Part 2: The Tools
Using Tools with your Automal DNA results to Solve Unknown Parentage Cases
KITTY MUNSON COOPER
blog.kittycooper.com
There are many automated tools to help with the process of finding unknown parentage
My favorites are:
GWorks from DNAgedcom.com
DNA2tree (iPad and iPhone only)
There are also many techniques to help with the process of finding unknown parentage
My favorites are:
The Leeds Method
Building the trees of your matches is always the most important technique
Copying family groups from Ancestry Trees to my research tree
You might try using the "What Are The Odds" tool at DNApainter to check your theory - https://dnapainter.com/tools/probability
Read this to learn more https://blog.familyhistoryfanatics.com/2019/08/what-are-the-odds-dna.html
You also might try using "Genome Mate Pro" to organize your DNA segment data see youtube.com/watch?v=-LCs1ebJ-AQ
Read this to learn more thednageek.com/getting-started-with-genome-mate-pro-part-1-installing-the-program/
TREE
BUILDING
In order to upload a GEDCOM to Ancestry you need to create one
Pedigree Thief can create an Ahnentafel from a pedigree on some sites:
- A pedigree view on MyHeritage.com
- An ancestor list on GENI.com
- NO LONGER ALLOWED at Ancestry.com
Here is how I copy a family group from another Ancestry tree into my research tree
One way is to copy from a profile in another tree via Tools then Save to Tree
Save to Tree brings up this box
Click on Add a new person, once this person is added, click your browser's back button twice to go back to the oriiginal tree and add this person again with the whole family group
Now use Tools then Save to Tree again. This time you can start typing the name and Ancestry will find him with the auto fill feature
Click the found name and then click Save
Now click the checkbox next to each family member you want to copy over and then Save to your tree
Another approach when the person is already in your tree is to use the trees on the Hints page
I check the checkbox for the best looking trees that have him and his parents
Then Review selected tree hints gets us the page where we can copy over each family member
You can keep repeating that as you build the tree up, go to his father's page and click on Ancestry Family Trees under Sources
A box comes up, click the View individual member trees
If the tree you copied him from has his parents then just click his name to go to his profile in that tree and use the Tools then Save to Tree to copy him with his family group from that tree
GWorks from DNAgedcom.com is my go to tool for building a database of the ancestors of your matches
If you watched my first talk, I glossed over how I had the surnames for Tessa's paternal match ancestors, in fact I used GWorks
Jane had a third cousin match at Ancestry with a good tree
Can GWorks can identify which line from the second cousin match is the one they are related on?
Top ten ancestors in GWorks
Can you find any GWorks listed names in the far right of the pedigree?
Three of them have DNA tested descendants, check the abbreviated McGuire diagram for clues
3 children
D
Surname frequency from GWorks can help you decide which children's trees to build down in an unknown parentage case
So the next step was to look for the surname of Pratt B's wife and then for child D's spouse
Targeted Testing
Child D's spouse's surname is in the database many times, now to get a child of D, a possible parent to test
Clustering is a powerful way to group your related matches together in a visual diagram, this one is from DNAgedcom
This cluster diagram is from GEDmatch
Ancestry has disallowed 3rd party tools to cluster your DNA matches there
but they have the ability to color code your matches into 24 groups plus star your "favorites"
DNA2tree is only on iPhones and iPads via a paid subscription but it is a real game changer for unknown parentage searches
Next click on Find Common Ancestors
Here is a sample set of Common Ancestors
Note the repeating usernames (privatized)
See what happens when you Merge Common Ancestors
Now there are only three lines, with no duplication of user names
Details of the Bugden matches
DNA2tree asks you what to call the tree and then builds that tree on your account at Ancestry
BUGDEN tree at Ancestry built by DNA2tree
Thomas BUGDEN at Ancestry built by DNA2tree
Notice that only his children with DNA tested descendants are listed
And the two Elizabeths are the same person
So much work was still needed on this tree
Thomas BUGDEN at Ancestry with all his children added by us
BUGDEN pedigree for father's mother, full story here: https://blog.kittycooper.com/2019/12/can-ethnicity-help-with-unknown-parentage/
However there are far fewer Y testers than autosomal, so you may have no close matches, particularly if your paternal roots are not American: https://blog.kittycooper.com/2019/06/why-y/
?
If you are have a male line descendant from the unknown father, grandfather, or other ancestor you can test Y DNA which passes unchanged father to son
Y 37 STR marker results for an Ashkenzi Jewish man
If you are from a population group who only took surnames in the last 100-200 years, a Y test is unlikely to give you a surname
more about Y testing: dna-explained.com/2020/01/02/y-dna-part-1-overview/
Further investigation, thanks to the Gilliland surname project at Family Tree DNA, discovered a branch of Smiths whose paternal line seems to have come from a GILLILAND in the 1700s!
Barry's autosomal DNA indicated that his unknown father was clearly a SMITH from a particular Southern town but look what the Y DNA showed!
2. Are there any close matches (1st cousins or closer), figure it out from there
3. Are there several second cousins who are not matches for each other? Build their trees
4. If you have DNA2tree, use it to find common ancestors and build a research tree or two
5. Still puzzled? Run GWorks on DNAgedcom and add trees collected elsewhere
6. Might a Y DNA test help?
My CURRENT APPROACH
1. Use the "Are your parents related" (AYPR) tool at GEDmatch on the adoptee