companies. It also provides many tools that enable you to do a variety of chromosomal mapping, cluster analysis, triangulation, and much more. Of course, Gedmatch relies on submissions from customers of the testing companies, so its database is limited. For example, the cousin(s) who might carry great-great-grandmother Sally’s DNA might have tested but did not submit his or her raw data to Gedmatch; it may be available at the testing company’s site and may match your DNA if it is in that company’s database.

5d. Online: https://dna-explained.com/2021/08/10/announcing-dna-beginnings-a-new-series/ This tutorial and all the blogs by Roberta Estes, a highly respected genetic genealogist and superb teacher/lecturer, are a virtual encyclopedia of genetic genealogy. Study this series, browse the titles on the website, and subscribe to her free blog.

5e. Books (available at Amazon and others): 

Bettinger, Blaine. DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy, Cincinnati, Ohio, www.shopfamilytree.com 2016.

Bettinger, Blaine. Genetic Genealogy in Practice, National Genealogical Society Special Topics Series (a workbook).

Much more information is available online and in printed books (often found in libraries).

 

Now for some detail

The dawn of the 21st century has brought the amazing gift of DNA testing to genealogy. Now we can validate (or disprove) the paper trails that are so often flawed by the lack of records, the illegibility of records and sometimes the wishful thinking of former genealogists. Now, combined with the internet and the almost universal use of computers, we can reach out to distant cousins long lost in our family histories. We can reunite our families, uncover the lives our ancestors led, share their joys and sorrows. A cheek swab or saliva sample can reveal where we came from and who our ancestors were. But it takes work to tie DNA evidence to a family history. The need for diligent research and sharing of information has never been greater.

How our DNA is reflected in a family tree is shown here (courtesy of ISOGG.org via Creative Commons License):  

DNA Pedigree

 

Introduction

To view DNA-confirmed pedigree charts for selected families, please click on the Charts tab on the main menu bar (above), then scroll down to the DNA charts. The chart, DNA-Proven Worden Line, shows the results of a long-term, carefully constructed Y-DNA/autosomal DNA project. To visit the DNA projects that I founded and/or manage for selected families, click on the DNA links at the bottom of any page. This page contains:

  • An overview of the kinds of DNA tests.
  • Test results.
  • A case study that solved a family mystery.
  • How to evaluate autosomal DNA matches.
  • Autosomal testing in detail.
  • Our mtDNA.
  • Our X chromosome DNA surnames. (X matches follow a unique inheritance pattern.)
  • Our DNA surnames, which are also found at Family Tree DNA, Ancestry, 23andMe and GedMatch. They are a subset of those in my family tree, which is also online in many places.

The first rule of thumb is to test the oldest generation first, preferably with Family Tree DNA because that is the only company that performs all the genealogical tests and retains DNA samples so that you can order additional tests in the future. Alternatively, you may choose to test yourself first, especially if you have a specific reason to test, such as an unknown parent or grandparent. In this case, you might start with Ancestry.com because it has the largest database of atDNA (autosomal DNA) and does not accept raw data transfers from other testing sites.

Testing options

There are four types of DNA testing for genealogy, and the first decision you have to make is which one is right for you? (Many people test all.) Y-DNA tests the direct paternal line back for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Only males can take this test because only males have a Y chromosome. Full Y-DNA testing with matching is available only from Family Tree DNA (some other companies give you only high level results). MtDNA tests the direct maternal line back for hundreds, even thousands, of years. It is available for males and females. Note, however, that males do not pass this DNA to their children. Only females carry their mtDNA forward. The Full Genetic Sequence mtDNA test is available only from Family Tree DNA (some other companies give you a small subset). The most popular, especially for genealogy, is At-DNA (autosomal) which covers one's entire pedigree. In each generation, the autosomal DNA that one inherits from all their ancestors is reduced or even lost entirely. A baby inherits 1/2 its At-DNA from each parent and approximately 1/4 from each grandparent, 1/8 from each great grandparent, 1/16 from each great great grandparent, etc. After you go back 6-8 generations, there is usually little or no DNA left from any one ancestor. Note that each company has its own database of customer results and its own algorithms for matching. SNP testing is specifically for learning one's deep roots, before genealogical time. So, what do you want to learn from a DNA test?

