New Ethnicity Breakdowns at 23andMe: Some New Leads for My Dad

Varmland, Sweden, and County Wexford, Ireland.  Possible leads for Gustav Andersson and Hester Patterson?

Two of my dad's recent ancestors (Dad's great grandfather Gustav Andersson, c. 1850 - ?, and also Dad's 2nd great grandmother Hester Patterson, abt 1800 - 1856) have been brickwalls for me for a long time.

Gustav Andersson (as Andersson Bergstrom) and Hester Patterson in situ on my father's tree.

Gustav Andersson Bergstrom

According to Dad's grandmother Mette Karine "Mary's" birth record, her father was railworker/roadworker Gustav Andersson Bergstrom (Andersson Bergstrom in the image above) from Lidkoping, Sweden.

Counties to focus on for Dad's great grandfather Gustav Andersson Bergstrom.  I have already been following some promising leads in Varmland and Vastra Gotaland counties in DNA matches.

Hester (Patterson) Rittgers

As for Hester Patterson, I've only been able to determine that she had a few Patterson siblings who had descedants that Dad matches to on Ancestry.  There was a Samuel Patterson in 1820 in the Fairfield County, Ohio area where Hester married and was living in 1830, and her first son with Jake Rittgers was Samuel Rittgers (oldest brother of Esther Loretta Rittgers, who was my grandfather George Hartley's grandmother).  Maybe Samuel Patterson was her father??

Hester Patterson's children who lived to the 1880 US Census and beyond put the following as mother's place of birth (note that her husband Jake Rittgers (the "father" in the following list) was definitely born in Virginia):


Daughter Esther Loretta:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--Virginia


Son Samuel G. S. Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--England
1900: Father--VA, Mother--Ireland


Son John A. Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--Ohio


Son Israel Patterson Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--Ohio


Daughter Margaret Rittgers:

1880: Both parents from Ohio
1900: Father--Ohio, Mother--Ireland
1910: Both parents from Ohio


Son Jacob R. Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--VA
1910: Both parents from Germany
1920: Father--PA, Mother from Ireland


Son Eli D. Rittgers:

1880: Both parents from VA
1900: Father--PA, Mother from England


Son Perry C. Rittgers:

1880: Both parents from Pennsylvania
1900: Father--PA, Mother--Scotland


Daughter Sarah Rittgers:

1880: Father--VA, Mother--PA
1900: Father--Ohio, Mother--PA
1910: Both parents from Virginia


Son Peter M. Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--??
1900: Father--PA, Mother--Ireland
1910: Father--PA, Mother--Ireland
1920: Father--PA, Mother--Ireland


Son Henry Charles Rittgers:

1880: Father--PA, Mother--Ohio
1900: Father--VA, Mother--Ohio
1905: Father--Germany, Mother--Ireland
1920: Father--Germany, Mother--Ireland
1930: Both parents from VA


On the 1850 Census Hester (Patterson) Rittgers was listed as born in Maryland lol

From all this I gather that Hester was likely at least somewhat Irish, and may have been born in the East (Maryland or Pennsylvania) or was born in Ireland (or possibly England).

23andMe estimated that Dad has ancestry in the past 200 years from only one county in Ireland (County Wexford).  Dad has only one known suspected Irish ancestor in the past 200 years, Hester Patterson.  Could this be a big clue for Hester's origin??  I hope so.

© 2019 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

LESS than 25 DAYS for the next i4GG (Institute for Genetic Genealogy) 2018 Conference!

Now only 24 days away!:

2018 i4GG registration Now Open!
Just since our last conference the popularity and public interest in Genetic Genealogy has seen a formidable explosion. Data bases have mushroomed as Genetic Genealogy has gone from exclusive or elite, to mainstream. This begs the question; what will the next 12 months hold for Genetic Genealogy? How are the testing companies preparing for continued explosive growth? How can we stay on top of the latest advancements in this field, including the most comprehensive and most effective  techniques for the successful application of DNA testing to genealogy available now? This and so much more will be the theme of i4GG 2018.

