DNA Testing

Genetic testing has taken the genealogical world by storm—but many good genealogists feel lost in that storm; and more than a few family trees have suffered damage. How do we harness the power of genetic genealogy without being swept away in the surge? This session guides genealogists through four areas: (1) converting DNA data into evidence; (2) turning that evidence into proof; (3) crafting citations that include all genetic details needed for proof; and (4) protecting privacy throughout the research and presentation of our conclusions. The session offers simple but solid ground rules—no geek speak!—illustrated by a variety of case studies.

Ever stared at your DNA match list and felt that mix of excitement and dread? There you are, faced with hundreds of genetic cousins, each one holding a piece of your story – but let’s be honest, most of us have no clue what to do with all these mysterious relatives. In this straight-to-the-point lecture, we’re going beyond the basics of building a DNA Network to tackle the real question that keeps genealogists up at night: “Now that I have all these matches, how do I actually use them?” We’ll show you how to transform that overwhelming list into a strategic research tool, navigate the sometimes-murky waters of relationship predictions, and harness practical tools like WATO and BanyanDNA to unlock the family secrets hidden in your genetic code. Fair warning: once you learn to read the stories in your DNA matches, your family tree will never look the same again.

It’s hard to do genealogy well without studying your ancestors’ Friends & Family, Associates, and Neighbors – their FAN club. If your ancestors are Irish, you might have no luck at all without those FAN principles. But if you combine FAN club research with DNA, you might have just the winning ticket to get you back to your Irish ancestor’s origins. In this case study presentation, learn how focused research pointed the way from Ohio to townlands in County Mayo for an 1850s-era Irish immigrant.

Join us for an engaging presentation to unlock the true potential of your DNA match labels. Dive into the fascinating world of genetic genealogy and discover why the notes field is a vital tool offered by DNA testing sites, allowing for invaluable insights when exploring shared match lists and performing DNA match clustering. Don’t miss out on this enlightening session that will empower you to utilize the Notes field like a pro!

Your DNA Match list is full of incredible discoveries waiting to be made…with the right tools and a little know-how. MyHeritage offers the most comprehensive set of DNA tools on the market, making it ideal for genetic genealogy. In this session, Ran Snir, VP Product at MyHeritage, will give you an overview of the DNA tools available on MyHeritage and show you how you can use them to make breakthroughs in your research.

We often go into DNA analysis with certain assumptions in mind. They can help us, lead us astray, or both!

Most individuals will have at least one case of misattributed ancestry in the first several generations of these family tree. Genetic genealogy testing is often the source of discovery of such events. Even so misattributed ancestry may go undetected unless DNA test results are analyzed carefully. Learn how to detect cases of misattributed ancestry and how to leverage genetic genealogy test results to identify a previously unknown biological ancestor.

Chromosome mapping helps you understand how you inherited DNA from your ancestors and can be highly addictive. Join DNA Painter founder Jonny Perl as he explores hands-on examples demonstrating what you can learn from the segments you share with your matches.

Do you have mystery matches? Would you like to figure out how they are related to you? Which ancestors you share? Here are six ways to do exactly that!

In the first part of Tests, Vendors, Tools and You, we will discuss how and where to start your genealogy and DNA testing. Every testing vendor has different tools to help genealogists. We will learn how to best utilize the resources of each vendor. First, we’ll start out by discussing goals, along with an overview and best features of the four major vendors; 23andMe, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage. We will also touch on five third party tools that will be more fully explored in the third session of this series. I’ll introduce the four types of DNA for genetic genealogy, when to use each, and a tried and true methodology to create a genetic pedigree chart. We cover the basics of ethnicity, triangulation, why you’ll want to use a chromosome browser to prove ancestors, and chromosome painting. Ancestry offers a wide variety of genetic genealogy features and tools, and we’ll discuss how to get the most out of your DNA test at Ancestry, including ethnicity, Communities, SideView, matching, shared and parental matches, common ancestors and their flagship tool, ThruLines.

FamilyTreeDNA, the first genetic genealogy testing vendor, beginning in 2000, is also the only vendor that provides Y-DNA (paternal/surname line for males,) mitochondrial DNA (direct maternal line for everyone), autosomal and X-DNA testing and matching. Additionally, they provide ethnicity testing and segment chromosome painting, ethnicity match comparison, a chromosome browser, group projects, time trees, advanced matching across product lines, matches map, family side matching, a match matrix of matches you select, and limited triangulation. We will discuss the added tool of X matching, which is includes with autosomal and has a unique inheritance path, creating additional hints as to common ancestors. We discuss why you want to create a genetic pedigree chart, what you will learn, and how to find information for lines that you can’t test either Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA for directly. Group projects can be and are extremely helpful. FamilyTreeDNA’s flagship Big Y-700 is the only test of its kind in the industry, provides many tools and integrates with the free Discover tool to provide unique information about your ancestor’s paternal lineages – both individually and through group projects. Lineages can often be defined quite granularly, with branches every few generations. Discover also provides both ancient connections via archaeology digs and notable connections documented through other testers. The Million Mito Project is rewriting the maternal tree of humankind and will have its own MitoDiscover soon.

A lot has changed at 23andMe in the past few months, and we’ll review the differences and their new normal. Their best feature, the genetic tree, provides valuable family associations along with hints, as does their ethnicity segment painting. We’ll learn how to use and optimize both. My Heritage provides many helpful features and tools for genetic genealogists, including ethnicity, Genetic Groups, easy triangulation, segment information, smart matching, location and surname info, along with AutoClusters which clusters your matches into groups. They offer many filters to assist with viewing matches in multiple ways. Their leading edge tool, Theories of Family Relativity, combines DNA matches, trees and records information to create theories about your common ancestors. Next, there’s an overview of third party resources, DNAPainter, GEDmatch, Genetic Affairs, WikiTree, and FamilySearch – when and how you want to utilize each one. We close with how to create your own recipe for success. I share my own tools and methodologies.