Comparing my DNA Ethnicity Chromosome Paintings at FTDNA, 23&me, and AncestryDNA

 

Ancestry Composition Chromosome Painting at 23andMe for my DNA Test

FamilyTreeDNA's Chromosome Painter for my test

Which was an Upload of my AncestryDNA taken in 2014

Chromosome Painted Ethnicity of my AncestryDNA test

Summary:  There isn't much which stands out in my DNA painting but I can see a few things.  Ancestry and 23andMe seem to agree that I have DNA most resembling folks from Finland at the tips of Chromosome 1 & 2.  Those are the Paternal Tips for both 1 & 2. My Mom has no Finland ethnicity showing at her Ancestry test so that did help me to assign the parent portions. FTDNA and 23andMe also seem to agree on a small snippet of African DNA on Chromosome 6 and since it's not showing up that way on Mom's test there it should be paternal.  

By consulting my DNA Match Painted Chromosomes at DNAPainter I can see that the Chrom 1 & 2 segments are from my paternal grandfather's King / Manire ancestry so that connection would be somewhere back along those.  The paternal Chrom 6 for me is almost all from my paternal grandmother and this looks to be in a section which would be either Morrow / Sutton or Frizzell / Manley.  I believe this is the same portion that FTDNA at one time was identifying as Sephardic Jewish Ethnicity.

I looked at my Mom's Ancestry DNA Chromosome Painted Ethnicity.  Hers is a lot more colorful than mine.  Where she has Norway, Denmark & Sweden, and Wales Ethnicity the ethnicity pretty much covers the entire chromosome side.  I've not been able to figure out which side of hers is which parent yet.  I hope that I can eventually.  

The Effect of AncestryDNA's Purge on my Family's Test

I'm probably in the minority, but I've been looking forward to the purge.  I have felt it will make it much easier to work with the matches that I have that are closer and perhaps keep me from falling down a few rabbit holes.  If you look at the numbers and the percentage that were lost among my family's tests it seems like a lot.  I feel like it is more focused now though.  Before the purge I went thru and looked at the matches in the 6-7 cM range who shared a Common Ancestor with me.  Some of those shared more with one or both of my siblings so I will still see them in their match list. I still have plenty of matches to work with and those matches are at a higher confidence level.  

I was really glad to see that the purge took care of the Thruline that was making me crazy.  I had a match of  6 cM who was showing in Thrulines as the grandchild of my Paternal Aunt.  It was caused by someone attaching my Aunt's census records to a woman with the same name who was born in the same year and who also had parents similar in name to my Grandparents, Thomas DeWitt Cooke & Pearl G. Jakes Cooke.   The DNA match was a maternal one though which I could see when I viewed my Mom's test though she shared the same small amount with that tester.  

I hope this will show improvement across all of my Thrulines and keep me more focused.  It would be nice if we had the ability to filter similar matches at FTDNA.  I know you can download and filter matches at FTDNA but an onsite filter is so much more functional.  All of the DNA testing sites could do a better job of match list presentation.  AncestryDNA has really made improvements in theirs which make all the others look "clunky".  Perhaps now they can add a search location which will search more fields than just the birth location.  

Surnames of Jacob Sutton's Descendants.

 Today I worked with my Thruline™ of Jacob Sutton.  I looked at the DNA matches and noted the names of the ones which had known Sutton cousins as Shared matches.  The purpose of the exercise was to become familiar with the surnames carried by Jacob's descendants.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in finding the common ancestor surnames that we forget that our DNA cousins surnames change when daughters marry etc. and these are names we might not recognize unless we study the entire family.  I've been acquainted with researchers who only study their direct ancestor.  That's something I've never understood because it really limits your research and causes you to miss out on so many opportunities for discovering other records. 

I could have collected the info and arranged it any number of ways:  a spreadsheet, notebook, index cards etc.  I chose to save it as an image file.  I used Awesome Screenshot extension in my Chrome browser to capture the list view and add surnames. 

AncestryDNA Match List Stats--Then and Now

I was reviewing one of my blog posts from last year-- DNA Randomness: Siblings and noticed I had included some stats for our AncestryDNA match lists from that date---August 25, 2017, comparing the number of AncestryDNA matches in various categories of the DNA match lists of my sister, and myself.  I wondered how this year's stats would compare so I have included the ones from August of 2017( reformated for comparison purposes) in a table along with the stats I collected today

AncestryDNA Matches Inventory--2nd & 3rd Cousin levels

I did an inventory of my top matches at AncestryDNA just to see how many of my matches who are listed in the groupings as 2nd cousins or 3rd cousins had uploaded to GEDmatch.  I also wanted to get an idea of which group was testing more and an idea of where there are some opportunities.  Ancestry doesn't have a chromosome browser and likely never will, so if I'm wanting to identify any segments matches with those who match me there I must ask if they will consider uploading to another site which accepts transfers or to GEDmatch.  MyHeritage just recently released some new tools which include a chromosome browser so that is now a new option when looking at segment matches. 

