DNA question to ponder

[E. Sharp]

Cheryl and others. Here is something to ponder.....I will use Cheryl as an example as I believe her dad was half Portuguese and her mom none. If her dad is half, Cheryl would be 1/4?? Portuguese, assuming all of the following married non Portuguese, if Cheryl had a child, it would be 1/8?? Portuguese, if that child had a child it would be 1/16?? Portuguese...at what point would Portuguese be eliminated from showing up any DNA??

Watching an interesting sort of gnome program and wondered about this.

“E”

Sent from my iPhone

[Cheri Mello]

Who is Cheryl?

Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada

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[E. Sharp]

At 83 I try.   Sorry Cheri.  

“E”

Sent from my iPhone

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[JesseAndDeborah Mendonca]

E. Sharp,

I’m with you, at 64!   The breakdown isn’t quite as simple as that when you are half if your parent’s DNA doesn’t come from a 100% parent.    My husband shows about 87%.  Our 4 kids ended up battling over who was the MOST Portuguese. The one who looks most like him with the most shared personality traits actually had less than her sister!   It all depends on how her dad’s DNA recombined onto the X chromosome she received.   

That doesn’t help on your question.    I suspect that it would depend on the number of total cM shared AND the length of the longest shared strand.  The shared lengths decrease over generations from the way DNA is passed.  Ancestry doesn’t give longest length. 

Did your show ever give an answer?

Debbie

PS- I get testy if Starbucks writes Debra on my cup, so I pronounce it Deb-OOO-rah when I order!

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[Cheri Mello]

Well, we do have Cheryls on this list, but none have posted recently. So that's why I asked.

Yes, the math is right. Some 100% Portuguese who marries say, an British Isles type, will have a kid who is 50%. And if they continue to marry the British Isles (or whatever) type, it's 25% (1/4), 12.5% (1/8), 6.25% (1/16).

So when does it wash out? I guess of the ethnicity ESTIMATES? I think it's too early to say. The companies are still trying to get descent population samples that represent a really good cross-section of each population. That has not happened yet.

Here's my 50% dad at Ancestry:

Here's my 50% dad on My Heritage:

Here's my 50% dad on FTDNA:

And lastly, here's my 50% dad on Living DNA (I tested him there to see how they would sort out his British Isles half, because he really is half British Isles with a smidge of German thrown in):

So my dad 50% dad varies with 33%, 37%, 25% and 24%. I understand that the companies will probably never read his DNA anywhere close to 50%. His DNA is Frankish (so says FTDNA). You can look up the Franks and Roman Empire in Wikipedia for the history. I also know some French settled on Sao Miguel too. Although I haven't found that ancestor on paper, it seems that the French algorithm loves to gobble up and over read that part of my dad's DNA too (well, on the companies that have it).

Now, here's 25% me at Ancestry:

Yeah, I don't see any Portuguese there either.

I did not test on My Heritage (or transfer). But I tested on 23 and Me instead (I'm still 25% on paper):

Here's me on FTDNA:

So with the 3 companies that I've tested or transferred, I've got 0%, 25% or 33%. And I'm 25% on paper. LOL  My mom is NOT Portuguese. She's midwestern, yee-haw hillbilly. And the results are closer to being accurate on me, but not so much on my dad. However, my dad is a descendant of double 1st cousins, so he could have inherited something (the French?) that is being over read.

So I go by the DNA matches. There are people in Australia whose immigrant arrived in the mid-1800s. There are people in Brazil whose immigrant arrived in the mid-1700s. Those people do show matches to others who are 100% Azorean. So it hasn't washed out. It's still there. I don't care what the ethnicity ESTIMATES say, I only care if they can make a connection.

Hope this helps, Cheri

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[JesseAndDeborah Mendonca]

Cheri,

I love that last paragraph.  And it confirms what I’ve seen in ancestry searches for 3 unknown fathers with close matches to my father.   I work through the shared matches and compare with my dad.   Using three people (and a large knowledge base of my Dad’s actual family connections through one ancestor) we actually have found one father and will have DNA proof when a child tests.   Go with the matches.    

Deb

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[Cheri Mello]

I've figured out a couple of brick walls with the matches. I still have many more to figure out (on both my parents). And through DNA, we've found a couple of cousins who we knew were "given up for adoption" during the Depression (one is alive). And also confirmed that family secret that Uncle So-and-So was really that cousin's dad. Yep. DNA opens doors. And some of those doors are closets! (Credit: Janine Cloud at FTDNA. Wish I was that clever). And assisting adoptees and those of unknown parent(s).

Cheri Mello
Listowner, Azores-Gen
Researching: São Miguel island: Vila Franca, Ponta Garca, Ribeira Quente, Ribeira das Tainhas, Achada

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