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
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
To get the health results available in your DNA test results use this site (small fee)
You can get also determine your Y haplogroup from Prometheuse -http://www.geneticgenealogist.net/2017/08/updated-method-to-get-ydna-haplogroup.html
R1b aka R-M296 from
https://www.eupedia.com/europe/Haplogroup_R1b_Y-DNA.shtml
By User:Maulucioni via Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]
Mitochondrial Haplogroup Map:
note the distinct Native American groups
Autosomal DNA tests show the DNA from all your recent ancestors (back to gg(g)-grandparents then it trails off)
Each company has a different way of calculating yours
None are perfect yet, but the general outlines are accurate
Most Americans are a blend of ancestries
My version of the J. Paul Hawthorne colorful ancestry chart, see http://www.geneaspy.com/2016/03/a-little-thing-that-went-viral.html
My known recent ancestry is 50% Norwegian, 25% Bavarian and 25% German Jewish
MyHeritage has a clever feature which shows the ethnic make up of modern day countries
Click on Ethnicities Map under DNA then select a continent and a country
German Ethnicities
MyHeritage Ancestry Composition, the overview
My DNA Home Page at Ancestry
The recent update at Ancestry actually breaks down ethnicity by country
Kitty's current ethnicity at Ancestry
Ancestry Overview for Tester with one New Mexican Parent
Ancestry Overview for Tester with Deep American Roots
How Does Ancestry Composition
Help My Genealogy?
When you get an unexpected result
If there is something unexpected that cannot be explained by the current levels of inaccuracy
A jewish friend of mine had been told that her grandfather was a Hungarian nobleman
The second one has some Sephardic ancestors
Two Ashkenazi Jewish Friends
from Cece Moore's blog at http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2015/02/switched-at-birth-unravelling-century_27.html
23andme Ancestry Overview Page - click on All Reports
The ancestry composition at 23andme is under Reports > Ancestry
Only 23andme and LivingDNA report your haplogroups.
There is much European haplogroup information at eupedia, see http://www.eupedia.com/europe/origins_haplogroups_europe.shtml
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 to see just that ethnicity
You can change the confidence level, I use 70%
Ancestry Composition Segment Data can be downloaded from 23and me
Family Tree DNA initial ancestry composition page - click on the map for more
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
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
Best to have a tree back to your g-g-grandparents (all 16) or your 3rd greats but the shared DNA is less beyond 3rd cousins
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
Do I really have to look through a thousand cousins?
NO!
Start with the low hanging fruit, 3rd cousins and closer
(90cM and larger)
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
Also the app for tablets and phones does not show the messages icon
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/
CINDY has an Ancestry Tree "Green Leaf" Match
Clicking on View Match for an "Unlinked Tree" gets a page that may have their tree
If you are very unlucky the tree might look like this one! Or it might not even be the right tree.
Sometimes you can figure out where they fit in from the shared matches
medBetterDNA is an extension which shows your notes on the match page among other features
https://blog.kittycooper.com/2018/01/an-awesome-ancestry-add-on/
See this article for how to get your Ancestry match t respond
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2017/11/how-to-get-your-ancestry-match-to-respond/
Clicking the username on a match takes you to their profile page
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
On the right side of the page is space where you can send a message to your DNA match
The match page shows a chromosome map of where the matching DNA is BUT there are 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 or on hover with your cursor over the segment
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
My Heritage DNA
MyHeritage DNA Cousin Matching
MyHeritage Pedigree Display
MyHeritage DNA Chromosome Browser
MyHeritage DNA Shared matches shows each relationship to you and the other cousin
Triangulating segments shown at MyHeritage
more details at
https://blog.kittycooper.com/2018/04/myheritage-dna-matching-excellent-enhancements/#more-5728
Cousin matching via the "One to Many" tool at GEDmatch
Make a DNA chart from grandparents at https://www.legacytree.com/inheritance
Watch the video from Blaine Bettinger on how to use DNApainter at https://youtu.be/wyjcJxywTZI
The latest and greatest mapping tool is at DNApainter.com
Another new tool is automated clustering
You DNA tested, Now What? 2018
By Kitty Cooper
You DNA tested, Now What? 2018
How to use your DNA test results for your genealogy research: ethnic ancestry, finding cousins, and more
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