DNA
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What is a Most Recent Common Ancestor?
In my post What is a Cousin? (1) I talked about how cousins are related to each other, so people could understand what “removed” means in terms of genealogy. I even linked to a handy Cousin Calculator (2) so that anyone trying to figure out their relationship to their cousin could easily figure it out.…
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Triangulation, Part 5
I didn’t think there was anymore to say about triangulation, and then I was working on some presentations on various Gedmatch tools and noticed that there is now a triangulation tool. This tool kind of makes my original post (1) moot, but I’ll keep it up there because it’s a good explanation of what triangulation…
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Gedmatch Basics, Part 2
This is the sequel to my post Gedmatch Basics, Part 1. In order to understand the things that we’re going to talk about, you’ll need to understand the things mentioned in that post, so if you haven’t read it yet I suggest you do so. Since I first wrote this post, a lot has changed…
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Are we related?
I posted one of my blog posts to LinkedIn (1) and someone asked an interesting question that gave me pause. “What if the two people you are comparing share DNA that you are not testing? How does one know that what is tested allows one to deem common ancestry “impossible,” thereby capable of being eliminated?…
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Identifying Unknown DNA
Whether you’re talking about unknown parentage, Unidentified Human Remains (UHRs), or Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG), the steps to use DNA to solve them are pretty similar. I’m sure there’s as many processes as there are people, but I like to think of it like a jigsaw puzzle. Every DNA match is a piece of…
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WATO for beginners
The What Are The Odds (WATO) (1) tool is an extension of the SharedcM (2) tool I talked about in my post Centimorgans and Segments (3). You need to have a grasp of the concept of centimorgans and the relationships that are possible based on the amount of shared centimorgans to understand why WATO is…
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Not the Mama! Inferred Chromosome Painting
I previously talked about chromosome painting (1) and how you can paint DNA matches you know to assign your DNA to your ancestors. Let’s review the basics of recombination before we jump to talking about inferred chromosome painting. My mom has two chromosomes, one from her mom and one from her dad, and those two…
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Chromosome Painting
Chromosome painting is one of those things that looks super confusing until you do it and realize it’s really not so complicated. And then you get addicted to it. I talked a little bit about chromosome painting in my post Painting Your Matches with Rootsfinder (1) but I’ve apparently never talked about Jonny Perl’s DNA…
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I got my DNA tested, now what?
I’ve organized this post so that it goes from the very basics to things that require more advanced skills. Once you’ve mastered the earlier stuff you should be ready to move onto the more difficult stuff. Try Lost Cousins’ Masterclass. While you’re there, if you have ancestors on the 1880 UK, Canadian or American census,…
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Centimorgans and Segments
In my post DNA in a Nutshell I mentioned that centimorgans (cM) are a unit of measurement used to measure the amount of DNA you have. The more centimorgans you share with someone, the closer you are related to them. For example, you share around 3500cM with your parents, but only around 880cM with your great-grandparents.…
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