Fun with reconstructed DNA kits

I recently reconstructed a relative’s genome using DNA Genics DNA Kit Studio. I had previously reconstructed this individual’s genome using the Borland Genetics suite, but the results I get here are wildly different.

For a start, this kit almost consistently scores 4-6% Subsaharan and/or Northeast African (Horner). This would translate roughly to one black great-great grandparent, something I KNOW this particular person does not have. The other kits used in the reconstruction process, by the way, score close to zero SSA. Here is this individual’s Eurogenes K13:

1	North_Atlantic	42.52
2	Baltic	20.58
3	West_Asian	10.8
4	West_Med	10.18
5	Northeast_African	4.3
6	East_Med	3.33
7	Oceanian	3.05
8	Siberian	2.6
9	South_Asian	1.67
10	Sub-Saharan	0.57
11	Amerindian	0.39

In additon to the SSA being well overstated, it also seems to conflate any Southern Indian ancestry with Oceanian, a problem also encountered with the Borland superkit. This person I would expect to have around 2-3% South Asian. Other than that, it seems quite consistent with what I know of this person’s pedigree.

I also reconstructed the genome of someone a bit further back and, while it is obviously incomplete, it seems accurate enough for the bulk of this person’s ancestry. From this I was able to reconstruct yet another genome and, well, the excess SSA struck again. Obviously this isn’t so much the program as it is the limited amount of the person’s actual genome being reconstructed.

St. George slays the dragon

Another national day, another pixel piece influenced by Eastern Orthodox art:

The lettering (“St. George slays the dragon”) draws influence from that seen on Church Slavonic calligraphy, while the shading is based on the Greek style. The dragon, however, is obviously more Celtic inspired. Some Orthodox icons do contain interlacing; however, it is not of the Celtic type. George’s bloody spear also doubles up as his standard. This has no precedent that I’m aware of but serves to display the banner attributed to him, which also happens to be the flag of England.

St. George’s Day is a bittersweet day for me for it is the day, three years ago today, that my brother was found dead. We have no way of knowing whether or not he died on the 23rd of April, but as he was discovered on that day we observe it as the anniversary.

The joys of Yiddish

Duolingo just added Yiddish and I am totally aceing it.

Yiddish, for those unfamiliar, is a Germanic language with significant Hebrew influence historically spoken in Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. It is not mutually intelligible with German, but it is close enough that a German speaker can pick it up fairly quickly. Today, most speakers of Yiddish are ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi Jews, but a number of secular Jews seeking to revive the left-wing Bundist movement have also reclaimed the language.

So why am I learning Yiddish when 1. I eat too much pork to be considered an Orthodox Jew; 2. much of my Jewish heritage is Mizrahi and Sephardic; and 3. I’m not a Bundist? It’s simple- I have a passion for Jewish languages and dialects, a passion that has existed for years. Most of these languages are critically endangered, with the exception of Yiddish, which only survives due to the high fertility rate of most of its speakers. The Holocaust wiped out entire Yiddish-speaking communities, while in countries such as the US and UK language shift occurred. As the descendants of Yiddish speakers assimilated into the dominant culture, they took up English. The vast majority of Jews in the west are Ashkenazi, and the vast majority of these speak English. In the US in particular, Yiddish is all too often associated with the stereotype of the alter kacker, (lit. “old shitter”), a cantankerous old Jewish man. And it is a shame.

Internet genealogy’s pervasive “fake news” issue

The internet is a boon for genealogists amateur and pro. Unfortunately, since anyone can claim anything on the internet, there’s a lot of fake news out there. Last night I discovered that there is little chance that Joan Alencon, a member of the French royal family, could have married or had children with John Botevyle, a minor English noble. This wiped out my connections to the Viscontis of Milan, the Doges of Venice and good swathes of Byzantine nobility. I am privileged enough to have many noble connections and thus I have preserved many links to related topics- but it doesn’t change the fact that an entire part of my family tree- a part I was especially proud of and spent months working on- is gone, all thanks to the disease that is genealogical fake news.

It is a disease that needs curing. This is not a call for censorship or even regulation- the few frequent readers of this blog would know I am extremely anti-censorship- but instead a call for scrutiny. Sites like Wikitree can be helpful at times, but like so many other sites based around user-submitted GEDCOM data they are veritable Wild Wests where anything goes and Jesus is the tenth great-grandfather of Basil I. Other sites like Geni have stricter cleanup policies and are thus much more reliable; but as the road to hell is paved by good intentions, so Geni moderators have been known to nuke links from even trustworthy sources if no concrete outside sources are found. It is up to US, the everyday genealogists, to scrutinise any potential links and see if they hold up. It’s nice to be able to do things at the push of a button, but it’s even nicer to know that one is not being misled.

My FALSE Ancestry?

I have never been overly impressed by My True Ancestry. It claims to offer an insight into your ancient ancestry, but in reality it’s a Eurogenes k13 nMonte with ancient populations.

But what finally broke any lingering faith I had in the platform was my deciding to log in for the first time in a while to see if things had improved.

They hadn’t.

In fact, they’d only gotten worse.

You see, MTA considers genetic closeness to be a match. For example, I, as someone of predominently Celto-Germanic ancestry, am closest to Celto-Germanic populations such as the Longobards. This is a woolly system at best, especially for those of us who are more mixed, and so other platforms switched to autosomal matching years ago. On MTA though, you have to shell out for autosomal- something that’s avaliable por gratis on almost every other site!

What broke me was this- due to this stupid algorithm, I am not considered a match with Prince of Kiev Izyaslav Ingarevich, with whom I share documented descent!

In short- MTA is misleading and a con. They’re definitely my April Fool this year.