DNA Testing in the News Again

I have posted a few times about the debate occurring, largely in the United States, about the use of Genealogical DNA databases by law enforcement.  Allowing police access, with or without search warrants, to the genealogical DNA databases held by the likes of Ancestry, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA and GEDmatch is creating a great deal of uncertainty.  I have been following several posts by The Legal Genealogist Judy Russell about this issue and the legal mess it is creating.  To read Judy's latest post, click here.

The latest issue rises from the disclosure by the New York Times on Tuesday that a Florida judge had issued a search warrant for the GEDmatch DNA database.  Originally GEDmatch had allowed law enforcement open access to upload DNA from crimes.  In April 2018, GEDmatch's privacy statement said it "exists to provide DNA and genealogy tools for comparison and research purposes." The statement said that this, "by its very nature, requires the sharing of information. Because of that, users participating in this site should expect that their information will be shared with other users."  In May 2019, GEDmatch began requiring people who had uploaded their DNA to its site to opt in to allow law enforcement agencies to access their information.  That warrant issued in Florida overrode the privacy settings of GEDmatch users and opened information to police scrutiny even if the users had chosen not to allow police access to the data.

Currently GEDmatch is one of the smaller fish in the Genealogical DNA ocean, with a database of approximately 1 million users.  DNA policy experts have said the development was likely to encourage other agencies to request similar search warrants from the big fish like 23andMe, which has 10 million users, and Ancestry.com, which has 15 million.

It is important to remember that not all Genealogical DNA sites are alike. GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA make it possible for anyone to upload his or her DNA information and start looking for relatives. Law enforcement agents began conducting genetic genealogy investigations on these sites not because they were the biggest but because they were the most open.  By contrast, Ancestry.com and 23andMe are more closed systems. Rather than upload an existing genetic profile, users generally send saliva to the companies’ labs, and then receive information about their ancestry. For years, fearful of turning off customers, Ancestry.com and 23andMe have been adamant that they would resist giving law enforcement access to their databases.

Now that a legal precedent has been set allowing the GEDmatch privacy settings to be overridden, will it be easier for law enforcement to gain access to any of the Genealogical DNA databases?  And given the success of accessing GEDmatch to help solve crime in America, how long will it be before law enforcement in other countries try testing the water to see what they can access to assist in their own crimes?  Suddenly the glow of finding my family's ethnicity and distant cousins using DNA is fading as wider implications become obvious, and no solutions to the issues seem to be in sight.

Criminal Characters

Criminal Characters is a research project investigating the criminal careers and life histories of Australian offenders from the end of the convict period through to the Second World War, specifically from the 1850s through to 1940.

This site offers a number of resources for learning about the history of crime in Australia. You can also get hands-on experience of Australia’s criminal past by transcribing historical crime records, thereby helping to create a permanent and invaluable resource for future generations.

The project aims to bridge gaps between historical knowledge of crime and contemporary criminological research by providing insights into the contexts and patterns of offending across a period that saw significant legal and social developments, including mass migrations, changing technologies, war, economic depressions, the emergence of the narcotics traffic, and the evolution of new forms of punishment. 

If you are interested in the criminal history of Australia, in who committed crimes and why, and you have some time available to assist in transcribing records then this is a project that may interest you.

This project has been supported by a grant from the University of Technology Sydney through its Chancellors Postdoctoral Research Fellowship scheme and is being hosted by the Australian Centre for Public History at UTS.  The images for transcription have kindly been supplied by the Public Records Office Victoria.

Power of Petitioning

In seventeenth-century England, petitioning was ubiquitous. It was one of the only acceptable ways to address the authorities when seeking redress, mercy or advancement. As a result, it was a crucial mode of communication between the ‘rulers’ and the ‘ruled’. People at all levels of society – from noblemen to paupers – used petitions to make their voices heard.

Some were mere begging letters scrawled on scraps of paper; others were carefully crafted radical demands signed by thousands and sent to the highest powers in the land. Whatever form they took, they provide a vital source for illuminating the concerns of supposedly ‘powerless’ people and offer a unique means to map the structures of authority that framed early modern society.

The Power of Petitioning in Seventeenth Century England is a small but growing site that plans to transcribe and publish the texts of more than 2,000 seventeenth-century petitions as well as a series of guides and other resources.  The site also has a blog on which they report progress, share links to online resources and share details of the lives of people in the seventeenth century.

Voices of Liberation

Voices of Liberation is a new online sound archive sharing reflections of the Second World War and Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) sites of remembrance.

The CWGC is seeking more stories from Second World War veterans as well as people who have a relationship with a former soldier or have visited a CWGC Second World War cemetery or memorial.

