Discussions
Your Family Tree
Posted by crpitt • 27 days ago • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: dna, family tree, history
In Amy's thread about History, the conversation turned to tracing ancestral DNA through the ages.
This is something I am doing for my fathers 50th birthday, after he watched a documentary on the topic.
The Human Family Tree
channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/human-family-tree
He has also spent hours and hours tracing our family tree.
Would you like to see what route out of Africa your family took?
Have you traced your roots?
In the National Archives I found this podcast on DNA testing
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/dna-test.htm
This is one of the DNA testing sites recommended
www.familytreedna.com/products.aspx
Extra Stuff
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
A whole feast of other historical podcasts found here
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts%5Cdefault.htm
User Comments
-
I think it would be interesting, but lack of funding will stop me from doing it for quite some time. And by the time I can afford it, I will have forgotten about it.-
Any other male relatives you could suggest do it?
-
Maybe. I could get my dads side.
-
Cool
-
-
my roots come from your mom's house-
Well I am still there and I didn't notice you.
-
Ninja stealth
-
By roots, do you mean that nasty ass long hair dyed out roots?
-
my hair is NOT dyed
-
-
My mum and her twin sister have been doing this for about a year now and the earliest they have gotten back was to a family of smugglers in early 1700's Dorset which was quite strange because she thought the family was always from the north but apparently they only moved north at the start of the 1800's, another strange thing they discovered was that my great great great granddad was a gardener just like me.-
Have they been spending a fortune on the birth and death certificates? Dad has got a folder full already. The majority of his mothers side are from near Hull.
-
Yeah the Public records office must be making a fortune. Whereabouts near Hull?
-
Definitely making a fortune.
Erm it might not be near Hull, I know Withernsea was mentioned and the East Riding area? I admit that I haven't totally listened to him. -
Ah yeah I know Withernsea very well it's a seaside "resort" about 15 miles from Hull, very tatty and tacky.
It was a popular holiday place for Hullies up to the 70's but now people will go for the day if they can't be arsed to go to Scarborough.
The east riding is the country side around Hull. -
I think a lot of records where held in Withernsea and Hull itself, also some records and towns were washed away by the sea.
-
I would think all Withersea's records are kept in Hull it's not a very big place. I call it Chavonsea it's like a tracksuit fashion show in the middle of summer.
-
Well I can't be from there then, sounds awful.
-
-
Not for one's self but would dearly love to check Nick Griffn's DNA to see which route his family travelled out of Africa.-
Wouldn't it be great if he wasn't "indigenous"
-
I would truly love that!
-
Yep like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/6256173/Mahmoud-Ahmadine...
Just need a chance to scape some slime off it for DNA analysis. -
Who would touch him?
-
It is ok polybore is developing an 8ft cotton bud. It is a bit unwieldy but it will do the job. Scaling up has resulted in an excess of cotton wool and it resembles a gladiators style pugil stick. It is not going to be easy to sneak up.
Maybe should just revert to plan B and tape a conventional cotton bud to a long pole. -
Oh and accidentally poke him in the eye?
-
No it needs to go in his gob ideally in order to get skin cells from mucosal layer inside cheek.
Best bet for getting close enough would be for polybore to done their Boadicea costume. -
That would be a sight to behold!
-
-
Well my grandmother on my mother's side to about six months worth of retracing and I have found out I'm a pure bread mutt.-
Taking a line through European aristocracy - particularly the Hapsburgs ( apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2009/04/charles-ii-of-spain-and-seriously.htm... ) - that's something to be thankful for.
-
-
About the route my family took out of Africa: our records don't go back that far. Since all the forebears I know about descended from people who lived in northwestern Europe, it looks like my ancestors left Africa very roughly 80,000 years ago.
But that's generic information, about what we know - and have guessed - about humanity's deep past. ( apatheticlemming.blogspot.com/2007/11/journey-of-mankind-160000-years-of-up... )
As far as a more formal family tree: members of the family have been tracing that - reliable records go back a century or so. Interesting stuff, but not as colorful as some of my wife's ancestors.-
I see that the model used by National Geographic has my forebears leaving the Arabian Peninsula roughly 50,000 years back? Like I said, our records don't go back that far. It'd be kind of surprising if they did.
