Category Archives: AncestryDNA

DNA Academy Webinar Series Released

Posted on by
5

Great news! Legacy Family Tree Webinars has just released DNA Academy.

DNA Academy is a three-part series designed to introduce the basics of DNA for genetic genealogy and how Y-DNA, X-DNA, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA can be utilized. Each of these different types of DNA serves a different function for genealogists – and reveals different matches and hints for genealogy.

  1. DNA Academy Part 1 introduces genetic genealogy basics, then, Ancestry’s DNA tools – including their new pricing structure for DNA features. Click here to view.
  2. DNA Academy Part 2 covers FamilyTreeDNA’s products. Click here to view the webinar, which includes:
    1. Y-DNA for males which tracks the direct paternal line
    2. Mitochondrial DNA for everyone which tracks your direct maternal line – your mother’s mother’s mother’s lineage
    3. Autosomal DNA which includes matches from all of your ancestral lines and along with X-DNA matching, which has a very distinctive inheritance path.
  3. DNA Academy Part 3 includes MyHeritage, 23andMe, and third-party tools such as DNAPainter and Genetic Affairs. Click here to view.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars has graciously made Part 2, the FamilyTreeDNA class, free through August 22nd for everyone – so be sure to watch now.

After August 22nd, Part 2 will join Part 1 and Part 3 in the webinar library for subscribers with more than 2240 webinars for $49.95 per year.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Books

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

Why Don’t Our Y-DNA Haplogroups Match?

Posted on by
12

I’ve been asked this question several times recently, and the answer is resoundingly, “it depends.” There are several reasons why Y-DNA haplogroups might not match and most of them aren’t “bad.”

How Haplogroups Work

Haplogroups are the 79,000+ branches of the Y-DNA phylogenetic tree which you can view here, along with countries where those haplogroups are found. You can think of haplogroups as genetic clans of either closely or distantly related men. Major haplogroup branches have unique letters assigned. Downstream or younger haplogroups are designated by a letter-number sequence that is always preceded by the main haplogroup letter.

Image courtesy FamilyTreeDNA

Major haplogroups were formed tens of thousands of years ago, with more recent haplogroups added as they’ve been discovered. Haplogroups are discovered and added every day thanks to the Big Y-700 test. You can read more about that process, here.

As you look at the pie chart above, you’ll notice that haplogroup R represents about half the men who have tested and has several major subbranches. Every haplogroup R man belongs to all of the branches above his own that lead back to the root of haplogroup R.

Using haplogroup R, which is R-M207, its identifying SNP, as an example, it immediately splits into two branches: R-M173, which has 37,000+ more branches, and R-M479, which has 313 branches. My Estes men fall into a haplogroup several steps beneath R-M173, but they are still members of haplogroups R-M173 and R-M207, even though their descendant haplogroup is R-BY490, which was formed by a mutation that occurred 20,000 years later.

Haplogroup R-M173, then, in turn, leads back to Y-Adam, the first man to have lived and has descendants today.

As we approach the question of why haplogroups of two men might differ, we will review tools to use and how to interpret your findings to reach the appropriate answer for your situation.

What is Your Goal?

You may be looking for a very specific answer, or this may be a more general question.

  • If you’re evaluating closely related men who have different haplogroup assignments, not matching can be very disconcerting. Breathe. There are several perfectly legitimate reasons why they may not match, and we have easy, free analysis tools.
  • If you’re looking at your Y-DNA match list at FamilyTreeDNA, you may or may not match other men closely, but you do “match” at some level if they are on your match list. You may see several different haplogroups in your match list. How closely you match those men is a different question.
  • If you’re looking at autosomal results at FamilyTreeDNA, you may see haplogroups listed for males. You may or may not “match” the haplogroup of men with the same surname. What does this mean, and why don’t you match? Your autosomal match may have nothing to do with your paternal line, or it may be because of your paternal line.

We will cover all of these scenarios.

Where Did You Both Test?

  • Are you comparing apples and apples?
  • Did you both test at the same company?
  • Did you both take the same type or level of test?

These factors all make a difference.

Which Test Did You Take?

There are four types of tests that will provide males with some level of Y-DNA haplogroup.

Autosomal Tests – Some companies include a few Y-DNA location probes in their autosomal test, meaning that they test a few haplogroup-specific Y-DNA locations. LivingDNA, 23andMe, and FamilyTreeDNA’s Family Finder test provide a mid-level Y-DNA haplogroup to customers. The haplogroup that can be determined from these tests depends on a variety of factors, including the vendor, the probes they selected for their chip, the test version, and if that location is successfully read in the test.

Note that FamilyTreeDNA supports autosomal uploads from MyHeritage and Ancestry who do not provide Y-DNA haplogroups to customers, but who do test some Y-DNA locations. Therefore you can upload your autosomal test from those companies to FamilyTreeDNA for free and receive at least a cursory Y-DNA haplogroup.

FamilyTreeDNA is currently processing all of its Family Finder tests, followed by tests uploaded from other vendors, to provide all genetic male testers with a Y-DNA haplogroup at some level. Different vendors and test versions test different Y-DNA SNPs, so your mileage may vary. Y-DNA haplogroups are a free benefit at FamilyTreeDNA.

STR Tests – At FamilyTreeDNA, you can purchase both Y-37 and Y-111 STR (short tandem repeat) Y-DNA tests that provide matching at the number of locations you purchased, plus a predicted haplogroup based on those results. These haplogroup predictions are accurate but are often relatively far back in time.

If you match someone on STR tests, your match may be very recent or before the advent of surnames. For a more specific haplogroup, you need to purchase the Big Y-700 test, which provides at least 700 STR match locations but, more importantly, sequences the entire gold-standard region of the Y-chromosome for the most precise haplogroup and matching possible.

  • When viewing matches of two men who ONLY took STR tests, STR marker matches are more important for genealogy than haplogroups because the haplogroups were formed thousands of years ago.
  • When viewing matches on the Big Y-700 test, haplogroup matching is much more specific and reliable than STR matches because the mutations (SNPs – single nucleotide polymorphisms) that form haplogroups are much more stable than STRs which mutate unpredictably, including back mutations.

SNP Confirmation Tests – Historically, FamilyTreeDNA customers could purchase individual SNPs to confirm a haplogroup, or SNP packs or bundles to do the same for a group of SNPs. With the advent of both the Family Finder haplogroup assignments, and the Big Y-700, these individual tests are no longer necessary or advantageous and are being discontinued.

Big Y-700 Test – At FamilyTreeDNA, the Big Y-700 test provides the most granular and specific haplogroup possible, most often well within a genealogical timeframe. You may be able to tell, based on previously undiscovered mutations, that two people are brothers or father and son, or, depending on who else has tested and when mutations formed, testers may match further back in time. Here’s an example of using the results from multiple testers in the Estes DNA Surname Project.

You can also match men who took the Big Y-500 test which is less specific than the Big Y-700. In the now-obsolete Big Y-500 test, a smaller portion of the Y chromosome was sequenced and testers only received about 500 STR locations. The Big Y-700 test has been enriched to provide a wider range of more specific information. Men who originally took the Big Y-500, then upgraded to the Big Y-700, will very probably have a new haplogroup assignment based on the expanded coverage and increased resolution of the Big Y-700 test. The Big Y-700 ferrets out lineages that the Big Y-500 simply could not, and continues to provide additional value as more men test, which facilitates the formation of new haplogroups.

What Do You Mean by Match?

Matching doesn’t mean you have to have the exact same haplogroup. A perfectly valid match can have a different haplogroup because one haplogroup is more specific or refined than the other. Matching exactly as a result of a predicted STR haplogroup is much less useful than matching closely on a much more recent Big Y-700 haplogroup.

Not all haplogroups are created equal.

I know this is a bit confusing, so let’s look at real-life examples to clarify.

STR to STR or Autosomal to Autosomal Haplogroup Match

Two males might match exactly on a mid-range Family Finder autosomal haplogroup or on a STR-predicted haplogroup like R-M269, which is about 6350 years old.

This haplogroup “match,” even though it might be exact, does not confirm a close match and really only serves to eliminate some other haplogroups and confirm that a closer match is possible. For example, R-M269 men don’t match someone in haplogroup J or E. You may or may not share a surname. You may or may not still “match” if you both upgrade to the Big Y-700.

In this case, a father/son pair would match exactly, as would two men with different surnames whose common ancestor lived 6000 years ago.

Note that if you’re comparing autosomal-derived haplogroups across different vendor platforms, or even different DNA testing chip versions on the same platform, you may see two different haplogroups. Different vendors test different locations. Please note that second cousins and closer will always match on autosomal DNA, but relationships further back than that may not. Y-DNA very reliably reaches far beyond the capabilities of autosomal DNA due to the fact that it is never mixed with the DNA of the other parent – so it never divides or is watered down in time. When comparing two autosomally-generated haplogroups of men who are supposed to be closely related, always check their autosomal match results too.

Use the free Discover Tool to find various categories of information about any haplogroup, including its age. Take a look at R-M269 here.

Using Discover to Compare Haplogroups

You can always use the Discover tool to compare two haplogroups.

Go to Discover (or click through if you’re signed on to your FamilyTreeDNA Y-DNA page), then enter the first haplogroup you’d like to compare.

Click search to view information about that haplogroup.

On the menu bar, at left, click on Compare.

