Video link     You are genetically unique, even if you are a twin.   At conception, you were dealt a random set of DNA.  Sometimes that set of DNA matches other people, like your cousins.  And sometimes your DNA doesn’t match, even though you expect it to.  DNA inheritance is not perfect.  That’s why you don’t look exactly like your siblings (unless, of course you are an identical twin).  Your mom and dad will always give you 50% of their DNA, but there are some random events.     Let’s represent mom’s DNA with 100 cards, 50 red and 50 blue (her DNA inheritance from her parents).  She’s going to shuffle them and randomly give you 50 of those cards.  Dad is going to give you 50 of his cards.  Together, that’s you.  Now pick up all the cards and reshuffle.  Pass out 50 cards from each parent to your sibling.  It’s highly unlikely that they will get the same cards as you.      Wh...

  Video link     The amount of DNA you share with a match is measured in centiMorgans, represented with a little c and a big M.   This amount can be roughly translated into how you are related to your match.  For example, a parent and child share about 3400cM.  Third cousins share about 53cM.  There is a great chart at the International Society of Genetic Genealogists that provides a reference.  Link  DNA Reference .      Say that you and your match share 106cM.  If you are the same generation as your match, you may be half second cousins.  If you are different generations, then you are second cousins once-removed (your parent’s second cousin).  What if you have a 265cM match?  This falls between cousin categories.  This amount of DNA could represent a double cousin.  One portion of the match at 212cM, representing a second cousin.  Plus 53cM, representing an additional third cousin match...

  Video link     More DNA matches means more adventures and more opportunities to solve family history mysteries.   All DNA testing companies will allow you to download your DNA results.  And you should, just for safe keeping. There are a number of companies that will allow you upload your DNA results for free.  Ancestry is not one of them.      The three that I use are Family Tree DNA, MyHeritage and GedMatch.  GedMatch provides the most tools for comparing and analyzing your DNA for free.  For an extra fee, you get even more tools.  The testing companies, that we actually pay for, should git off their collective asses and learn from Gedmatch to provide more analysis tools.  More uploads to more sites means more matches, period.

  Video Link     Family trees are the core of genealogy and they let you journey back in time.   I like Ancestry because it has the largest number of DNA users and the largest number of family trees.   I dislike Ancestry because most of the family trees are crap.      That said, the family tree interface at Ancestry is still better than every other DNA testing site. So, I use Ancestry to fix and build family trees for everyone else.  Ancestry allows me to create as many family trees as I want and I do.  If I find a DNA match with a partial tree, I add any good connections from that tree to one of my scratch-pad trees.  Then I build a full tree for my match.      The only way I’m going to figure out how my match is related to me is by extending their tree until it intersects with my own.  If you are having trouble building your tree, ask for help.  There are a ton of people and resources out there that w...

  Video Link     You need a DNA reference tree.   This can be your main family tree or a specially built tree.   It contains you and all your DNA matches and serves as a map to all your interconnecting family members.  With your reference tree and the use of Shared Matches, you will be able to identify that next mystery DNA match that has no family tree.  Who do they match?  How close in centiMorgans is their match?  Refer to your reference tree and bingo that’s where they go.

  Video Link     Reach out and introduce yourself.   Tell them about your family history journey (briefly, no life stories here).   Then they may open up and share information that you need either to figure out the connection or solve a common goal.  You won’t know until you ask.  The best genealogy journeys begin when others join the quest.  So, git off yer ass and make contact.

  Video Link     Imagine your next DNA match is an adoptee.   You need to, “Adopt and Adoptee” and take them under your wing.   They are absolutely a cousin and that means they are family.      Adoptees only turn to DNA when all other avenues fail.  You may be their best chance at figuring out who their birth parents are.  I’ve helped dozens of adoptees, many of them starting out as my own DNA match.  Helping them has been some of the most exciting adventures I’ve ever been on.

  Video Link     You need to be tenacious and never stop researching.   I don’t always find what I’m looking for, but that doesn't deter me.  I’ll take a break and come back later.      Perhaps I just need to wait for another DNA match or another set of documents to get digitized.  But I always come back.  Some of the brick walls or non-parental event puzzles have taken me years to solve.  Eventually I get there. And will you too.  Don’t ever stop, because there will always be more family to find.

  Video Link     How do you tell someone that they have a non-parental event in their family?   Gently, if possible.      If that person is adopted, they probably already know they are part of an ‘event’.  For every adoptee, there is another family or two who may not know that the event ever took place.  In cases of hanky-panky, the child of that infidelity may not even know.      I find that I need to lead them to the conclusion for themselves.  In the case where someone asks me to help find more information on their grandfather using DNA, I might find that there is no genetic connection to that grandfather.  I start with, “You don’t have any matches with those surnames.”  Then let that sink in.  Or when talking to an adoptee’s bio-family, I’ll say, “I’m working with an adoptee with a very strong DNA match to your family” (keeping it vague).  And let that sink in.  Let them ask the next ...

