DNA and Genetic Genealogy featuring CeCe Moore

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This past Saturday, I was privileged to be in the audience (along with 300+ other people from NE Ohio and western PA) at the Akron Library to hear CeCe Moore's presentations on using DNA for genealogy research.

If you have never attended any of the free genealogy workshops at the Akron Summit County Public Library, I HIGHLY recommend them. The library brings in nationally renowned and respected speakers and you attend for FREE. Their local history and genealogy programs can be seen HERE.

CeCe's name may be familiar to you as she is the genealogist that various law enforcement departments have been using to bring closure to unsolved murders. She uses her extensive knowledge of genealogy research techniques AND genetics AND open genealogy DNA databases, such as GedMatch, to narrow down the suspects to just a few. Then detectives use traditional law enforcement techniques to narrow their suspects down to one person. Her official title is investigative genetic genealogist. Her CV would include the following credits:

• The genetic genealogist for Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr since 2013
• Founder of The DNA Detectives where you can get genetic genealogy help.
• Co-founder of the Institute for Genetic Genealogy
• Writer of blog Your Genetic Genealogy
• Works to reunite individuals with unknown parentage, like adoptees, with biological relatives.
• And as a media consultant she has appeared on:
• The Today Show
• Good Morning America
• NBC Nightly News.
• Nightline
• CBS This Morning
• Fox News
• The Dr. Oz Show
• The Doctors 
• Crime Watch Daily
• Nancy Grace
• Finding Your Roots
• Genealogy Roadshow
• And she has just been hired by a company called Parabon NanoLabs to head up its new "genetic genealogy unit."
• Oh, and she was an actress before all of this genealogy stuff took off!

She offered 4 sessions, two in the morning and two in the afternoon, with breaks in the morning and afternoon and a 1 hour lunch (many of us brought bag lunches).

CeCe was extremely generous with her time, talking with audience members throughout the breaks, answering questions and sharing stories. She also provided excellent handouts of her presentation and her projected slides and talk supplemented the handouts. One special audience member shared the same somewhat unique maternal haplogroup with CeCe!

CeCE answering questions during the break!

Here are some of the highlights.

SESSIONS:

9:45 am: The Power of DNA: Genetic Genealogy Basics - covered the types of DNA testing, mtDNA, Y-DNA and autosomal DNA, and the major companies that offer the tests. CeCe also claims that DNA is an essential part of genealogy research. And that DNA tests are the introduction to genealogy research for many, many people. Incredible! She also said that we need to advise people who are considering being tested, that DNA tests can reveal unexpected surprises! Like parents and siblings that you didn't know you had.

11:15 am: Who Am I: Exploring Ethnicity Estimates - Ethnicity Estimates are the weakest aspect of DNA testing, because it is such a new field. But is also one of the main reasons newbies (new to genealogy or new to DNA) want to get tested. And I'll admit. I wanted to see if my DNA would show the Native American ancestry that oral tradition said was on my Dad's side. (BTW, it didn't!) Ethnicity estimates are also very useful as a marketing tool by the DNA test companies. How many of you have seen the Ancestry DNA commercials about people finding their Italian ancestry? But the science for ethnicity estimates is too new to be truly accurate for two main reasons: 1. Not enough people are being tested and 2. Some entire populations are not being tested at all. Also, the way the different companies interpret the results can cause errors.

My DNA Ethnicity Estimates from Ancestry DNA. This has changed over time and is different than the other companies'
estimates. The "Germanic Europe" is lower than on FamilyTree DNA and the "England and Wales" is much higher.
Notice there is NO Native American ethnicity showing. None. Nada. Zilch. So I have to revise our family oral tradition.
Wish me luck! 

1:30 pm: I Have My Results, Now What? - For those of us who are scientifically challenged the DNA results can be quite overwhelming.  CeCe defined  STR and SNP and cM, Mb and maternal haplogroup and paternal haplogroup. She made recommendations on which companies to test depending on your needs  and talked about how to make sense of your results and about the importance of doing DNA comparisons with your closest matching cousins. Lastly she talked about how relationship predictions can be skewed by how the companies define them.

3 pm: Breaking Through Genealogical Brick Walls with DNA - Instead of using the relationship prediction that the companies use, CeCe formulates her own based on the length of the DNA segments that are shared. She looks at the matching cousins and then which of their cousins she also matches to figure out which family line is involved. She will use traditional genealogy research methods to build family trees for those matching cousins who don't share or upload a tree with their DNA. And she uses pencil and paper to do it!

In CeCe's closing comments, she emphasized the importance of continuing your education as things will change quickly and dramatically in this field over the next couple of years as advancements are made. She suggested that social media, such as Facebook, is a good way to become aware of changes and developments.

On another note...

One of the nice benefits of going to workshops and conferences is the opportunity to check out materials that other libraries own. Here are four Akron Library titles that caught my eye:

This is a good primer on using DNA
in your genealogical research. MCDL
owns a copy of this 2015 book.

This book is also from 2015, and yes,
MCDL owns a copy of it, too.

   

This is an older, 2006-7, book that specifically
deals with the DNA test provided by National
Geographic called Geno 2.0. It only tells you
about your very ancient DNA. It is how I know
that I am 1.8% Neanderthal

In this 2017 book, Houston weatherman,
Frank Billingsley, relates his journey to find
his biological parents using DNA.
MCDL will be buying this title soon.

SOURCES:

• "About CeCe", Your Genetic Genealogist, (accessed 27 July 2018).
• "CeCe Moore," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed July 31, 2018).
• "CeCe Moore - Genetic Genealogy Interview", The Family Tree DNA Learning Center, (accessed July 27, 2018).
• Murphy, Heather, "Genealogists Turn to Cousins' DNA and Family Trees to Crack Five More Cold Cases" New York Times, accessed 27 June 2018.