Add the second haplogroup.

I’m selecting E-M35, a completely different branch of the phylogenetic tree.

R-M269 was formed about 6350 years ago, while E-M35 was formed about 25,000 years ago. Their common ancestor was formed about 65,000 years ago. Clearly, these two paternal lineages are not related in anything close to a genealogical timeframe.

These two men would never match on an STR test, but could easily match on an autosomal test on any line OTHER than their direct paternal line.

Now let’s compare two haplogroups that are more closely related.

Haplogroup R-M222 is very common in Ireland, so let’s see how closely related it is to R-M269 which is very common in western Europe.

We see that R-M222 descends from R-M269, so there is no “other haplogroup” involved.

R-M222 was formed about 2100 years ago, around 4250 years after R-M269 was formed.

There are 17 steps between R-M222 and R-M269.

The bottom block shows the lineage from R-M269 back to Y-Adam.

How cool is this??!!

Big Y-700 to Autosomal or STR Haplogroup Comparison

Joe took the Big Y-700 test and discovered that he’s haplogroup R-BY177080.

Joe noticed that his son, who had initially taken an STR test, had been assigned haplogroup R-M269. Then, his son took a Family Finder test and his haplogroup changed to R-FGC8601.

Joe was confused about why he and his son’s haplogroups didn’t match.

First, let’s check Family Finder to confirm the parent/child relationship. Joe’s son is clearly his son.

So why doesn’t Joe’s son’s haplogroup match Joe’s haplogroup? And why did Joe’s son’s haplogroup change?

Joe’s son had not taken a Big Y-700 DNA test, so Joe’s son’s R-M269 haplogroup was initially predicted from his STR test.

Joe’s son’s updated haplogroup, R-FGC8601 was generated by the Family Finder test. Think of this as a bonus. If you’re a male and haven’t yet, you’ll soon receive an email telling you that you’ve received a Family Finder Y-DNA haplogroup. It’s your lucky day!

Family Finder haplogroups always replace STR predicted haplogroups since they are always more specific than predicted STR haplogroups. Big Y-700 haplogroups always replace STR-generated haplogroup predictions and Family Finder haplogroups because they are the most specific.

Let’s compare these results using Discover.

Joe’s son’s original predicted haplogroup was R-M269.

Discover Compare shows us that Joe’s Big Y-700 Haplogroup, R-BY177080, is a descendant of R-M269.

So, they actually do “match,” just several branches further up the tree

Joe’s son’s more precise Family Finder haplogroup was assigned as R-FGC8601.

Discover Compare shows us that Joe’s Big Y-700 haplogroup also descends from R-FGC8601.

You can see that the haplogroup generated by Family Finder is more precise by about 4700 years and improves that comparison.

R-M269 was formed about 6350 years ago, but R-FGC8601 was formed about 1700 years ago.

Joe’s Big Y-700 haplogroup, R-BY177080 was formed about the year 1900, improving the family haplogroup by another 1600 years or so.

Joe’s son’s Family Finder haplogroup moved down the haplotree 21 branches and 4650 years, for free! If Joe’s son were to upgrade to the Big Y-700, they might very well be assigned a new haplogroup that, for the time being, only they share.

Of course, Family Finder doesn’t provide Y-DNA matching so you still need the Y-DNA tests for that important aspect of genealogy.

Big Y to Big Y Comparison

In our next example, a group of men, including a father and son or other very close relative may take the Big Y-700 test and have different haplogroups. If you’re saying, “Whoa Nelly,” hear me out.

George took a Big Y-700 test and discovered that he is haplogroup R-FGC43597. His son and grandsons tested, and they are haplogroup R-FTC50269. What happened? Shouldn’t they all match George?

On George’s Big Y-700 block tree, you can see that a mutation, R-FTC50269, occurred between George and his son. George doesn’t have it, but his son does.

A haplogroup isn’t “named” until there are two men with the same mutation in the same lineage. Therefore, when George’s son initially tested, he would have been assigned to the same haplogroup as George, R-FGC43697, but with one extra variant, or mutation.

Of course, that extra mutation was passed from George’s son to both of his grandsons, so when the first grandson tested, the new haplogroup, R-FTC50269 was assigned as a result of that mutation. Now, George has one haplogroup and his son and grandsons have a different haplogroup, one branch downstream.

Using Discover to check the haplogroup ages and path, we find that indeed, these haplogroups are only one step apart.

Checking Family Finder results can always verify that the match is close or as close as you expected.

Haplogroup Assignments

Haplogroup assignments range from good to better to best.

Good Better Best
STR predicted Yes – but further back in time
SNP Packs (now obsolete) Between good and better
Family Finder autosomal Yes – generally midrange between STR predicted and the Big Y-700
Big Y-500 (need to upgrade) Usually between better and best
Big Y-700 The best – usually within a genealogically relevant timeframe unless your DNA is rare

Where Are You?

Older haplogroups, such as the STR-predicted haplogroups are useful for:

  • Eliminating some potential matches
  • Identifying where that haplogroup originated at that specific point in time. In other words, where your ancestor lived when that haplogroup was born.

If your Y-DNA matches another Y-DNA tester at FamilyTreeDNA, your haplogroups will fall someplace on the same haplogroup branch, although they may be thousands of years apart. STR-predicted haplogroups are “older,” meaning they range in age from about 6500 years to tens of thousands of years ago. They can tell you where the haplogroup originated at that time.

Autosomal haplogroups will be newer, or more recent, than STR-predicted haplogroups, but still (sometimes significantly) older than the Big Y-700 haplogroups..

FamilyTreeDNA provides Y-DNA haplogroups for free for every biological male who either takes the FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder test or uploads an autosomal result from either Ancestry or MyHeritage. Soon, 23andMe uploads will be resumed as well. This means that you will be able to view other men with a similar surname in your Family Finder results and:

  • Rule them out as a paternal line match.
  • Check your STR matches if they have taken a Y-DNA test
  • Check your Big Y-700 test for matches if both men have taken a Big Y test.
  • Encourage your matches to take a Big Y-700 test so you can see how closely you match on your paternal line.
  • Use the Discover Compare and other tools to reveal more information.

Family Finder haplogroups are relatively new, so currently, all new Family Finder testers are receiving haplogroups. Older Family Finder tests are being processed and will be followed by autosomal tests uploaded from other vendors. Haplogroups from autosomal tests are confirmed and will be newer, or more recent, than STR-predicted haplogroups.

The only test that can bring your haplogroup to current, meaning the most refined, recent, personal haplogroup, is the Big Y-700 test. Without taking the Big Y-700 test, you’ll forever be stuck with an older, less informative haplogroup branch. The Big Y-700 allows us to reliably sort families into lineages based on branching mutations.

The Big Y-700 haplogroup is:

  • The most detailed and granular possible.
  • Determined by sequencing the Y chromosome.
  • A test of discovery that continues to provide additional value as more men test and new haplogroups are formed.

Big Y-700 haplogroups generally fall into a genealogically useful timeframe and can be very recent.

The Discover tool and Time Tree provide a wealth of information about your ancestors, including locations, migration paths, ancient DNA, and more.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Now that you understand how to compare and interpret haplogroup matches, what additional information can you learn?

I always encourage Y-DNA matches to upgrade to the Big Y-700. Why? You don’t know what you don’t know. The article, Bennett Greenspan: Meet My Extended Family & Discover Extraordinary Deep Heritage illustrates the benefits of the Big Y-700 for all matches. Upgrading 12-marker matches is exactly how he made his big breakthrough.

The Big Y-700 test answers many questions beyond simply matching by using Discover and the Group Time Tree.

  • Where were your ancestors?
  • Who do you match, and who were their ancestors?
  • Genetically and genealogically, how do your surname matches fit together?
  • Where were your matches’ ancestors, and when?
  • Which ancient DNA results do you match, and where were they located?
  • What is the history of locations where your ancestors were found along their journey?
  • How closely or distantly are you related to other Big Y-700 matches?
  • Can your matches’ information break down your paternal line brick wall, or at least move it back a few generations?

Where are your Y-DNA results along the spectrum of useful haplogroup information? Do you or your matches need to upgrade? Click here to upgrade or order a Big Y-700 test.

______________________________________________________________

Sign Up Now – It’s Free!

If you appreciate this article, subscribe to DNAeXplain for free, to automatically receive new articles by e-mail each week.

Here’s the link. Look for the black “follow” button on the right side of your computer screen below the black title bar, enter your e-mail address, and you’re good to go!

In case you were wondering, I never have nor ever will share or use your e-mail outside of the intended purpose.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

RootsTech 2024: DNA Academy and Ancestry Announcements

Posted on by
12

March the 1st. Remember that old saying about March? If it enters like a lamb, it will leave like a lion, and vice versa.

Look what greeted us on the morning of the second day of RootsTech.

Whoo boy.

The good news, if there was any, was that this was Friday’s forecast for Saturday, and of course, it might, just might, be wrong. Fingers crossed!

The second day of RootsTech was jam-packed, as you can see in the MyHeritage booth below. I wondered if one reason for the extra-large Friday crowd was the weather forecast for Saturday.

I had just finished my booth talk for MyHeritage titled “Leveraging Triangulation – From 3 to Many” and stepped aside to take a picture.

This half-hour presentation defined triangulation as a three-legged stool and discussed when and how to use triangulation at MyHeritage.

