Is DNA Left on Envelopes Fair Game for Testing?

[Elderberry]

The Atlantic by Sarah Zhang 3/1/2019

The genealogist’s dream of testing old, spit-laced artifacts is coming true—but raising questions about who controls dead people’s DNA.

Last fall, Gilad Japhet, the founder of a DNA-testing company, got up at an industry conference to talk about his grandmother Rosa’s love letters.

Japhet’s company, MyHeritage, sells cheek swabs to people interested in their family history. It now has 2.4 million people in its DNA database, making it the third largest behind 23andMe and AncestryDNA. But Japhet wasn’t satisfied with only testing the living; he wanted to test the dead. Which brings us to the love letters—or really, the envelopes they came in.

The envelopes were sealed by his grandmother, and the stamps on them presumably licked by her. “Maybe our ancestors did not realize it,” Japhet said, a smile growing on his face, “when they were licking those stamps and the envelope flats, they were sealing their precious DNA for you forever.” Then he made the big announcement: MyHeritage would soon begin offering DNA testing on old stamps and envelopes.

He didn’t stop there. If you can test the letters of your grandmother, why not those of historical figures? Japhet is a prodigious collector of autographs, and he revealed that he possessed handwritten letters from Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. In an intriguing if provocative PR move, he promised that “their DNA is coming to MyHeritage very, very soon.”

In the past year, genealogists have been abuzz about the possibility of getting DNA out of old stamps and envelopes. In addition to MyHeritage, a British company called Living DNA began informally offering the service for $400 to $600 last year, and a small Australian start-up called Totheletter DNA, which specializes in DNA from envelopes and stamps, launched a similarly priced service in July. MyHeritage says its own service should debut later this year. (A spokesperson declined to comment on when Einstein and Churchill’s DNA profiles will be uploaded to the company’s site.)

More: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/03/dna-tests-for-envelopes-have-a-price/583636/

[verga]

BKMK

[truth_seeker]

I have spent money on two DNA tests, which later turned out to be reputable companies, but not to the level od detail I was led to expect.

FFortunately my sister and mother tested with yet a 3rd company.

All of the tests confirmed our known genealogy records, with a couple of interesting items.


If your family tree information is thin, DNA testing may help youfill in some questions. And of course you might find cousins you don't know about.

My wife's family seem not interested. They are all Italian, and don't find need for more than that.

[verga]

I have spent money on two DNA tests, which later turned out to be reputable companies, but not to the level od detail I was led to expect.

FFortunately my sister and mother tested with yet a 3rd company.

All of the tests confirmed our known genealogy records, with a couple of interesting items.


If your family tree information is thin, DNA testing may help youfill in some questions. And of course you might find cousins you don't know about.

My wife's family seem not interested. They are all Italian, and don't find need for more than that.

May I ask which you used. We used the Ancestory.com one but are thinking of trying the 23 and me since it is supposed to address health issues.

[truth_seeker]

May I ask which you used. We used the Ancestory.com one but are thinking of trying the 23 and me since it is supposed to address health issues.

The first I used AncestryByDNA. Gave me father-line I1), mother-line U5) and regioonal origins.


The 2nd was LivingDNA from the UK. Also gave mother-line (aka mTDNA), father-line (aka Y-DNA) and origins (aka Autosomal).


I was disappointed by LivingDNA. It is too much weighted towards the UK.


I know for a fact I am 25% or more Swedish. LivingDNA classifies that as British, since lots of Norse went to the UK throughout history.


My sister and mother tested with Ancestry. Their results and mine, generally agree.

Another consideration is GedMatch, where you can upload Autosomal tests. Gedmatch does not do testing.


My expectations became more reasonable, over time.

It can be fascinating. We met a few folks, via cousing mathing from Ancestry. We helped a mother-daughter connect to our family. Mom was adopted in Manitoba, now resides in Yukon Terr. Daughter lives in Alberta. Mom's birth parents did not leave her records.


She descends from Swedes, who settled in Chisago Lakes region Minnesota, and were the origin for books and movies.

They were happy to ties more things together.