Hosted by CeCe Moore’s DNA Detectives the i4GG 2.5 day Genetic Genealogy conference will kick off with a “company” day Friday December 7 when the major DNA testing companies will own the stage. This is followed by two full days December 8 and 9, 2018 in San Diego CA. As is i4GG tradition, the conference will cover the most cutting edge Genetic Genealogy methodologies for any genealogy application, including unknown parentage.

The talks at i4GG will be professionally video recorded and be provided free of charge to those who purchase tickets for both (2.5) days. For those who opt for one day only, the recordings will be available for purchase at $99 for all videos, or $10 for purchase of individual video recordings.

Newbie or Pro, makes no difference, at i4GG there is something for everyone. i4GG has been called “the most important DNA conference in America” and we will strive to live up to this esteemed repute.

One of my goals this year is to learn more about DNA, obviously.  But another goal is to be as comfortable as possible (I find all-day meetings like this physically excruciating, despite my interest in the subject).

I hope to see some of your there!



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

i4gg DNA Conference in San Diego in Only 38 Days and Counting!

Now only 38 days away!:

2018 i4GG registration Now Open!
Just since our last conference the popularity and public interest in Genetic Genealogy has seen a formidable explosion. Data bases have mushroomed as Genetic Genealogy has gone from exclusive or elite, to mainstream. This begs the question; what will the next 12 months hold for Genetic Genealogy? How are the testing companies preparing for continued explosive growth? How can we stay on top of the latest advancements in this field, including the most comprehensive and most effective  techniques for the successful application of DNA testing to genealogy available now? This and so much more will be the theme of i4GG 2018.

Hosted by CeCe Moore’s DNA Detectives the i4GG 2.5 day Genetic Genealogy conference will kick off with a “company” day Friday December 7 when the major DNA testing companies will own the stage. This is followed by two full days December 8 and 9, 2018 in San Diego CA. As is i4GG tradition, the conference will cover the most cutting edge Genetic Genealogy methodologies for any genealogy application, including unknown parentage.

The talks at i4GG will be professionally video recorded and be provided free of charge to those who purchase tickets for both (2.5) days. For those who opt for one day only, the recordings will be available for purchase at $99 for all videos, or $10 for purchase of individual video recordings.

Newbie or Pro, makes no difference, at i4GG there is something for everyone. i4GG has been called “the most important DNA conference in America” and we will strive to live up to this esteemed repute.

One of my goals this year is to learn more about DNA, obviously.  But another goal is to be as comfortable as possible (I find all-day meetings like this physically excruciating, despite my interest in the subject).



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

i4GG Conference Coming Up Fast!

I posted about this conference in June.  Now it is only 66 days away!:

2018 i4GG registration Now Open!
Just since our last conference the popularity and public interest in Genetic Genealogy has seen a formidable explosion. Data bases have mushroomed as Genetic Genealogy has gone from exclusive or elite, to mainstream. This begs the question; what will the next 12 months hold for Genetic Genealogy? How are the testing companies preparing for continued explosive growth? How can we stay on top of the latest advancements in this field, including the most comprehensive and most effective  techniques for the successful application of DNA testing to genealogy available now? This and so much more will be the theme of i4GG 2018.

Hosted by CeCe Moore’s DNA Detectives the i4GG 2.5 day Genetic Genealogy conference will kick off with a “company” day Friday December 7 when the major DNA testing companies will own the stage. This is followed by two full days December 8 and 9, 2018 in San Diego CA. As is i4GG tradition, the conference will cover the most cutting edge Genetic Genealogy methodologies for any genealogy application, including unknown parentage.

The talks at i4GG will be professionally video recorded and be provided free of charge to those who purchase tickets for both (2.5) days. For those who opt for one day only, the recordings will be available for purchase at $99 for all videos, or $10 for purchase of individual video recordings.

