Creating your DNA-haplogroup "family tree"

The more people on your family tree that have their DNA tested, the more you are able to round out your family's haplogroup DNA "family tree."

For example:

1. Me:
Mitocondrial: U2e1a

2nd Generation
2. Dad
Y-DNA: R1b1b2a1 (23andme) or R-M269/R1b1a2* (FamilyTreeDNA)
Mitocondrial: H

3. Mom
Mitocondrial: U2e1a

3rd Generation
4. Dad's Dad [Charles]
Y-DNA: (see #2)
Mitocondrial: Unknown

5. Dad's Mom [Eloise]
Mitocondrial: H

6. Mom's Dad [William]
Y-DNA: currently unknown
Mitocondrial: Unknown

7. Mom's Mom
Mitocondrial: U2e1a

4th Generation:
8. Dad's Dad's Father [Frank Seraf]
Y-DNA: see #2
Mitocondrial: Unknown (his sister had only sons; his mother's sister had only one son)

9. Dad's Dad's Mother [Hazel]
Mitocondrial: Unknown (no daughters, only one son living)

10. Dad's Mom's Dad [Byron]
Y-DNA: Unknown (no living male descendants; his brother did have male descendants that I think are living)
Mitocondrial: Unknown (no sisters; his mother had no sisters with descendants)

11. Dad's Mom's Mom [Mina]
Mitocondrial: H

12. Mom's Dad's Dad [Warren L]
Y-DNA: currently unknown [Warren L did have male siblings whose sons could be tested]
Mitocondrial: Unknown

13. Mom's Dad's Mom [Mary Jane]
Mitocondrial: Unknown (no living direct female relatives to test)

14. Mom's Mom's Dad [Frank]
Y-DNA: R1b1b2a1a2f* (23andme) or R1b1a2a1a1b4/R-P312 (through conversion for FamilyTree DNA equivalent)
Mitocondrial: Unknown

15. Mom's Mom's Mom [Mary]
Mitocondrial: U2e1a


I wanted to show that I got the haplogroup of #14 through testing of second cousin via 23andme, even though I had no one in my immediate family that could have done that test.

DNA tests - Making sense of percentages

My parents and I have all done DNA testing, at both FamilyTreeDNA and 23andme.

The image below shows my mom's "Ancestry Composition" from 23andme.  Ok, so obviously, mostly European. Got that. But what exactly do these percentages represent? I was trying to make this more clear in my mind as to what the 0.1% signified.

So I started thinking. Mom has a number of percentages that are at 0.1%. In order to make that equal 1 person, I would have to have 1000 ancestors represented in this evaluation.  Then I went looking for how many generations it takes (remember, your number of ancestors in each generation doubles) to get to 1000 ancestors.  The answer? 9.  (I used this website.)

By the time you get to the 9th generation back from you (that is your 7th great-grandparents), you have 1023 unique ancestors. However, it is unlikely that there are no intermarriages and duplicated individuals.  So generally, the 9th generation back gets us 1000 ancestors. That website gives a general birth year of 1680 for this generation. (A previous post at this blog counted the ancestors that I have identified by generation; I have 83 of the 512 in this generation identified.)

So taking mom's percentages, based on 23andme's speculative percentages, out of 1000 ancestors I get the following numbers of people in her ancestry:

466 British and Irish
117 French and German
45 Scandinavian
312 Northern European
42 Iberian
9 Southern European
1 Ashkenazi
5 European
1 Sub-Saharan African
1 East Asian/Native American
1 Unknown


Cool, right? That is a little more...understandable. Concrete. Essentially mom is half Irish/Scottish/English/Welsh. Most of her known ancestors in this group are Irish/Scottish. And she definitely has duplicate ancestors - her paternal grandparents were first cousins (surnames McFEATERS and McCACHREN).


Dad's results:
305 British and Irish
127 French and German
124 Scandinavian
360 Northern European
9 Sardinian
5 Italian
25 Southern European
33 Eastern European
9 European
1 South Asian
1 East Asian/Native American


My results:
409 British and Irish
84 French and German
17 Scandinavian
418 Northern European
11 Iberian
4 Italian
32 Southern European
5 Eastern European
16 European
2 South Asian
1 Unknown

I've got some of these results that I am scratching my head about, but being able to take Dad's results, Mom's results, and my results and compare them, I can see patterns.  Got the Italian from Dad (not surprising, with his Gredler family being in Tirol in Austria, near the Italian border), Iberian from Mom (NO CLUE about this group), and missed some of the markers. I didn't get either one of their East Asian/Native American marker, and I didn't get Mom's Ashkenazi or her sub-Saharan African marker.