I covered:

  • How to use close relatives, including parents, to determine which side your matches are on.
  • Why you can’t use immediate family members for triangulation.
  • How to use triangulation with Shared Matches and the Chromosome Browser
  • How to use and verify Theories of Family Relativity with triangulation
  • AutoClusters as a triangulation roadmap
  • Using AutoClusters and triangulation to determine which DNA descends from whom
  • Bonus hints

Maybe I should turn this presentation into a blog article. What do you think?

DNA Academy aka An Afternoon in the Life of a Presenter

I only had about 45 minutes between the end of the MyHeritage session and the beginning of my class, “DNA Academy: Pulling it All Together – Tests, Vendors, Tools & You.”

I’m very grateful that RootsTech provided the opportunity for this experimental full-afternoon session, which provided the underpinnings for other DNA classes and sessions.

I had practiced and practiced to ensure the slide and topic pacing was fast enough to get through all the slides but not so fast that I would lose people.

Losing someone in a class of this duration means that they miss everything thereafter – and that could be a lot more than your normal 45 to 50-minute class.

Therefore, I needed to be prepared to take questions during the class. That’s always a bit risky because some questions are more like a short story, and you don’t want to run out of time at the end for your slides.

So, yes, I was a bit nervous. I was also concerned about technology gremlins named Murphy that seem to be ever-present. I absolutely did NOT need gremlins attending too.

There was no time between sessions for any kind of a proper lunch. No time to stand in line for food. However, I had to eat since I would have no break until after the class ended at 4, and then only after all of the attendees had left. On Sunday, I had purchased Lunchables at the local grocery store, so I bought a container of fruit and a bag of Doritos at one of those quick grab-it places on the way to my classroom and had a picnic in the back of the room as attendees began filtering in.

I headed for the front of the room with my laptop bag just as the tech person arrived to assist with setup. RootsTech encourages speakers to use RootsTech-provided equipment since they know it’s set up correctly to work with the AV equipment. That makes sense, but I always bring mine, just in case.

RootsTech also generously provided a stool so I wouldn’t have to stand for the entire afternoon.

Our first challenge was that the audio wasn’t working correctly, and never really did. We worked on it until the session started, and I even sent for the tech after the session began.

Eventually, after much fiddling around, I gave up and took the lavalier off. I held it near my mouth for the entire afternoon after finding that “sweet spot” with the assistance of everyone in attendance. We needed to find the mic position where people in the back of the room could hear me, it wasn’t so close it sounded like I was spitting, and we weren’t getting feedback. That seemed to be about a quarter-inch window. It was not ideal, but it worked, and I was very grateful for the audience’s help and patience. Teamwork!

The second challenge was that the RootsTech laptop defaulted to “Presenter View,” which means that your Powerpoint slide is in the upper left quadrant of the laptop screen, the next slide is shown at right, and “speaker notes,” if you’ve created any, appear at the bottom.

I don’t use speaker notes because I don’t want to sound like I’m reading aloud. Therefore, I never use Presenter View. I use the slides to remind me of what to say, and I know what’s coming next.

I initially thought, “Fine, so long as the slide advance works.” It wasn’t until after I began, and after the AV tech was long gone that I realized how small the RootsTech laptop screen was, meaning how SMALL my current slide was. To my horror, I realized that I couldn’t clearly see some portions of my slides.

OH NO!!!

I couldn’t exactly take my glasses off, lean over the podium, and squint. No, that would never do. I also couldn’t move the laptop closer without disrupting the setup and cables.

I also couldn’t see the movie screen to my left that attendees were viewing because I was positioned directly beside the screen and only slightly forward. I could see that the image was showing on the screen, but I couldn’t read anything on the image from that angle.

Crumb!

Therefore, I really had no good or detailed view of my own presentation – for 2.5 hours.

All I can say is that it’s a VERY good thing that I obsessively practice ahead of time, because that’s the ONLY thing that got me through.

I asked for the tech again to assist with the audio issues after trying multiple ways to adjust things myself, and he sent a message back to just move the lavalier up on my clothing. It was already as high as it could be placed, so not helpful.

Why am I telling you this? Often, people often don’t realize how much is beyond the speakers’ control and how much we just roll with the punches as best we can. Attendees are acutely aware of their experience, especially when it’s sub-optimum, and often blame the speaker.

One attendee asked if I could raise the image projection on the screen towards the top. I couldn’t control the image location at all. I knew that if one person couldn’t see because the image was too low on the screen, other people probably couldn’t either, and I felt awful.

Speakers are used to overcoming challenges, but no one wants to attempt to simultaneously overcome and compensate for several issues in the same presentation.

I wound up apologizing more than once to the class. These people had been kind enough to choose this long class and I wanted their experience to be the best possible.

I was very grateful for the people who said something positive afterward and for this person who left feedback on my blog.

A number of people were unhappy because the session wasn’t either live-streamed or recorded. Speakers have no way of knowing or influencing which sessions RootsTech selects for broader consumption. I’m sure they want to livestream a mixture of topics that would interest a variety of people.

I’ve reached out to Legacy Family Tree Webinars to see if they are interested in this class, although I would need to divide it into thirds. I want to leverage this effort and make it available to others who can benefit.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars are free to everyone for the first week, then available in the subscription library.

Does this sound like a good idea?

Ancestry Announcements

After DNA Academy ended, I headed back to the show floor. The second day of RootsTech is always the “late night” with activities until about 7:30. They close earlier, around 5, on the first day, and at 3 on the final day.

I was interested in Ancestry’s announcements and if I had missed anything from the earlier recorded session.

Of course, Ancestry was selling DNA tests. At RootsTech, Ancestry announced that it now has 25 million testers in its database.

Sitting inside the booth, I saw Crista Cowan, the Barefoot Genealogist who is also Ancestry’s corporate genealogist. I noticed the cast on her wrist and felt terrible for her, trying to navigate RootsTech and minor other activities, like, say, eating and presenting and the basic activities of daily living. Been there, done that, and it’s no fun. Crista said that she had discovered that one cannot create PowerPoint slides in a cast, especially when it’s your dominant hand. And I thought I had challenges.

Like I was saying about speakers compensating and making it happen, one way or another…

I’m not going to steal Crista’s thunder about how she became “The Barefoot Genealogist,” but if you don’t know, you can watch her RootsTech presentation here.

So, what else is in Crista’s presentation? What has Ancestry announced?

  • Family Groups. Ancestry announced the ability to create a group of people in a family who are working on a common goal, facilitating collaboration.
  • The Family Groups feature will be available to all accounts, LDS, paid, free, library, whatever.
  • You will be able to assign tasks to people in the group. For example, Mom could be assigned to scan the family photos, upload them, note who they are and other relevant information
  • A “Memories” feature will support either recording or uploading audio which can tell the story of a picture.
  • A new Family Plan, currently only available in the US, allows you to pay for one subscription and add four people. I have seen pricing, but Ancestry has many different plans, and I’m unclear what is and is not included in the Family Plan. So if you’re interested, I’d suggest reaching out to Ancestry.
  • Ancestry continues to add historical records at a rapid pace.

  • Ancestry was indexing 2-3 million records per day. With the launch of the 1950 census, which utilized handwriting recognition and AI, they are now indexing millions more each month, according to Crista’s slide.
  • Ancestry is re-imaging Newspapers.com pages using the same technology, which provides much more than OCR, which is plagued by issues such as image quality and lack of intelligence.
  • One example of new features is that previously, some people were mentioned only by association, such as Mrs. John Doe. Now, Mrs. John Doe can potentially be recognized as Susan Doe or even Susan Jones Doe, based on other articles and information.
  • Ancestry has created a new Stories and Events Index, which indexes the records by category, such as marriages or law and order.
  • However, and this is important, these new re-imaged records are NOT found when you do a global search through Ancestry because, in layman’s terms, there are so many that they crash the system.
  • Ancestry added 16 billion records from newspaper collections last year. You can find a hint or go directly to the newspaper database. Check the specific collection because you may not find the information searching generally.

You can find the Historical Newspapers Collection under the Search tab.

Crista was also being plagued by technical gremlins to this point. It’s obvious that she was well-practiced too, as she barely missed a beat.

Crista encourages people to use the Card Catalog to view the new newspaper record collections.

Here’s what’s showing in my Card Catalog Records Collection view.

  • Moving to DNA announcements, Crista stated that with 25 million people in the database, Ancestry has 88 ethnicity regions and now more than 2500 DNA Communities.

  • The 88 ethnicity regions represent ancestors 500-1000 years ago, while the 2500 communities are formed by a genetic network of people related within approximately 200 years.
  • Ancestry now has 120 million family trees that are mined for location information.
  • Ancestry introduced 203 Communities in Ireland this past year. Crista mentioned that this means that those communities are as granular as counties and that now she knows where to search for her Irish ancestor. I hope she has only one Irish ancestor, and he’s close enough in time. I’m also hoping that the granularity of Communities provides very specific hints.
  • Ancestry added 413 African American Communities in the southern US and Caribbean – some to within a 10-mile radius.
  • Ancestry added 352 Mexico Communities.
  • More Communities are planned to be released every 3-4 months or so during this next year. In other words, you’ll need to check from time to time, as there won’t be a specific large update for everyone.
  • Traits and Communities, by parent, will be added within SideView

If you recall, SideView features now require either a full subscription, or a Plus subscription for DNA features. You can read about that here and here.