Newbie or Pro, makes no difference, at i4GG there is something for everyone. i4GG has been called “the most important DNA conference in America” and we will strive to live up to this esteemed repute.

One of my goals this year is to learn more about DNA, obviously.  But another goal is to be as comfortable as possible (I find all-day meetings like this physically excruciating, despite my interest in the subject).



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Updated 23andMe Ethnicity Estimates for Me and My Immediate Family

Sorry about the blurry words, I struggled to get reasonable screen captures, but the map shows the general idea.  Here is my estimate:  British and Irish (United Kingdom) is 50.1 percent; Scandinavian (Norway) is 19.5 percent; French and German (Germany) is 8.3 percent; Eastern European is 1.2 percent; Finnish is 0.2 percent; Ashkenazi Jewish is 0.1 percent; Broadly Northwestern European is 19.0 percent; and Broadly European is 1.5 percent.

I feel more comfortable with these 23andMe ethnicity estimates than the previous ones.  I'll never know exactly where my ancestors were from, but this seems to closely follow what I find in the paper trail.

One thing I noticed was that it assigned Norway to my father and I, as I would expect (my dad's grandparents were from Norway), but my mom's Scandinavian was further refined to Denmark.  Also, her "French and German" was further refined to Netherlands (she has known Netherlands, albeit quite a ways back, but she also does have German and likely French).

Steve's AncestryDNA pointed to a tiny amount of Nigerian, so the West African blip in the 23andMe makes me think that it might actually be real.  Some in his Murphy line have claimed Native American ancestry, but I think I've seen white people who sometimes claim Native American ancestry have African ancestry instead.  Maybe that is the case in this instance.

My mother's updated 23andMe estimate: British and Irish (United Kingdom) is 61.4 percent; French and German (Netherlands) is 13.8 percent; Scandinavian (Denmark) is 2.6 percent; Broadly Northwestern European is 19.4 percent; Broadly Southern European is 0.9 percent; and Broadly European is 1.8 percent.

My Dad's updated ethnicity results: Scandinavian (Norway) is 42.2 percent; British and Irish (United Kingdom) is 19.2 percent; French and Germany (Germany) is 1.9 percent; Balkan is 0.5 percent; Finnish is 0.2 percent; Ashkenazi Jewish is 0.1 percent; Broadly Northwestern European is 30.8 percent; Broadly Southern European is 1.1 percent; and Broadly European is 3.8 percent. 

My husband's updated ethnicity results: Eastern European (Poland) is 30.8 percent; French and Germany (Germany) is 12.7 percent; British and Irish (United Kingdom) is 4.4 percent; Balkan is 0.7 percent, Finnish is 0.7 percent; Iberian is 0.7 percent; Ashkenazi Jewish is 0.3 percent; Broadly Northwestern European is 22 percent; Broadly Southern European is 2.5 percent; Broadly European is 16.1 percent. East Asian and Native American (Broadly East Asian) is 0.1 percent; and Sub-Saharan African (West African) is 0.1 percent.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

I Will Soon Have DNA in All Four Ponds

Okay, now I'll have DNA at the four major players (the others being AncestryDNA, FTDNA, and 23andMe).

Thank you Mom for purchasing DNA kits at MyHeritage.

Please let these four DNA companies be the only ones for a while.  I'm in serious DNA overload right now!


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

A Visual Comparison of My Son's Ethnicity Estimates to Steve, Me, and My Parents

My son's Grandtree on 23andMe.  I finally have enough people on my direct lines to make interesting comparisons (the problem of the only child (Marc) of an only child (Christine) of an only child (Pat Hartley, sorta).

Marc's father Steve's map.  His paper trail is mostly German/Polish with some British Isles.

My map.  My paper trail is mostly British Isles/Scandinavian/Germanic and some French.

My mom's map.  Her paper trail is mostly British Isles, German/Dutch, and some French.

