Maybe we've identified some of the DNA that comes from Britta Ann Green or John L. McGuire. Maybe. But we need more cousin samples to be sure.
My fragrant cousin showed me how to create a DNA map. It can be tedious to enter long lists of numbers, but the results can be verrrrrrrrry interesting. In essence, you create a database with chromosome start and end locations and compare matching centiMorgans and SNPS. Numbers that are similar to each other likely indicate that the chromosome is inherited from the MRCA (most recent common ancestor). The more distant cousins (3rd - 8th) who take part, the more you can triangulate and hone in on those pesky buggers.
The tools on GEDmatch.com are the easiest to use. I think it took me five minutes to upload my data from Ancestry and FtDNA.
We've uploaded at least a dozen kits from our branch of the family to GEDmatch. This is great, but what it tells us is that we're all closely related. Luckily a fourth cousin descended from Britta and John recently uploaded a kit.
Hooray!!!! Thank you!!!!
By comparing which chromosomes match with ours, we can start to find Britta and John's DNA. If we can find Britta's DNA, we may be able to find her mother using mitochondrial DNA. So exciting!!!!
I've found spots on two chromosomes that seem like a pretty close match. I will not go out on a limb and say that this is Britta or John's DNA. What I will say is that if we can get a few more distant cousins to upload to GEDmatch, we might be able to triangulate and prove in a statistically meaningful way that this is definitely Britta's/John's DNA.
This method allowed us to break through a brick wall and prove that Polly Pinson Peters was indeed born a Dennis.
When Britta died in 1919, she was survived by 104 living descendants. Any cousins out there got a DNA test—and a sledgehammer????