Inventory & Analysis of 2nd & 3rd Cousin Group Ancestry DNA matches

Total of 25 matches(excluding immediate family)

PGF- Paternal Grandfather
PGM- Paternal Grandmother
MGF- Maternal Grandfather
MGM- Maternal Grandmother

2nd Cousins(Total: 4)
3--MGF
1--MGM
None at GEDmatch

3rd Cousins(Total: 21)
7--PGF
2--PGM
11-MGF
0--MGM
1--Both MGF & MGM
8 are at GEDmatch

Even though there are several I cannot positively identify I am able to tell which Grandparent connects our families.  eventually, maybe the 4 closer cousins will upload.  I've contacted each of them.  Just a waiting game I suppose. 

Observations
Over half of those who have uploaded to GEDmatch are from my PGF's line.  I wish I had more from my MGM's line who have tested. There are some further out in the 4th Cousin Grouping and I'm thankful for that.  I have the most work to do on her lines, especially her Hale line.  The Pittmans of my MGF's line LOVE to test at Ancestry(I'm guessing for ethnicity as that line has Native American) but they do not love to upload to GEDmatch.  There are close to 20 kits(some in 3rd and more in 4th cousin group) from the Pittman/Adcock and Pittman/Hatfield lines which would be a great study in a chromosome browser.  I am lucky to have so many of my 3rd or closer cousins testing. Colonial Ancestry on both sides with virtually no ancestors immigrating after 1800 likely has a lot to do with that.

If you have tested with AncestryDNA, can you group your Top 25 AncestryDNA matches into 4 groups?  Even if you have unknowns this is doable.  It's the approach I use when helping adoptees who don't know ANY of their grandparents.  Use the Shared Matches tab to help do this.  The DNAgedcom client will also help if you have access to it.  You would need to download your ICW spreadsheet and look for each of those top 25 matches.

Do you use Member Name or Username on your AncestryDNA test?

I use my Real Name(Member Name) on my account as my Display name.  I've been working with shared matches and have found that you cannot send an AncestryDNA share link to a person who has the preference set to show their Real Name rather than their username. Showing the Real Name is the recommended setting by Ancestry.  While this may help to identify the tester,  you can't use that name to send the share link.  You must find their email address or somehow figure out their username. Sure you can message them and ask for an email address or their username but then the message system seems to be sporadic at best.  Counterproductive for sure and I hope there is a workaround.  If they are identifiable at GEDmatch that isn't a problem as you can get their email address from your One To Many match list there.

Just be aware if you use your Real Name instead of username, folks who don't know your username or who don't have your email won't be able to send you a DNA share link successfully.  I suppose you could put your username in your profile.  I have my email address on my profile but I am not sure how many people browse to the profile page. Having had luck "cold" sending DNA shares when no other form of contact seemed to get the Tester's attention, anything that makes the process harder is frustrating.  Really hope that I haven't missed any invites. I also wonder if messages work the same way.  Though I have never gotten an error message while sending one,  there have been many that I have sent which didn't show up in my Sent Folder or don't accumulate on the match page.  I searched Ancestry.Support and couldn't find any mention of this but received the error only on Profiles that used Real Name.  Does this happen to you?

And AncestryDNA's estimated Amount of Shared DNA is.....

In last Wednesday's blog post I asked if anyone wanted to take a guess at how many shared cMs a cousin match at AncestryDNA was estimated by Ancestry to have.  The match is kin to me 5 different ways. On reevaluating I found yet another shared Double line.  The only person who posted a guess via the comments was Randy Seaver,  so regardless,  he is the closest.  :-)  Perhaps the question was intimidating--DNA research can be like that sometimes.  Randomness.  It doesn't always follow logic or mathematical principles inheritance-wise.

The match shared the following connections with me

5C1R(2x)------Nathan Frizzell & Margaret Deason(my 4Gr his 5Gr) (*)
4C---------------James Morrow & Margaret Sutton(both 3rd Grs)
4C---------------James Jakes & Nancy Harger(both 3rd Grs)
4C1R-----------James Jakes & Nancy Harger(my 3rd Gr= his 4th Gr)

Additional discoveries of
6C---------------James Knox & Elizabeth Craig(Eoff line goes back to them)
6C1R-----------James Knox & Elizabeth Craig(see above)

I used the BLUE for the relationships that were thru my PGM's Dad and the PINK
for the ones that were thru my PGM's Mom.

