Finding Family with
DNA at MyHeritage
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
Through DNA I have connected with many 3rd and 4th cousins who share this interest
I even traveled to Norway with one 4th cousin and we stayed in the guest apartment of another 4th cousin near Drammen
Best to have a tree back to your g-g-grandparents (all 16) or your 3rd greats,
warning sharing DNA is less likely beyond 3rd cousins
When you have a good tree then the Theory of Family Relativity can often figure out your relationships
Do I really have to look through thousands of cousins?
NO!
Start with the low hanging fruit, "extended family" about 3rd cousins or closer
(75cM and larger)
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 or read emails about genealogy
On the DNA menu click overview to get this summary
My Heritage DNA
My extended family DNA cousin matches
Working with a match I like to leave myself a note
Now whenever I look at the match with John or see John in my match list the little comment icon is purple
This is a good way to keep track of the matches I have looked at and figured out
Review DNA match takes you to a page with an amazing amount of information about your match
including a Theory of Family Relativity if there is one
Next, provided your match has a tree, it shows you Smart Matches, common surnames, and common localities
This page includes a lovely compact pedigree too
and finally a chromosome view of the matching segments
The shared matches section of the match page shows the matches in common with each relationship to you and the other cousin, this is extremely useful for matches with no trees
But best of all, it indicates matches you triangulate with and if you click the litte icon, it takes you to a chromosome picture that includes those overlaps
Triangulating segments display in the chromosome browser
read more about it at
https://blog.kittycooper.com/2018/04/myheritage-dna-matching-excellent-enhancements/#more-5728
This looked like a reasonable match to research with no tree until I saw NO MATCHES to any other family members!
ENDOGAMY
My maternal grandfather was German Jewish. Due to much intermarriage way back I have many Ashkenazi DNA matches that are not valid. My guideline is one segment >20 cM and another > 10cM plus matching other relatives
ENDOGAMY
The filters on your DNA matches page can be invaluable
Clicking on Tools brings up these options
Clicking on Chromosome Browser lets you pick up to 7 matches to compare to your DNA
Another great tool for figuring out where someone fits in is automated clustering
MyHeritage has a clever feature which shows the ethnic make up of modern day countries
Click on Ethnicities Map on the tools page then select a continent and a country
Finding family with DNA at MyHeritage
By Kitty Cooper
Finding family with DNA at MyHeritage
How to use your DNA test results for your genealogy research: ethnic ancestry, finding cousins, and more