Another excitement is that one of the matches at 23andme is someone that I talked genealogy with probably 10 years ago. We know we are cousins and have researched together previously on the McFEATERS and CAMPBELL families in Pennsylvania. So now I have my first paper AND genetic cousin match!!! So exciting!

DNA Tests - Y-DNA from Dad and DNA summary

Well, the Y-DNA results are in for my dad.  We tested through FamilyTreeDNA; around 2007 I had tested with FamilyTreeDNA for my mtDNA as a birthday present.  Previously, on a lark, both Dad and myself had done the genetic testing through 23andme.


FamilyTreeDNA's result for my mtDNA haplogroup in 2007 was U2.  The new testing (autosomal) via 23andme (and subsequently transferred to my account at FamilyTreeDNA) gives a mtDNA haplogroup result as U2e1a.  23andme gives matches for me in their Global Similarity section in Northern Europe.  For RelativeFinder matches, the closest I have are two 3rd-5th/ cousins.


The transferred data to FamilyTreeDna gives a 94.16% population matches in Western Europe (Basque, French, Orcadian, and Spanish populations) and 5.84% population matches in Europe (Tuscan, Romanian, and Sardinian populations).  The margin of error is 6.29%.  For FamilyFinder matches, I have two close matches of 2nd-4th cousins.


I transferred Dad's 23andme autosomal tests to FamilyTreeDNA as well.  From 23andme he got mtDNA results of haplogroup H and Y-DNA results of R1b1b2a1a.  His results in the Global Similarity section are matches in Northern Europe.  For RelativeFinder matches, the closest Dad has are two 3rd-5th/ cousins.


The transferred data to FamilyTreeDNA gives a 93.90% population match in Western Europe (Orcadian population only) and 6.10% population match in the Middle East (Palestinian, Adygei, Bedouin South, Druze, Iranian, and Jewish populations). The margin of error is 1.93%.  For FamilyFinder matches, the closest Dad has is one person who is a 2nd-4th cousin, though we can't figure out how we are related.


Dad's Y-DNA matches are pretty much a bust.  We ordered a 67-marker test, and have no matches until the 25-marker test, and none of those are exact matches. 




Earliest known Y-DNA ancestor is Frank Xaver/Xavier Gredler (b. 11 Nov 1858, Stumm, Tirol, Austria[1], d. 24 June 1914, Barre, Washington Co, Vermont).[2]  His death certificate gives his parents names as Frank Gredler and [--?--] Prutoz.  He emigrated from Bremen, Germany on 11 Jan 1888, traveled on the ship Ems, and landed at Castle Garden in New York City on 23 Jan 1888.[3]


Dad's Middle East population matches almost certainly stem from Frank Xaver's wife Elizabeth Brunck.  She was born 29 Feb 1872 in Oberotterbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany[4] and died 7 Mar 1954 in Norwich, New London Co, Connecticut.[5]  She emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium in Dec 1893 on the ship Westernland, and landed at Ellis Island on 3 Jan 1894.[6]  She traveled with her sister Rosina Brunck.  Their parents were George Jakob Brunck and Margaretha Brunck;[7] I haven't yet figured out how the two Brunck families are related.  The Lutheran church records for Oberotterbach are on microfilm and I have used some of those, but they do not go back quite far enough.


(Some of these sources need to be rewritten.)


[1] Frank X Gredler, death certificate, Deaths 1912-1916, roll number 4, number 85, Barre City, Washington Co, Vermont, microfilm, Aldrich Library, 6 Washington St, Barre, Washington Co, Vermont; Frank Xavier Gredler, petition for naturalization, 5 August 1909, Barre, Washington Co, Vermont.


[2] Frank X Gredler death certificate.


[3] Frank X Gredler petition for naturalization.


[4] Frank X Gredler petition for naturalization; Elisabetha Brunk, baptism record, 3 March 1872, recorded 14 March 1872, Oberotterbach, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, unpaginated, 1872 records, no. 4, Evangelische Kirche Oberotterbach (BA. Bergzabern), “Taufen 1839-1877,” Kirchenbuch, 1671-1916, FHL INTL microfilm 193102, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Elizabeth (Brunk) Gredler, death certificate, Norwich, New London, Connecticut, no file number listed on certificate, 7 March 1954; filed 8 March 1854.


[5] Elizabeth (Brunk) Gredler death certificate.


[6] Passenger List Manifest for ship “Westernland”, landed at Ellis Island, New York City, New York, 3 January 1894, M237, Roll 622, Vol 14, frame 107-111, http://www.ellisisland.org.


[7] Elisabetha Brunk baptism record.