More and more people are testing their DNA for one reason or another. Maybe they are curious about their ethnicity, maybe they are doing family research and want another tool to help them find their elusive relatives, or maybe they are adopted and want to find their biological parents. For whatever reason, understanding the basics of DNA is critical for success. One of the testing companies, MyHeritage, ran a series of 10 Blog posts in which they explained the basics of DNA. Here are the links:

DNA Basics – Chapter One: A new blog series

DNA Basics – Chapter Two: The Structure of DNA

DNA Basics – Chapter Three: DNA Expression

DNA Basics – Chapter Four: A Glossary of Terms

DNA Basics – Chapter Five: How DNA Testing Works

DNA Basics – Chapter Six: How to use Chromosome Browsers for Genealogy

DNA Basics – Chapter Seven: Common Misconceptions about DNA Testing

DNA Basics – Chapter Eight: Genotypes and Phenotypes

DNA Basics – Chapter Nine: Explaining Ethnic Regions

DNA Basics – Chapter Ten: How DNA Testing can help you find new relatives

One of the newest genealogy tools and misunderstood results in our genealogy research is DNA – the process itself and the results.

Have you done your DNA and been disappointed with the results?   Michael John Neill on his Rootdig blog discusses the probabilities of shared DNA.

In his post he states that he probability that 5th cousins have no detectable DNA relationship is 69.8%. and also there is a .56% chance that there would be no DNA relationship to any individual 4th great-grandparent. That’s a good chance. The chance that there is no DNA relationship to a specific ancestor increases as the number of generations increases.

Even if you have no discernable DNA connection to a “paper” relative, that does not mean you are not related, it just means that you don’t share enough DNA to prove relationship.

Read Michael John Neill’s complete post here and be sure to also click on the link to the ISOGG statistic page for more information on cousin matches.

Peter Calver of Lost Cousins has written a very interesting article explaining a bit about DNA and what the benefits of DNA testing are.

Millions of DNA tests have been sold to people who know nothing about genealogy, yet the vast majority of seasoned family historians have yet to test themselves, let alone their cousins.

Long before civil registration began, long before parish registers were kept, even before humans could write, our ancestors were keeping genealogical records They didn’t know it, but in their DNA they carried remnants of their own ancestors’ DNA, just as their descendants would, in turn, inherit theirs. And yet, ignorant as they were by today’s standards, all parents knew instinctively that their children would inherit some of their own characteristics – they just didn’t know how it worked.

The thing is, we don’t necessarily need to understand how DNA works for it to be useful.

The entire article can be read at  https://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters2/xtrafeb18news.htm#Dummies

Have you gotten the bug yet and taken a DNA test?   Once you receive the results, are you totally confused?   There is definitely a huge learning curve, as you have probably found out.

Genetic genealogy or DNA testing can tell you, at its most basic level:

• If you and another person are related /descended from the same individual
• If you and someone else with the same surname are related
• If your genealogical research is on the right track
• What area of the world your paternal and maternal lines come from, as well as giving you an idea of your ethnic origins

It is very important to remember that most of the value of genetic genealogy (DNA testing for family history research purposes) is in the comparison and matching of your DNA results to others. Just because we have DNA testing does not mean we can throw exacting traditional research techniques out the window!  Think of it as a marriage between two methods of finding and providing our family history – traditional genealogy research and DNA testing.

A brief but comprehensive explanation of the types of DNA tests and what you can find is available in a document provided by Mary Katherine Kozy and is well worth taking the time to read.

There are several sites that do DNA testing, including Family Tree DNA, 23&Me and AncestryDNA.   You may choose to test with one or all of the companies and each one is completely reliable.   Comparing the tests can be a new problem, though.   One comparison site is Gedmatch.

If you are new to using GedMatch or want a brief overview of how it works, you may want to read a previous blog post on “Ten Tips for Making the Most of Gedmatch”.

Once you have uploaded your DNA results to GedMatch, the test results are not always a 100% match.   The Legal Genealogist explains why this happens.

Uploading your tree to GedMatch is explained here.

Did you know that many cousins don’t share enough measurable DNA to get caught in DNA application filters? By using the GEDCOM search at GedMatch you can find people who have your relatives in their family tree even if you only share small amounts of DNA,  The blog post How to find DNA cousins on Gedmatch with a Gedcom search provides information on how to conduct a search.

Good luck with finding more family research information using DNA results!

Louis Kessler, a Winnipeg genealogist, DNA expert and software developer, is one of ten semi-finalists in the 2017 RootsTech Innovation Showdown for his genealogy tool, the Double Match Triangulator (DMT).

