I have lots of ideas about what I’d like to write about, but I work with genetic genealogy every day and what I’d like to write about might not be the same as what you want to read. As always, I’ll include articles about new features, tools, vendor announcements, and opportunities such as sales.
As for the rest, I’d like your opinion. What would you like to see me cover? Before I ask these 10 questions, and you answer, please note that you can search the blog by keyword or topic to see if I’ve already covered a topic.
- Are you interested in DNA basics? If so, which topics?
- Would you enjoy more vendor-specific articles? If so, which vendors and topics?
- Would you like tool-specific instruction? If so, which tools?
- Would you like more articles in the Concepts series? If so, are there specific genetic concepts you’d like to see covered?
- Would you like examples of how to integrate the genetics aspect with traditional genealogy? Can you give me an example?
- Would you like intermediate or advanced topics? If so, which ones?
- Would you like me to write and publish a new book? If so, what topic(s)? Traditional printed bound book, e-book, or both?
- Would you be interested in other publication types such as Podcasts, YouTube videos, or something else? If so, in addition to my blog articles, or instead of blog articles? How would I resolve privacy issues showing live screens of my results?
- You’re always welcome to share my blog articles by forwarding emails, links, or on social media. Do you share my articles with others? If so, where and how do you share?
- What are your favorite articles and types of articles? What do you find exciting? Why?
I welcome your input in the comments. You can just write free-format or answer by question number. If you have ideas that I’ve missed, please add those too.
I can’t wait to see your suggestions. 2022 is going to be a great year!
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Dear Roberta
As an aging, childless genealogist with not-too-interested heirs, I would like to know and understand my options for leaving my DNA legacy to citizen science. I have DNA in FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage and Ancestry.
That’s a really important topic. At FamilyTreeDNA, there is a beneficiary tab, but I’m not sure what you would enter here with no person. I have had people post me as their beneficiary because I am the admin for a particular project, but eventually, that will be outdated too.
As for myself…I am more interested in the basics of DNA and how to learn to find other DNA members of family. My mother was adopted and after 50 years, I finally found her bio mother, but still have not found her bio father. I need basic help in DNA.
Roberta,
Two suggestions:
1) how to use the 1950 census when it comes out. I’ll be looking for people who lived at specific street locations.
2) you mentioned you hoped that DNA will lead to a breakthrough on who was Hanna(h) Miller’s mother Magdalena. That is also one of my brick walls, but my interest is beyond just that case, in the strategy for how to use DNA in such cases. I have four other similar brick walls. So far I have not got beyond hoping I’ll stumble across a clue.
Chip
Good Question. I am adding DNA Confirmation to my confirmed DNA relationships at WikiTree. However, I wonder if there are more options I don’t know about. I wish FamilySearch had a method to confirm DNA relationships like WIkiTree. Then I would have my DNA eggs in more than one basket. I would even be willing to pay a fee (a reasonable fee) to accomplish this.
I don’t know if you do book reviews but one just popped up on a discount ebook site called A Short History of Humanity By Johannes Krause and Thomas Trappe that talks about the field of archaeogenetics and its use in updating our knowledge of the migration of humans. I’m interested in what the book offers and may buy it anyways but I would also be interested in your opinion of it and whether you agree with their methods.
I have not heard of that book and it sounds interesting. I do occasional book reviews when something is published that I feel is relevant and provides an accurate contribution.
Roberta, today, I have a new match at MH, 27.9 cMs, 1 seg. He matches my GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER with 25.2 cMs, virtually no recombination in 3 generations. That looks like one STICKY segment.
Dear Roberta,
I am a member of the Wing Family of America. Reverend John Wing(e) and Deborah Bachiler are my 9th great-grandparents. However, Deborah is doubted to be the daughter of Reverend Stephen Bachiler. We don’t have evidence to seal the deal. The other Bachiler (Batchelder) children have been eliminated from the Wing Family. Charles Anderson, of the Great Migration Project includes Deborah as the Reverend’s daughter. I know Y-DNA will not resolve this issue. I have a Family Finder autosomal match, a triangulation match with a another Wing, and a Bachiler descendant. Will autosomal resolve this. I hope you are doing well! Thanks!
Hugh
One won’t, but multiple might, especially if through multiple children AND the other testers have relatively complete trees so you’re not concerned about a different line matching.
My Bachiler match has at least three lines to Nathaniell Bachiler and on for Anne Bachiler, and my Wing match has one line to Stephen Bachiler. . The Bachiler match does not have a well deveoped tree. .I will need more matches!!