Pro Tools

Crista shifted gears here to discuss Pro Tools, which she described as tools that aren’t necessarily for pros, but are new ways to view family history.

Pro Tools is NOT the same as the DNA SideView features that are behind the regular Ancestry subscription or the Plus paywall.

Pro Tools was recently introduced. Crista didn’t mention this in the video, but Pro Tools costs an ADDITIONAL $10 per month, regardless of whether or not you have a full, World, or Plus subscription. In other words, you’ll pay another $120 per year to access Pro Tools

There are two schools of thought about this.

  1. Some people are furious that Ancestry added an entirely new subscription instead of adding these functions to the full or Plus subscription level.
  2. Some people are glad that Ancestry didn’t raise the cost of the full subscription by $120 per year, allowing people NOT to subscribe to these new Pro-Tools features if they don’t want them.

New features will be added under Pro Tools soon.

New shared matches view:

  • The predicted relationship and how many cMs your shared matches share with any other shared match will be available in the first half of 2024.
  • If shared matches triangulate.

Future Enhancements

  • Ability to group shared matches into custom groups with one click using “select all”
  • Ability to sort by your matches’ closest matches
  • Highlight matches that have triangulated shared segments

Nope – No Chromosome Browser

People have been speculating for some time that Ancestry might have been going to add a Chromosome Browser. Nope, they didn’t.

Crista didn’t mention this, but discussion elsewhere revealed that the triangulated segment information will NOT include:

  • The number of triangulated segments
  • The size of triangulated segments
  • Segment location information
  • A chromosome browser

At this point, I have no plan to subscribe to Pro Tools. I feel like Ancestry is essentially teasing us. “Yes, you have a triangulated segment with two other people, but, sorry, we’re not going to tell you where it is.” It’s like they get us right up to the edge of something useful, within sight and sniffing distance, then, boom, dropped like a hot potato. To add insult to injury, we have to pay separately for the teaser, even with a full subscription. The best we could do, I think, is hope that one or some of the triangulated people have a tree so we can determine who the common ancestor or ancestral line might be. If we’re really lucky, there might be a ThruLine formed.

I’ll leave it at that, but I am not one bit happy about the features that are still excluded, and that the included features require yet another subscription.

I realize that after years of saying that segment information violates Ancestry’s perception of privacy, it would be difficult for Ancestry to reverse its position at this point.

Standing in the booth later, someone commented that they were surprised that Ancestry is going to provide estimated relationships between shared matches and shared cM amounts to each other. Crista said that Ancestry had needed to “work out some privacy stuff” first.

Perhaps this is the furthest Ancestry feels that they can move without entirely reversing their long-standing chromosome browser privacy position.

For those who want to work with segment information and a chromosome browser, you can upload your Ancestry DNA file to FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, and GEDmatch. You’ll find step-by-step instructions here.

After visiting the Ancestry booth, I moved on to other vendors on the show floor.

Goldie May

I hadn’t heard of Goldie May until Drew Smith introduced me recently. Thanks Drew!

You can take a look at their genealogy organizational tools, but their best feature for genealogists who give presentations is the ability to blur names in screenshots.

This feature, available under Goldie May Pro for $24 per month, senses names and blurs them along with associated profile photos for you. The lack of blurring is one reason I never do anything live or make “how-to” videos.

Right now, this feature only works for Ancestry pages, but hopefully, it will soon work for pages of other DNA vendors and DNAPainter.

DNAPainter

Speaking of DNAPainter, they are one of my favorite third-party vendors. And just in case you’re wondering, I’m not related to Jonny, and I pay full price for my subscription, just like all of you.

I mention this only because DNAPainter appears in just about every presentation I create about autosomal DNA and matches, regardless of the vendor – except Ancestry, of course.

I saw Jonny sitting at a table, showing someone how to paint their matching segments.

One person who attended the conference agreed to a 10-minute DNAPainter lesson after dinner with a friend – only 10 minutes, though, because he was tired! Although his friend was long asleep, he was still painting at 4 AM  and had surpassed the 50% mark of his painted chromosomes assigned to known ancestors. I think we have a new convert!

You can find DNAPainter instructions here.

On the corner of the table was a shared cM relationship map, one of the free tools that Jonny offers in collaboration with others in the community.

I couldn’t resist taking this picture of Jonny in his very cool striped tennis shoes that look amazingly like painted chromosomes.

I remember the first time I saw Jonny in 2018, looking very nervous at RootsTech, standing by himself in a small booth the first year he introduced DNApainter. I had never heard of DNAPainter.

In 2018, Jonny was a candidate in the new tech innovation contest, which he won. This motivated me to try DNAPainter myself, leading to another award at the beginning of 2019.

How things have changed in six years. Now, EVERYONE knows Jonny Perl. He was included in the 25-year genetic genealogy celebration as someone who has shaped the industry, and he’s no longer standing nervously alone in his booth. Also, he has way cool shoes now!!

In fact, it’s hard to find Jonny alone at any time to take a picture.

I just love success stories!

More Friends on the Show Floor

I knew Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, was at RootsTech and presenting, but I hadn’t actually seen her yet. By now, I’m sure almost everyone has had the opportunity to hear Judy speak, but I’ve often said that if Judy were talking about dirt, I’d attend because it would be funny, witty, and educational.

I found Judy, in her second-generation signature pink jacket, hanging out with Janine Cloud in the FamilyTreeDNA booth.

Friday was the late evening at RootsTech. People were getting tired and hungry, and most attendees had already left by 7:30 when the Expo Hall officially closed.

In the center of the hall, near the front, FamilySearch had a “garden” or “park” area with park benches and fun games like chess.

As I was walking out, I noticed Bennett Greenspan, at left, playing park chess with Katherine Borges, Director of ISOGG, the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, at right.

I had a good chuckle as I realized that assembling the DNA of our ancestors and applying it meaningfully to our genealogy is like playing chess.

Warning

We had been hoping all day that the weather forecast would change for the better.

Maybe it wouldn’t snow at all.

Maybe it wouldn’t snow much.

Uh-oh!!

It was cold, and the wind was blowing hard as we exited the Salt Palace, whipping our hair into our faces and eyes.

Everything felt ominous. Even the locals were worried.

Attendees were heading home early, and even those who had to stay and work on Saturday were trying to change their flights to Saturday afternoon in the hope that they could escape before the brunt of the storm hit.

Airlines were contacting passengers with weather advisories, saying they could change their flights without charge. They were hoping to get people out ahead of the storm.

The various weather services showed different scenarios. One reported that it would be 33 degrees and rain until just after lunch, when it would turn to snow.

Another predicted that it would be 31 and blizzard conditions with 4-6 inches of snow and whiteout conditions by noon.

What? “Hurricane-force gusts”? You’re kidding, right? But they weren’t. This was no joke.

No one knew what to expect, and local people were bidding us adieu, saying they weren’t planning to be back on Saturday.

What would we wake up to on Saturday morning? What about flights? And hotel rooms? What would we be facing?

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

Ancestry’s ThruLines and Shared Matches Now Require a Subscription

Posted on by
56

Ancestry informed us a few weeks ago that they were changing their platform and that some existing tools would soon be behind a subscription paywall.

I wrote about some changes in the article, Ancestry Updates Ethnicity, Introduces New Features and Pushes Some Behind Paywall.

A few weeks later, another banner appeared saying that everything “beneath the banner” would soon require a subscription of some type, meaning either DNAPlus or a full Ancestry Subscription.

Because Shared Matches was displayed above the banner, I didn’t think that Shared Matches would be behind the paywall, but I was wrong. Trees also require a subscription for DNA testers, but Ethnicity does not.

Truthfully, I’m not surprised by the more advanced features being placed behind a subscription paywall in addition to the price of the test, although I don’t like it. However, I’m shocked that Shared Matches would be restricted. I always viewed Shared Matches as a way to engage new testers just sticking their toe in the water beyond ethnicity results.

Effective now, if you purchase or purchased (in the past) a DNA test and you don’t have a subscription with Ancestry, or your subscription expires, you will be able to view 3 shared matches and no trees. If you want to see more, you have to either purchase their DNAPlus subscription or a regular Ancestry subscription.

So, technically, not all shared matches are behind the paywall, just all except 3.

Let’s sort this out.

First, let’s talk about what this isn’t.

DNAPlus is NOT ProTools

Do not confuse DNA features requiring a minimal DNAPlus subscription with yet another recently-introduced Ancestry feature called ProTools.

ProTools costs $10 per month, is not DNA-related, and includes a Tree Checker, Charts and Reports, Advanced Filters, and Map Views. ProTools is an add-on and requires a full subscription before you can additionally subscribe to ProTools.

This article is not about ProTools.

DNA Features – What’s In and What’s Out?

I fully realize that Ancestry customers expected to continue receiving the features included with an AncestryDNA test when it was purchased, with or without an Ancestry subscription, but that’s not the case anymore.

Ancestry provides this explanatory information in their FAQ.

Don’t shoot the messenger – meaning me. I’m just here to help you sort this out, so let’s review what’s in and what’s out.