Typically half of your 4th cousins won't even share DNA with you.
If I had guessed I would have taken the average for all the relationship amounts

4C=13.28  (times 2)
4C1R=6.64
5C1R=1.66 (times 2)
6C= .83
6C1R= .42
Estimated Total that way would have been 37.77 cMs
Which would put me in really close to Randy's guess.  In reality I share 114 cMs across 9 segments as shown below.  That is a typical amount for 2nd Cousins once removed.

I should also note that the 114 cMs made it thru the Ancestry "cut" so it doesn't include anything that is in what they consider to be a "pile-up" region.  Ancestry matches will not include X Segments so there may still be more in common along the X where it is in the x inheritance path.  In typically fashion my sister has done it again and matched them more. The match shares 132 cMs with her across 7 segments.

I really need to see this match at GEDmatch. I think this is a great exercise in how large segments are passed.  In my daughter's matches there are many of the Wildes/Wilkinson descendants who share a large segment of 50 cMs on one chromosome.  Randomness for sure!

Ethnicity--My results at FTDNA's MyOrigins 2.0

FTDNA launched MyOrigins 2.0 today.  Mine results are shown below along with my ethnicity reports according to DNALand, and AncestryDNA.  MyHeritage has promised to make it's full Ethnicity report available free to all those who have uploaded their raw data(I've uploaded 4 tests) there from any of the other sites.  This and the coming of a chromosome browser, and downloadable matches were mentioned in the MyHeritage Webinar that was made available for free at Legacy's FamilyTreeWebinar site last week.



The two biggest changes from the earlier version were the increase in Scandinavian(decrease in West/Central Europe) and the addition of 4% Sephardic Jew.   I've never had ANY Jewish amount even traces in any of my other tests results, so that was interesting to see.

AncestryDNA

Notice the high amount of Irish at AncestryDNA and the low Scandinavia.  Also the Finland amount intrigues me as that region is showing up in my sister's results

DNA Land Results

To give you an idea of what is included here is the listing that pertains to my results from DNAland

Northwest European

Includes: Scottish Argyll_Bute_GBR and British in England; Icelandic in Iceland; Norwegian in Norway and Orcadian in Orkney Islands

Does not include: Saharawi in (Morocco) Western Sahara; Piapoco in Colombia; Estonian in Estonia; Basque/French and French in (South and 1 other site) France; Basque/Spanish and Iberian Population in Spain; Finnish in Finland and Gambian in Western Gambia

Indo-Iranian

Includes: Balochi, Brahui and Makrani in Pakistan

Does not include: Turkmen and Uzbek in Uzbekistan; Hazara, Pathan and Sindhi in Pakistan; Iranian in Iran and Gujarati Indian from Gujarat (expat in Houston TX)

Finnish

Includes: Finnish in Finland

Does not include: Nganasan and Russian in Russia; Belarusian in Belarus; Estonian in Estonia; Norwegian in Norway; Ashkenazi Jew in Poland and Ashkenazi Jew from East Europe especially Lithuania (expat in Baltimore MD)

Ambiguous Northeast European

Northeast European is a general category containing Finnish and North Slavic

Ambiguous West Eurasian

West Eurasian is a very general category containing Arab/Egyptian, Ashkenazi/Levantine, Central Asian, Northeast European, South Asian, South European, Northwest European, Southwestern European and Central Indoeuropean

GEDMATCH

From the Eurogenes K13, one of the Admixture tools at GEDmatch

There are many other Admixture tools at GEDmatch that you may use once you upload.  I chose this one because I thought it would be the most accurate for my lineage.  I think we can all agree that I'm mostly European.  :-)  In my opinion, being able to validly interpret a person's Ethnic mix using their DNA data is still in the infancy stage.

My family's AncestryDNA Genetic Communities

At RootsTech 2017 Tim Sullivan, CEO and president of Ancestry announced that Ancestry would be rolling out a new tool in March for those who have taken their AncestryDNA test(an autosomal test).  As the name suggests it groups your DNA matches into communities.  If you are interested in knowing more about all the research put into developing and the basis for this feature you can see that at the Genetic Communities: Whitepaper.