I’m dealing with a similar situation. That’s an awfully long way back. You’re taking the right path.
The articles that I have enjoyed the most are the ones when you share your life stories and your wisdom with us. Your personal stories are so inspiring to me. We can relate to the struggles of the past 2 years, the happy and disappointing trials we go through, and all of the joys of life! Thank you for sharing your tender thoughts and feelings with us. One of my other favorite posts was about the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Indianapolis. I have a Civil War Veteran from Indiana and plan to place a brick for him. Although I have a son who lives in Indiana and have seen many sights there, we have not been to that monument. Hopefully on the next trip we will stop by and admire it. Thank you.
Thank you.
I would like to find out a little more about tagging and editing photos at MyHeritage. I am having trouble making corrections if I do something wrong.
Have you joined the MyHeritage User Group on Facebook? Lots of knowledgeable people there, plus MyHeritage follows that group too.
I would like to see more articles about how beneficial smaller segments may be such as 3 to 7 cM. This is in regard to my colonial ancestry. Going back past 4 or more generations it is difficult to find what could be a dna match with documented family trees. You and I share Francis Vannoy as a great something grandfather but we do not have what is considered a true dna match. I have found sticky segments of 8 cM or more at times but at other times I have found exact sticky segments that both my sister and I share with someone that is exactly the same cM start and end and SNP. However these matches may only be 3 to 6 cM. Thank you.
Hi Roberts
First of all, thank you for sharing all your knowledge and wisdom! I wonder if you could write an article about what to do when you can’t find a match on a particular line? e.g. If you suspect your ancestor on paper is not the real one. Or with tracking the line when no father is named on the birth certificate or christening. How can you use DNA and historical records to find the correct person?
Thanks, Sue
Are you interested in DNA basics? If so, which topics?
– I have an adoptee friend who is interested in genetic tests (although she hasn’t tested yet), I would be interested in a basic tour of what every vendor can give people in her situation. She is interested more into the scientific and medical aspect of it, but her sister is more into the social, meeting cousin side.
– Talking of adoptee, there was a man in one of FTDNA y-DNA related project discutions who seemed confused on how to determined whether the man he suspected to be his father (which he had tested) really was his father or not. He was comparing their ethnicity estimates which didn’t really added up (obviously). I told him as long as all the 22 non sexual chromosomes are full and X is empty (because he gave a Y instead), it should be either his father, his son or the identical twin of his father. Anyway, it seems the very last step in these adoptees case could be more carefully explained.
– I would also like a topic on less clear cases. For exemple, I have mt-maches which are one mutation away from the core group, it would be nice to have an easy to read list of what are the possible scenario and how to verify which case it is (for example, one of these matches tested a first cousin of her, which turned out to be the same a the main cluster). Another example, when I Y-DNA tested my maternal uncle, he only matched his papertrail distant cousin as on Y12, but not on Y25 or Y37 (it turned out he had a “bump” of 4 mutations in the Y25 section, so he only start to match back at Y67).
Would you enjoy more vendor-specific articles? If so, which vendors and topics?
– I’m only using FTDNA, Gedmatch and DNApainter for the moment, so that’s the ones I’m interested into. I don’t have any specific topic in mind, but that would be for advanced tool.
Would you like tool-specific instruction? If so, which tools?
– Nothing comes to my mind…
Would you like more articles in the Concepts series? If so, are there specific genetic concepts you’d like to see covered?
– Nothing comes to my mind…
Would you like examples of how to integrate the genetics aspect with traditional genealogy? Can you give me an example?
– An example would be to cluster mt- or y-matches into groupes of same ancestor/same geographical area, then take the ones going further back in time and trying to see if their descendants connect with the ones who can’t go as far back. Isn’t it how you manage to extend your own mt-line?
Would you like intermediate or advanced topics? If so, which ones?
– Stuff on endogamy would be useful to me. I only really manage to work with mt- and y- DNA so far. I plan to start working more seriously on my First Nations DNA segments this years, because they stand out and are easy to attribute to a few ancestors, but the rest is still an indistinct blob.
Would you like me to write and publish a new book? If so, what topic(s)? Traditional printed bound book, e-book, or both?