Remaining included DNA features for everyone, with or without a subscription, are:

  • Ethnicity estimates
  • DNA communities
  • DNA matches
  • Ability to message matches
  • Ability to compare origins or communities with your matches

Restricted features without a subscription include:

  • Shared matches, which are now limited to 3
  • You can see IF a match has a family tree, its size, and if it’s public or private, but you can’t view the tree’s contents without a subscription

Features requiring a subscription include:

  • Viewing more than 3 shared matches
  • Viewing the contents of your matches’ trees
  • Matching surnames through 7 generations
  • Matching ancestor birthplaces in public trees
  • Common ancestors in trees through 7 generations, which is the link to ThruLines
  • ThruLines, also through 7 generations

All of the SideView™ related features are also subscription-only. You must designate a parental “side” for these features to work. I wrote about how to do that in the article Ancestry’s SideView™ – Dividing Your Ethnicity in Two. Those features are:

  • Ethnicity by parent
  • Matches by parent
  • Communities by parent
  • Traits by parent
  • Chromosome painter (not to be confused with a chromosome browser, which Ancestry does not have)

What is included or excluded in Traits differs depending on when you purchased the Traits test or the upgrade, so I’m not addressing those tests here.

Ancestry DNA Memberships

Ancestry has compiled a chart showing what’s included and what features require a subscription, which they call a membership. DNAPlus includes DNA features. The family history membership includes DNAPlus features and genealogy records.

That page also includes a brief FAQ sheet.

Exception – Shared DNA Results

The exception to the required subscription scenario is if a tester has shared their DNA results with someone who has a membership. The person WITH THE MEMBERSHIP can see the full results, even though the tester cannot if they don’t have a membership.

I have a full membership, and one of my relatives, who is deceased, shared their DNA results with me before he joined our ancestors.

I always check his results because I know he hasn’t changed anything and no longer has a paid membership.

This means that if you’ve asked your cousins to test for your benefit – they do NOT need to subscribe unless they want to work directly with their own results aside from looking at the basics listed in the included features. To work with their results more broadly, YOU need to subscribe and have them share their DNA results with you.

They (or you, with appropriate permission settings) need to link their DNA test to “them,” meaning their profile, in their (or your) tree. This option, along with DNA test sharing, is found under Settings.

Please note that if the DNA results are shared and the person has a tree, they also need to share their tree with you as a separate step found under Tree Settings.

Sharing DNA Results

Here are the instructions you need to provide to your cousins to share their DNA results with you.

To share DNA results with someone, click on “Your DNA Results Summary” at the top of your page, and then click on Settings in the upper right-hand corner.

Scroll down to DNA test sharing.

Click on the right arrow.

Then click on “Invite.”

Enter their email or Ancestry username and select the role of the person you’re inviting.

Then just click on the blue Invite button. That person will receive an invitation and can accept or not. For family members who want you to fully manage their test, instruct them to select Manager. Manager and Collaborator both allow you to connect their test to “them” in a tree, including your tree.

Here’s a breakdown of what different role selections of DNA test sharing can do with or to a tester’s DNA test.

Summary

I know this change in Ancestry’s policy is disappointing for many. I certainly can’t explain or defend Ancestry’s decision. I hope other companies don’t follow suit.

The good news is twofold. If you already have a full subscription, and many genealogists do, this does not affect you directly.

If you’ve encouraged or paid for others to test, you can still view their results through your subscription, so nothing is lost to you so long as they share their DNA results and tree with you.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an e-mail whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

What’s Changed? –  Autosomal DNA Vendor Feature Changes Since the 23andMe Data Compromise

Posted on by
16

The 23andMe customer data compromise has reverberated throughout the technology industry, not limited to DNA testing.

The 23andMe compromise has provided the impetus for reflection and security and policy reviews at each DNA testing vendor.

That’s a good thing.

What has been and remains challenging is keeping track of which features have been disabled and are no longer available at each vendor as the vendors, including 23andMe, attempt to right themselves from this blow. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, we can’t just return to “business as usual.”

Some of these feature removals may only be paused, and a few have already returned. Some may never be resumed.

We don’t really know yet.

If you’re having trouble keeping track, welcome to the club.

The features that have been disabled are features that were exploited at 23andMe or could have been exploited by bad actors who signed on “as you,” exposing not only your data but that of your matches in one way or another.

To be very clear, there was no data leak or compromise at any other vendor, but some other vendors provide(d) similar features for their customers. Every vendor offering DNA testing to genealogists had to stop, pause, and reevaluate their security measures. That’s exactly what they should have done. Genetic genealogy is a team sport where compromising one person’s account exposes at least some information about thousands more individuals.

Every company has proceeded somewhat differently based on how their features work.

I’ve compiled a chart listing the four primary vendors alphabetically, with affected features.

The Scorecard

In this chart, “Not available” means the feature was available before the 23andMe incident but is not currently available.

Feature 23andMe Ancestry FamilyTreeDNA MyHeritage
Two-factor Authentication (2FA)[1] Required Required Will be required for project administrators and available for all users[2] Will be required soon.
Forced Password Reset Yes No May be required for project administrators. Yes
Match information download[3] Not available Never was available Not available until after 2FA implementation Not available
Matching segment download[4] Not available Never was available Not available until after 2FA implementation Not available
Shared matches[5] Not available Available[6] Available Available
Shared matches who match each other Not available Never was available Available thru Matrix, but not segments Partially available through triangulation
Shared matches match segments Not available Never was available Never was available Never was available
Shared matches relationship to each other Not available Never was available Never was available Predicted available
Triangulation Not available Never was available Available[7] Available
Chromosome Browser Not available Never was available Available Available
Daily matching or browse rate limited[8] No No No Yes
Shared ethnicity with matches[9] Not available Available Available by opt-in Not available
Filter matches by ethnicity Never was available Never was available Never was available Not available

 
Accepts 23andMe DNA file uploads Not applicable Never was available Paused Not restricted but not available because 23andMe does not currently allow the download of your raw data file

Other features remain unchanged, so they are not mentioned.

I think I accounted for everything that has changed, including some features already resumed at MyHeritage.

23andMe has not stated if or when they will return any of the functionality that has been removed.

FamilyTreeDNA plans to return their paused features after 2FA has been implemented in early 2024.

Please note that this information may change at any time.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

[1] There has been a great deal of gnashing of teeth surrounding 2FA and how it’s implemented at each vendor. If you experience issues, please contact the vendor in question.

[2] At FamilyTreeDNA, testers utilize a kit number as their username, not their name or email. No place is the kit number publicly associated with the user’s name. In the 23andMe breach, the user’s email and passwords had been exposed in earlier breaches, so the hacker simply tried the same username and password at 23andMe, with great success. That scenario cannot occur at FamilyTreeDNA because the username is not their email address, which is why 2FA is not required for users. Administrators can select their username, so they will be required to utilize 2FA soon.

[3] This means information about your DNA matches other than your matching segments, such as email address, maternal or paternal matches, notes, surnames, and other relevant information.

[4] Matching segment information for each match. Used for triangulation, ancestor identification, and at DNAPainter.

[5] Shared matches between you and another match.

[6] Ancestry has recently announced that they will require a membership to view several features available with a DNA test, including Common Ancestors (ThruLines), Notes, Trees, Groups, and filtering matches by unviewed status. These features will not be available to DNA testers without an Ancestry subscription.

[7] Available if maternal/paternal matching is enabled. When matching, each individual who matches the tester and other testers and is bucketed on the same maternal/paternal side will triangulate on at least one segment.

[8] This is to prevent data scraping if a bad actor gains access to your account.

[9] The 23andMe data was reported to have focused on both Jewish and Chinese customers

FamilyTreeDNA Provides Y DNA Haplogroups from Family Finder Autosomal Tests

Posted on by
24

Big News! FamilyTreeDNA is delivering holiday gifts early!

Y DNA haplogroups are beginning to be delivered as a free benefit to men who took the Family Finder test at FamilyTreeDNA. This is the first wave of a staggered rollout. Haplogroup results will be delivered to several thousand people at a time, in batches, beginning today.

This is no trivial gift and includes LOTS of information that can be used in various ways for your genealogy. Please feel free to share this article. The new Family Finder haplogroups are another reason to take a Family Finder test and to encourage other family members to do so as well.

How is this Even Possible?

Clearly, Y DNA is not autosomal DNA, so how is it possible to obtain a Y DNA or mitochondrial DNA haplogroup from an autosomal test? Great question!

Many autosomal DNA processing chips include a limited number of targeted Y and mitochondrial DNA SNP locations. Generally, those locations are haplogroup predictive, which is how haplogroup information can be obtained from an autosomal DNA test.

Compared to the actual Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA tests, only a small fraction of the information is available through autosomal tests. Only the full sequence mitochondrial DNA test or the Big Y-700 test will provide you with the full story, including your most refined haplogroup, additional information, and matching with other customers.

Having said that, haplogroups obtained from Family Finder provide important clues and genealogical information that will hopefully whet recipients’ appetites for learning even more.

Delivery Schedule

This first group of men to receive haplogroup results consists of testers who have purchased the Family Finder test since March 2019 when the most recent chip was put into production.

FamilyTreeDNA will be rolling haplogroups out in batches of a few thousand each day until everyone’s is complete, in the following order:

  • Family Finder tests purchased since March 2019 (their V3 chip)
  • Family Finder tests purchased between the fall of 2015 to March 2019 (their V2 chip)
  • Family Finder tests purchased from 2010 to the fall of 2015 (their V1 chip)
  • Autosomal uploads from other vendors for customers who have unlocked the advanced Family Finder features for $19

Uploaded DNA Files from Other Vendors

After the results are available for all males who have tested at FamilyTreeDNA, haplogroups will begin to be rolled out to customers who uploaded autosomal DNA files from other companies, meaning MyHeritage, Vitagene, 23andMe, and Ancestry.