  Video Link     Get settled. In today’s class we’re going to talk about the Transitive Law of Genetic Genealogy.      Imagine you have a DNA match to person A, let’s call him Andy.  You also match person B, let’s call him Bob.  When you look at your Shared Matches for Andy, you see Bob on the list of people with DNA in common.  If A=B and B=C (you’re C), therefore A=C.  There is a very high probability that you, Andy and Bob all share a common ancestor.  If Andy and Bob have good family trees, somewhere back in time you will find a common great-grandparent.  Their common great-grandparent is probably your ancestor also.     Most of the time when we process these connections it’s an obvious relationship that we already know about.  Sometimes though, you stop and say, “Wait a minute, I know all my great-grandparents and that’s not one of them.”  Surprise. You’re going to need a bigger tree. ...

  Video Link     Some family history sites like Ancestry and MyHeritage allow you to color code and tag your DNA matches.   If you haven’t done this yet, stop and go do it.      OK, Ancestry and MyHeritage, if you are listening, I need more colors.  I have a lot of branches to tag. All you other websites out there, git off yer ass and make color tagging available.  As I figure out how a DNA match fits into my family history mystery, I tag it with a color and a surname.  If I get a bunch of matches that share DNA with each other, but I can’t determine which surname they belong to, I mark them as a mystery group.      When I get a new match, I look at the Shared Matches and can quickly see based on color tags where they belong.  Those mystery groups I’ve been collecting could come in handy later to solve non-parental events and uncover other hidden secrets.

Video Link      One of the best things I can do for my family tree is to validate every branch using DNA.   If you are like me, my first family tree was based on anecdotes and genealogical records only.   Good bad or otherwise.      For every surname in your tree, you should be able to find DNA matches to confirm the connection.  You should be able to validate at least 5 or 6 generations back.  If you can’t validate, you may need to test your siblings or cousins to give you a more diverse set of matches.  If that still doesn’t work, you might have a hidden adoption or illegitimacy issue.  You probably have a genetic gap in your tree.      Time to start looking at your mystery group matches for means, motive and opportunity.

  Video Link     Have you ever been your own worst enemy?   Have you ever overlooked a clue on a digital image?   I have.   I tell myself, “Self, I have time to look at that later.”   Then I don’t get back to it for a long time.    Wake up and smell the coffee.  You need to take the time and read the fine print on digital images.  Little tiny clues like the street address or which cemetery they were buried in.  One time on a Scottish marriage record, the wife’s parents were missing.  I didn’t think anything of it.  So many US records have missing parents all the time.  But the Scottish records are a bit more meticulous.  The lack of parents meant that the wife didn’t know who her parents were.      I should have seen the potential for a non-parental event years ago, but I missed it.  Every word (or lack of a word) is a clue. 

  Video Link     Is your family tree healthy? Too many people build their trees by copying from someone else’s tree.   Zero references.   I see people making connections from a child to parents based on the name only.   “Oh look, that name is close enough. Those must be my great grandparents.”   Nope.      Just a little more research would have shown that the child in the birth record used died a few years later and couldn’t have been your ancestor.      Try, please try to get as many record references as possible.  Otherwise, your tree looks like Frankenstein’s monster with parts that don’t fit.  Double and triple check your connections before you move on.  OK, and no more stumps, fill something in!      You’re making more work for me to fix it.  I’m done, I’ll get off my soapbox.

  Video Link     Sometimes we get stuck researching our ancestors.   Try going wide.   I will often switch to researching the oldest or youngest sibling.   Perhaps your ancestor had a nickname or a transcription error.   Following a sibling may allow you to find that next record.  Sometimes follow a neighbor.      Maybe you can’t find your family on a particular census (again probably a transcription error), follow one of your family’s neighbors to another census year and see if they still live next door.  Also, when looking at any digital record image, click the next or previous button.  Maybe there’s something on the digital back or next page.        Many digital documents are double-sided or multi-page, yet a hint will only reference the first page.   There’s no one way to find what you’re looking for.

   Video Link    Shine a light on the skeletons in your closet.   The facts need to be revealed.   One person’s dirty laundry is another person’s life changing revelation.      It may be as simple as how someone died, like my great-great uncle who chased his wife with a lit stick of dynamite or that they spent time in an orphanage, poor-house, jail or asylum. Your ancestor could have been a serial bigamist or legally had a dozen wives.  The skeletons are endless and all exciting.       On your family history journey, you need to shine your light in all the dark corners and expose the hidden history.  But do it gently.