Time is flying as the end of the summer nears and it seems like a lot is happening! I missed my final post for August but I am hoping I can post three times this month to make up for it. Quite a bit is going on personally in my life as well (good things!) which I might write about at later time! For now, here are some of the genealogical updates that have been happening recently.
1. A new class - GenProof
At the end of this month, I will begin a new genealogical course which I am really excited about! The course is called “GenProof” and is similar to “ProGen” which I have posted about before. Though the set-up of this class is similar in style to ProGen, it only lasts 8 weeks (compared to ProGen’s 14 months!), meets once a week virtually (versus ProGen’s once a month), and from my understanding does not require the same feedback and constructive criticism on assignments which was necessary to complete ProGen. On their website it states that we must “dedicate 10-15 hours a week in order to successfully complete the program”. After completing both ProGen and BU’s genealogical course, I am hoping that GenProof will be a nice medium/balance.
2. Indigenous DNA (23andMe)
Recently, there was an update on 23andMe in regards to Asian DNA and the division in Ancestry Composition. For many of us in the New World, this means a division in the category of “Indigenous American” and “East Asian”. Though this might not seem like a big update, by 23andMe dedicating more attention to these areas, numbers will become more smoothed out in the long run.
Below you can see the difference between my results and those of my little brother. Since my little brother tested more recently on a newer chip, his results were updated rather quickly, I am not sure if my results however will be updated as I took the test about 10 years ago on a completely different chip. If my results do change, I wonder if I stay at roughly 13% or lose (or gain?) some DNA along the way.
Notice below that my brother has no Japanese, Korean, Siberia, etc. DNA – it just shows “Indigenous America” which makes total sense knowing our genealogical history.
3. AncestryDNA Update
Similarly, AncestryDNA has also been updated recently. It seems that more reference populations were added which helped to smooth out some numbers again. I do not follow my updates as much on AncestryDNA but nonetheless they are interesting to look at. I recently found a screenshot of my results from not too long again and compared the numbers to see what has changed or was added. Below you can see what went up or down and what was added in this recent update.
A few takeaways:
- I have a lot of more little percentages than before, though small percentages can be important, for the most part I am not too convinced by many of them.
- My “Portugal” and “France” greatly decreased while my “Spain” went up by 8% (makes more sense with what I know about my family history).
- There is a new category labeled as “Indigenous Puerto Rico” which makes up 17%.
- Nigeria is divided into “Nigeria” and “Nigeria- East Central”. This could be promising for me as I have written about the importance of Nigerian DNA in my ancestry and its potential ties to the French Caribbean.
What's to come?
I can already see that the year is flying by (I think of years in academic years) and before I know it 2022 will come to an end and 2023 will fly by as well. So far I have “stuck to my guns” with my genealogical goal of posting twice a month (besides in August) and I hope to finish out the year strong. There is still of course more I want to get done with genealogy!
For starters, I am hoping to do some more research on the ground, as well as consider adding myself to the APG and maybe go on the clock for certification with BCG. Once I finish GenProof I think that will give me a better understand of what/where I want to be with genealogy.