To receive haplogroups for files uploaded from other vendors, the Family Finder advanced tool unlock must have been (or can be) purchased for $19. In addition to haplogroups, the unlock also provides access to the chromosome browser, myOrigins (ethnicity), Chromosome painting for myOrigins ethnicity, and ancient Origins.

Both MyHeritage and Vitagene tests are performed in the Gene by Gene lab. Those “uploads” are actually a secure business-to-business transaction, so the file integrity is assured.

Ancestry and 23andMe DNA files are downloaded from those companies, then uploaded to FamilyTreeDNA. Some people build “composite” files in the format of these companies, so FamilyTreeDNA has no way to assure that the original DNA upload file hasn’t been modified and it is a legitimate, unmodified, file from either 23andMe or Ancestry. Hence, in some situations, they are treated differently.

Both Ancestry and 23andMe utilize different chips than FamilyTreeDNA, covering different SNPs. Those results may vary slightly from results available from native FamilyTreeDNA tests, and will also vary from each other. In other words, there’s no consistency, and therefore haplogroup accuracy cannot be confirmed.

Haplogroups resulting from tests performed in the FamilyTreeDNA lab will be visible to matches and on the SNP pages within projects. They will also be used in both Discover and the haplotree statistics. This includes Family Finder plus MyHeritage and Vitagene DNA file uploads.

Tests performed elsewhere will receive haplogroups that will only be visible to the user, or a group administrator viewing a kit within a project. They will not be visible to matches, used in trees or for statistics.

At their recent conference, FamilyTreeDNA provided this slide during an update about what to expect from Family Finder haplogroups.

Today, only Y DNA haplogroups are being provided, but after the new mitochondrial tree is available, customer haplogroups are updated, and MitoDiscover (my name, not theirs) is released, FamilyTreeDNA is planning to provide mitochondrial DNA haplogroups for Family Finder customers as well. The current haplogroup estimate is late 2024 or even into 2025.

Unfortunately, some of Ancestry’s DNA files don’t include mitochondrial DNA SNPs, so some customers who’ve uploaded Ancestry files won’t receive mitochondrial haplogroups.

STR Haplogroups to be Updated

All FamilyTreeDNA customers who have taken Y DNA STR tests, meaning 12, 25, 37, 67, or 111 markers, receive predicted haplogroups. Often, the Family Finder extracted results can provide a more refined haplogroup.

When that is possible, STR test predicted haplogroup results will be updated to the more refined Family Finder haplogroup.

Furthermore, while STR results are quite reliably predicted, Family Finder results are SNP-confirmed.

Notification

When your Family Finder test has received a haplogroup or your STR-derived haplogroup has been updated, you’ll receive an email notification with a link to a short, less than 2-minute video explaining what you’re receiving.

You can also expect emails in the following days with links to additional short videos. If you’d like to watch the videos now, click here.

You can also check your results, of course. If you should have received an email and didn’t, check your spam folder, and if it’s not there, notify FamilyTreeDNA in case your email has managed to get on the bounce list.

Group project administrators will receive notifications when a haplogroup is updated for a member in a project that they manage. This doesn’t just apply to Family Finder haplogroup updates for STR results – notifications will arrive when Big Y haplogroups are updated, too.

Emails about haplogroup updates will include both the old and the updated haplogroup.

Haplogroups may change as other testers receive results, forming a new haplogroup. The Big Y-700 test is evergreen, meaning as the Y tree grows, testers’ results are updated on an ongoing basis.

New View

Let’s take a look at what customers will receive.

In one of my surname projects, one male has taken a Family Finder test, but not the Y DNA test.

Several other men in that same paternal line, who are clearly related (including his brother), have taken Y DNA tests – both STR and the Big Y-700.

We have men who have taken the Big Y-700 test, STR tests only (no Big Y), and one with only a Family Finder test, so let’s compare all three, beginning with the man who has taken a Family Finder test but no Y DNA tests.

He has now been assigned to haplogroup I-BY1031, thanks to his Family Finder test.

Before today, because he has not taken a Y DNA test, he had no haplogroup or Y DNA Results section on his personal page.

Today, he does. Of course, he doesn’t have STR results or matches, but he DOES have confirmed SNP results, at least part way down the tree.

He can view these results on the Haplotree & SNPs tab or in Discover. Let’s look at both.

Haplotree & SNPs

By clicking on the Haplotree & SNPs link, you can view the results by variants (mutations,) as shown below, or by countries, surnames, or recommended projects for each haplogroup.

Of course, as more Family Finder results are rolled out, the more names and countries will appear on the Haplotree.

Recommended Projects

It’s easy to determine which haplogroup projects would be a good fit for people with these new haplogroups to join.

Just view by Recommended Projects, then scan up that column above the selected haplogroup. You can even just click right there to join. It’s that easy!

Results still won’t show on the public project page, because these testers don’t have STR results to display. Perhaps this will encourage additional testing in order to match with other men.

Download SNP Results

If you’re interested, you can download your SNP results in spreadsheet format.

I’m only showing four of my cousin’s positive SNPs, but FamilyTreeDNA was able to extract 358 positive SNPs to assign him to haplogroup I-BY1031.

Are Family Finder Haplogroups Better Than STR Test Predicted Haplogroups?

How do Family Finder haplogroups stack up against STR-predicted haplogroups?

Viewing the Y DNA results of related cousins who have taken STR tests, but not the Big Y-700, we see that their Y DNA haplogroup was predicted as I-M253.

We also know that the haplogroup determined by the Big Y-700 for this line is I-BY73911.

How can we use this information beneficially, and what does it mean?

Discover

Family Finder haplogroups can access Discover, which I wrote about, here.

Clicking on the Discover link takes you to your haplogroup story.

Let’s look at the new Family Finder Haplogroup Story for this tester.

Haplogroup I-BY1031 is about 3100 years old and is found in England, Sweden, the US, and 14 other countries. Of course, as more Family Finder haplogroups are provided to customers, this information will change for many haplogroups, so check back often.

Of course, you’ll want to review every single tab, which are chapters in your ancestral story! The Time Tree shows your haplogroup age in perspective to other haplogroups and their formation, and Ancient Connections anchors haplogroups through archaeology.

You can share any Discover page in several ways. This is a good opportunity to excite other family members about the discoveries revealed through DNA testing and genealogy. Prices are reduced right now with the Holiday Sale, too, so it’s a great time to gift someone else or yourself.

Compare – How Good is Good?

Ok, so how much better is the Family Finder haplogroup than the STR-predicted haplogroup, and how much better is the Big Y-700 haplogroup than the other two?

I’ll use the Discover “Compare” feature to answer these questions.

First, let’s compare the STR-predicted haplogroup of I-M253 to the Family Finder haplogroup of I-BY1031.

I clicked on Compare and entered the haplogroup I wish to compare to I-BY1031.

I-M253 I-BY1031 I-BY73199
Haplogroup Source STR Predicted Family Finder Big Y-700
Formation Year 2600 BCE 1100 BCE 1750 CE
Age – Years ago 4600 3100 270
Era Stone Age, Metal Age Metal Age Modern
Ancestral Locations England, Sweden, Germany, UK, +100 Sweden, England, US, +14 Netherlands
Tested Descendants 26,572 121 2
Branches 6779 69 0 – this is the pot-of-gold end leaf on the branch today

I created this chart to compare the major features of all three haplogroups.

The STR-predicted haplogroup, I-M253, takes you to about 2,600 BCE, or about 4,600 years ago. The Family Finder haplogroup shifts that significantly to about 1100 BCE, or 3100 years ago, so it’s about 1500 years more recent. However, the Big Y haplogroup takes you home – from 3100 years ago to about 270 years ago.

Notice that there’s a LOT of room for refinement under haplogroup I-M253. A Big Y tester might wind up on any of those 6779 branches, and might well be assigned to a newly formed branch with his test. The Family Finder haplogroup, I-BY1031, which was, by the way, discovered through Big Y testing, moved the autosomal test taker forward 1500 years where there are 121 descendants in 69 branches. The Big Y-700 test is the most refined possible, moving you directly into a genealogically relevant timeframe with a very specific location.

I-M253 is found in over 100 countries, I-BY1031 in 17 and I-BY73199 is found only in one – the Netherlands.

Based on confirmed genealogy, the common ancestor of the two men who have Big Y-700 haplogroup I-BY73199 was a man named Hendrik Jans Ferwerda, born in 1806 in the Netherlands, so 217 years ago. Of course, that haplogroup itself could have been born a generation or two before Hendrik. We simply won’t know for sure until more men test. More testers refine the haplotree, haplogroup ages, and refine our genealogy as well.

Haplogroup Comparison and Analysis

Let’s look at the Discover “Compare” feature of the three haplogroups from my family line from the Netherlands. Please note that your results will differ because every haplogroup is different, but this is a good way to compare the three types of haplogroup results and an excellent avenue to illustrate why testing and upgrades are so important.

The haplogroup ages are according to the Discover Time Tree.