[Elderberry]

I have taken 3 tests all from Family Tree. With the Autosomal test I have discovered quite a few 3rd to 5th Cousins that I was able to link to on my tree. And many more matches that I have not identified their connection to me on my tree.  Now on my Y-DNA test I have 4 men identified that are close matched to me. We have been unable to identify who the Most Recent Common Ancestor(MRCA) is. An analyst that was looking at the data said that MRCA lived sometime around the 1500's. I have a dead end in my tree in the early 1600s. Now with the mtDNA test, I keep getting notifications of matches, but so far I have been unable to see how we're related.

[verga]

The first I used AncestryByDNA. Gave me father-line I1), mother-line U5) and regioonal origins.


The 2nd was LivingDNA from the UK. Also gave mother-line (aka mTDNA), father-line (aka Y-DNA) and origins (aka Autosomal).


I was disappointed by LivingDNA. It is too much weighted towards the UK.


I know for a fact I am 25% or more Swedish. LivingDNA classifies that as British, since lots of Norse went to the UK throughout history.


My sister and mother tested with Ancestry. Their results and mine, generally agree.

Another consideration is GedMatch, where you can upload Autosomal tests. Gedmatch does not do testing.


My expectations became more reasonable, over time.

It can be fascinating. We met a few folks, via cousing mathing from Ancestry. We helped a mother-daughter connect to our family. Mom was adopted in Manitoba, now resides in Yukon Terr. Daughter lives in Alberta. Mom's birth parents did not leave her records.


She descends from Swedes, who settled in Chisago Lakes region Minnesota, and were the origin for books and movies.

They were happy to ties more things together.

We used the Ancestory.com and it had some good information, but there were some blanks with Cousins born our of wedlock (no great surprise there). We were thinking of using 23 and me and Iwas wondering if anyone here had used it and their experience.

[truth_seeker]

We used the Ancestory.com and it had some good information, but there were some blanks with Cousins born our of wedlock (no great surprise there). We were thinking of using 23 and me and Iwas wondering if anyone here had used it and their experience.

Bottom line for us: The DNA confirmed what the traditional family trees already included.

But DNA connected us to a cousin, who confirmed a family story, namely that there was a connection with Butch Cassidy's gang. Sure enough we got an Ancestry ccousin match, with a relative from the same line. Put the two trees together, and presto one "Bub" Bob Meeks from the "Wild Bunch" aka the "Hole in the Wall" gang is proved to be related, just as my grandmother generally stated.


Seems Bub and Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy) both descended from Mormon converts from England. They settled in central Utah.

Bub was caught and taken prisoner from the bank robbery at Montpelier Idaho and . He tried repeatdly to escape.
 
https://bearlake.org/butch-cassidy/

[verga]

Bottom line for us: The DNA confirmed what the traditional family trees already included.

But DNA connected us to a cousin, who confirmed a family story, namely that there was a connection with Butch Cassidy's gang. Sure enough we got an Ancestry ccousin match, with a relative from the same line. Put the two trees together, and presto one "Bub" Bob Meeks from the "Wild Bunch" aka the "Hole in the Wall" gang is proved to be related, just as my grandmother generally stated.


Seems Bub and Robert Leroy Parker (Butch Cassidy) both descended from Mormon converts from England. They settled in central Utah.

Bub was caught and taken prisoner from the bank robbery at Montpelier Idaho and . He tried repeatdly to escape.
 
https://bearlake.org/butch-cassidy/

Very cool. The only thing i have is that one of my relatives was either the illegitimate son or slave of Giovanni Verga, the Sicilian Author

[truth_seeker]

Very cool. The only thing i have is that one of my relatives was either the illegitimate son or slave of Giovanni Verga, the Sicilian Author

It is  cool to know things like that.

When I got very interested in genealogy, I realized there would be some were "fine" people, and some that would not justify "virtue signaling,"

Although there was not anybody known to be "Mediterranean" in our family treee, our DNA says "yes" to that.

One possibility is a Spanish/French surname (Catalan?), moved to English Channel Islands, moved to Maine and changes name to English/German spelling. Then the two brothers were killed by Indians in Maine, in 1706.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/boards/SearchResults.aspx?dir=back&sortKey=CIAAIf0Al2VY&pOff=3&db=mb&ti=5538&gss=nfwylf&rank=0&adv=show&_88000003=Maturin&gskw=Maturin&hc=25