The Importance Of Using Your Arsenal

There are only a handful autosomal DNA testing companies in existence and each company brings something different to the table.  Testers that are actively engaged in genetic genealogy still hope for the holy grail of testing companies.  Often times we have to use a combination of resources to get results.  One classic example of where I had to use 23andme, AncestryDNA, Ancestry.com and Gedmatch to see just how different each company as it pertains to identifying genetic relationships among its testers.  Another peculiar thing that may occur is what I like to call phantom segments. These segments may appear in a child's profile and not the parent's profile. Situations such as these require further analysis that the DNA testing companies do not provide.  The following example demonstrates why you must use your arsenal for analysis:  

Gedmatch GEDCOMS

Gedmatch is a genetic genealogist's delight.  You can find DNA matches that have uploaded their raw data from the Big 3 (FTDNA, 23andme and AncestryDNA) and create cool spreadsheets from Gedmatch's various analytics tools.  I highly suggest forking over the additional $10 to use the Tier 1 tools as you will eventually need them.

One of my new favorites, is the GEDCOM + DNA Matches tool.  Gedmatch allows users to upload a Gedcom (a text file that contains genealogical information about individuals that can be downloaded and uploaded to sites and/or software that accepts such files.) to be linked to your Gedmatch Kit number.  The GEDCOM + DNA Matches tool ( I will refer to the tool as GDM moving forward) takes a list of your matches that have uploaded a Gedcom file to the system and produces a lists of those individuals.  You can click onto the match's Gedcom file and look for matching relatives or clues for the MRCA (most recent common ancestor) between you and the match.  Now the caveat is that this tool will only display DNA matches that share at least 10 cM's of autosomal DNA, so this will not included matches that are considered a match within in a genealogical timeframe at 7cM's of autosomal DNA and this will not included matches in which you share X-DNA only (no autosomal).
If you've tested with the Big 3, I strongly suggest that you upload your raw data to Gedmatch along with your Gedcom.  In conjunction with segment triangulation, this tool will assist with opening doors and tearing those genealogical brick walls that so many of us experience.

Getting Started – Family Tree 101

So now that you have a reasonable expectation of what expect as you embark on your journey, let’s discuss the tools that you will need to actually construct a family and the information and components that make a family tree. I strongly suggest that you invest in family tree software that can create a GEDCOM file. Everyone is going to have an opinion on what you should use. Ultimately driving factors such as cost, functionality and ease of use will be your primary determining factors in selecting software.

Tracing Your Family Roots: Expectation & Level Setting

So you want to dig deeper and discover more about your family and figure out what it all means in the grand scheme of things.  Great!  This means you'll need to construct a family tree.  You have to start somewhere and now is just as good as a time as any to get started.  This particular post will help you level set as well as give you a gauge as to what you should expect when embarking on a constructing a family tree.

So here are some things you need to know and some things that you need to consider before constructing a family tree and tracing your roots: