I Tested My DNA
How can it help my research?
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)
Upload results to other sites for free to get more analysis
and find more cousins:
* $19 for the full tools
**Only free until December 1,2018
How can DNA testing help your genealogy?
New found 3rd and 4th cousins may help you break through a brick wall
My great grandmother Maren Wold from Drammen was my brick wall
One day I got an email from Mike who said I think my g-g-grandfather was the brother of your great grandmother Maren
My new 3rd 1R sent me photos of Maren's parents
FINDING COUSINS
I had been searching the records in the wrong county! She was born in Skoger, Vestfold not Drammen, Buskerud
Newly found "DNA" cousins can help you with your genealogy
They may have family stories and photos you do not have
FINDING COUSINS
ruins of WOLD home, Skoger 2015
Do you have a good tree online?
Tree view at WIKITree.com - no login needed, so you can send a link to a DNA match who may not be able to see ancestry trees
How deep is your tree at ancestry?
Default tree view at Ancestry - try the pedigree view
Very few Germans have tested which explains my lack of maternal stars
Other approaches are a DNA image on the photo or to use the suffix field to show the ancestors you share with DNA matches
I use quick edit to cut and paste my icon from one profile to another
Do I really have to look through a thousand cousins?
NO!
Start with the low hanging fruit, 3rd cousins and closer
(90cM 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
Not every cousin further out than 2nds will be a match
Matches at ancestry. For some tips try
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2016/08/michelles-ancestrydna-tips/
The number of centimorgans can be found by clicking on the "i" in a circle next to the confidence level on the match page
CINDY has an Ancestry Tree "Green Leaf" Match
Assignment 1: Pick a first cousin or a parent or a half sibling
PLAY TIME
Using the regional search for Germany, belgium, etc, I found a cousin with a familiar name in her tree
The surname Bomeisler was familiar so I looked Carl up in my tree and found him! Then I remembered he was my Thannhauser grandfather's cousin who met their boat when they immigrated
Moral of this story: Build your ancestors' trees down in time for better matching
The top right corner of your Ancestry DNA home 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)
Get your family memnbers and cousins to share their DNA results with you
At the bottom of the Test Settings page there is the DNA Result Access box
When you see Unlinked Tree, click on View Match to get to the match page where you can select a tree
clicking on the tree name in the drop down will put that tree pedigree on this page
Clicking the username on a match takes you to their profile page
CLUSTERING
Clustering is the technique where we sort our close matches into groups to help identify new or more distant matches
Second cousins will share great grandparents
Leeds Spreadsheet of her 1st and 2nd cousins
Color coded by great grandparent line,
pale green on left = tree match
Leeds Spreadsheet of her 1st and 2nd cousins
Color coded by great grandparent line,
pale green on left = tree match
Leola shares 443 cMs
Putting Leola on Sveen side with ?? for relationship
Note that Avery is actually a first cousin twice removed in the latest
Chrome add-on for match labeling - https://tinyurl.com/MatchLabeling
I used 4 of the same colors on the Leeds sheet as I have with this extension and then added those colored circles to the known cousins
Another useful chrome addon is MEDbetterDNA
CAMERON
Let's figure out ...
PLAY TIME
http://blog.kittycooper.com/?ddownload=6338
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 (which family line, that you have pictures, documents ...)
Do not be disheartened by lack of responses, some rarely log in
Where is the 23andme Cousin Matching Page?
23andme
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
Family Finder matches has your cousin matches at Family Tree DNA
Text
Family Tree DNA
Family Tree DNA Cousin Matches
Check the boxes next to the cousins of interest then click chromosome browser
5 known cousins compared in ftDNA chromosome browser
Click the DNA tab, then DNA matches at MyHeritage
My Heritage is vastly improved
MyHeritage DNA Cousin Matching
MyHeritage Pedigree Display
MyHeritage DNA Chromosome Browser on the match page
MyHeritage DNA Chromosome Browser when you click the triangulation icon
Cousin matching via the "One to Many" tool at GEDmatch
GEDmatch.com
Clicking the blue A on the one to many gets a one to one comparison