Out of Town, DNA Kit is Here!

I am sorry that I have not been posting for a few days. I got called out of town on business so I have not been able to sit down and do much. I wanted to let you all know that the DNA test kit from Family Tree DNA has arrived! I will see my test subject on Saturday and will have more to post about it this weekend.

I will be going to South Carolina again tomorrow but only for the day. I should be back home and doing some catch-up postings on Thursday so bear with me until then.

Kevin

DNA test kit is on the way!

I have received confirmation that our DNA test kit is its way from Family Tree DNA. My representative confirmed that she sent it out this afternoon so I will let you all know when it arrives. I will be visiting my test subject on August 2, 2008 so hopefully the kit will arrive before that time.

If you have not been following our DNA testing project, you can read up on it at the link below:

DNA Project Details

More to come when the package arrives...

Family Tree DNA Surname Search

I have been working with a representative from Family Tree DNA to start a series of blog posts about genealogy DNA testing. I am ordering a test kit and will keep you all posted on the entire process from start to finish. I will update the blog in real time so you know exactly how long it takes to order a kit, take the test and get the results. I am even going to do a video of the volunteer taking the test so you can see exactly how easy DNA testing for genealogy can be. I am still hammering out all of the details but I will let you know when the kit is in the mail.

I have also added a Family Tree DNA search box to the sidebar of my website. You can use it to find surname projects hosted at the Family Tree DNA site. These surname projects are excellent resources, I even have one for the Lett family. You can run searches with all of the surnames you are interested in and see if projects currently exist. I checked several surnames in my family tree and was able to find projects concerning my distant ancestors.

If no project exists for your surname, you can take a DNA test and start a surname project at any time. It is a free service Family Tree DNA provides for their customers and surname project groups members get bulk discounting on their tests. Therefore, if you join up with an existing group, you can get a discounted rate for your test.

Brock DNA Project

I asked J. B. Brock of the Brock DNA Project, hosted at Family Tree DNA, to send in a synopsis of what their project was all about. This is what he sent...

"The purpose of the Brock DNA project is to determine the existence of common ancestors among the various Brock Surname lines (and variants such as Brack or Brocke), along with their ethnic and geographic origins.

Participants take the Y-DNA test and must be males carrying the Brock surname because the Y-Chromosome is only found in males and is passed from father to son. The Y-DNA remain nearly unchanged through the generations. Thus, a male Brock of today will carry an almost exact match of the Y-Chromosome his great-grandfather from many generations back carried. Participants genetic markers are compared to determine if they share a common ancestor.

A single test allows you to verify:

(1) If 2 males share a common ancestor

(2) Ones suggested geographic origins

(3) If you are of Native American ancestry through your ancient ancestor

(4)Your deep ancestral ethnic origins

The results are posted on the Brock DNA Project Results Page and are grouped by their Haplogroups.

Matches allow the comparison of participant lineages in hopes to determining a common ancestor.

Members receive a reduced group discount and may choose either the 12-Marker, 25-Marker, 37-Marker or higher test. The decision on which test to take depends on your budget considerations. Project adminstrators recommend the 25 marker test becasue matches made at the 12 marker level can be lost on the Y-DNA 25 or higher test. Exact 12 marker matches are common. Therefore, the 25 and higher marker tests result in more conclusive data when determining a genetic connections/common ancestors.

For more information on how to join the project or for pricing go to the following link:

www.brockancestry.com/dna.htm"

Ancestry.com DNA Testing

I do not think I ever mentioned that Ancestry.com now offers DNA testing. This isn't anything terribly new but I wanted to point out that you do not have to buy your test from them to use their matching services. All I had to do was manually enter the results that I got from Family Tree DNA and I can use all of the Ancestry features. I assume you have to have some type of Ancestry.com membership to use this feature. I mean, you obviously have to have an account in which to enter the information.


I was able to see a nice write-up about my haplogroup, I1a, and you can also see all of the other members that match your DNA to some degree. You can even specify the number of generations of separation between yourself and the results that are shows. I am showing up to 70 generations in the example below but it can range from 70 down to 2. My DNA test was not very refined, I think only 12 markers, so I do not have many close results.


Ancestry also appears to have a new surname group project section where you can compare results with others of the same last name. I have not tried this yet but I may in the near future.

You can click here to check out Ancestry.com DNA testing

California to Ban DNA Testing for Genealogy?