Expectations

What were my expectations?  In my own ancestry I have a great deal of colonial lines many of which settled in the southeastern United States.  Paternal lines I expect a good deal of English/Irish  represented in those matches.  Many of them were in Logan Co. KY, Union Co. SC and later Bedford, Rutherford and Williamson Co.,  TN.  My maternal lines are from the Isle of Man, England and Ireland.  In the states the concentration would be White, Warren and Van Buren Co TN area.  

For my daughter's ancestry my expectations were German and English with colonial communities in Georgia, East Tennessee, Alabama and Virginia.  She did have ancestors who immigrated a lot later than mine 1830s and 1890s and I expected to see communities for them in Florida and also Franklin Co Indiana.

For my sister's results I was expecting along the same lines as my own even though we have a lot of variation in what we inherited from our Dad.

Results for:

Me

Early Settlers of Northern Arkansas & Middle Tennessee--You and 466 of your DNA matches, along with 114,564 other AncestryDNA members, are all genetically linked to form the Genetic Community Early Settlers of Northern Arkansas & Middle Tennessee.

.....Settlers of the Ozarks & Middle Tennessee--You and 114 of your DNA matches, along with 9,988 other AncestryDNA members, are all genetically linked to form the Genetic Community Settlers of the Ozarks & Middle Tennessee.

Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South--You and 709 of your DNA matches, along with 214,588 other AncestryDNA members, are all genetically linked to form the Genetic Community Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South.

My Daughter
Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South
Early Settlers of Northern Arkansas & Middle Tennessee
Early Settlers of Georgia & Florida

Mom
Early Settlers of Northern Arkansas & Middle Tennessee
....Settlers of the Ozarks & Middle Tennessee
Settlers of East Tennessee & the Blue Ridge Mountains
Settlers of Missouri Ozarks & East Tennessee




















My sister(full sibling)
Early Settlers of Northern Arkansas & Middle Tennessee
Settlers of Western Tennessee, Arkansas & Northeast Texas
.....Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South
Early Settlers of Northern Alabama

Clicking on one of your Genetic Communities takes you to a Origins page which includes a timeline and a more close-up view of the area it covers.

From there selecting CONNECTION loads a page which has a list of your matches and the Top Surnames found in that community.

I'm sure this feature will be helpful to many people especially those who don't already know much about their ancestry and those who immigrated later on.  Keep in mind that I'm writing this from the perspective of someone using the US version of Ancestry with colonial American roots on both sides of the family.  The experience will be different for each person.  I feel like the communities are too broad right now to be of any significant help to me.  I'm hoping that will change as time goes on and we will be able to look at a more detailed group.  While I do like to see the Associated last names, I think a better option would have been to link those names to a search of your matches from that genetic community.  When I clicked on a name that was what I expected(Yes I didn't read the text up above the names before clicking).  Still, a great feature and I'm sure it will bring additional interest in researching both genetic and traditional ancestry.

Working AncestryDNA circles and a few observations

My sister and I have both tested at AncestryDNA.  When I am working on a segment and it is pointing in the direction of a specific ancestor, I always check my AncestryDNA circles to see if I have a Circle for that particular ancestor or ancestor couple.  I work the circles.  What do I mean by work?  I have a spreadsheet template I use.  I begin by adding the Ancestor's name at the top.  The spreadsheet has columns for:

• Ancestry User Name
• Match or Match to Circle
• Estimated cMs/segments
• Group(Child thru which they descend)
• GEDmatch #(known and added as they upload)

I add the info for each circle I work and this helps me to track not only who matches me but the descendant pathways.  Also and probably the most important thing for me is that I can see at a glance which tester would be the most valuable to have their info at GEDmatch.   I generally write those who Ancestry estimates match me on multiple segments or at amounts greater than 15 cMs.  I ask them to consider uploading to GEDmatch if they are not already there and if they have uploaded, how to identify them among my many matches.  I want to focus on these larger matches for a number of reasons. The circle membership gives me a pretty good idea of where they could match me. It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the matches but I feel if you focus on the larger ones, those will help in identifying others.   I also like to look at the smaller matches and see how their estimated segment matches are in comparison with my sister's results.  If they match her at amounts over 15cMs I also message them. 

Stay focused on the larger matches when trying to get folks to GEDmatch.  However do not forget the randomness of DNA.  Siblings can vary greatly in what matches they have.

My sister and I are a great example of that.