If you want to learn about your father's surname, you will order a Y-DNA test -- if you are a male. If you are a female and want to learn about your father's surname, you must find a male surrogate to test -- brother, father, uncle, male cousin in your father's line. For more information, see this blog.

If you want to know more about your mother's deep heritage, you will order an mtDNA test -- whether you are a male or female. It is especially difficult to research female lines because the surname changes in every generation. The mtDNA remains but many people will share the same DNA. Unless you do advanced mtDNA tests, you are unlikely to find someone who is related closely enough to be able to find a common ancestor, or at least a cousin on both your maternal lines. It can solve certain problems, however, and it is interesting to trace the paths our ancestors took out of Africa.

If you want to find cousins who share common ancestors with you on all the lines in your family tree, you will take an atDNA test. The atDNA tests offered by Ancestry, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA Family Finder, and MyHeritage are virtually identical (although the serious researcher will test at all to maximize results) and any of them can be transferred to Gedmatch. Neither Ancestry nor 23andMe allows transferring into their databases.

The fourth option is not geared to genealogy because paper trails did not exist long ago. If you are interested in your deep roots, or perhaps would like to participate in leading-edge research in population science, then tests such as the Big Y for males only (from Family Tree DNA) may be useful. As more of this testing is done, it is expected that genealogy will benefit in that SNPs will eventually play a role in distinguishing family lines in more recent generations. If this type of research interests you,  here is a recent article about aY (ancient Y) DNA. Another, published in the journal Science on February 24, 2022, is summarized here in an email submission to the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) (permission obtained from the author 2/25/2022 Ed.Williams@CountingChromosomes.com via groups.io): 

[ISOGG] Published Today in Science: "A Unified Genealogy of Modern and Ancient Genomes" 

A paper published recently in the journal Science by researchers from, and collaborators with, the University of Oxford's Big Data Institute combines a broad sampling of human genomes, both ancient and modern, in an attempt to formulate a better, unified picture of human history and evolution. The paper's authors include Anthony Wohns, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT's Broad Institute and Harvard, and David Reich of the Reich Lab at Harvard. 

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abi8264  The full article is paywalled, but an extended abstract, summary results, and some supplementary materials are free. 

Along with the paper, a brief, public video was released that shows an animated map of the estimated geographic locations of human origins and population progression. This is displayed in a reverse chronology beginning with continental and regional populations 200 years ago, and then moving back in time to coalescence in northeast Africa some 200,000 years ago. I've made this MP4 video available on my website in advance of a writing a blog post about the research: https://countingchromosomes.com/images/video/science_abi8264_movie_s1.mp4. One cautionary note: don't infer anything about the directions the dots move in the animation. This doesn't imply, for example, that Native Americans came from Europe. The data representation uses a form of "edge weighting" to display the animation, and as a result the dots simply move around the edge of constricting circles that are centered on area of African origin. This is explained in more detail in the video's introductory screen. 

Wohns describes the research this way: "Simply put, what we did was we created the largest human family tree ever. We have a single genealogy that traces the ancestry of all of humanity, and shows how we're all related to each other today." 

A lofty goal the research purportedly achieves is a construct of what the researchers describe as "a human gene genealogy," the concept of which has been discussed in theoretical terms for almost 30 years, though Wohns is cautious and makes it clear the research is a "first draft." Subsequent work with the addition of more sequenced genomes and enhanced algorithms will improve the accuracy of the model. 

The researchers examined 3,601 modern genomes as well as 8 high-coverage ancient human genome sequences compiled from eight different datasets. They describe the resultant structure as "a lossless and compact representation of 27 million ancestral haplotype fragments and 231 million ancestral lineages linking genomes from these datasets back in time." In addition to the high-resolution sequencings, they also used another 3,589 ancient, lower-coverage samples as an aid to constrain and date the correlations to the resultant 215 populations of the datasets. 

