An announcement today explains that Ancestry DNA has added UK county-level ethnicity results to their DNA story. If you’ve tested at Ancestry DNA, just go to your “DNA Story” and you might see some of these new communities! New Communities on My Mom’s Side On my mom’s side, my uncle has a new region called “Scottish Lowlands, Northern England & Northern Ireland.” I have yet to trace any of my mom’s ancestors to England or Ireland, but from other members of this community, it looks like it’s on my mom’s mom’s side. New Communities on My Dad’s Side My dad’s...
During RootsTech, MyHeritage announced two new tools. One, AutoClustering, is an automated clustering method based on the Leeds method and was created by my new friend, Evert-Jan Blom. The second is the Theory of Family Relativity tool. Although I have DNA results on MyHeritage, I haven’t used them much in the past. But, I’m excited about both of these tools and they have drawn me into looking at my MyHeritage DNA matches. Through this research, I’ve been able to add some new matches, and their direct ancestors, to my tree. Viewing Matches on Theory of Family Relativity You can find...
AncestryDNA’s new ThruLines give suggestions of new potential ancestors that just might break through our brick walls! But, these are just hints; we still need to do the genealogy work to prove or disprove these are our ancestors. Weak Potential Ancestor Hint This suggestion showing Rynear Waldron as my possible 4th great-grandfather is fairly weak: All the descendants are through one of his children, Nancy Waldron, who is my direct ancestor. It would be a better hint if the descendants were through several children. Rynear Waldron is from a tree that doesn’t have any documentation for Rynear Waldron being Nancy...
One of the hottest topics on genealogy Facebook groups right now is Ancestry.com’s new ThruLines. Some people have them; some people don’t. And some people had them, and now they don’t. Today, Roberta Estes wrote a wonderful post titled “Ancestry’s Disappearing ThruLines – Now You See Them, Now You Don’t.” If you are one of who is suffering from disappearing ThruLines – or if you’ve never had ThruLines – her article will either help you find a solution or help you to be patient while Ancestry fixes some of these bugs. If you’re not sure where to look for ThruLines,...
Greetings from Salt Lake City – which isn’t quite going as expected. I got yestereday around noon and quickly realized I’d lost my reading glasses. So, it was off to the shopping center instead of the library as planned. EMERGENCY ROOM Me in the ER at the University of Utah Hospital Also, I’d been hurting in my upper back and down along my arm all day. This morning, I woke up even worse… and ended up going to the ER. I figured it was a pinched nerve and, after four hours, they sent me home with that diagnosis, an ice...
A common lament is the lack of DNA matches from the “old country”: If only more people tested in the country of my ancestors, I could break down the brick walls for those ancestors. Indeed, I have several matches whose trees point to relationships back in the old country, likely just one generation prior to my immigrant ancestors. If more people in that country, that region, that town did DNA testing, wouldn’t that tell all? It sounds like a plausible concept, but the reality is – it depends. Giuseppe’s son, Giovanni, with his wife, Madalana Belcastro and their son, Giuseppe....
BIG NEWS in the genetic genealogy world: MyHeritage is having a big event in Norway this weekend, and they made several huge announcements! 1. DNA from Famous People! MyHeritage is adding DNA to their database from famous people such as Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill! Wow! 2. DNA from envelopes! We knew something like this was in the future, but MyHeritage announced they are partnering with a company to extract DNA from envelopes that were licked by your ancestor! Wow! 3. MyHeritage announced the upcoming plans to automate DNA chromosome painting! 4. They also announced a new “DNA match Shared Locations” feature....
Diahan Southard, known as “Your DNA Guide,” is a genetic genealogist who teaches through seminars and video training, publishes DNA quick guides, and provides consultation services. On Saturday, Diahan shared three presentations with the members and guests of the Houston Genealogical Forum (HGF). Me and Diahan Southard at HGF – Nov 2016 Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy: A Beginner’s Guide During the first presentation, “Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy: A Beginner’s Guide,” Diahan talked about the three types of DNA tests – YDNA, mtDNA, and atDNA – and also the three main testing companies: Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA, and 23andMe. She...
This morning I watched DearMYRTLE’s video, “AncestryDNA Matches with Angie Bush.” Angie is DearMYRTLE’s “DNA expert.” She started by explaining what you can learn from Ancestry DNA matches that have ‘shaky leaf’ hints. I was already comfortable with those. But, next she talked about those matches that DON’T have hints. Up until now, I’ve always ignored those. Many of them have very small trees. The ‘tree’ DearMYRTLE and Angie worked on only had 2 people! But, they were able to figure out the common ancestor! Wow! Angie also pointed out that part of why they were able to make the...