-
What records do you mean by 'our'? As in everyone's?
-
crpitt,
Good question - my "our" was just my own family's records which certainly don't cover the last 50,000 years, or even a substantial fraction of it. I can't speak for anyone else - but I'd be surprised if anyone was able to document their family tree back more than a few thousand years. -
Oh thanks for clearing that up I think the results from the ancestral DNA will be interesting, but of course they can't connect all the dots
The dad is aiming to get results to the 1500's for actual people we are directly related to.
-
-
wp
-
I cant trace mine as I am adopted. I can trace my parents (the ones that adopted me) But my dad's family has all their info and my moms family tree has a big knot in the middle of it and I am not sure I want to untangle it.-
I think that would be difficult, my dad has already found out things about his family that I think would have upset my Grandma if she was still alive.
-
I wnet to one family reunion and my uncle had every one write who they were related to and the kids and ect.... He made a picture of the tree and it had a knot in the middle. She is from a small town and they are all related. he can go down the road and say so and so lives here and is married to... It is scary. My dad is related to one of the kings of England and has somone that signed the declaration of Independence. Some one kept good records in his family and there is a book.
-
Wow and wow!
-
Yeah there is an older book that someone wrote all that stuff down over time. I think it has been passed down. I only got to see it once. It is locked up in a vault some where at a bank probably. I think all families should do that. We have a Great uncle on hubby's side going back and doing grave yard pictures and the whole 9 yards for a book.
-
That sounds fantastic, hopefully the dad is going to do a book too. At the moment he making lots of excel spread sheets and making it as boring as possible! I may have to take over creative control
-
-
I had to do a family tree when I was in High School, we were studying the natives from our region and the professor wanted to know from what tribe we came from. My Grandma (on my mom's side) had a great memory and she could go back 5 generations, none of them were natives. I traced my families last names from both sides, all but 1 are from Spain and my Grandpa's mother side is from Ireland (he had the red hair to prove it). It would be very hard to trace my father's side because there no-one old enough to remember now. For my brother's skin color I guess I do have some native-Mexican in me, I just don't know from what tribe.-
Would you do the DNA test? Well I think the bro would have to do it, to get more info.
-
I would love to, once I have a real job and real money, jajaja. I would love to get it done for Grandpa, that would be cool!
-
Oh yes getting the gramps would be excellent, maybe you could all club together and get it done?
-
That would be lovely but highly unlikely, they would chip-in for a party not for that, jajajaja. I will try to convince the rich uncle when I get to talk to him. Grandpa is turning 94 years old this november, maybe for his 95th birthday
-
Oh yes sell the idea to the rich Uncle. I think it would be a lovely present for Gramps.
-
-
I am in the process of trying to do mine now and am stuck because I have 2 sets of parents lol. Any links for that?-
I have a million links, but a lot are UK orientated. You have an Irish though don't you?
-
-
I've become a bit obsessed with family history of late, although word is the DNA thing is unreliable -
I've become a bit obsessed with family history of late, although word is the DNA thing is unreliable
-
Evidently we go all the way back to some cavalry commander who invaded England with "the bastard" at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 (and thus conquested your female ancestors, Claire, in all likelihood - and there was much rejoicing). :-)
I'm told he commanded cavalry, and if true he might've been responsible for helping to eventually break the "shield wall" that Harold had formed. The story of the battle is that the eventually the Normans overcame initial setbacks/stalemates - due in large part to the performance of their cavalry.
Here's where it gets interesting - although purely conjecture.
William awarded some of his vassals lands in northern england and Scottland.
Just 3 centuries later a certain Scottish rebel enters folklore named William Wallace - himself a descendant of Norman conquerors.
Might my relative have rode with Wallaces? It's fun to consider.
Of course, like many folks of European blood, we seem to trace back towards Charlemagne after the fall of Rome - or as I like to call him "the Genghis Khan of European DNA."
Other noteworthy relatives (some of these quite distant):
-Humphrey Bogart
-Ulysses S. Grant
-Bill Clinton
And although there's no birth certificate trial to prove it, I'd suggest ample "DNA" evidence exists to prove my relation to one Holmes, John. :-)
Add Your Comment
Login to leave a message.