The data will be made available for other researchers to download and use in their own projects. Wohns is one of the authors who is also working with researchers in the fields of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics with the goal of being able to obtain increasingly accurate projections of when and where our ancestors lived. 

This work won't have any immediate impact on our day-to-day genealogy, but as more data are added and improved models produced, it could offer the possibility of going well beyond the "ethnicity" results we currently see reported today, to the degree that our autosomal DNA might be able to show us admixtures and timelines that display how we're represented in hundreds of global populations, and how and when those admixtures came about.

—Ed

Notice that FamilyTreeDNA.com is the only company that offers all these tests. Here is one genetic genealogist's view of why he chooses FTDNA. I agree with him. 

 

Test results

Now that you have your results, your objective is to find "matches." That is the fundamental concept in DNA testing for genealogy. When someone has the same or virtually the same DNA as you, the two of you are related. Period. Small matches (fewer than 7cMs) are probably "noise," however, so do not rely on them. Start with larger matches and work down. (A secondary interest may be determining one's ethnicity, but be aware. This is an incredibly complex topic with many dependencies. The algorithms and charts presented by different companies often differ drastically, even when using the exact same DNA. Having said that, it's fun to use chromosome painting and mapping (see DNAPainter.com and Ancestry's new DNA Origins feature) to view genealogy in a very different light.)

With a Y-DNA test, you (a male) will match a group of men who share a common ancestor with you. If the surnames also match, you can be pretty confident in the match but sometimes you will want to test additional markers to refine your match. That is, one of you may have a strong paper trail for, say, 6 generations, but another can only go back 3 generations. Still others who match your Y may go back 12 generations to a single progenitor. For Americans, that is often the immigrant ancestor in that line. Let's assume that immigrant ancestor had four sons and that there are 10 of you who had Y-DNA tests and find that you match each other. It is not unusual to find these ten men descend from the four brothers, but only a few have traced their lines all the way back. And there's always the possibility that some of you descend from an ancestor of the immigrant.

With an mtDNA test, you do exactly the same thing, except that it's usually much harder because of the name changes with marriage and also because mtDNA mutates much more slowly than Y-DNA. This makes it hard to know if a match to you is recent or very far distant.

With an atDNA test, you do not know if a match is on your maternal or paternal side. It helps to also test at least one parent and several cousins on both sides to help sort out your matches. Notice that you might have more than one match with someone's tree, especially if you both have ancestors who married cousins. Note also that you will have At-DNA matches but cannot find a matching surname. This will happen if your match is to someone hidden behind a brick wall in your research, often a married woman whose maiden name has never been found and, therefore, her ancestors are unknown. It will also happen if none of your distant cousins have tested yet or if your own tree is sparse. Here is a chart, courtesy of ISOGG.org, that may help clarify possible relationships:

Shared cM Project

This cM project is ongoing, so check this page for updated information.

Whichever tests you choose, you and your matches now work together as a group, trying to put together a family history that traces the paths each of your ancestors took as their families grew and moved to distant places. This is what genealogy is all about: names (and how they are related to each other), dates and places (then adding any information you can gather in order to "put flesh on the bones" of our ancestors).

 

A case study in solving a family puzzle

When our father’s first cousins in his Muller line did not match any of our family members, I knew we had a problem. At first, I suspected both their lineages and ours, but it quickly became apparent that the problem was in our line. The cousins found DNA matches to other Muller relatives even back to Germany and we did not. As I pondered this, I focused on one fact that I had brushed over: Grandma Muller was married almost ten years before our dad was born and she had no other children. My first reaction was to assume he was adopted. Many months of research followed this theory, studying adoption records, deaths of mothers in childbirth or soon after, deaths of fathers even during pregnancy, divorces and children born near dad’s birth date – in Jersey City and the surrounding area. But then DNA matches to dad’s mother began to trickle in. There were not many but it was proof that Grandma Muller was his biological mother and our biological grandmother.

