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...]
6 Strategies for Using DNA to Research Your Latin American Ancestry
Latin American ancestry can be challenging to research due to the lack of comprehensive and easily accessible records. Available and surviving records can be challenging to access due to their location or language or because they have not been digitized and made available online. Because of these challenges surrounding the availability of records, many people in Latin America and of Latin American descent turn to genetic genealogy and DNA testing to learn more about their ancestry and … [Read more...]
Autosomal DNA Test Results: Using Ethnicity Estimates to Generate Genealogical Hypotheses
The material in this autosomal DNA blog article was originally published in the October-December 2021 issue of NGS Magazine. It is updated and republished here with permission. Autosomal DNA test results at the major genetic genealogy testing companies (23andMe, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, LivingDNA, MyHeritage) include two main elements: ethnicity admixture estimates and genetic cousin match lists. While genetic cousin match lists are the most helpful resource for solving genealogical … [Read more...]
How to Understand Your Closest Autosomal DNA Test Matches
This article is based on a similar article from the January - March 2022 issue of NGS Magazine and is reprinted here with permission. We hope it helps you know how to better understand your autosomal DNA Test matches and what it means for you. Autosomal DNA test results at the major genetic genealogy testing companies (23andMe, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, LivingDNA, MyHeritage) include two main elements: ethnicity admixture estimates and genetic cousin match lists. Ethnicity estimates are a … [Read more...]
6 Signs of Misattributed Parentage in Your Genetic Family Tree
While DNA testing and genetic evidence are certainly useful for breaking down challenging historic brick walls, the implications of DNA testing can also hit closer to home in the modern era when it comes to research on misattributed parentage. In cases of adoption, unknown parentage or misattributed parentage, genetic genealogy methodologies enable identification of close biological ancestors whose identities might otherwise remain unknown, and which represent immediate brick walls for any … [Read more...]