Andrew Fetherston, the CWGC’s chief archivist, said: “We believe that by capturing these stories from the public we are creating an archive of international importance and a lasting legacy for those who died for our today.  We want people to share their connections to the war and our cemeteries to ensure that as Commonwealth nations we have not forgotten their sacrifice.”

Voices of Liberation was launched to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, which began on 6 June 1944 and led to the liberation of Europe.  It will continue in the run-up to the 75th anniversary of the end of the war next year. 

To take part, simply record yourself talking about your memories using prompt questions from the CWGC and upload the audio, along with a photograph.  To record your contribution to the sound archive, all you need is a smartphone and a quiet space for the recording.  The photograph you contribute could be a photo of you recording for the archive, a photo of a relative who served in the Second World War, or perhaps it could be a photo of a CWGC site or memorial you have visited.

Who Do You Think You Are Magazine

The latest issue of Who Do You Think You Are magazine is now available free online for Campaspe Library members via our subscription to RB Digital eMagazines.

Inside this month's issue

• Hidden ancestors
  Stuck on a family history brick wall? Simon Fowler reveals how you can reboot your research with a fresh approach
• From father to son
  Genetic genealogist Debbie Kennett explains how you can uncover your paternal line with Y-DNA testing
• Shell shocked
  Jacqueline Wadsworth on the lasting trauma for First World War veterans and their families
• Reader story
  Stephen Moore's new book uncovers Polly Button's horrific murder and remarkable legacy
• Marriage masterclass
  Rebecca Probert on the tips and tricks for uncovering and understanding your ancestors' wedding records
• Plus...
  The best websites for tracing domestic servants; uncovering military ancestors on Absent Voters lists; the pioneering women who worked as telegraph operators, and much more...
   

Around Britain

• London
  Almost all of us have ancestors who went to the capital to seek their fortune. We've picked the best resources to help you find them

UK Find a Will gets Bogged

Back in late July I posted about the new cut price of ordering post-1857 wills through the UK Government's Find a Will service.  I excitedly announced that the price of a will had been cut to just £1.50, instead of the old £10 charge.  Maybe I should have kept quiet for a bit.

I ordered several wills on 11 August, and was given an estimated online delivery date of 26 August.  We are now well into October and I am still waiting.  They are now almost 2 months overdue.

I am trying to be patient.  Really I am.  I know why the service is taking so long.  It is because of all those people (like me) who saw the price cut, cried "Oh Goody!" and inundated the site with orders.  Eager genealogists worldwide have swamped the poor people at Find A Will and buried them with their enthusiasm.

A slightly plaintive inqiry in late September - "Where are my wills??  They are a month overdue!" - elicited the response that the site had been overwhelmed by the volume of orders and mine would be dealt with as soon as possible.  Since then I have haunted my inbox, hoping for notification that my wills had been processed would soon arrive.  I have also logged onto the website (no more than once a day) to check for progress.  And I am still waiting.

It takes me back to the old days of sending off my request for records or information by 'snail mail' and waiting 6 to 8 weeks for a response through the post.  How spoilt are we today with email and downloading and instant access to online records from the comfort of our own living rooms.  Now, suddenly, I have to learn to be patient again.  It is a difficult lesson.

The Basics of Fact Checking

I am constantly amazed by some of the errors and misinformation I find in online trees.  So many people make assumptions, ignore the basics of biology and put their (clearly incorrect) family trees online for others to copy - and the copiers accept their incorrect data without questioning errors which should be clear.

So without mentioning names or pointing fingers, here are some of the more eye-popping errors I have come across that really should leap out at researchers.

• Children cannot be born before their parents.  Really.  It just isn't possible.
• Children also cannot be born to a mother who is 6 years old.  Or 94 years old.  Again, just not possible.
• Children are highly unlikely to be born to a father who is 89 years old.  While this MAY be biologically possible, it is unlikely and deserves a bit of fact checking.
• A child cannot be christened 4 months before they are born.
• A woman cannot marry 3 years after she has died.
• A man cannot enlist in the army 5 years after he has died.
• No one can die in the decade before they are born.
• Full siblings cannot be born 4 months apart.  While medical technology may be making this possible today, it really wasn't possible in the 1840s.
• Travel takes time, especially before the age of the airplane.  In 1883 a child could not be born in England and christened in Australia 5 days later.  Something in this timeline is wrong.
• Yes, people do move around.  But they will not usually have three children born on three different continents in three years.

I can hear people laughing out there at some of these errors, but I've seen each of them included in online trees.  And believe me, getting these errors corrected can be next to impossible.

So the next time you are looking at an online tree that intersects with your family, remember to treat it with a degree of skepticism.  Always be aware of the limitations of basic chronology and biology.  Families, for the most part, follow common sense arcs and exceptions are not that common.  Look for corroborating evidence - and this does not mean another online tree that has probably copied the same errors.