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

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

1. How much shared DNA in centimorgans (cMs)?
2. Who else do they match?
3. 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

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

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

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

The filters on your DNA matches page can be invaluable 

Clicking on Chromosome Browser lets you pick up to 7 matches to compare to your DNA

see https://blog.kittycooper.com/2018/12/automatic-clustering-from-genetic-affairs/

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

https://slides.com/kittycooper/findingfamilydnamyh​