Since Mom tested I was able to make phased kits(thanks to GEDmatch tools) which show the matches that each of us got from Dad(who passed before we began DNA testing.)  I have compared my Paternal Phased Kit to my sister, Becca's Paternal Phased Kit and also compared each of our Maternal Phased Kits.   Below are the results

Comparing Paternal Phased for Marie and Paternal Phased for Becca(Full siblings)

(Chr 1-22, X not included)

Largest segment = 134.6 cM

Total of segments > 7 cM = 1,526.2 cM

33 matching segments

Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 1.6

Comparing Maternal Phased for Marie and Maternal Phased for Becca(Full siblings)

(Chr 1-22, X not included)

Largest segment = 145.6 cM

Total of segments > 7 cM = 2,513.8 cM

50 matching segments

Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 1.3

So you can see that on our Paternal lines we appear to have gotten a greater variety, while Mom seems to have given us more of the same.  

Table below shows another example of the randomness. The amounts shown are those estimated by Ancestry and they tend to be slightly higher at GEDmatch.

Comparing segment matches we have to
members of a Paternal Ancestor Circle.  

Shared Ancestor Hints are just that--Hints

I was extremely happy to get 14 new 4th cousins or closer matches on my AncestryDNA results overnight.  I wish people understood the importance of uploading to GEDmatch. Too many treat the circles or the DNA Hints as facts.  To them it is unnecessary to upload their raw data atDNA results to GEDmatch because Ancestry has told them the connection. Sure,  if you don't want to prove your research, go ahead and believe that!  Ancestry gives you hints and clues,  It is on you to investigate and research those.

I have the perfect example among my matches.  This match is kin to me on my Mom's side thru the Luna line at my 4th Great Grandparents.  She is not DNA kin to me or my Mother but she shows as DNA kin to my daughter and the Shared Ancestor Hint is my 4th Great Grandparents(my daughter's 5th Great Grandparents)  Clicking on the "i" shows that my daughter and this match have a shared estimated atDNA of 6.6 centiMorgans(cMs) shared across 1 DNA segment.

Ancestry has done a better job on their wording on the Shared Ancestor Hints than they did when they first appeared.  [If you want to learn more about hints & shared records watch Ancestry's Crista Cowan and her presentation, "Don't be a Searcher, be a Researcher" from RootsTech 2017.


What we should hear  "You have a 6th cousin through the Luna line of your maternal Grandmother with whom you share a 6.6 cM  portion of DNA across 1 segment.  It is possible that it may be through that Luna line. You need to investigate further"

Instead many people feel that they don't need to investigate further and take that info at face value whether it is through lack of understanding, laziness or just not really carrying to know the truth. I'm not talking about those that just tested to learn ethnicity and don't care to do more. I am fine with that.

Thankfully this match agreed to upload to GEDmatch.  Since both of my daughter's Paternal Grandparents have tested I was able to tell that the connection was through my daughter's Paternal Grandmother's lines.  I was also able to take it back a step further in finding where to look as my daughter's PGM's Mother(my daughter's Great Grandmother) had also tested.

The match amount at GEDmatch to:
Daughter:  11.3 cMs on 1 segment
Her  PGM:  12.4 cMs on 1 segment
Her PGM's Mom 12.6 cMs on 1 segment

I should also mention that while my Daughter tested at AncestryDNA, her PGM tested at 23&me and her Great Grandmother tested at FTDNA.  We can compare all of these test at GEDmatch.

I did run the One to One for this match against my results and my Moms and she didn't have any measurable DNA match with us.

Another strategy for finding cousins who have atDNA tested at Ancestry.

For those that have taken the atDNA test at Ancestry.com and not gotten any Circles or maybe you have Circles but none for the ancestor you are wanting to research.  When you are viewing documents that are attached to your ancestor in others trees look at the right hand column when viewing the document or picture.  You will see the button that tells you who the doc or pic is linked to.  Other ancestors or persons in or mentioned in the picture may be linked.  Below that is a Saved By listing for other people who have saved that picture or document which should mean they are interested or related to the family in some way.

Click on any of the Users.  This should take you to their profile page.  From there you should be able to toggle thru any kits you admin and check against the profile.   You do this by clicking on the Hyperlinked word "your".   See the arrow pointing to it in the  image below(Edited for privacy).  This doesn't always work and I think it is due to settings for the other profile if they privacy settings pretty tight.

If any of the kits you admin match the main profile or any of the kit's for which that profile is the admin, those kits will show below the Main profile panel.  It is important to note that Absence of a match doesn't mean that they tested and do not match it.  It means there is no DNA available for that profile that matches yours. They may have tested and not match...or they may not have a test at all.  When you do find a match though you can then click on it to go the Match page and look at cM amounts,  projected relationship, tree, etc.

