[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] DNA at 23andMe

Sat Sep 24 22:07:29 PDT 2011

Otto encouraged me to do the test and 25 days after sending in my  sample 
the results arrived [two weeks ago] by email.    The  comments by Otto and 
Earl are appreciated as they are a big help in my  learning process.  The 
mentioned Relative Finder with 258 potential  cousins has resulted in my 
receiving several emails from people sharing the same  haplogroup.  One contact 
being from Southern Manitoba [Winkler, Morden]  where the Jess/Rode family 
landed in 1902. His type is the closest to me of  the potential cousins.  This 
contact shows what Earl mentions in his  last paragraph below re more of us 
in our Society doing this.  I pointed  this man to our site as he is not a 
member and was wondering about help as he is  struggling with research in 
Poland. 

The disease risk and carrier status are of more than a  passing interest to 
me.   I plan to summarize this and pass it on  to my three siblings.  

I just read Karl's comments and it looks like we are in for more exciting  
developments down the road.  

Beth, my Jess family had several events at a village 25 miles straight  
west of Lublin.  

Victor Gess

Gering/Gess/Jess/Jeske/Rode/Riske/Wunnik/Wonneck
Poland -  Anejewo/Bielsko (west of Lublin)  Chmielewo/
Karolinow/Klementynow/Szczuki/
Volhynia -  Julianowka/Karlswalde/Satyjew/Shinufka/ 

In a message dated 9/24/2011 2:58:59 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
Earl.Schultz at telusplanet.net writes:

I will  try to answer some of the questions I've received.  I have  
personally
used their services last year and I have also use  Sorenson/Genetree for my
y-DNA and mt-DNA.  Otto Schienke is another  user but I do not know of 
anyone
else.  23andMe sequences about  500,000 SNPs on all 23 chromosomes and the
mt-DNA.  Males will receive  their maternal and paternal haplogroups; 
females
their maternal  haplogroup.  That information includes a history of the
haplogroup so  that you have some idea of where your ancestors spent their
time in the  last 100,000 years after leaving Africa.  In addition, they 
have
a  Relative Finder service which will identify people with a high  
percentage
match on the 500K SNPs and provides that they may be a 3rd or  4th cousin or
more.  I have 236 potential cousins of which Otto was  one of the highest
matches but I now have many who are higher.  You  can invite these people to
share genomes which you can then compare with  another click of the mouse.
For example the highest percentage match I have  is about 76.5% with a woman
from Poland.  That means that 76.5% of the  SNPs tested are identical.  I
have yet to find someone that we can  prove a relationship on paper.  Most
people are likely to be 4th or  5th cousins or more which means the
connection is somewhere around the  great-great-great-great-grandparents and
while you may know who that is you  may not have all the families descended
from that person...you won't  necessary know which of the 4ggrandparents it
is.

Is it worth  doing?  In my opinion, just the haplogroup information is worth
the  cost.  If more people from Dobriner Land participate then I will  have
closer matches than I have currently found.  The value of DNA  comes from
more participants so if everyone waits until it is more valuable  then it
will never be valuable.

With regard to the medical benefits,  you also receive on the website a list
of whether you are at higher, lower  or normal risk of certain diseases, 
etc.
This is interesting but having a  higher risk doesn't mean that you will get
the disease.  I think if I  was at higher risk of say Type II diabetes then
it may encourage me to  alter my lifestyle.  Personally, I am at 3X higher
risk of Exfoliation  Glaucoma and I mentioned this to my opthamologist who
thanked me for that  and said that she would monitor me for that.  Other 
than
arthritis,  I'm at normal risk for most serious things.  This is also  worth
sharing with your family so that others can be on guard.

I've  always said that if we could get a high percentage of SGGEE members to
do  this then we would have a much more valuable database to aid  our
genealogical research.  When it is just the general public in the  database
then there is not a lot of benefit for anyone, except for the  haplogroup 
and
medical information.

Earl

-----Original  Message-----
From: Beth Burke [mailto:mackzie at earthlink.net] 
Sent:  September 24, 2011 1:04 PM
To: 'Earl.Schultz';  ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Subject: RE: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia]  DNA at 23andMe

Earl and Fellow SGGEE Members:

How many of you  have personally used this company for DNA testing?  Were 
you
satisfied  with the results? If you found out that you are at a higher risk
for  certain diseases, did you then consult with your  physician?

Additionally, have any of you who have a connection to the  Lublin area have
had this done?

Beth Burke
Verona,  WI
Researching:  Zellmer, Glor, Hammermeister, Friedrich,  Lieske/Liske,
Pinkowski....

-----Original Message-----
From:  ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
[mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org]  On Behalf Of
Earl.Schultz
Sent: Friday, September 23, 2011 11:57  PM
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Subject:  [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] DNA at 23andMe

I want to let everyone know that  www.23andMe.com is having a sale on DNA
autosomal testing for $99 plus  $9/mo. for 1 year.  This goes beyond the
y-DNA and mt-DNA and is a  much better test especially for females who 
cannot
do the y-DNA test  themselves.  The autosomal test looks at all ancestral
lines and not  just paternal and maternal.

I especially want to encourage anyone from  Dobriner Land (Torun to
Rypin/Lipno) to take this test so that we can get a  number of people from
this area to compare to.

This test also  provides information on your risks for certain diseases 
which
can be quite  interesting.

Earl

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