About us
Welcome to the Tigges-Tiegs DNA Project
DNA testing has become a new standard for genealogical proof. Whether you have spent many years researching your family or you are a newcomer to genealogy, DNA testing can help you determine your family origins. While it does not work in a vacuum and is most useful when combined with a traditional paper trail, DNA testing can provide scientific evidence that you do or do not share a common ancestor with another. Read on to learn more about how this new tool can help you with your own genealogy.
Why DNA testing?
DNA testing is an indispensable tool for genealogists. These tests help us verify our ancestry in a quick and easy way. It saves time, prevents mistakes, and provides invaluable data that can be obtained in no other way. The only cost is for the testing itself. We project administrators are volunteers who hope to gain knowledge about our own heritage. We receive no compensation or incentives from Family Tree DNA or any other entity.
Why should you become involved?
Reading the news, watching specials on Public Television, seeing the many articles popping up in all the major news magazines … Doesn’t it make you wonder how modern science, and DNA testing in particular, can help solve some of your genealogical puzzles? After spending years rummaging through courthouses, libraries, family papers, cemeteries and the internet, aren’t you ready to use the latest tool to find your roots, once and for all?
How does it work?
Scientists mapping the human genome in 2000 found it consisted of about 3 billion pairs of DNA chemicals or "letters," and that those letters were 99.9 percent similar from one person to the next. It's within that 0.1 percent difference that the science of genetic genealogy was born. Just like notations in an old Bible or census records, family history is recorded in our genes. A father's Y chromosome DNA is passed down virtually unchanged to his sons while mothers pass down their mitochondrial DNA to their sons and daughters. While MtDNA can help us find our earliest roots, long before surnames came into existence, it is the Y-DNA that only males carry that holds the secret for genealogical purposes. And Ladies, don’t feel left out. Just find a male -- brother, uncle, cousin, even a distant one, and he can represent your paternal line.
Importantly, the newer autosomal DNA tests (Family Finder from Family Tree DNA, Ancestry and 23andsMe) make it possible for both men and women to find cousins throughout their pedigree.
As a Tigges descendant who has done my share of “rummaging,” I decided to make science work for me and all the other Tigges/Tiegs researchers out there who have “holes” in their paper trail or want to extend their research to:
* Eliminate or confirm relationships.
* Focus research towards related families.
* Direct research into a geographical area.
* Direct research into a specific timeframe.
* Establish country or region of origin.
* Confirm variant surnames are the same family.
* Learn about our family's pre-surname migration.
* Strengthen weak paper trails.
* Avoid pursuing false connections.
Few of us are entirely comfortable with the research we and others before us have done. Virtually all our findings have words like “probably,” “could,” “may,” “perhaps,” and “assuming” liberally scattered throughout. Let’s get to the bottom line. We’ve exhausted all the traditional research tools. It’s time to let a simple, painless DNA test provide the answers. The cost is a few tanksful of gas or probably no more than a research trip to a nearby town. Think about gas, tolls, parking fees, copying costs, meals, possibly an overnight stay – all sometimes yielding little or no new information. Instead, you could order the test of your choice from FamilyTreeDNA.com, simply swab the inside of your cheek a few times in the comfort of your home, and then sit back and wait about six weeks. You will be notified when results are completed and when matches are identified, giving you the opportunity to compare notes with others who share your DNA and are related to you, even if the common ancestry is not immediately apparent.
Useful Links:
International Society of Genetic Genealogy
Join Tigges Project