DNA and genealogy

Recently, Gardner Research was contacted with a DNA question. A researcher who had hit a brick wall over a decade ago decided to be subjected to DNA analysis. His results matched up with that of earlier kits that had been submitted.

Some of the results seemed to show relationships between various Gardner families. That is one of our interests. Details will follow at some point. Overall, there was quite a variety.

So, that was a sufficient trigger event to get us to start to look at DNA in terms of "all things Gardner." As we gather information, we will add to this list (year shown if not current). 

• International Society of Genetic Genealogy - chief promoters (their Y-DNA tools). 
• Genetic Genealogy Standards - limitations, use as proof, citing (love it). 
• DAR and DNA (2014) - Y-DNA (Guidelines) will not be considered as stand-alone proof of lineage because, while it can be used as a tool to point to a family, it cannot be used as absolute proof for an individual.
• ... we will get technical in order to discuss constraints to potential fad'ism ...
• The Human Story - National Geographic 
• FamilyTreeDNA and Gardner - project has been ongoing, for awhile. 
• AncestryDNA (2014) - discussion, thereof 
• Hiring a DNA Testing Company - Family Search org 
• Genealogical DNA tests - Familypedia 
• ...
• Eupedia - grand-scale, imaginative study
• FamilyTree magazine (2009) - on the subject 
• ... 
• A cautionary tale (2014) - Young and Savvy Genealogist  
• A junkie (2015) - comparing examples from four purveyors 
• Scottish believer (2008) - says it helps to break through brick walls 
• OPED article (2005) - from Foundation for East European Family History Studies   

  

  Caveat that needs more attention.
  These studies require serious augmentation
  in terms of additional data and of formation of hypotheses

• Can your DNA tell you your ancestry? (2015) - Skeptoid.com and discussion 
• ... 
• Most bang for the DNA buck (2014) - The Legal Genealogist 
• ...
• Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup - Wikipedia. See further reading.  
• Dating settlements in Europe (2011) - Argues that J is older than R (discussion). There is a technical appendix that is thorough including description of algorithms (mostly Python). 
• An Accurate Genetic Clock (2015) - D.H. Hamilton, Univ Maryland (see Appendix for an overview of mathematical genetics). Abstract with tweets. Prof Hamilton and I share a common mathematical genealogy. 
• Computational phylogenetics - Including limitations and workarounds. 
• Computational Biology: Machine-Learning Approaches for Classifying ... (2008) - Early look at the issues of phylogenetic mapping (University of Arizona - yeah)   
• ...
• Genome Research (2002) - A Nomenclature System for the Tree of Human Y-Chromosomal Binary Haplogroups 
• ...
• Irish DNA - Shows that Brian Boru is not descendant of the Collas, plus a whole lot more. 
• ...
• Eugenics lurking - No discussion of DNA and the current mania/hysteria (similar to that of deep learning) would be complete without some notion that ethics is essential to our endeavors (greed, et al, notwithstanding). 
• ... 
• --------  below added in 2017 ----
• Blaine Bettinger - Now, we're getting somewhere: Below 10 cM, there is only a 59% probability of being shared by either or both parents. And below 7 cM, there is only a 40% probability of being shared by either or both parents.
• ISGG - Cousin statistics
• Paul Rakow - Counting cousins. 
• 23andMe (2012) - Cryptic Distant Relatives Are Common in Both Isolated and Cosmopolitan Genetic Samples 
• ...
• ...

We will also get links to all of the Gardner-related research done so far.

Note: For this list, we will move over to a DNA Project page (at some point).

Remarks: Modified: 06/04/2020

05/15/2016 -- Also, we got our attention directed to a lot of information about the Tudor relationship with the Gardners after Bosworth. We will summarize that and provide a bibliography.

05/17/2016 -- With Prof Hamilton's overview, our list covers the basis. He talks about using longitudinal studies within a family to assess change rates.

05/26/2016 -- While looking at the ancestry of the wife of William Marshal, I ran across a DNA study related to the ancient Irish clans. So, let's say, that motivates to get some DNA analysis going though the discussions of issues will continue in the background.

06/10/2016 -- Added link to Genome Research.

11/22/2016 -- A recent ACM Communications (Sex as algorithm) had an article by a gene specialist (biology) and a computational mathematicians. There is a little remark by the authors that things are not as clear as many seem to think. "Gene: A unit of heredity and a region of the DNA that encodes a functional product. It is thought that humans have more than 20,000 of these. However, now that coding is known to be far more complex than originally thought, it is no longer clear how to define these units and their boundaries."We will look at this further in the upcoming The Gardner Annals.

12/11/2016 -- Britons still live in Anglo-Saxon tribal kingdoms, Oxford University finds.

02/25/2017 -- Still at it. Adding in links.

06/04/2020 -- "Back to DNA II" looks at a WikiTree Project and more.