Suomi DNA-projekti / Finland DNA-projektet / Finland DNA Project

Who are the Finns and where did they originate? We are closer to finding out about our ancestors through DNA. The Finland DNA Project seeks to help Finns and others who have Finnish ancestors find DNA matches that may help people confirm and discover shared ancestors and learn more about their deep ancestral origins. It was founded by Lauri Koskinen in Finland with more than 600 people currently participating in the project. Information on how to participate may be found at www.fidna.info.

As a result of the Finland DNA Project, people attending the session on Saturday morning, July 26, may meet their DNA matches. Ideally, people of Finnish ancestry will test before FinnFest and allow for a wider pool of possible matches. For those who have not tested, information will be available about the project, its use for genealogy, and how to join. You do not need to be a scientist to participate. Once you test, resources are available to help you with your results. The featured speaker at the reunion will be Bennett Greenspan, CEO and founder of Family Tree DNA, the largest database of its kind in the world.

Genetic testing is extremely useful to genealogists when church records or migration records are lost, and when ancestral surnames were not inherited. This has been the reason for my own interest in DNA use in genealogy. With my mtDNA test, I now know my haplogroup is V and markers indicate high possibility of Skolt Saami heritage. My maternal line had not been researched as far as some of the paternal lines. For further research, I know that I need to look beyond Kuusamo, my grandmother’s place of birth. We have known there to be Saami on her paternal side, but now have DNA showing it also on her maternal side.

My brother’s test of Y-DNA has pointed to a farm in Siikajoki. Siikajoki is the birth place of my great grandfather Lukkarila. His family moved and lived in many villages around Siikajoki. Church records in Lumijoki were burned and paper trails are hard to trace for the time the family was known to have lived in Lumijoki. My hope is to find others with our haplogroup N and the same markers, who may know more about the family’s origins.

The basic DNA tests — the FamilyTreeDNA Y-DNA12 and the mtDNA HVR1 tests — are designed to help you find your deep ancestral origins. Participants who order either of these tests through National Geographic’s Genographic Project will receive a report about their deep ancestry, and may transfer their results to Family Tree DNA at no charge. Participants may want to upgrade their basic tests to learn more about their ancestors’ migration patterns. Test kits may be ordered at www.fidna.info.