You can read the articles for yourself but it appears that California is trying to ban genetic genealogy. Their Health Department sent cease-and-desist letters to thirteen personal genomic testing companies. Their main concern is not with genetic genealogy but with companies that do lifestyle and health testing, bypassing doctors. However, any sweeping change in law, could easily alter your rights to DNA testing for genealogy purposes. Read the articles and let us know your opinions.

Regulators, Genetic Testing Companies Begin Face Off

Regulators Take Aim at Nascent DNA-Testing Industry

Like it or not, we are all related...

I wanted to run out some numbers to show everyone that we are all related...all of us! Everyone on the face of the Earth has to be related and there is no other possible explanation. I do not care if you believe in evolution or Adam and Eve, we are all from the same stock.

To show you the numbers, I have to make a few assumptions but any number will work. In this case, I am assuming that a generation is forty years. In my chart below you will see the generation number, the total number of ancestors in that generation and their approximate birth year. In the first example, generation 1, you are the person in question, born in 2008. In the second example, these are your parents, numbering two total, born around 1968. In the third example, these are your grandparents, totalling four people, born around 1928. You get the idea...

I am running the chart out until the 31st generation where you have over one billion ancestors in that generation alone. The generation that we care the most about is number 29. This does not account for any inbreeding. This is assuming all non-related ancestors but inbreeding is the ultimate result.

1 = 1 (2008)
2 = 2 (1968)
3 = 4 (1928)
4 = 8 (1888)
5 = 16 (1848)
6 = 32 (1808)
7 = 64 (1768)
8 = 128 (1728)
9 = 256 (1688)
10 = 512 (1648)
11 = 1024 (1608)
12 = 2048 (1568)
13 = 4096 (1528)
14 = 8192 (1488)
15 = 16384 (1448)
16 = 32768 (1408)
17 = 65536 (1368)
18 = 131072 (1328)
19 = 262144 (1288)
20 = 524288 (1248)
21 = 1048576 (1208)
22 = 2097152 (1168)
23 = 4194304 (1128)
24 = 8388608 (1088)
25 = 16777216 (1048)
26 = 33554432 (1008)
27 = 67108864 (968)
28 = 134217728 (928)
29 = 268435456 (888) ********
30 = 536870912 (848)
31 = 1073741824 (808)

In the year 900 AD the world population, according to the US Census Bureau, was between 226 and 240 million people. In your 29th generation, approximately 888 AD, you would have had 268,435,456 ancestors from that generation alone. You had more contemporary ancestors than the population of the Earth. That leaves no other conclusion but to say that we are all related. Just do the math. I see no way around it.

Why do people love genealogy? What got them started?

People become interested in genealogy for different reasons. I got into it because I never knew either of my grandfathers and genealogy was a way to connect with them. My brother's mother-in-law took me to the archives for the first time when I was around twelve or thirteen years old. I was hooked from that day forward and do not regret any of it. Genealogy took over a big portion of my life, for many years. I was almost obsessed at time, especially once I became aware of the Internet. E-mail and Genforum changed my life forever. College would not have been the same without genealogy.

Some people want to find out where their ancestors came from, maybe their ethnic origin. It used to take a lot of digging to get that answer, assuming that all of the documents were in existence and available. Today we can perform a simple cheek swab and get a DNA profile that can tell you pretty much where your genes came from in this world. I happen to be a Viking ,basically, as my male ancestors were apparently from Scandinavia. I would never have known that with the help of DNA.

Other people, especially those with last names of Washington, Lee, Jackson, Adams, Monroe, Columbus, etc., all think that they are descendants of greatness and want to find their connection to their famous ancestor. Most of the time this has been passed down from parent to child, generation after generation. I have met a lot of people who descend from George Washington. I guess it is too bad that he did not have any biological children (but they do not know that I suppose). I also had a lady try to convince me that she was the illegitimate, great-granddaughter of General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson - try proving that one!

A long-standing reason for some genealogy research are health reasons. People trace diseases and medical flaws across generations to help determine the likelihood that they will inherit a given problem. This is becoming more important now that we better understand genetics and the way traits are passed among the generations. I think the importance of genetic genealogy is just starting to take shape. It will grow dramatically as the technology becomes more affordable and more readily available to a larger audience.

