DNA

• Haplogroups, part 2 (2/21/2021) - I don’t have a lot to add about the mechanics of haplogroups. but here’s the current charts. There are 49 currently identified matches on the kids’ paternal side, with 68 on the kids’ maternal grandfather’s side, and 101 on the kids’ maternal grandmother’s side. (The advantage in numbers is that their maternal grandmother has tested.) […]
• Untangling Dubois county German Lutheran ancestry (2/17/2021) - EDIT: This post was written to my kids’ matches, but is so useful for me, it will be continuously updated. My kids’ paternal grandparents are pure German. Their ancestors came to this country from Bavaria (mostly) between about 1830-1860. The most common migration path was arrival at Baltimore, and sometimes stops in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, or […]
• A DNApainter success example (2/10/2021) - I’ve been working with DNA for a little over a year, after many decades of traditional paper genealogy. My goal has always been to track all the descendants of all my immigrant ancestors. (When I formed that goal, I didn’t realize I had colonial ancestors for 2 of my 4 grandparents.) One of the problems […]
• Using in-common matches (2/6/2021) - This is a follow-up to my previous post, and how to glean additional data for searching. Even with DNA matches on 23andMe that aren’t sharing specific segment data, you can see shared matches. You want to focus on 3rd cousin or closer matches. 4th cousins or more distant are unlikely to be as useful. But […]
• How I research DNA matches (2/6/2021) - This post has been hard to write – not because I don’t know how to say it, but because of privacy concerns. Let me make this very clear – all the methods I suggest are using publicly available data. But as you read this, you may realize that more of your OWN data is visible […]
• Genealogy Go-Over, DNA-style (2/6/2021) - Thus far, I’ve identified 81 DNA matches of my mom, plus more for me and my kids. I’ve been working on DNA painter, but I’ve just started going thru and making sure EVERYTHING is done that needs doing, for each match, nearly all of whom I’ve identified exactly how we connect. My primary match site […]
• Genealogy Go-Over and X-DNA (2/3/2021) - As I go over the previously identified DNA matches, and paint them for each member of my family, I realize there are some errors in the I’ve ancestors attached to the shared X-DNA. For every MALE funnel ancestor, while the DNA shared with your match on most chromosomes could have from either their father or […]
• How I approach DNA (12/27/2020) - I have been doing genealogy since childhood, so although I wasn’t a great researcher in the 70s and 80s, I did build a base of knowledge. The internet has helped tremendously. For a long time, I didn’t think I needed to do DNA, because I didn’t have any questions to answer. I was wrong. I […]
• Organizing your DNA matches (12/25/2020) - Or “What I wish I knew a year ago” In my previous post Managing your DNA at 23&Me I noted I hadn’t yet decided on how to organize all the details of which matches I’ve identified, and how to track what I’ve done with which, including who has been painted on DNApainter. While this is obviously […]
• Color Coding Genealogy (11/17/2020) - Color is a great way to help visualize your genealogy, and even more so when you are using DNApainter. When you create a family tree on the site, you can pick from a variety of palettes. The one I liked best was called “Rufus.” But when I’m adding matches to my DNApainting, I’ve had trouble […]
• Managing your DNA at 23&Me (10/26/2020) - Your results have come back, so now what? Are you inexperienced, but have someone else willing to help you? Perhaps a more distant relative that doesn’t show up, and you want to compare DNA? You can invite them to connect via email. Have you been getting those emails saying “You have 15 new relatives” on […]
• Inferred Matching (3/21/2020) - Sometimes Inferred Matching can get confusing – so here’s a breakdown, using my family. I’ve got my mom, brother, myself, and 2 sons, which makes an excellent example. This match, JW, is a 3rd cousin, and our shared Great-Great-Grandparents were immigrants from Germany in 1868. Using DNApainter, on each person’s profile, the full data (found […]
• Ancestor Haplogroups (1/31/2020) - Maternal and Paternal haplogroups CAN tell us something about our ancestors, and possibly help place new matches. But there are serious limits. The maternal haplogroup is entirely female inherited, so a match to YOUR maternal haplogroup can only tell you about your direct line of mother’s-mother’s-mother, and so on. Because it does not change with […]
• One more generation back (1/28/2020) - I’ve been labeling my matches by the MRCA couple, and counting backwards from myself, but not including myself. Thus G3 would be my great-grandparents, and their descendants. I’ve finished working with all my previously identified paternal matches at that level, and am ready to take a step backwards to the G4 generation. But at first, […]
• Inferred vs Direct DNApainting (1/27/2020) - I started working on my DNApainting focused on my paternal grandfather, starting with my 1/2 uncle, and then working with great-grandchildren of my paternal grandfather’s sister. I directly compared those 2C1Rs to both my brother and myself. We all matched on a number of segments, but there were a few my brother had, which I […]
• Variability of DNA Inheritance (1/26/2020) - As I work on developing my own best practices of using DNApainter and inferred matching, I’m amused at how variable the results are. Here’s some of my results as I work through my matches via my paternal side. All three matches are 2nd Cousins, once removed, all great-grandchildren of my grandfather’s sister. This is why […]
• Building on the Paternal Line – DNApainter (1/25/2020) - In which we discover that a match via the paternal grandfather can also reveal paternal grandmother DNA as well.
• DNApainter Inferred Matches 1.0 (1/25/2020) - Thinking hard today about inferred matches and the best process to follow. I’ve been grouping my matches based on Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) COUPLES, but really, I could assign those segments to their child who is my ancestor. That I match someone else means two children of that couple, my ancestor and theirs, both […]
• Googling for Genetic Genealogy Best Practices (1/23/2020) - Today my searches are to learn what other people think about analyzing DNA matches, and specifically about using DNA painter. Here’s a round up of potentially useful pages. Genetic Genealogy using GEDmatch: An Absolute Beginners Guide, by Jared Smith is a great start into the topic of genetic genealogy. If you haven’t much experience with […]
• Jumping into the waters of DNA (1/22/2020) - I finally did DNA testing this fall, along with 4 other close family members on 23 & Me. I chose them because I wanted the health results, figuring the DNA didn’t have much to tell me, with my 40+ years of genealogy background. Since then, a bunch of my genealogy time has been spent trying […]