My research focus switched from adoption to an affair. I was now looking for Dad’s prospective father only. In my adoption search, I had found an intriguing clue in a particular DNA match and so I zeroed in on the eligible men in her extended family. I found two who met all the criteria for eligibility: age, marital status, location, opportunity. But then a series of new DNA matches started to appear, all at different companies. With much diligence and applying all the tools of the trade to analyze these matches, I came to realize that there was one man, a doctor in Jersey City, whose descendants matched Marilyn, Diane and me directly. As I continued to test this theory and studied his pedigree back to England, I found many more DNA matches to both his lines. I rigorously tested every match and finally concluded that I had found our grandfather. (Notice the absence of Y-DNA and mtDNA in the testing strategy. Neither was available to me, as all testing candidates were long deceased.)

Now, many months later, I continue to track every DNA match, building trees where necessary to find the links that strengthen my conclusion. Despite my efforts to do so, I have found nothing to dispute my conclusion. A startling late discovery was this man’s signature on my dad’s birth certificate. (I wonder if it was not an affair at all but artificial insemination as a treatment for Grandpa Muller’s infertility? Our true grandfather had studied at Columbia University Medical School during the time that a doctor-scientist was experimenting with AI on dogs. Perhaps he was an early adopter, long before it became a common procedure. We will never know.)

The following chart is a chromosome map showing some of my triangulated DNA matches at Gedmatch that prove our Bowyer-Mundy relatedness. Overlaps indicate shared DNA with descendants of Samuel and Sarah Mundy Bowyer. Many more DNA matches have been found and confirmed with descendants of Franklin's ancestors in England, Canada, Australia, and the United States, as tested with all the major companies. (By definition, I match all the colored bars on this chart.) Since chromosome/segment matching still does not prove how we are related, I have also done triangulation analysis on a large number of matches at all testing companies and confirmed an adequate number to prove our relatedness and MRCAs. 

 

 

Evaluating Autosomal DNA Matches

As someone on a DNA message board recently observed, it is becoming increasingly clear that every match needs some degree of tailoring. In other words, there can be no absolute statistical or other test that applies. With this in mind, consider the following criteria as guidelines only and with a liberal dash of “usually”:

  1. The more cMs and SNPs in a match, the more reliable and more recent it is.
  2. Add weight if the match shares a known ancestor or ancestral line.
  3. Add weight if several matches share the same cM segments on the same chromosome(s). (Note that they must also match each other on these segments in order to triangulate.)
  4. Add weight if several others with already tested and proven relatedness also match this person (that is, they are “in common with” but may not triangulate).
  5. Add weight if geographic proximity exists.
  6. Add weight if the number of cMs corresponds to the ranges for the presumed degree of relatedness.
  7. Use common sense to test the logic.
  8. Try to disprove the conclusion.

 

Working with atDNA results

The following is a brief tutorial to get you started with analyzing your at-DNA matches. Also, I highly recommend the book, The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger, and this blog post. Even though it is primarily directed to Y-DNA, there is a great deal of useful information. Here is an excellent series of classes and an essential tutorial from a highly successful genetic genealogist. This article, "From DNA to Genetic Genealogy," starts with the science for those who want a bit more genetics. The premier genetic genealogist, Roberta Estes, has maintained a blog since the earliest days of DNA testing for genealogy. Her website https://dna-explained.com/ is a treasure trove of information.

Step by Step...

If you have taken the Family Finder test at Family Tree DNA or the ancestry test at 23andMe or Ancestry or MyHeritage (or have transferred your raw data from one of these companies to FTDNA), your objective is to find cousins who match you genetically and therefore share a common ancestor with you. I hope the following step-by-step instructions are helpful.

Step 1. Log into your MyFTDNA page.

Step 2. Upload your GEDCOM to create your family tree if you have not already done so. If you cannot do that, at least enter the information you have into your FTDNA tree and the surnames you know. Remember, your matches will probably be to cousins who likely have different surnames, so your GEDCOM should be as "bushy" as possible and extend as far back as you know (12 to 13 generations if possible). Important: Always include locations and dates in all your trees and Gedcoms, since these are often better clues than just surnames.

Step 3. Choose Family Finder in the top left (menu) bar.

