In real life and in fiction, DNA is used to solve crimes that have stumped investigators for years or even decades. But what if the cold case you are trying to solve isn’t a crime, but rather a family history mystery that is hundreds of years old? What if you have already pored through available records sources to no avail? Many of us have these types of mysteries in our family trees, often referred to as “brick walls.” Do you have an ancestor whose origins are difficult to trace due to … [Read more...]
How GEDmatch Can Amplify Your Genealogy Research
How can GEDmatch help you to accurately identify DNA matches? We recently sat down with GEDmatch's Tom Osypian to understand how individuals can best use the GEDmatch tools to organize DNA matches and reach out to their relatives to create the most accurate family tree possible. How has GEDmatch evolved since its inception? Tom: GEDmatch started around 2010 as a Gedcom comparison site. As DNA testing took off, we started developing algorithms to compare DNA test results, and it's … [Read more...]
Best Genealogy Videos of 2023
One of the best things about genealogy is that there really is not stopping point. Once you reach one goal, there's another brick wall to break through, another family line to research, another story to learn about an ancestor. A life filled with genealogy filled life is a never ending adventure. As part of this adventure, we love to support your learning and growth as a genealogist through our YouTube channel. Whether you do family history research for fun or as a profession, we know there … [Read more...]
7 Strategies to Set Up Your DNA Project for Success
DNA testing plans and knowing how to set up a DNA project for success makes all the difference in solving family tree mysteries. At Legacy Tree Genealogists, we have helped thousands of clients utilize DNA evidence in the exploration of their family history research questions. From recent unknown parentage to historic misattributed ancestry, we have observed again and again that by inviting the right people to perform DNA testing in the right DNA databases, stubborn genealogy brick walls come … [Read more...]
6 Reasons Why Taking an Autosomal DNA Test Can Bring New Insights Into Your Known Ancestry
How can taking an Autosomal DNA test bring you new insights into your known ancestry? What might you discover when you go deeper using genetic genealogy? Read on to find out how DNA can give you more understanding into your family tree. You’ve spent hours and hours digging into documents, interviewing living relatives, or reviewing journal entries. You know your ancestral lines reasonably far back, and you feel your work, at least on some of the ancestral lines, is complete. Is there … [Read more...]
What Is Genealogy? How To Get Started With Family History Research
What is genealogy? What do you need to know to create a solid foundation for your family history research? What is a family tree, and how create an accurate family tree? How can you use DNA to help you with your research? We'll answer these questions and more for anyone who wants to find their ancestors anywhere in the world. What is genealogy? Genealogy can take many different forms, but what does it really mean? Is it simply names, dates, and places? Is it discovering deep roots at home or … [Read more...]
Part Two: MyHeritage DNA Theories of Family Relativity
Theories of Family Relativity is part two of a series of articles to help you navigate MyHeritage DNA matches and tools. Read part one here. Genetic genealogy is founded on the observation that when two testers share DNA, they share common ancestry. In the case of autosomal DNA tests (like the one offered by MyHeritage), the ancestor who was the source of that shared DNA could be through any of the respective testers’ ancestral lines and could be any number of generations back in the … [Read more...]
Part 1: Navigating MyHeritage DNA Matches & Tools
This is Part 1 of a series about how to use MyHeritage DNA matches and tools. Read part two about the Theories of Family Relativity. When it comes to DNA matches, there’s family--the people you’ve known and lived with and been around maybe your entire life or perhaps just a short period. Naturally, you know these people. Maybe you share some of the same physical features, such as the shape of your nose or your hair color. Indeed, you’ve laughed, cried, celebrated, grieved, and experienced … [Read more...]