The idea for the DMT began soon after Mr. Kessler received his 93-year-old uncle’s results from FamilyTree and saw more than seven thousand possible relatives. Determining the relationships was not a task he relished.

The solution was to create the DMT.

Mr. Kessler explains how it works:

 “DMT combines two different people’s Chromosome Browser Results files from FamilyTreeDNA to provide Double Match and Triangulation data that can be used to help determine genealogical relationships. It loads the results into an Excel file along with a colorful map that helps the researcher visualize the matches and help to identify Triangulation Groups made up of people who could share a common ancestor, helping you to map your DNA segments to your ancestors.”

You can read more about the DMT here and try it out on Louis Kessler’s website, Behold Genealogy, where you will also find his blog.

With all the sale prices offered in the last month by Ancestry DNA, Chris Paton on his British Genes Blog [now discontinued] posted this very helpful information:

“A wee tip if you have been given an AncestryDNA test for Christmas is to remember that there are two sides to the test that need to work in conjunction for this to be a powerful tool for your family history research. The first is quite obviously to take the test, and to send the sample off! The second though is to upload a family tree, no matter how basic, to your Ancestry account. Once uploaded, Ancestry flags up potential cousin matches, based on shared sections of DNA that you and your cousins will have inherited. If you don’t upload a tree, prospective cousins will see the following if a DNA match is flagged up:

There are two parts to the AncestryDNA test results. The first is the so-called ethnicity profile. If you want my advice, forget this – not only is it vague, but the bottom line is we’re all human and have ancestors who come from across different parts of the world. And we all eventually make our way back to Africa – so tell me something I didn’t know! The second part, the cousin connect, is where the real power of the test lies – but only if you play ball by supplementing the DNA evidence with your documentary evidence in a tree.

In the last two months I have made many connections with folk who have shared their trees. In the last week alone I have fleshed out an entire ancestral story from Donegal in Ireland, thanks to a tip found via a cousin connection, and have spent the last two days researching my first ancestor confirmed to have fought in the Peninsula Wars.

So please – do add your tree. You can privatize it to protect the living before you upload, or even make it private, so that potential cousins have to contact you for more info. But without a tree to accompany your DNA result, all that you effectively have is a boffin’s result from some spit inside of your mouth that tells you next to nothing on its own.”

Good luck with your DNA results!

Should you take a DNA test or not?   It seems that everyone around you is taking a test and having wonderful results.   However, before just jumping in and taking a DNA test, be sure that you have a clear purpose in mind.  If you are interested in finding out where your maternal roots lie or whether you’re related to someone else with your surname or perhaps you want to know your ethnic origins.   Any of these three or many other reasons for taking a test is essential to choosing the right genetic genealogy test.

Another factor to consider is that you may not find any close results, or perhaps no results at all.  It all hinges on one simple fact.   Yes, you took a DNA test, but that does not guarantee results – to have a match requires someone else with close or similar DNA results must also take a test.

Blaine Bettinger, in an article in Family Tree Magazine on October 25, 2016 asks if you are ready to take the plunge into genetic genealogy.

In his article he states that, “More genealogists than ever before are turning to DNA testing to explore their family trees. In addition to traditional Y-DNA and mtDNA tests, which examine your paternal and maternal lines, testing companies offer autosomal DNA testing, which lets you explore the rest of your family tree. And third-party sites let you do even more once you have your DNA results in hand.”

His article, “Top Genetic Genealogy Tools” provides links and insight into the companies and resources currently available for genetic genealogy.

In his blog of August 4th, 2016, Chris Paton stated, “A few months ago Ancestry very kindly supplied me with an AncestryDNA kit for a review. The results from my test are now available – was it worth the effort?

There are two ways that AncestryDNA says it can help with your ancestral understanding, based on an examination of a tester’s autosomal DNA, which is inherited from both parents. The first is to give you a statement as to your ethnic identity and make-up, the second is to match you to potential cousins. My conclusion from the results is that one of these is just odd in terms of what is presented, whereas the other is indeed likely to be a massively major tool for the ancestral toolkit … “

To read the entire article, please click here.

DNA is really taking off as one of the most popular ways to try to break down seemingly impossible brick walls.  But does it help? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.    It all depends on others who are related to you and trying to trace their ancestors.  But don’t give up, in the future you just may find that elusive ancestor through a DNA connection.

The question that we all have is how to use or understand the results of your DNA test.   The July 9th article from Lost Cousins , “DNA Special” may just be what you need to answer some of your questions.

Happy Hunting!