Step 4. Click on Matches. You will see several pages of matches. All are related to you. Work from the top of the list down because the closest matches are near the top and will be the easiest to connect to your own tree. (Caution: I ignore all matches that do not have a tree or at least surnames in the right-hand column unless they are extremely close genetically (first or second cousins) or I recognize the name. I know many others do the same so, if you do not share your own tree, do not expect good results.) Notice that the surnames in bold match surnames in your own uploaded tree, but remember that everyone has brick walls, especially with female lines, so you may match someone on an unknown name. You may download your matches to a CSV or Excel file if you wish to work offline and maintain your own file.

Step 5. Look at the icons on the left under each person's name. You can click on the envelope to write to that person, click on the document to type a note about this match, view the person's tree (if it is blue), or use the "In Common With" tool (more about this later).

Step 6. Notice the bar above your list of matches that gives several options. Use the defaults for now. However, to see if you have any matches with a particular surname, click on the box that says Ancestral Surnames. Enter the surname of interest, click Apply, and wait a moment for a new list to be generated. It will be much smaller, probably with only one or a few matches. (Again, there may be many more in the FTDNA database, but if those people have not uploaded a tree or provided surnames, the computer can't find them.) Make note of the names of the people who have that surname in their tree.

Step 7. Another important technique is to use the chromosome browser and the "in-common-with" and matrix tools at FTDNA. Click the box to the left of a match's name, then click on In Common With to find others who also match this person. This feature has now been enhanced by "automated phasing." To use it, you must have your tree at FTDNA and you must have each tested someone in your tree. If your relative is already in your tree, click on that person's name, then click DNA Match (upper left). That tells FTDNA where this person falls in your tree (paternal or maternal side). If you need to add someone to your tree, the relationship is always to the person. So if you're adding a father to person X, you click on X's circle, click Add Relationship, choose Father. If the person you're adding is also a DNA match to you, click on DNA Match (upper left). If you go to add another person to X or anyone else in your database, FTDNA will check as you're adding the person. If they think someone matches that person, they will pop-up the suggested match. You decide if it's valid or not. Meanwhile, it's populating the Paternal vs. Maternal fields on your Matches page so that any DNA matches it finds to both you and a person you have flagged as a DNA match in your tree will be included in the appropriate paternal or maternal line (at least to the 3rd generation).

Step 8. Use the Chromosome Browser to see if those on your In Common With list also overlap on specific segments. The corresponding names will appear in the box above, and each will have a different color. The chart on the right side of the page is a chromosome map. Notice how the colors of your matches show up in that chart. Each spot of color shows how much DNA you share with that person and where it is located on your chromosomes. You are looking for overlapping segments. They do not have to be the same size, but they do have to be in the same place and overlap in order to be a match that you share with them. However, Caution! This is not enough evidence to confirm that all who overlap share the DNA of a particular ancestor. In order to do that, you must "triangulate," meaning prove that those who match you in overlapping segments also match each other on the same segments. (The reason for this is that some of these matches could be on your maternal side and others on your paternal side. Remember, your chromosomes come in pairs -- 23 from your mother and 23 from your father.) You can confirm that they match each other by writing to all of them to ask if they do match each other (they must also use the chromosome browser), or invite them to use a third-party free service:

Introducing www.gedmatch.com

You and your matches must upload your raw data (and your GEDCOMs, hopefully). This serves several purposes: It provides an even larger database because many people who tested with other companies (Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage) also use this free service so you can find new matches. It offers several tools, including triangulation, searching GEDCOMs for DNA matches, analyzing the X chromosome which has a unique inheritance pattern, and more. Here is one highly successful genetic genealogist's rationale.

To use Gedmatch, go to their website and register. Notice on the right that you must upload your raw data from whichever company you tested with -- Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage or Family Tree DNA Family Finder. Leave that webpage open if you like. Download your raw data from the testing company and notice where it is placed in your computer. Go back to Gedmatch, click on the the Upload link and follow the instructions to upload the file you just downloaded. Wait until the screen shows that the upload has finished. Once processing is completed, you can begin to run reports of various kinds. Start with the One-to-Many report.

