Genealogy is a hobby where people trace their roots. Historically it has required trips to libraries or courthouses to unearth information about life events and property transactions of ancestors. Recently, developments in biology have allowed folks to test their own cells for DNA and then to compare those results with others in order to locate folks who share similar strands.
Several writers in this area have pointed out that these two approaches aren't the same. The historical approach which emphasizes a paper trail provides a record of the families and individuals who preceded us. The second approach – the genetic one – doesn't include all those people from the paper trail. Because of randomness in the transmission of DNA some of those contributions from several generations back have virtually disappeared.
This sort of DNA genealogy is possible because of technological advances. It is so new that the norms are changing rapidly. The data pool is still too small. As the pool grows the researchers make adjustments to account for new information.
Yesterday I created an Excel spreadsheet to help me visualize my family lines. This was based on charts I'd seen others post online. I just did the tedious process of merging and numbering cells in the spreadsheet. I'm posting the file here for others to use. Obviously, I've pulled our names so that the chart is generic. The numbers in each cell are based on the ahnentafel system where #1 is me (or you . . . or whoever). #2 is the father of #1 and #3 is the mother of #1. Throughout the chart the father of a given person is double (2*x) the number of that person and the mother is one more than double ((2*x)+1). The colors follow the male line since this fits the naming convention in my culture. This chart fits the paper trail type of genealogy.
What I'd really like is to be able to chart the origins of my genetic genealogy. At this point there just aren't enough family members who've tested to be able to do that. And it won't be possible to do this by projection because the process of inheritance is so random. Already I can say that if a person matches me in a particular region of chromosome 1 then they probably share DNA from either the Reynolds or Derden line. One of these days I hope to be able to see a match in a region of a given chromosome and know which great grandparent it represents.
Spreadsheet is available in Excel 2007 format or PDF below.
Several writers in this area have pointed out that these two approaches aren't the same. The historical approach which emphasizes a paper trail provides a record of the families and individuals who preceded us. The second approach – the genetic one – doesn't include all those people from the paper trail. Because of randomness in the transmission of DNA some of those contributions from several generations back have virtually disappeared.
This sort of DNA genealogy is possible because of technological advances. It is so new that the norms are changing rapidly. The data pool is still too small. As the pool grows the researchers make adjustments to account for new information.
Yesterday I created an Excel spreadsheet to help me visualize my family lines. This was based on charts I'd seen others post online. I just did the tedious process of merging and numbering cells in the spreadsheet. I'm posting the file here for others to use. Obviously, I've pulled our names so that the chart is generic. The numbers in each cell are based on the ahnentafel system where #1 is me (or you . . . or whoever). #2 is the father of #1 and #3 is the mother of #1. Throughout the chart the father of a given person is double (2*x) the number of that person and the mother is one more than double ((2*x)+1). The colors follow the male line since this fits the naming convention in my culture. This chart fits the paper trail type of genealogy.
What I'd really like is to be able to chart the origins of my genetic genealogy. At this point there just aren't enough family members who've tested to be able to do that. And it won't be possible to do this by projection because the process of inheritance is so random. Already I can say that if a person matches me in a particular region of chromosome 1 then they probably share DNA from either the Reynolds or Derden line. One of these days I hope to be able to see a match in a region of a given chromosome and know which great grandparent it represents.
Spreadsheet is available in Excel 2007 format or PDF below.
| genealogyscale.xlsx |
| genealogyscale.pdf |
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