Y-Adam to Haplogroup I1 I-M253 STR Haplogroup  to I-BY1031 Family Finder Haplogroup I-BY1031 Family Finder Haplogroup to BY73199 Big Y Haplogroup
Y-Adam (haplogroup A-PR2921) lived about 234,000 years ago
A0-T
A1
A1b
CT
CF
F
GHIJK
HIJK
IJK
IJ
I
M170
Z2699
L840
I1 I1
I-M253 lived about 4600 years ago
DF29
Z58
Z2041
Z2040
Z382
Y3643
Y2170
FT92441
FT45372
PH1178
BY1031 I-BY1031 lived about 3100 years ago
FT230048
BY65928
BY61100
I-BY73199 lived about 270 years ago

 All of the base haplogroups in the first column leading to Haplogroup I span the longest elapsed time, about 230,000 years, from Y-Adam to I-M253, the STR-predicted haplogroup, but are the least relevant to contemporary genealogy. They do tell us where we came from more distantly.

The second column moves you about 1500 years forward in time to the Family Finder confirmed haplogroup, reducing the location from pretty much everyplace in Europe (plus a few more locations) with more than 6700 branches, to 69 branches in only 17 countries.

With the fewest haplogroups, the third column spans the most recent 2800 years, bringing you unquestionably into the genealogically relevant timeframe, 270 years ago, in only one country where surnames apply.

If we had more testers from the Netherlands or nearby regions, there would probably be more branches on the tree between BY1031 and BY73199, the Big Y-700 haplogroup.

The second column is clearly an improvement over the first column which gets us to I-M253. The Family Finder upgrade from I-M253 to BY1031 provides information about our ancestors 3000-4500 years ago, where they lived and culturally, what they were doing. Ancient Connections enhance that understanding.

But the third column moves into the modern area where surnames are relevant and is the holy grail of genealogy. It’s a journey to get from Adam to the Netherlands in one family 270 years ago, but we can do it successfully between Family Finder and the Big Y-700.

Family Finder Matching

Given that these new haplogroups result from Family Finder, how do these results show in Family Finder matching? How do we know if someone with a haplogroup has taken a Y DNA test or if their haplogroup is from their Family Finder test?

  • All Family Finder haplogroups will show in the results for people who tested at FamilyTreeDNA as soon as they are all rolled out
  • All MyHeritage and Vitagene uploads, because they are processed by the Gene by Gene lab, will be shown IF they have purchased the unlock.
  • No Ancestry or 23andMe haplogroups will be shown to Family Finder matches

To determine whether or not your matches’ haplogroups result from a Y DNA test or a Family Finder haplogroup, on your Family Finder match page, look just beneath the name of your matches.

The first man above received the Family Finder haplogroup. You can see he has no other tests listed. The second man has taken the Big Y-700 test. You can see that he has a different haplogroup, and if you look beneath his name, you’ll see that he took the Big Y-700 test.

For other men, you may see the 67 or 111 marker tests, for example, so you’ll know that they are available for Y-DNA matching. That may be important information because you can then visit the appropriate surname project to see if they happen to be listed with an earliest known ancestor.

After the rollout is complete, If you have a male Family Finder match with no haplogroup shown, you know that:

  • They did not test at FamilyTree DNA
  • If they uploaded from MyHeritage or Vitagene, they did not unlock the advanced Family Finder features
  • Or, they tested at either 23andMe or Ancestry, and uploaded their results

You can always reach out to your match and ask.

How to Use This Information

There are several great ways to utilize this new information.

I have a roadblock with my Moore line. Moore is a common surname with many, many origins, so I have autosomal matches to several Moore individuals who may or may not be from my Moore line.

I do know the base haplogroup of my Moore men, but I do not have a Big Y, unfortunately, and can’t upgrade because the tester is deceased. (I wish I had ordered the Big Y out the gate, but too late now.)

As soon as the results are complete for all of the testers, I’ll be able, by process of elimination to some extent, focus ONLY on the testers who fall into Family Finder haplogroup of my Moore cousins, or at least haplogroup close for Ancestry or 23andMe upload customers. In other words, I can eliminate the rest.

I can then ask the men with a similar haplogroup to my proven Moore cousins for more information, including whether they would be willing to take a Y DNA test.

  • Second, as soon as the Family Finder processing is complete, I will know that all male Family Finder matches and uploads from MyHeritage and Vitagene that have paid for the unlock will have haplogroups displayed on the Family Finder Match page. Therefore, if there’s a male Moore with no haplogroup, I can reach out to see where they tested and if a haplogroup has been assigned, even if it’s from Ancestry or 23andMe and isn’t displayed in Family Finder.

If so, and they share the haplogroup with me, I’ll be able to include or exclude them. If included, I can then ask if they would consider taking a Y DNA test.

  • Third, for lines I don’t yet have Y DNA testers for, I can now peruse my matches, and my cousins’ matches for that line. See items one and two, above. Even if they don’t reply or agree to Y DNA testing, at least now I have SOME haplogroup for that missing line.

Discover will help me flesh out the information I have, narrow regions, find projects, look at ancient DNA for hints, and more.

  • Fourth, the haplogroups themselves. I don’t know how many million tests FamilyTreeDNA has in their database, but if we assume that half of those are male, some percentage won’t have taken a Y DNA test at all. We’ll be able to obtain Y-DNA information for lines where there may be no other living descendant. I have at least one like that. He was the end of the surname line and is deceased, with no sons.

I’m literally ecstatic that I’ll be able to obtain at least something for that line. If it’s anything like my example Netherlands lineage, the Family Finder haplogroup may be able to point me to an important region of Europe – or maybe someplace else very unexpected.

The Bottom Line

Here’s the bottom line. You don’t know what you don’t know – and our ancestors are FULL of surprises.

I can’t even begin to tell you how MUCH I’m looking forward to this haplogroup rollout.

To prepare, I’m making a list of my genealogical lines:

  • If the paternal line, meaning surname line, is represented by any match in any database
  • If that line is represented by a known person in the FamilyTreeDNA database and by whom
  • If they or someone from that line has joined a surname or other FamilyTreeDNA project, and if so, which one
  • If they’ve taken a Y DNA test, and what kind – watch STR results for an updated haplogroup
  • If they’ve taken a Family Finder test – my cousin is a good example of a known individual whose kit I can watch for a new haplogroup
  • Old and new haplogroup, if applicable

If my only relative from that line is in another vendor’s database, I’ll ask if they will upload their file to FamilyTreeDNA – and explain why by sharing this article. (Feel free to do the same.) A Y DNA haplogroup is a good incentive, and I would be glad to pay for the unlock at FamilyTreeDNA for cousins who represent Y and mitochondrial DNA lines I don’t already have.

One way I sweeten the pie is to offer testing scholarships to select lines where I need either the Y DNA or mitochondrial DNA of relevant ancestors. It’s a good thing these haplogroups are being rolled out a few thousand at a time! I need to budget for all the scholarships I’ll want to offer.

I feel like I won the lottery, and FamilyTreeDNA is giving me a free haplogroup encyclopedia of information about my ancestors through my cousins – even those who haven’t taken Y DNA tests. I can’t even express how happy this makes me.

What lines do you want to discover more about, and what is your plan? Tests are on sale now if you need them!

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

Holiday DNA Sales Are Here!!!

Posted on by
Reply

I apologize for the brevity of this posting, but I came home from the FamilyTreeDNA Conference this past weekend with “conference crud.”

I’ll catch you up on that great conference later, but sales won’t wait, and the holiday sales have already begun. This is a great time to order. These prices are the lowest ever.

MyHeritage

The MyHeritage autosomal test is only $36, and shipping is free if you order two or more DNA tests. That’s a GREAT deal. Click here to order.

If you’ve already tested elsewhere, you can upload your raw DNA file from that vendor to MyHeritage, here. I’ve provided step-by-step instructions, here. After you’ve uploaded, be sure to purchase the $29 unlock for advanced autosomal features, including the MyHeritage chromosome browser and Theories of Family Relativity, which shows you how you connect with DNA matches who share the same ancestor in MyHeritage’s collection of 52 million trees.

If you’re new to MyHeritage, you can also purchase a data or records subscription here, including a free trial.

I use this combination of DNA, trees, and tools almost daily and love that MyHeritage sends me regular record matches from their billions of genealogy records.

FamilyTreeDNA

Every test is on sale at FamilyTreeDNA.

As you know, FamilyTreeDNA provides Y-DNA, mitochondrial, and autosomal testing through their Family Finder test. They also accept autosomal DNA file uploads from Ancestry and MyHeritage. You’ll find easy download and upload instructions for each vendor, here. The advanced feature unlock is on sale now for just $9!

You can order each test individually or bundle tests for a better price.

Note that the introductory Y-DNA 37-marker test is available for $99, and can later be upgraded to the Big-Y test. However, the Big Y-700 is on sale for $399 which is a great price. Y-DNA testing unlocks your paternal ancestor’s history revealed in FamilyTreeDNA‘s world-class Discover tools.

If you’ve already tested at FamilyTreeDNA and would like to add another test for yourself or upgrade, say to the Big-Y test, just click here, sign on, and click on the Add Ons and Upgrade button in the upper right-hand corner.

I hope I’m not spilling the beans, but all sale prices, including upgrades and autosomal transfer unlocks, are shown below:

Genealogy Goals

The holidays are coming! Take a look at what you need for your genealogy.

