I Tested My DNA
Now What?
By Kitty Munson Cooper
Blogging at blog.kittycooper.com
Get familiar with the tools provided by your testing company
- Most have a help center or FAQ
- Use the ISOGG wiki- https://isogg.org/wiki/
- You can always Google any question you have
Your autosomal test data is about 700,000 lines of data in a spreadsheet so best to use tools to analyze it!
Google for the instructions on how to download your DNA results from your company
This will be a zipped file that you can later upload to other sites
SAVE A COPY OF YOUR RESULTS
To get the health results available in your DNA test results use this site (small fee)
Most Americans are a blend of ancestries
Each company has a different way of calculating yours
None are perfect yet, but the general outlines are accurate
used by permission from http://stevemorse.org/genetealogy/dna.htm
Autosomal Inheritance by Steve Morse
DNA Home Page at Ancestry
Ancestry Overview for Tester with Deep American Roots
Ancestry Overview for Tester with Deep American Roots
Clicking on a year gets this display, the numbers show how many ancestors there
How Does Ancestry Composition
Help My Genealogy?
When you get an unexpected result
There were rumors that the grandfather of my jewish friend was a local nobleman
Two Ashkenazi Jewish Friends, one with some Sephardic ancestors
from Cece Moore's blog at http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2015/02/switched-at-birth-unravelling-century_27.html
The ancestry composition at 23andme is under Reports > Ancestry
Only 23andme gives you maternal and paternal haplogroups. See http://www.eupedia.com/europe/origins_haplogroups_europe.shtml
The top of the page gives an overview
The timeline feature attempts to tell you when that ancestor was
If you have a parent tested, it will break out the ethnicity by parent
Chromosome details of 23andme ancestry
Put your mouse on any 23andme ancestry
Ancestry Composition Segment Data can be downloaded from 23and me
Upload results to other sites for free to get more analysis:
- MyHeritage
- Family Tree DNA *
- GEDmatch
- DNA.land
- LivingDNA
*$19 for the full tools
MyHeritage Ancestry Composition, the overview
My Ancestry Composition at MyHeritage
Family Tree DNA initial ancestry compostion page - click on the map
My Origins Map at Family Tree DNA
Only family tree DNA reports on Sephardic Jewish DNA
DNA.land ancestry composition for me and my brother
Ancestry estimate comparisons for my brother
My brother at GEDmatch.com
For details of how to use the GEDmatch ancestry tools see
Newly found "DNA" cousins can help you with your genealogy
They may have family stories and photos you do not have
My 3rd 1R sent me photos of my gg-grandparents
FINDING COUSINS
Do I really have to look through a thousand cousins?
NO!
Start with the low hanging fruit, 3rd cousins and closer
(100cM and larger)
Keep Blaine Bettinger's Chart handy - see
http://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2017/08/26/august-2017-update-to-the-shared-cm-project/
Enter the cMs and get probable relationships https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4
Cousin Matches
- How much shared DNA in centimorgans (cMs)?
- Who else do they match?
- How many segments? (More than 2 is best)
Getting New Cousins to Respond to You
- Have a family tree online
- Upload friendly picture of yourself
- Include details of who matches whom (they may have multiple kits)
- Offer them information when you write to them
Do not be disheartened by lack of responses, some rarely log in
The top right corner of your Ancestry DNA page has some important icons
- Be sure to click on the envelope with the blue number to read your messages
- Be sure to connect your DNA test to your tree (click the gear icon, settings, to get to that page)
Use Family Tree Linking to connect your DNA results to your tree
Matches at ancestry. For some tips try
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2016/08/michelles-ancestrydna-tips/
Ancestry Tree "Green Leaf" Match
Clicking on View Match gets a page that may have a tree
Where is the 23andme Cousin Matching Page?
23andme Cousin Matches
Click through to a Match gets a long page with much information
The match page also
shows your population
break downs side by side
The match page shows a chromosome map of where the matching DNA is BUT no numbers here
At the bottom of the 23and me match everyone who matches both of you is listed and a YES indicates that there is overlapping DNA between these 3 people (automated triangulation)
Clicking that YES gets this, segment data (numbers) at bottom
Select different relatives on the comparison page gets this page
Family Finder matches has your cousin matches at Family Tree DNA
Family Tree DNA Cousin Matches
5 known cousins compared in ftDNA chromosome browser
Click the DNA tab, then DNA matches at MyHeritage
MyHeritage DNA Cousin Matching
MyHeritage Pedigree Display
MyHeritage DNA Chromosome Browser
Cousin matching via the "One to Many" tool at GEDmatch
Inheritance from 8 g-grandparents, courtesy of Angie Bush
Make a DNA chart from grandparents at https://www.legacytree.com/inheritance
I Tested My DNA Now What? By Kitty Munson Cooper Blogging at blog.kittycooper.com
You DNA tested, Now What?
By Kitty Cooper
You DNA tested, Now What?
How to use your DNA test results for your genealogy research: ethnic ancestry, finding cousins, and more
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