Those tricky DNA circles

I have began working thru the probate records of my Paternal Grandfather's Ogilvie and Harris lines which come together at my 5th Great Grandparents. My tree is at Ancestry where I have tested along with my sister and my Mom.  All of our DNA results are at GEDmatch as well.  As I work and look thru hints I like to check the profiles of others who have linked to or uploaded information.  When I visit their profile it also lets me check to see if there is a DNA match between me and that person.   I can also select other tests I admin to see if any of them match.  One of the good things about this is that if that person manages any other test and they match the test you have selected they will also appear beneath that profile, even if you don't match the profile but do have a match with one or more test which they admin.

Clicking on the word "your" lets you select other tests you admin to check against their profile

It's unclear to me when you don't find a match if it means they don't match you or if perhaps they haven't tested.  At this point I only give weight to the matches...and not any additional when they don't because I don't know if they have tested.

In this particular case my sister has the larger matches(17-20 cM segment) with both of these persons who tested and my Moderate match with the D.E. kit is only 6.6 cMs.  Ancestry has put us all in the Ann Knox circle together.  At this point there is not a Ogilvie or Harris Circle even though I do see descendants from at least 4 lines that descend from them working on trees.  Likely not enough of them have tested or the ones that have tested do not have DNA in common.  I contacted the main profile person and heard back from them within an hour(almost a record).  Now here is where it gets tricky.  The researcher has several tests at Ancestry(self, parent, sibling and maternal uncle) Along with the being included in the Ann Knox Circle for the testers profile, Shared Ancestor Hints for  Jacob Sutton and wife Ann Knox are shown as well as William Ogilvie and Mary Harris.   Since the Sutton/Knox and Ogilvie/Harris are on different sides of the main testers family we were able to determine that the match my sister has with  her is likely Ogilvie/Harris.  Looking at others who match at smaller amounts along the same segment and knowing the likely line, I have been able to find several others who appear to all have lineage back to this Ogilvie/Harris couple though I am still working on it.  To add too this.  The particular segment along which my sister(we are full siblings) matches is one which I and my sister do not have in common.  For that segment I have matches which come from our Paternal Grandmother's side of the family  This helps to know because it tells me if I match my PGM and my sister doesn't match me along that segment, that she got the only other segment that Dad could have given her....the one he got from his Dad, our PGF.

This is why it is important to look at the matching segments rather than rely on the DNA circles.  I cannot stress that enough.  I feel like the best approach to the DNA circles is to work them looking over the matches and trying to get as many as possible that match you at large amounts to GEDmatch where you can examine them more closely and prove or disprove each of the matches for that circle.

How to send a Share link of your DNA results from your AncestryDNA test

I've found it useful to send share links to some of my closer matches so they can see who matches my test. The top question after I do that has always been "How did you do that?"

I thought it might be useful to post about the process and include some other information from that page as well.  Hope that anyone wanting to know how to do this or explain it to others will find this helpful.

In order to send a share link you need to be viewing the DNA Insight page for the kit which you want to share.

It should look something like the above image across the top.  You will want to click on the button with the Gear logo and the word Settings.  That will take you to a page which has several different options: Email Settings, Privacy, Family Tree Linking,  Research Content, Sharing DNA results and Sharing Ethnicity Results.  Below I have two images showing how how the page should look at the top and as you scroll down to the section where you can send invites to view your DNA results.  I did edit out the names of people that have a share link TO my DNA results in the example.

Scroll down to the section called Sharing DNA results

If you had sent DNA share invites prior to this there would be a listing of users that were allowed to view your results as well as their permissions/role and the REMOVE buttons which you could use to "unshare" at any time.

Once you click on the Invite Others to Access DNA Results you will have a window pop up which looks like this.  From here you can add emails or usernames of people whom you want to have access to the DNA test.  Choose Roles for that person(typically Guest unless you want them to be able to change trees to which your DNA is linked.)  Click on Send Invitation and you should get a notification when they accept your share link.

Column along the Right side of Webpage

Please note in the column along the right side of this page you will find the links to Download Your Raw Data or to Delete Your Test(This requires that you enter your password--This can not be undone) 

Dear Cousins: If you have taken an atDNA test, please consider uploading to GEDmatch

Downloading Your Raw DNA Data

AncestryDNA ---- FTDNA ---- MyHeritage ---- 23andMe

If you have taken an Autosomal DNA test PLEASE consider uploading to GEDmatch. Even if your only reason for taking the test was to find out your ethnicity.  When you test, your matches are restricted to those who have also tested at that same site.  By uploading to GEDmatch you are able to compare with others who have taken an autosomal DNA test at any of the other companies and uploaded to GEDmatch.  Below are instructions for downloading from AncestryDNA, FTDNA, MyHeritage and 23&me. Follow the instructions for the download and then scroll further down the page where you will find the instructions for uploading to GEDmatch.