My dad's map.  His paper trail is Scandinavian, British Isles, and Germanic.  On most DNA ethnicity tests he has trace Native American, but 23andMe points to Subsaharan African, even at 90 percent confidence (I get West African at 90 percent confidence).

Marc's map, a combination of all the people above.  He didn't get any of the fancy stuff, just 100 percent European.  Very interesting.

© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Nooo! I Forgot to Register My Son's DNA Test at 23andMe!

Yeah, about that...

I was wondering what the status was of my son's 23andMe DNA kit.  It just dawned on me that it appears I totally spaced on registering my son's DNA kit at 23andMe.  You'd think I would not skip that point.

Hopefully an email will be sent once it reaches the lab unregistered.  From the 23andMe help page.

Edited to add: 23andMe sent their notice, as if on cue, and after properly registering Marc's kit I see that it is already in the DNA Extraction Phase at the lab.  Nice!


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Testing, Testing: My DNA Results from National Geographic's Geneographic Project

There weren't any surprises when I looked at the results from my Geno 2.0 Next Generation test: 99% European divided into 40% Northwestern Europe, 32% Southwestern Europe and 26% Eastern Europe. Their regions are larger and less well defined than those in my other tests but overall the results track with what I already knew based on my known pedigree and had confirmed by AncestryDNA and 23andMe. (Oh, and I'm 1.5% Neanderthal according to this test, less than predicted by 23andMe but still higher than the average of this test's 834,322 participants.*)

Through what they're calling "Genius Matches" I'm informed that I share direct maternal ancestors with the Italian renaissance poet Petrarch (perhaps as recently as 25,000 years ago) and Abraham Lincoln (maybe as far as 65,000 years back). What value does this information have to me? If it's intended to make me feel a closer connection to these two historic figures, it's not working.**

[Portrait of Francesco Petrarca from Wikimedia Commons]

Because I participated in Nat Geo's earlier mitochondrial DNA test I already knew that my maternal haplogroup is J1C2. Those of you who have still to find out their own*** may find the section explaining the development of the various haplogroups useful.

The major problem I have with this test is illustrated in this quote from the Project's FAQ in response to a query about the availability of the raw data:

For Geno 2.0 Next Gen Participants (but not Geno 2.0 Next Gen Helix co-branded kits) the raw analytical output from your DNA sample is available for purchase through our partner, Family Tree DNA. Go to My Profile, select the My Results tab and scroll down till you see Transfer my Results on the right hand side. 

For Geno 2.0 Next Gen Helix co-branded kit Participants, we are currently exploring options to be able to make this available to you.

As someone who used the Helix-branded kit not only can't I see my raw data now, it's clear from the first sentence above that if/when it will be available, I would have to pay extra for it.

In retrospect I'm not sure what I was expecting from this DNA test when I sent my little tube across town (literally, as Helix is a San Diego based company) but I'm underwhelmed by the results and looking around on the internet I see that I'm not alone.


*According to the website that's the number to date.
**I'm not sure whether I'm more irked than amused by these matches.
***To discover your haplogroup might be the only reason I would recommend this product to anyone.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

My Father's Estimated Maternal and Paternal Haplogroups from 23andMe

My father's maternal and paternal haplogroups, according to 23andme.  They seem to be right in line with what I know of his maternal and paternal lines.

The maternal haplogroup is H1, the earliest known ancestor on Dad's maternal line being Ragnhild Olsdotter b 1726 in Sauda, Rogaland, Norway.

