Recently, on October 8, AncestryDNA released a major update to its ethnicity estimates, a feature it calls Origins. One of the driving forces behind this update was a significant expansion of Ancestry’s Reference Panel—a curated collection of DNA samples from individuals with documented, multigenerational family trees and verified regional heritage. According to Ancestry, its Reference …
Continue reading Why Igboland May Be Your Top Ancestral Region
I confess that I am not entirely comfortable asking ChatGPT to conduct genealogy research for me, especially research involving enslaved ancestors. Part of what I love most about genealogy is the thrill of the search, and enslaved ancestral research is often far too complex for me to want to rely heavily on artificial intelligence to …
Continue reading ChatGPT’s Analysis of an Enslaved Ancestral Research Case
The Danner research saga continues In many of my DNA-focused blog posts, I have demonstrated how a genetic network—also called a genetic group—can reveal previously unknown connections, solve longstanding mysteries, identify a potential ancestor, and confirm family relationships. DNA matches, especially when analyzed as part of a network, are at the heart of genetic genealogy. …
X-chromosome DNA, commonly called X-DNA, is an important component of genetic genealogy, yet it seems to receive considerably less attention today than it once did. I suspect that part of the reason is simply accessibility. Many DNA testers do not have easy access to information about their X-DNA matches. Nevertheless, X-DNA should not be ignored …
My mother's great-grandmother, Louisa “Lue” Bobo Danner, was born on January 21, 1842, on the plantation of Dr. William J. Bobo in Union County, South Carolina. She was the eldest of the many children born to Clarissa Bobo, an enslaved woman on the Bobo plantation. Around 1859, Dr. Bobo relocated to Panola County, Mississippi, bringing …
Continue reading Artificial Intelligence and Genetic Genealogy