If you tested at AncestryDNA
From your DNA Insights page click on Settings in the upper right just below your DNA Page header.

On the settings page you will see the option to Download Raw Data.  Click on that and follow the instructions.  Also while you are at the page consider linking your DNA to  your Tree.





After you have downloaded your file from AncestryDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section.

If you tested at FTDNA
From your myFTDNA Dashboard:

Or from the myFTDNA Menu on the Left

After clicking the Download Raw Data link you should see a screen like this.  You can download Builf 36 if you are uploading to regular GEDmatch and build 37 if you are uploading to GEDmatch Genesis.
;Save the file somewhere you can  Browse to and DO NOT open the file.  You will upload the zipped file to GEDmatch.

After you have downloaded your file from FTDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section


If you tested at 23&me

The transfer of the raw data from 23&me to GEDmatch is easier than ever. You can now transfer straight from 23&me to GEDmatch see image below.  No need to deal with the upload section of this page if you are able to transfer a copy straight to GEDmatch.

****Please note if you received your results after Aug 9th you may not be able to upload to GEDmatch but should be able to upload under the GEDmatch Genesis section located at the bottom of the column on the right. ****

I've retained the old instructions for anyone who would rather download their data and then upload the file to GEDmatch.
From your 23&me page. Log in.  It should give you a warning that DNA can contain sensitive info.

Select the Tools Tab from your top and then you should see the Browse or Download tabs. Choose Download and scroll down the page. Click on the button to submit your request. You will be prompted to select what DNA you want to download.choose the autosomal test1-22 and X and follow their instructions.

If you tested at MyHeritage

Uploading to GEDmatch.com

Once you have downloaded your Raw Data.....it's time to upload to GEDmatch.  If you have not registered you will need to do so in order that you may access the site.

After registration, you should be able to log in with your email and password which you chose.

Upload your Raw Data and fill out the info for your kit.  Your kit is usually ready shortly after uploading for One To One comparison but it will normally take at least 24 hours for the batch it is in is completely processed so that you can run the  One To Many for your kit and begin trying to figure out how you match to all those folks.

A listing of the DNA kits you have uploaded will show in the "Your DNA Resources" section located in the left panel of your GEDmatch dashboard page.  You may have to scroll to see it.  See the example below.

While you are waiting for the batch process...you might consider uploading a GEDCOM and linking it to your test results.

Hope you have found this helpful.

The importance of DNA testing siblings

This week I was contacted by a DNA match. She went on to tell me that her file was at GEDmatch and that we had in the range of a 4.7 generation match. The first thing I always do after being contacted by a match is to run their One To Many and then do a Find within page for my email address. I did this and found mine in the 4.7 range. Hit next....and surprise. Mom and my sister match her at 6.7. Of course this means that I need to run the One To One comparison for each of us to this match and see what is going on. Upon doing that for both Autosomal and X I can tell you why I match more than my sister matches.

My best guess is this. On Chromosome 4 that is a match from my Dad's side that my sister didn't get. On this portion of Dad's side I also match a Morrow/Sutton cousin. I should also note for later research that since my sister doesn't match this on this segment to the Morrow/Sutton cousin which is from my PGM side...that my sister on this segment of her DNA from Dad got the part that Dad got from his Dad(PGF). Ran the One to One of the Morrow/Sutton cousin and my DNA match and they also matched which I was 99% sure they would. My sister appears to match her on the end of Chr 4 but at less than 5 cMs so I believe that is noise from colonial lines. On Chromosome 5 you can see the smaller match at just under 9 cMs between my sister and Mom.....a segment which I didn't get.from Mom. If I had already identified which side of Mom's that I got this section along..I would know that my Sister got the one from the other side of Mom's lines since we do not match. Another clue is found with the 5.38cM match that both me and my sister share with this DNA match on the X. Mom doesn't match this and I tend to believe it is most likely from Dad's side.. If so ..this will provide me with more clues as the X has certain inheritance patterns. I have looked back along My current theory is that this line is from Dad's side and that this and the segment that I have on Chr 4 is from the Craigs and or Knox line as this line is one further down the Morrow/Sutton lines.

Things to think about....If my sister had been the only one who tested for my family we would have totally missed the Paternal connection and likely written the Maternal match off as being too far back. Thankful that my sister tested because while we have a good deal of matches in common we have more that we don't have in common than I thought we would. I guess when you get out beyond 3rd cousins that happens even in ones that are heavily colonial. Something else that is very interesting. This DNA match has mostly Canadian ancestry....could their be a Loyalist in there somewhere?

