metro » o n the cover

Just A

Swab Away

DNA testing adds another
high-tech layer to researching
family roots.

Brett Mountain

Barbara Lewis | Contributing Writer

S

everal years ago, I started hearing
about DNA testing for genealogical
purposes. You send for a kit, swab the
inside of your cheek, send the swab to the
company and a few weeks later you receive
an analysis of your DNA.
My friends Ruth and David Marcus of
Southfield had the test done. They found
some relatives they knew about through the
list of those who “matched” some of their
DNA — but no “new” relatives. But for
Ruth, the test confirmed something she’d
always suspected: Her family had Sephardi
roots, even though genes linked to Sephardi
ancestry made up only 11 percent of her
DNA.
So when I had an opportunity to have
my DNA tested through Family Tree DNA,
I jumped at the chance. The company was
founded in 1999 by Bennett Greenspan, now
living in Houston. He was a businessman,
not a scientist, but he had a long-time inter-

Joshua Goldberg,
engaged in geneaol-
gy research since he
was a teen, compares
DNA results at home
in Detroit.

DNA samples.
More samples would make
the database more useful.
“I first submitted a sample 10
years ago,” said David Sloan of
Huntington Woods. “I use 67
markers. I have received many
matches with genetic distances from two to
seven. At this point, no relatives have been
confirmed.
“The DNA testing is crucial, but
the database must be expanded
exponentially. It is like fingerprints;
you need to have a large base for
matching.”
Other companies do DNA test-
ing as well, including Ancestry
DNA and 23 and Me.
Bennett
Male clients can analyze their
Greenspan
GROWING THE DATABASE
Y-DNA, which is passed on from
Since then, Family Tree DNA has
fathers to sons. Everyone can test
developed a database of more than 600,000
their mitochondrial DNA, which is passed

est in genealogy.
Through JewishGen, a Jewish
genealogy website, he found
someone who had the same last
name and who came from the
same ancestral village. Some
of the first names in his profile
were the same as first names in Greenspan’s
family.
DNA testing, he thought, would
be the best way to tell if he and this
person were actually related.
Greenspan, 64, approached the
University of Arizona with an offer:
If they did the science, he would
handle the business.
“I knew every genealogist in the
world would be interested,” he said.

on by the mother, and autosomal DNA,
which can come from either parent. Costs
run from $80 to $280, depending on the
type of analysis.
A free service called GEDMatch allows
people who have had their DNA tested by
any of the major companies to upload their
raw data; ideally, this larger database will
help clients identify genetic matches with
relatives who used a different test provider.
Greenspan recommends that clients have
a cousin from the maternal and paternal
sides of their families do the test so they
can see which side a match comes from.
“Sometimes people find they’re related on
both sides,” he said.
My DNA showed my origins were 88 per-
cent “Jewish Diaspora,” 10 percent European
(non-Jews who got added to the mix some-
where along the line) and 2 percent “Middle
Eastern.” No huge surprise there.
An e-book I downloaded from the Family

continued on page 16

14 November 3 • 2016