I would say that the majority of people performing research probably want to join a lineage society, such as the Sons of the American Revolution, Daughters of the American Revolution, the Jamestowne Society or the Sons of Confederate Veterans. I have helped numerous clients with SCV, SAR and DAR applications. These generally require a lot of documentation and probably account for a large portion of paid genealogists' income. I know that I made most of my money in these pursuits, when I was doing paid research.

Other reasons for researching family history could be to get a scholarship, such as those for Native Americans. Some people trace deeds to acquire old land or maybe reclaim a family cemetery. I actually got a half acre lot put in my name from Henrico County, Virginia because it was deemed to be a family cemetery, belonging to one of my ancestors, and there was no owner of record on file. I guess I could be buried there if I wanted to push the envelope, seeing as though it is right in the middle of a modern apartment complex!

Whatever the reason, genealogy is usually considered to be one of the top two or three hobbies in America. People spend millions of hours and undoubtedly millions of dollars on genealogy every year. I probably spent over $1,000 myself on an annual basis, on my own family history projects.

No matter your motivation, genealogy is an addictive hobby that can get a hold of you and never let go. What got you involved with the hobby and what keeps you going strong?

Get paid for your genealogy research? (part II)

Google is not the only form of advertising revenue. You can pitch products or sign up as an affiliate with Amazon or eBay but you have to get a lot of traffic to your site to make any money. You do not get paid for viewers clicking on their ads; people actually have to buy something for you to get commission. You might get one commission off of a thousand clicks on their ad. In short, you might as well forget it. Genealogy is not that popular in the big picture and it is losing momentum as a hobby. Fewer people search for genealogy sites each month - check the Google trends if you do not believe me.

The biggest problem with a genealogy web site is that genealogy hobbyists hate advertising! People think that all genealogy should be free for everyone and that making money off genealogy is evil! Rootsweb is in turmoil right now because Ancestry is adding their banners to all sites hosted on Rootsweb. Forget that Ancestry has given them free server space for years; Ancestry is now evil for wanting a little something in return. People focus too much on keeping genealogy “free.” If no one got paid for their work, there would be no genealogy books, microfilm or records. Even the county clerk gets paid to record the deeds and wills.

I am getting a little off track here but look at the big picture. Even if you get $100 per hour or $5.00 per click, you have to pay taxes and insurance. By the time you pay Uncle Sam and Blue Cross, what will you have left to eat? What about gas? How are you going to pay for $5.00 per gallon gasoline when you are driving to and from all of those courthouses and libraries? Don't forget about the kids needing braces, your adjustable rate mortgage, your car note and that momma needs a new pair of shoes.

Anyway you slice it, unless you are the CEO of the Generations Network or you invented DNA testing for genealogy purposes, you are probably out of luck. If anyone knows how to make money in genealogy, please let me know. I have been trying for years and just cannot figure it out. I love this hobby and would like to do it fulltime. I doubt I will quit my day job anytime soon, unless you can give me the answer. I am waiting for your response…

Advice on naming a baby, genealogy-style!

Tomorrow my wife and I will welcome our second child into the world. According to the doctor, it will be a boy. I sure hope that is the case, knowing that a little girl would not appreciate a blue nursery! This boy is special in that he will be one of only two men left in my family, going back several generations, who can carry on our last name. He is one of the last hopes we have for spreading or genes, passing on the Lett DNA, while keeping the name intact.

Most of my male cousins have all had girls, a fate that spared me this time. Most of these same cousins are also beyond childrearing age. Do not get me wrong, I would like a girl just fine and already have one, but I would hate to go down as the man who let the Lett name die. My wife is happy too as the pressure is off to have a boy. Who knows how many times we would have tried until we had him.

With all of this pressure now transferred to my son, he will be the one required to produce boys. My last task is that I have the pleasure of naming him. My wife named our daughter so I get to name the boy. How am I supposed to come up with a name by myself? I have to be careful not to pick a bad name; one that will get him picked on in school. I cannot select one that is too feminine, too old-fashioned or too hard to spell. I cannot choose a name that someone else in the family has or might use in the near future. This is going to be difficult.

I have come up with some basic guidelines for choosing my son’s name. My wife, daughter and I have names that begin with a hard-C sound so I would like for the boy to have one as well. That eliminates at least all but two letters from the alphabet, C and K.

I would also like to incorporate a genealogical, family name into the mix, perhaps someone in the family with historical value. I do not want to dig too far back in time, wanting to keep the focus on family names within the last five or six generations. The only person that comes to mind was my great, great, great-grandfather, Robert Baylor Pettis. He was the collector of customs for the City of Richmond, Virginia and served under several presidents. He was named for his uncle, Rev. Robert Baylor Semple, an influential member of the Baptist faith. I would therefore consider Baylor or Pettis as possible middle names.

