I am preparing a talk to be given at PALAM (Palatines to America Conference)
to be held in June here in Cincinnati. I will be speaking on making
connections with DNA between American Germans and their German ancestors. I
already have some autosomal connections with Germans in Germany. I'm trying
to find this out:
1) Do Germans in Germany take Y-DNA or mtDNA tests available through
Family Tree DNA? Because some of our connections are separated by six
generations or more, this would be the best way to prove distant
connections.
2) I know there are restrictions on taking "paternity tests" without
court authorization in Germany and DNA health tests. There is also the GDRP.
I need to understand these better and find out if proposed DNA tests would
be restricted.
3) Do many people take autosomal DNA tests (i.e. Ancestry.com, 23andme,
My Heritage) in Germany? I understand that some tests can only be sent
through a second country.
I really want to understand the possibilities of working together. There are
many Oldenburg descendants in Cincinnati with a lot of matches. I'm
interested in extending these matches to Germany.
IF YOU HAVE TAKEN A TEST AND UPLOADED IT TO GEDMATCH, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR
KIT NUMBER AND I'LL LET YOU KNOW WHAT I DISCOVER.
Kathy Reed
Descendant of Vonderheides from Oldenburg
dna.interest@hcgsohio.org