This shows how Mom's kit, Dad's phased kit using mine(Mine minus Mom's DNA) and my sisters kit all match the DNA cousin that contacted me.

AncestryDNA Circles Spreadsheet strategy

This post is about how I am using the info in my AncestryDNA circle to choose which members in the circle would be most beneficial to ask to upload to GEDmatch.com.  If you are not aware of how DNA circles are formed please see the recommended reading links listed at the end of the article. They do have limitations.  You will need segment matches, chromosome browser, triangulation, documented research working together to prove descent.

I have been using the info from my autosomal DNA test which was done at AncestryDNA to map my DNA segments to my Ancestors.  I downloaded my raw DNA and uploaded to GEDmatch where I can compare to others who have tested at any of the other major sites and uploaded their results to the GEDmatch.com website.   I did also do the transfer to FTDNA of my results and other kits I admin because everyone will not upload to GEDmatch....It would be great...but it's just not going to happen. Much like a chromosome browser at Ancestry.  I can deal with that though.

I've tried setting some goals for my larger DNA circles.  My goal is to get as many of my DNA circle matches to upload as possible.  That said, there are other things I'd like to know in deciding which of those circle members would be the most helpful to my research.  

• Which of the members have matching DNA segments with me?
• How many centiMorgans does Ancestry guesstimate we share?
• Along which path do they descend?
• Are they uploaded to GEDmatch?

I chose one of my larger DNA circles---Jabel Putman 54 Members of which 24 match my kit.

After navigating to my DNA circles and selecting the Jabel Putman Circle this is what it looks like

From the Circle page I click on LIST to show the matches.  This particular circle has 3 pages of matches.  I opened my notepad and copy and pasted the listing of matches to my kit.  I then edited the info and inserted tabs so I could paste it into a spreadsheet.  I did a FIND & REPLACE ALL with DNA MATCH TO CIRCLE and replace with OOO,  Then I did a FIND & REPLACE ALL with DNA MATCH and replaced that text with XXX.(be careful not to reverse those two if you try this)

Once I had my layout like I wanted it, I pasted the info into a spreadsheet and adjusted the columns and added a column for GEDmatch # LINE(of descent). To really get an idea of what can be gained by seeing the kit at GEDmatch, I also added a SEGMENT MATCH column.  There are several other columns in the circle listing(Admin, Group and Connection Strength) and I chose to keep them with the exception of the image files.  I added formatting to make the spreadsheet more visually informative.  In the rows where the circle member was a DNA match to me (XXX) I shaded those rows a pale green. I began populating the GEDmatch # Column by adding the #s of the matches which I knew had uploaded to GEDmatch. While viewing the matches in List Mode, click on Relationship to determine that members line of descent and note it in the LINE column.  I chose to include the child and the grandchild in that column.  For the Segment Match column I viewed the profile for the matches(those with XXX), clicked on the i while viewing to find the guesstimated amount of shared DNA  After I had gotten the spreadsheet populated and formatted to my liking, I sorted by those who had XXX in the match column adding the word ASK in the GEDmatch # column for those who matched me but who had not yet uploaded to that site.

Below is a screenshot of a copy of my spreadsheet(I edited out/modified usernames)

It's a pretty good representation of the randomness of DNA inheritance even though we really have no way of knowing 100% for sure if this ancestor is responsible for the segment match

Looking at the spreadsheet now lets me know the answers to my earlier questions and will let me make the most of my time when contacting my matches and recommending that they upload to GEDmatch..

Recommended reading to learn about AncestryDNA's Circles

Lisa Louise Cooke's Genealogy Gem's article

Genealogy Junkie's AncestryDNA starter page

Also Roberta Estes' DNA Explained has many articles about AncestryDNA circles.

AncestryDNA's new update: Before & After comparison using my kits

After 2+ weeks without matches to my AncestryDNA kits and waiting on my sister's kit to finish processing the results are in.  As I logged on shortly after lunch today I saw this message and started seeing my sister as a match in the kits I manage.

I have several kits at AncestryDNA:  Mine, My Mom's kit and my Daughter's kit.
I made note prior to the changes of the amount of Hints, 4th Cousins & Greater, DNA Circles, New Ancestor Discoveries and pages of matches each of the kits had.  The chart below shows a comparison.  I did expect the amount of circles to decrease as some people fell out of the match range. My sister's kit had no data prior to the roll out as it had not processed.

Now I am hoping to get her kit to GEDmatch.  Have you tested at Ancestry?  How did yours compare?