A side note about Baylor and Pettis, all of the older people in our family hate these names. All of our young, hip friends love them!

Other family names that stand out are Headen, Jackson and Thomas. Headen comes from my wife’s grandfather and great-grandfather. Jackson was used by several of my wife’s ancestors. Thomas is my middle name, being named after my grandmother’s brother who died in an automobile accident. That Thomas was named after his uncle, who was named after his grandfather, who was named after his grandfather. My wife’s father and brother were also named Thomas. With this in mind, Thomas seems to be a good candidate.

I should mention that my mother-in-law wants the name to be Headen and she will probably call the kid Headen no matter what I name him.

As for family names that start with C or K, we do not have that many. The list would include, minus the ones that I would not give a chance; Clarke, Cole, Coleman, Creed, Carter and Kevin (but I do not want a junior). Cole or Coleman is not too bad. I like Creed but my wife would not go for that one. Carter was a frontrunner but my cousin named her baby Carter – last week!

One of the biggest tests for the name is it has to sound good when he is announced as the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins…”and, starting at quarterback for your Washington Redskins, number 18, _______ Lett.” To let you know, I am totally serious about this test!

In looking around on the Internet for baby name sites, I found one that I liked – Connor. It meets all of my requirements and sounds good in the starting lineup for the Skins. Now I have to settle on a middle name. My main requirements are that it has to look good in a signature, the middle initial, and the initials cannot equal anything off-colored such as B. J., T. P. or anything that would lead to getting picked on such as L. D.

My first instinct would be to use Thomas, after myself, and Connor Thomas does not sound bad. Part of me feels that I would go for something more dramatic, Connor Jackson or Connor Pettis for example. If the state would let me, I might go with three names, Connor Thomas Jackson – that would be cool in my opinion. We will have to wait and see if they would allow that many names.

Through all of this rambling, I think I have settled on a name, Connor Thomas Lett. It sounds good for sporting events and it looks good on paper – Connor T. Lett or C. T. Lett. It might be a little soft for a tough guy but I think it will work. The funny thing is that I am not going to tell anyone the name until I write it on the birth certificate – not even my wife. He will be Baby Lett for as long as possible, just to drag out the suspense. I actually told my wife that Constantine was a leading contender so she is worried sick! A few more hours of suspense will not kill her.

Death of a friend

I found out yesterday that one of my genealogy buddies died unexpectedly. This guy had a lot of health problems and spent the past ten years focused on genealogy. He could not get to the library so he turned to the Internet for information. He scoured every web site he could find, looking for any reference to the Lett name. Spelling did not matter to him; it could be Lett, Lette, Letterman, Leith, and Lott, whatever, anything that could possibly be construed as being a connection was taken into account. I would call the man a human genealogy sponge, soaking up anything and everything.

In his professional life, I think he used to be a cop. At times, I wondered if that were a good or bad thing. Knowing how much data he gathered, relevant or not, I would have hated to have been arrested by the man. Who knows what he would have thrown at you when the case went to court! Some people were offended by his lack of source citation and everyone knew to take everything he produced with a grain of salt. The thing most people failed to understand was that he did not claim that all of the information he passed along was factual. He wanted to relay the information and let someone else track down the proof or disproof if it pertained to their line. He simply wanted to spread the word.

While we never found our connection on paper, DNA proved that we were from the same line. His family was from North Carolina and mine was from Virginia. At some point, one of the Lett boys left Mecklenburg County, Virginia and went into North Carolina. We never found the will, deed or other document that tied us together but our genes were connected in some fashion. We even met up at a Lett family reunion in Missouri a few years back – I made the trip by car in two days, partially just to meet this man.

He tried desperately, sending out hundreds of e-mails per week, to connect all of the dots between all of the Letts out there. Some people were annoyed by his ramblings; others just hit the delete button. Some people tried to argue with him over citation, documentation or called his theories bunk. Some people were rude to him and blocked his e-mail account. Some people tolerated the ramblings of an old man out of respect. I simply communicated with a good friend and happened to get to do some genealogy at the same time. I will miss you Mel. Like it or not, you all know you will miss him!

