If you are interested in your family history and want to know more about how DNA testing fits in, the Kent Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society has a seminar for you.
On April 21, the OGS will be hosting a DNA Basics Workshop from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Chatham-Kent Public Library meeting room in Chatham.
According to organizers, Merv Howes and Angela Churchill will be presenting the workshop, and both have extensive experience with DNA testing as it relates to a genealogy search.
The workshop will look at the types of DNA tests available, what they can tell you, how to interpret your results and how to use DNA testing to further your research efforts.
“We will discuss how to use shared matches and targeted testing to develop testing strategies to support your family research, and potentially, break down brick walls,” organizers said.
For Churchill, a DNA expert with a Master’s degree, the workshop will help people get started with basic information and help them figure out how much detail they want to find about themselves and their family.
The process can be intimidating for people, she noted, when it comes to dealing with scientific terms and what to do with the data you receive.
“If you’re 75 and you haven’t had science since high school and you’re trying to figure out how all this DNA works, it’s a pretty steep learning curve,” Churchill noted. “Once I started doing it, and since I have a research background, I started thinking about how I can make this easier and work better for me, so I started looking down different avenues.”
The first DNA testing Churchill did was on herself as soon as AncestryDNA testing came to Canada, and she has since learned the more family members that can be tested to find matches, the better. She said ethics and privacy come into play when you start asking other people to take the test so they know what you are doing with the test results and who will see them, which she will be talking about at the seminar.
Getting permission is always important, she said, and also that there can sometimes be unexpected results due to adoptions not being known or disclosed, or family members in the past taking in orphaned children, either in or outside of the family, so it is important to be sensitive to those issues coming up.
“You want to have that conversation right up and front and ask them if they want to know if an unexpected result comes up. You don’t want to have that conversation afterwards and have the ethical dilemma of ‘should I or shouldn’t I tell them,’” Churchill cautioned.
There are several testing companies to choose from that Churchill said that “anonymize the data” and some will keep the DNA on record for several years and have it available for additional testing at a later date.
“Family Tree DNA will actually keep your DNA on record to re-test at later date. Some of the tests are quite expensive, so you can upgrade at a later date. So if you are testing an older relative, a grandparent or an aunt say, and cost is an issue, you can do the lower cost testing first, and should the person pass away, that DNA is held for 25 years for them,” she said.
Part of what she will talk about at the seminar is what people are expecting to get out of their DNA testing. Some people are interested in seeing their ethnic heritage, like if they are part British or German, and others may use it to support their family tree research and to find familial matches they didn’t know about previously.
The workshop should help people figure what information they want to know and how to get it, and the DNA information always works in conjunction with the paperwork such as birth, death and marriage records.
The workshop is open to both OGS members at a cost of $20 and to the general public at a cost of $25.
Participants will want to register online at www.kent.ogs.on.ca or e-mail the OGS at kent@ogs.on.ca for more information or questions. Space is limited.