At Gedmatch, you can choose matches you think may be related to each other (as well as to you, of course), and the system will produce a chart showing whether they are or not. Once you have found a group of people who match you on specific segments of specific chromosomes, compare each pair of these matches using the One-to-One Comparison tool at Gedmatch. Or use the new tool that compares several people in one step.

Detailed information about using Gedmatch can be found under "Using Gedmatch" after you log in.

There is much more you can do with your Family Finder test results, but these are essential steps to use them effectively. You will quickly notice that an autosomal test is especially useful for family groups; the more cousins (parents, siblings, uncles, aunts,children) who test from different parts of your pedigree, the more relatives you will find who can lead to more discoveries in your own genealogy. You will also notice that the DNA test cannot tell you whether a match is in your maternal or paternal line, but finding genetic cousins can narrow the field. Also, FTDNA's newest feature, phasing, can be a huge help.

Keep updating your FTDNA tree. (See Step 7 above.) Once you have identified one or more relative matches and have them in your FTDNA tree, use the phasing feature to also identify them as DNA matches. This will enable FTDNA to sort your DNA matches into maternal and paternal buckets.

Family Tree DNA has many resources supporting its many tests, including online videos that can be very informative. Check their Facebook page for the latest offerings, or click on the Resources-Learning Center tab on your MyFTDNA page. Don't miss DNAPainter for a fun and useful organizing tool.

Additional information on the use of DNA in genealogy is widely available. The best starting place is ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy). If you have questions, please write to me. I will make every effort to try to clarify or address specific issues or questions.

Additional tips

As the popularity of DNA testing grows, more programs, apps, and creative ways to use our results are being developed. It's hard to keep up, but here are a few that I either have used sucessfully or use today as essential tools:

Chrome Extensions include (1) MedBetterDNA that allows you to see your Notes on your Match pages at Ancestry and even sort paternal vs. maternal if you flag them and (2) Pedigree Thief that lets you convert a public Ancestry tree to Ahnentafel format. Facebook and Google Groups can be extremely useful. Some of my favorites at Facebook are Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques, All Genetic Genealogy, DNAAdoption (not just for adoptees), and others. Don't overlook user groups for DNAPainter, Gedmatch, RootsFinder, etc. Family organizations, Rootsweb mailing lists and trees, and surname groups everywhere can be incredibly useful, as always.

A recent post by Blaine on his Facebook Group Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques clarifies the differences in three important tools:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/geneticgenealogytipsandtechniques/posts/1486401215156907/

 

Mitochondrial DNA

mtDNA is inherited by everyone from his or her mother. A male never passes his mtDNA to his children. Therefore, our mtDNA comes down to us from our most ancient maternal ancestor but through the mother line only, as shown below and in the video. (I have not found Anna Fauth's mother.) In our family, the mtDNA Haplogroup H3c1 is shared with my siblings (but not Craig's children who get their mtDNA from their mother), their daughters, their daughters' daughters, and so on. It is also shared with all the daughters of Anna Tipple Coons, Evina Worden Tipple Borden Goodrich, Minerva La Bonte, and so on back. Unfortuntely, it is also shared with all the women in Fauth's mother line for hundreds, even thousands of years, so it reaches well beyond the scope of genealogy. Like all DNA, mutations occur randomly over the years and the distinctions result in sub branches.

Our mtDNA names are: Coons> Tipple> Worden> La Bonte> Schryver> Wager> Schaffer> Feller> Rau> Steinkopf> Quint> Fauth. Note that each one is the mother of the person preceding her. Our mtDNA video (click on the orange screen): https://www.familytreedna.com/mtdna-journey-videos/5d3b3c93c9e77c000180bac9

The X chromosome

See Wikitree (Muller-141) for our X chromosome names and much more. Since the X chromosome (also known as chromosome 23 and the sex chromosome) has a unique inheritance pattern, also see this excellent discussion with charts to illustrate it: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2013/03/22/looking-for-my-x-dna-charts/.

