Blaine T. Bettinger's Update to The Shared cMs Project

More improvements in helping to determine possible relationships given the amount of shared cMs between matches in Autosomal DNA testing.

Blaine T. Bettinger's Update to The Shared cMs Project

Great info for those using Autosomal DNA testing in genealogy research or to locate unknown/lost family lines.

DNA Logic Puzzles

My Dad always loved the Logic puzzles in the Dell Puzzles Magazines. As I'm working on DNA matches today I can't help thinking about him.  Not just because I am working on my paternal matches but that he would like the logic I am using.  While I have had my DNA results and those of my Mom for over a year, my sister's results came in not long ago and we now have her kit at GEDmatch. She is a full sibling but there seems to be a good variation in the people which we match due to the randomness in the 50% which you get from each of your parents..  What does that mean for me? I can take her kit....run it with Mom's to phase out Mom's matches and create a kit of Sis' DNA she got from Dad...which I can then compare to my DNA which I got from Dad.  If I know that one of us matches Dad's Mom along one segment..and it's a segment that we don't match along....I then know that the other one of us matches Dad's Dad along that segment which we don't have in common.  After all...Dad only had two to offer...so you got one or the other.

An Example:
Chromosome 4 on my Paternal side(which I can see by using the phased kit) I have a section from about 4-40 which I know I can attribute to my Paternal Grandmother's  Morrow/Sutton lines. My Sister has NONE of these same matches along that same segment of her Paternal side(I can again distinguish her Paternal from her Maternal matches by using the phased kit of her DNA she got from Dad mentioned earlier).  By this I can conclude that the matches along that segment for her are from my Paternal Grandfather's side and somewhere back along the Cook/Putman or King/Manire lines.


While this won't solve all of my unknowns, it is a big help in knowing where to look for the connection for these matches. So many times I wish that the matches had some idea of which side I match them along.This is one of the greatest things about having a parent and a full sibling that have also tested.

Visual representation of Chromosome mapping

This is my daughter Brittany's Chromosome map. She and I both have done the autosomal test as have her maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother.

In addition to her grandmothers testing she has a maternal aunt and a paternal uncle who have also tested as well as several Paternal Great Aunts & a Great Uncle.  This will help to sort thru her matches.

MGF--Cooke/King  & Jakes/Frizzell
MGM- Acuff/Hale & Luna/Pittman
PGF- Beckman/Folley & Harper/Mattox
PGM-Mosley/Hogland & Demonia/Brantley

This segment map is a screenshot from the GenomeMate Pro program which I use to help track my matches for kits I manage.

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?

Did you receive an email from Ancestry Support Forum?

NO NEED TO PANIC: If you are one of those who has gotten an email from Ancestry Support to change your password, don't panic. As someone who uses the support there I also got this email.  It was sent so that you can be transitioned to Ancestry Support Forum's new platform. What you are changing is the password you used to log on the Ancestry Support Forum....NOT changing your Ancestry Password. The Ancestry Support section has had a separate log on from your Ancestry subscription acct for as long as I've used it. That's not to say that you didn't use the same password or username when you created the Support log on that you did your Ancestry acct. but the email is legit if you check the headers and it looks something like this

From: Ancestry Support
Sender: noreply@salesforce.com 

To: rmbeck***@gmail.com 

Subject: Welcome to Ancestry Support! 

There has been a notice below the masthead at the Ancestry Support Forums for a good while now announcing that they were changing to a new platform. You can navigate to the new site from the Ancestry.com site by Selecting HELP from the menu and choosing Support Center from that drop down menu..

[Update:  As a member and reader of several online forums I had watched the panic spread about the email and posted this only to let my fellow researchers know that it was a legitimate.

I agree it was not the best means to announce the change....however the email was consistent in form with those I get when someone adds info to their tree, shares a tree or DNA with me  or when Ancestry "Discovers" new hints.]

DISCLAIMER:  While I use many products and services in my research I am not affiliate with any of the companies who provide any products or services I have used. Any products or services I use were paid for by me. If at any time I receive free products or services, I will state that before my review or opinion.  I do not speak for or represent any of these companies.  My opinions are just that...MY opinions just as you are free to form your own opinions

Reminder to Tennessee Residents--Select Genealogy Databases Available thru TEL

If you are resident of Tennessee you have access to a number of genealogy databases from the comfort of your home thru the Tennessee Electronic Library 


Currently you can access the following thanks to TSLA's agreement with Ancestry.com.

Tennessee, Delayed Birth Records, 1869-1909
Tennessee, Death Records, 1908-1958
Tennessee, City Birth Records, 1881-1915
North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931
Tennessee, Early Tax List Records, 1783-1895
Tennessee, Enumeration of Male Voters, 1891
North Carolina and Tennessee, Revolutionary War Land Warrants, 1783-1843
Tennessee, City Death Records, 1872-1923
Tennessee, Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008
Web: Tennessee, Supreme Court Case Index, 1809-1950

HeritageQuest(made available thru ProQuest) and a few other databases are available as well.  Some may require your library name and card number while other's will check your IP address to iusure you are in Tennessee.

If you are a resident of another state, check with your state library to see what they offer.  I think it's highly likely that they too have some free databases available.