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Austin Families Association of America

Autosomal (at-DNA) Project

Whereas the AFAOA Y-DNA Project has matured since its beginning in 2003, the Autosomal DNA Project (at-DNA) was begun in 2017. Much has happened over the past few years, and AFAOA encourages participation in both the Y-DNA Project (for males) and the at-DNA Project (for both males and females). There are nearly 200 members with Autosomal results.
 
Although the at-DNA Project is associated with the Y-DNA Project, participation in the at-DNA Project does not require Y-DNA testing. Nevertheless, both Projects require membership in FTDNA (one single password protected account). Further, the Family Finder (FF) test (FTDNA’s autosomal DNA test) is available worldwide and is the centerpiece of the AFAOA at-DNA Project. You may be male or female to join. Your surname need not be Austin, but you need to be an Austin descendant.
 
Keys to participation in the AFAOA Autosomal DNA Project:
 
  1. You are male or female with an Austin ancestor not more than tena generations back, or you suspect such a close relationship to an Austin ancestor, male or female.
  2. You have taken an autosomal DNA test, or plan to, and you are willing to test with FTDNA or transfer your autosomal DNA resultsb to FTDNA.
  3. You must be willing to provide your family tree, starting with yourself and including family branches that you know about, going back at least four generations with particular emphasis on your Austin branch. Without providing a family tree, others who match you will find it almost impossible to pinpoint their common ancestor(s) with you. You should expand your family tree as you discover matches.
  4. Be willing to share your family ancestry with other members of the AFAOA at-DNA Project, and be willing to have “cousin matches” detailed to other Project members by Project administrators/coordinators.
  5. Be willing to cooperate with other Project members as well as with the Project administrators/coordinators.
  6. Withdrawal from the project is possible at any time.
  7. Your data will be protected using all privacy protocols of FTDNA and AFAOA.
 
a We note that reliability of at-DNA test results is questionable for distant relatives, >5th cousins, and other distant relatives. Project members just need to understand that large populations of distant at-DNA matches may be undetected. To better understand how the Family Finder test works, see Family Finder test from FTDNA.
 
b For details on transferring DNA data please click on: DNA Data Transfer
 
Results – Click here for a table that lists the group summary information for the first 100 members of the Austin Autosomal DNA Project. Unlike Y-DNA comparisons which rely on haplogrouping and STR comparisons, at-DNA does not lend itself to such summaries for individuals. A Family Finder tester may have >9000 relative matches, making personal summaries impossible. Yet all >9000 matches are legitimate.
 
For further information or support, please contact the Autosomal DNA Coordinator John Clinard at at-DNA@afaoa.org.