The Pain (or lack thereof) associated with Genetic Genealogy Testing

A lot of people have started ordering genealogy test kits, the kind involved with DNA genealogy or genetic genealogy. I have had personal experience with one company, Family Tree DNA, and their process is fairly simple. I requested their test kit, performed a painless cheek swab and mailed the swab in a little vial, back to the company. I do not know if it is still their policy but I did not have to pay for the kit and/or DNA genealogy test unit I returned the cheek swab. When I did the test, I think it cost about $100, but that was several years ago.

As for the cheek swab, I would call it a fairly simple and relatively painless test. I think you had to take two swabs, about one minute each, rubbing the inside of your cheek to obtain skin cells. There was a little irritation afterwards but nothing significant. Imagine simply scratching your arm in one spot for a minute, you can feel it for a little while after you finish but nothing major. I would not let the pain deter me from taking the test.

After taking the swab, all you do is break the end off into a little vial of some chemical, I supposed a preservative, and seal it up. You place all of the required information into the provided envelope and drop it into the mail. Overall, the most painful part of genetic genealogy is the price. You can expect to pay at least $100 for any DNA genealogy test. If that does not stop you, the fear of physical pain should not. There will be no blood drawn by the test, unless you are an extremely aggressive cheek swabber!

DNA Takes Over Where Paper Leaves Off

Paper documentation only goes back so far but the genealogy bug knows no bounds. If we traced our family tree back fifty generations, we would always be curious about the fifty first. Knowing that the paper trail has to end somewhere, the only real alternative we have is our DNA. Each person carries a map inside of their cells, a map that shows where your family came from on Earth. Through a series of markers, geneticists can tell the path your family has taken over time. Although the information is somewhat vague, DNA is an excellent way to prove your ethnicity.

DNA testing is somewhat expensive, around $100 for a simple test, but it can pinpoint a few key items. Men can determine where their male ancestors were from through a marker passed from father to son. Men can also determine where their female ancestors came from through a marker passed from a mother to her children. However, women do not have this marker from their father. This is one of the main confusions with DNA testing for genealogy purposes. A man's markers can tell where the Jones family came from because each father and son was a Jones. Women have the disadvantage of losing their last name when they get married. Mrs. Jones' mother was a Smith and her mother was a Williams, etc. We cannot say that any of these last names came from a specific area because they keep changing through marriage. It is therefore necessary that a man take a DNA test to prove the origin of the family's last name.

Genetic testing can help solidify family ties when no paper documentation exists. For example, there are lots of Lett families around the country and we did not know how they all fit together, at least not until DNA testing came around. After having one Lett male from each line tested, we could see whose DNA matched and whose did not. We were able to see migratory patterns in the family where paper did not exist. It also helped us to separate out various spellings. There used to be confusion over which families in old documents were Letts and which were Lotts, an unrelated group. Now we have a better idea of where those families lived and who were their members. We have a much lower risk now of confusing Letts and Lotts.

Welcome to Virginia Family Tree

To tell a little about myself, I am a graduate of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg with a degree in History and minor degree in Art & Art History. I have conducted genealogy research for 15 years; I am a county coordinator for the USGenWeb Project and spent time with the Library of Virginia's "Dictionary of Virginia Biography." I am the former editor of "The Lett Gazette" and current webmaster for the Lett/Lott family's DNA project. I have also compiled a book on the 1850 census of York County, Virginia.

My wife, Crystal Lett, has two degrees from J. Sergeant Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Virginia and is the manager of a professional photography studio. By the way, I am also an ordained minister and perform marriage ceremonies for family and friends. I have held memberships in the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Virginia Historical Society and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

I consider myself to be semi-retired but I do offer free genealogy research consultations where I review your information, provide comments and propose a layout for a research project, if I can help with your situation. If you would like to begin a project, and we both agree on the terms, I require an initial deposit before beginning any research. Projects generally require six to eight weeks and culminate with a final report, including suggestions on how to proceed with your own research.

Most Virginia counties and cities kept birth, marriage and death records from 1853 until 1896 and from 1912 until the present. Many records before 1853 exist but no law actually required that they be kept. Wills, deeds, directories, newspapers, marriage bonds, order books and many additional records may be available, dating well into the 1600s. Also note that due to privacy laws, my access is limited to birth records between 1853 and 1896, marriage records from 1853 until 1935 and death records from 1853 until 1939.

If you have questions, or would like a consultation, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Take care,
Kevin Lett
Virginia Family Tree