– No topic in particular comes to my mind… As for traditional vs e-book… You said you wrote a book to put together the 52 ancestors series, right? This, I would write on paper, so that 300 years in the future, we will be sure some copy will still exist. Your series on your Indiana German ancestor or your German Mennonite ancestors will probably be useful in centuries to come. Stuff about online tools would probably be better serve as e-book, it’s cheaper and you don’t need to accumulate copies as the tools update and new info pile up. When a new updated book come out, you delete the ancient one with no after though (or you keep them for old time sake, but you don’t need to dust it xD).
Would you be interested in other publication types such as Podcasts, YouTube videos, or something else? If so, in addition to my blog articles, or instead of blog articles? How would I resolve privacy issues showing live screens of my results?
– For podcast, I’m not really good with listening alone, I would rather have video supports to help me see what’s going on. As for privacy issue, as long as it’s not live, you can always blur or hide parts of the image while editing. However, your blog is still my favorite medium, it’s easily searchable and I can take my time to carefully read tricky parts. Plus, it’s easy to copy and past the key points in a email, then explain my match(es) how it apply to our case.
You’re always welcome to share my blog articles by forwarding emails, links, or on social media. Do you share my articles with others? If so, where and how do you share?
– I share mostly mt-DNA and Y-DNA contents in emails with my FTDNA mt- and y-matches, although I sometime share some other topics on FTDNA project open discutions, depending of the of the needs.
What are your favorite articles and types of articles? What do you find exciting? Why?
– I really like the 52 ancestors stories, even though I’m rarely related to them, it’s always nice to see how you connect the different piece of information into a coherent narrative. Sometimes, information you give there help me figure out cultural context in my own genealogy. Or strategy to solve DNA question marks. There’s also the thrill to just read a good drama. xD
On tools . . .Paint and triangulation.
I’d love to see more about trying to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard in cases where most of a person’s (rather few) matches descending from a particular MRCA are at AncestryDNA, haven’t uploaded their results to a site with a chromosome browser, and haven’t responded to messages. In other words, I’d like to learn more about meeting the GPS without triangulation. (Specifically I’m trying to prove/disprove that a particular son of one pair of 2GGPs was/wasn’t my great-grandfather.)
As an aside, I’ve wondered if a campaign for AncestryDNA users to respond to the “We want to hear about your experience” pop-up by complaining about the lack of a chromosome browser might possibly persuade them to add one if enough of us indicated a strong interest in it. I only subscribe to Ancestry periodically but would certainly subscribe much oftener if only they had a CB.
Thanks so much for considering this question as a possible blog topic!
I can’t directly address your question. However, I use the Ancestry Thrulines to try to find cousins who test at other DNA test sites. I study the Surname of the Ancestry match and their parents and grandparents and great grandparents and married names of female silblings of the above to look for people who have tested at other DNA sites. While I may not find them at the test site, I may find their close cousins. Looking at descendent charts of the grand parents and great grand parents at FamilySearch is very helpful in finding these Surnames. I’ve found a few DNA cousins that do triangulate this way. Combined with DNA matches at other companies that list related Surnames, sometimes an equivalent cousin can be found. This does take considerable effort but does pay off at times.
What a great idea about finding their cousins.
On the ancestry website if you go to dna summary, settings and then to sharing preferences, you can share your dna match list and ethnicity with others and they with you. Have your written about this feature. I know some are using it to overcomes the 20cm match sharing limit, no trees and brick walls. If you have just point me to it. Thank you.
How are they using this to overcome the limits? You mean by allowing them to view your list and vice versa?
I am referring to DNA matches who have opted to share their results with me. Once this has been done, that person’s results can be checked against any of my matches, new or old, at any level, right down to the 8cM threshold. This is done by opening the match then clicking on their name, or that of their manager, if applicable. This takes you to their profile page, where you will see a tab saying “DNA relationship to you”. Click on the downward arrow to compare the match to anyone who has shared their results with you, to see whether or not they match that person.
OK, I see what you mean now.
Idea: which genealogy societies should you join? For instance, you have an ancestor who lived in Baltimore, Maryland and you need to do more deep dives into the research. Baltimore specific society? Maryland, and I think there are more than one. Same for Pennsylvania. There are two for the state, and I think one for Philadelphia.
you could also create a match list through different methods or apps and then use excel or ms access to compare both list and give you those that are on both lists.
When you are on the matche’s profile page, you will see “DNA relationship to you”. Click on the downward arrow to compare the match to anyone who has shared their results with you, to see whether or not they match that person.
on ancestry you can identify your match as paternal or maternal. does ancestry use this information for the ethnicy side view or the new chromosome painter ?