According to Wikipedia, this maternal haplogroup is found in approximately 41% of native Europeans, and for subclade H1:

Projected spatial frequency distribution of haplogroup H1
H1 encompasses an important fraction of Western European mtDNA lineages, reaching its local peak among contemporary Basques (27.8%). It also occurs at high frequencies elsewhere in the Iberian Peninsula, as well as in the Maghreb. The haplogroup frequency is above 10% in many other parts of Europe (France, Sardinia, parts of the British Isles, Alps, large portions of Eastern Europe), and above 5% in nearly all the continent.[1] Its subclade H1b is most common in eastern Europe and NW Siberia.[18]
So far, the highest frequency of H1 has been found among the Tuareg inhabiting the Fezzan region in Libya (61%).[19][20] The basal H1* haplogroup is found among the Tuareg inhabiting the Gossi area in Mali (4.76%).[21]
Ancient Guanche (Bimbapes) individuals excavated in Punta Azul, El Hierro, Canary Islands were all found to belong to the H1 maternal subclade. These locally born individuals were dated to the 10th century and carried the H1-16260 haplotype, which is exclusive to the Canary Islands and Algeria.[22]

The paternal haplogroup is R-L48, the earliest known ancestor on this line being Solomon Hartley b 1775 in "Pittsborough", Pennsylvania (of possible Dutch, German, or Polish ancestry).

According to a discussion on the FTDNA message board, R-L48 is largely from the Netherlands area, and also Poland, which is exactly where I'm hovering at concerning Solomon Hartley's general ethnicity anyway!



Family Tree DNA assigns my father the paternal haplogroup R-M269 instead of R-L48.  I'm not sure why the difference?  Haplogroup R-M269 is the most common European Y- chromosomal lineage, according to FTDNA.

I think this is a changing landscape, so these designations can possibly change somewhat as time goes on.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

I See By My DNA That I Am Neanderthal

Of course that's a gross exaggeration--according to my recently received 23andMe results less than 4% of my overall DNA can be traced back to Neanderthal ancestors. Even this small amount puts me at the upper end of the range.*

We've come a long way since the mid-19th century when scientists made the realization that fossilized bones that had been discovered in France, Belgium and, most famously, the Neander Valley in Germany belonged to an older species of hominid. And ongoing genetic research has made it clear that they are still influencing some of us.

[Prehistoric man. 3.--The Neanderthal man, member of the hunting race inhabiting central France in Mousterian times. Stereograph created by Philip Brigandi, Philip, 1873-1945, photographer, Los Angeles, California, c1924.

Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.]

If I ever make it to Düsseldorf I definitely want to visit the Neanderthal Museum. It looks like a fun place.

[Be part of the human family...Neanderthal Museum Home Page]

Here are several recent articles on Neanderthal DNA:

Neanderthal DNA has subtle but significant impact on human traits

Ancient Neanderthal Still Influences our Genes

*23andMe states that I have more Neanderthal variants than 94% of their customers.


© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Even More DNA Fun: My Father and Steve Will Have Their 23andMe Done

Thank to my mother (Pat Hartley) for purchasing 23andMe kits for my father George and husband Steve.  23andMe is having a sale through February 14th, people--$79 for the ancestry service!  Not a bad deal.

I had almost written out bothering with 23andMe when they ramped up the price a while back.  I guess they responded to what people want.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

More DNA Fun: Mom Has Sent In Her 23andMe DNA Test

My mom's test box, which she sent back for testing last Tuesday.

I first saw the new Ancestry Timeline at 23andMe on Randy Seaver's Genea-Musing blog, which was inspired by Roberta Estes' Calling HOGWASH on 23andMe’s Ancestry Timeline (she is not a fan of this particular beta ethnicity tool).

A few other blog posts/discussion on the beta tool at:
Roots & Recombinant DNA
[Genealogy Under Construction]
ForumBiodiversity.com


I want to know what my parents' estimated timeline now, however flawed.  I find the different ways these companies try to visualize all this information interesting.

My mom had decided to break down and finally order a 23andMe test a little while back and sent it back for testing last Tuesday.

Now I need to get a test for my dad.  It's only money!    I seem to remember that just a while back 23andMe jacked up their price to $199, but now offer two options: an ancestry test ($99) and a more expensive health and ancestry test ($199).








© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.