Our ancestral (DNA) surnames

These are some of the surnames in Doris's pedigree that are potential DNA matches:

Paternal Bergemann, BOWYER, Daggett, Gerrish, Hill, Holwell, Jaentsche, Linch, Mugliston, Mundy, Rennel, Stark, Steuber, Schwartz, Spinker, Sweet, TIGGES/TIEGS, Torschinsky, Walker

Maternal Acey, Adriense, Alberts, Alerts, Allen, Annable, Arnold, Atkins, Avery, Bachiler, Backus, Baldwin, Barents, Barnes, Barrette, Batz, Baumann, Beauchamp, Beckmann, Bergmanns, Bernhardt, Berry, Betts, Betzer, Bez, Blanchan, Blarcum, Bodat, Bogart, Bowerman, Bowne, Bradt, Braun, Brewster, Breyandt, Brune, Burgess, Burkhardt, Butler, Carman, Carstensen, Cary, Cerant, Claflen, Claghorn, Clemens, Clifton, Clum, Cock, Cocke, Coney, Cook, Cool, COON(S), Crispel, Daufenbach, Davids, De Cram, De Duytscher, De Fuh, De Grauw, De Hooges, De Jonge, , Demuth, Diederich, Dimbleby, Dippel, Dipple/Tipple, Dircx, Dopf, Dunschmann, Eckert, Eckhardt, Edgeley, Every, Ewer, Falkenberg, Fauth, Feke, Feller, Flegler, Flugler, Fones, Frantz, Freeman, Freer, Freisen, Friedrich, Froelich, Frolich, Fromm, Frost, Frye, Funck, Gardenier, Geib, Gifford, Giles, Glimp, Glory, Glump, Godfrey, Goertzen, Goodman, Grant, Griffin, Guysbert, Habig, Hagadorn, Haight, Haiton, Halm, Harmensen, Harmes, Harper, Hart, Hatch, Hauser, Havens, Haye, Heale, Hendrickse, Hendricksen, Henrich, Hewes, Hoennes, Hoffman, Holley, Holway, Hopper, Hoyt, Huff, Hull, Jans, Jansen, Johnson, Joire, Jorisse, Joyse, Keller, Ketcher, Keyser, Kip, Klum, Koch, Kohl, Krost, Kuhn, Kuijstendr, La Bonte, La Grange, Lamper, Lauermann, Lauzon, Lawell, Le Blan, Le Meshine, Le Roy, Leick, Lover, Lubberts, Marinessen, Martens, Metzalear, Michael, Momford, Montross, Mueller, Muller, Noble, Nuchter, Ostrander, Ostrom, Ostrom/Oostrum, Overmeyer, Parker, Partridge, Peake, Peck, Penniman, Perry, Pier, Pietersen, Pitcher, Pratt, Prence, Priar, Pryer, Pudley, Quint, Rau, Rauch, Reiffenberg, Reisdorf, Relje, Remagen, Remington, Reyniers, Ritter, Roosa, Rossler, Rowley, Ruoff, Ryfenberg, Schaffer, Schauerman, Schaufelein, Scheerburch, Schenkmann, Schild, Schleicher, Schneider, Schoomaker, Schot, Schreiber, Schryver, Schumacher, Schurtz, Shirts, Showerman, Simons, Singer, Snyder, Somer, Southard, Southwood, Southworth, Spooner, Spurgin, Stahl, Steinkopf, Steinmann, Steiver, Stowers, Surrey, Suthard, Suylandt, Swartwout, Swift, Teddeman, Teeple, Tenderle, Thyssen, TIPPLE, Tracy, Tragner, Traphagen, Treher, Turner, Van Amersfoort, Van Bloemendaal, Van Boerum, Van Borsselen, Van Bunschoten, Van Ceulen, Van Culemborg, Van Etten, Van Gouts, Van Heuckelum, Van Keulen, Van Maurik, Van Salee, Van Steenberg, Veeder, Velder, Voss, Wager, Wamboom, Warden, Weber, Werden, Westcott, Westervelt, Williams, Winegar, Wing, Wolleben, Worden, Wyberseen, Zimmermann, Zuyland.