23andMe drops price to $99 !

23andMe is on a roll this month. First they released the new Ancestry Composition, now they have dropped the price from $299 to $99, still with no subscription fees.

They are on a mission to get 1 million kits in their database before the end of 2013. Their press release focused on the medical advancements they hope this will accomplish and didnt mention the great things that 1 million kits would mean for genetic genealogy. This is not a sale price, but the price indefinitely. Still, I would not delay to order your kit(s) ASAP.

Autosomal DNA testing, unlike mtDNA testing or y-DNA testing, will match you with cousins who aren't necessarily on your direct paternal or direct maternal lines.

With a larger database we will be able to discover more leads into who unknown females are in our tree (and who doesnt have at least a half dozen Mary ?'s and/or Elizabeth ?'s in their tree?). We will also get more clues into what areas of the world to search for ancestors, and much more.

The test will show a 2nd cousin about 99% of the time and a 3rd cousin about 90% of the time. More distant cousins will also be shown, and there are often many of these predicted 4th to distant cousins (after all, most people have many, many distant cousins out there!)

Autosomal DNA testing can help confirm existing paper genealogies.

By doing an autosomal DNA test you would be helping yourself, me (and others) with our genealogy. And its FUN!

23andme also has some neat health related info, which you can opt out of if you arent comfortable with that type of thing.

I currently have 1310 Relative Finder matches (genetic cousin matches at 23andme.) I have also tested my father, my paternal grandmother, my maternal half brother, my maternal half sister, my maternal grandfather, my maternal grandfathers sister and two 3rd cousins to my maternal grandfather, and a son of my maternal grandmothers sister.

In the next few months I plan to test quite a few more. Some of the people I hope will test or test for me are:

Descendants of Lewis Peverelli, born 1804 in Italy. Also, Peverelle/Peverellis that are NOT descendants of Lewis, but also have Como, Italy, Peverelli ancestry. We have some Peverelle/Peverelli mysteries that I would love to solve!

Descendants of Thomas Mulligan and Dorothy Leatham of Ireland.

Descendants of William Bond Gabie and Margaret Mary Lowry (Lowrey).

Descendants of Joseph H Townsend and Margaret Pooley.

Descendants of Samuel Wickliffe of Ireland. 

Descendants of William Dinsmore Haskill and Sybil Culver.

Descendants of Edmund Rice and Thomasine Frost or Mercy (Hurd?) 

I am now more excited than ever to see what 2013 brings!