On 27 Apr 2015, I took advantage of a special offer from AncestryDNA for autosomal DNA testing at $79, a reduction from the regular price of $99. AncestryDNA was offering the special price in conjunction with its celebration of DNA Day on April 25.
What is National DNA Day? Here is how Wikipedia.org describes it.
DNA Day is a holiday celebrated on April 25. It commemorates the day in 1953 when James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues published papers in the journal Nature on the structure of DNA. Furthermore, on that day in 2003 it was declared that the Human Genome Project was very close to complete, and “the remaining tiny gaps [we]re considered too costly to fill.”
In the United States, DNA Day was first celebrated on April 25, 2003 by proclamation of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. However, they only declared a one-time celebration, not an annual holiday. Every year from 2003 onward, annual DNA Day celebrations have been organized by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), starting as early as April 23 in 2010, April 15 in 2011 and April 20 in 2012. April 25 has since been declared “International DNA Day” and “World DNA Day” by several groups.
People actively involved with DNA testing for genealogical and family history purposes no doubt were well aware of this event, but I was not up to speed until I attended the Western Reserve Historical Society’s (www.wrhs.org) Spring Seminar presented by CeCe Moore, coincidentally on that very day, Saturday, Apr 25.
CeCe is a nationally known expert on the use of DNA testing for genealogical purposes. She provides information about DNA testing through a blog (http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/) and she has served as a consultant for television reality shows Who Do You Think You Are, Finding Your Roots, and Genealogy Roadshow.
I can’t say that I understood everything that CeCe presented at WRHS on Apr 25, but her four lectures, and especially the case studies she discussed, did inspire me to place the order for AncestryDNA test kits for me and my wife. FYI, the AncestryDNA sale closed at 11:59 pm on Apr 27, and I beat that deadline by just a few hours.
The kits arrived on Friday, May 1, and my wife and I provided the necessary spit samples in the enclosed vials over the weekend. On Monday, May 4, I hand-delivered the return packages to the local post office. Today, May 8, AncestryDNA confirmed on its website that our test kits had arrived yesterday.
I will be checking the website on a daily basis to learn when the test kits are checked in for lab processing. As for the results, the website provides the following:
Please allow 6-8 weeks for processing. You will receive an email when your results are ready.
Watch this space for updates.
Good for you! Looking forward to your post on the results.