I decided a long time ago it’s absolutely fine to “gift myself” with purchases and upgrades for my cousins. Especially the Big Y-700 at FamilyTreeDNA and the mitochondrial DNA test, which is vastly underutilized. This helps my genealogy immensely, as well as theirs. Most people are happy to swab, especially if you’re doing the genealogy work.

My goal is to:

  • Have the autosomal DNA of each of my family members and cousins in both databases that provide chromosome browsers so that I can confirm ancestors at FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage.
  • Find male cousins to test for the Y-DNA, the surname lineage of each of my ancestral lines. Males who descend paternally from each male ancestor can usually be tracked by their surname.
  • Mitochondrial DNA for each of my ancestors. For mitochondrial DNA testing, we need testers descended through all females from each female ancestor, although males in the current generation can test. Everyone has their mother’s direct matrilineal line mitochondrial DNA.

To find testing candidates for your lineages, check projects at FamilyTreeDNA, autosomal matches at all vendors, your ancestors at WikiTree, ThruLines at Ancestry, even though ThruLines is still having issues, and Theories of Family Relativity at MyHeritage.

With DNAtests on sale right now, this is a great time to purchase tests at MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase your price but helps me keep the lights on, and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

Ancestry Updates Ethnicity, Introduces New Features & Pushes Some Behind Paywall

Posted on by
35

I knew something had changed at Ancestry when I signed in a few days ago and saw the following message:

Ancestry assured me that I’m fine, but people who don’t have a subscription can no longer see some DNA features.

Ancestry has placed some previously free features behind a paywall – meaning a subscription called AncestryDNA Plus.

If you have a full subscription to Ancestry, you’re covered. You’re not if you don’t have a full subscription and only ordered a DNA test.

I was waiting for clarification from Ancestry, which arrived in an email yesterday.

Ancestry’s Clarification

In the email from Ancestry, they listed the new AncestryDNA premium features, some of which were previously purchased separately, like Traits, some of which were included with the AncestryDNA test, and some of which are or will be new.

There are several features and changes, so let’s take a look.

AncestryDNA Plus Subscription

The biggest change is that Ancestry will now be requiring some type of membership, either a full Ancestry membership or an AncestryDNA Plus membership, in order to access several DNA features.

Ancestry has placed these features behind a paywall for customers without a full Ancestry subscription.

The subscription price is $29.99 for six months, not a year, and the subscription automatically renews. This means that unless you have a full Ancestry subscription, access to several DNA features now costs you $59.98 per year in addition to the price of your original DNA test. Ouch.

Whooboy. I can hear the screaming from here.

Yes, I know this is NOT what we were expecting when we purchased DNA tests, and I realize it’s quite pricey – especially given that it’s not a one-time purchase but an ongoing subscription.

I will review each of these features – but let me say that if you’ve been doing fine without them so far for your genealogy, there’s probably not anything you really need here.

The most important feature that genealogists need that is NOT available without a full Ancestry subscription is full access to the trees of our matches – and, to be clear, that is NOT available through the AncestryDNA Plus subscription.

Let’s look at each feature separately.

Traits and Traits by Parent

You know all those questions Ancestry has been asking you? Well, this is why.

Ancestry is comparing the DNA of individuals with specific answers to identify genetic commonalities.

Traits was a separate uplift fee in the past, but now it’s included in the AncestryDNA Plus subscription.

You may not have Traits on your account yet. My second test, which is a newer test, does NOT have traits available, but I’m sure it will soon.

If you have Traits, you will have a banner above your DNA Story, Matches and ThruLines on your DNA Results Summary page.

Ancestry includes 42 traits today.

Ancestry shows you which traits are most influenced by which parent, or both parents.

Where you fall within that range is provided as well.

Clicking on each trait provides additional information.

Don’t get too excited about this feature because some of these traits are apparently a lot more environmental than genetic. For example, according to Ancestry, male hair loss is “at least 4% genetic.” Each trait has similar information provided, and some have a surprisingly small percentage of genetic affinity. Others have a surprisingly large number of influencing genes.

Here’s a chart of my traits and the parent that Ancestry has assigned as most likely to have influenced this trait. Please note that for Ancestry to split your Traits by parent, you MUST be able to identify which side of your family your ethnicity categories descend from using SideView, which I wrote about, here. If your parents aren’t identified correctly, the source of your traits certainly won’t be either.

Trait & % Genetic My Result Influenced by Trait Accuracy
Alcohol Flush – 4% Face does not flush Maternal Wrong
Asparagus odor – 4% Able to smell asparagus metabolites (in urine) Paternal Accurate
Birth weight – 5% Above average Both Unknown
Bitter sensitivity – 20% Unable to taste a certain bitter flavor (PTC in brussel sprouts) Both Accurate – I taste brussel sprouts, but they don’t taste bitter
Caffeine intake – 4% Likely to drink a lot less caffeine than average Paternal Wrong – I can’t drink caffeinated beverages anymore, but when I could, I consumed coffee by the pot
Cilantro aversion – 5% Unlikely to enjoy cilantro Maternal Accurate
Cleft Chin – 8% No cleft chin Paternal Accurate
Dancing – 7% Least likely to enjoy dancing Maternal This is hilarious – my mother was a professional dancer, and I love dancing
Earlobes – 9% Unattached earlobes Maternal Accurate
Earwax type – 2% Wet earwax Both Accurate
Eye color – 7% Brown Maternal Accurate – although both parents had brown eyes
Facial hair fullness – 7% Patchier facial hair Maternal No idea
Finger length – 5% Ring finger longer than index finger Maternal Wrong
Freckles – 9% Unlikely Maternal Accurate
Hair color – 25% Dark hair Paternal Accurate, although both parents had dark hair
Hair strand thickness – 1% Thin hair Maternal Wrong – hair very thick
Hair type – 1% Wavy Maternal Accurate
Heart rate recovery – 12% Quicker recovery rate after exercise Both No idea
Introvert or extrovert – 1% Introvert Maternal Also hilarious – my mother was very much the extrovert
Iris patterns – 35% Furrows, crypts, and rings Both Can’t tell
Male hair loss – 4% Lower chance Paternal Probably accurate – my father was not balding in his 60s
Morning or night person – 17% Morning Paternal Wrong, wrong, 1000 times wrong
Omega 3 – 4% Average levels Both No idea
Oxygen use – 38% Average ability to raise maximum oxygen use Paternal No idea
Picky eater – 8% Picky Maternal Wrong
Remembering dreams – 1% Unlikely Paternal I remember some, sometimes, but they tend to fade
Risk Taking – 9% More likely than 60% of the population Both Probably accurate
Skin pigmentation – 13% Light to medium Both Accurate
Sun sneezing – 8% Non sneezer Paternal Accurate
Sweet sensitivity – 4% Extra sensitive Both Accurate
Taking naps – 6% Not a nap taker Maternal Accurate
Tolerating dairy – 1% Likely to tolerate Paternal Accurate
Umami sensitivity – 1% Less sensitive than others Both Uncertain – I can taste Umami but since this is comparative, I don’t really know
Unibrow – 1% No unibrow Paternal Accurate
Vitamin A – 7% Average level Maternal No idea
Vitamin B12 – 5% Average level Maternal No idea
Vitamin C – 4% Average level Paternal No idea
Vitamin D – 10% Average level Both No idea
Vitamin E – 14% Average level Maternal No idea
Wisdom Teeth – 8% Likely to develop all four teeth Maternal Accurate

If you’re thinking to yourself – how can some of these traits be anything BUT genetic, such as unibrow, you’re not alone. How can unibrow and some other traits be anything BUT genetic?

Initially, I thought maybe this would help me learn about my father, who died when I was young, but based on the low percentage of genetic influence, combined with answers that I know are inaccurate – I can’t really rely on any of this genealogically either. All I can say is that I’m really glad I didn’t pay for this feature.

Ancestry writes about their trait predictions in a white paper, here.

At the bottom of the Traits page is a “Compare Traits” tab where you can invite your matches to share traits with you.

My own second kit is not on the list of people to invite, so maybe immediate family is not available to invite? Or maybe it’s because that kit doesn’t have traits yet.

Ethnicity Inheritance

Ethnicity Inheritance shows which of your ethnicities were inherited from each parent. This was previously included in the price of your DNA test, but now it’s available through either the full Ancestry subscription or through the AncestryDNA Plus subscription.

I wrote about ethnicity inheritance when SideView was introduced, here.

Matches are now split by parent.

These matches and totals have recently been updated, at the same time as ThruLines.

Significant issues have been reported with both features, with matches incorrectly assigned that were previously assigned correctly. ThruLines has improved somewhat, but still has not been corrected entirely. Many known cousins who were previously linked to our common ancestor in ThruLines are no longer linked. I wrote about the ThruLines issue, here.

Chromosome Painter

Ancestry’s chromosome painter is NOT a chromosome browser. Yes, it looks similar, but it definitely IS NOT the same thing.

What’s the difference between a chromosome browser and chromosome painting?

Chromosome browsing with matches and chromosome painting look similar, but they aren’t the same and have different functions.

A chromosome browser allows you to compare your matching DNA segments with others and view them in a browser to see which shared DNA segments overlap, indicating a common ancestor. A chromosome browser is required to perform triangulation, which confirms common ancestors and facilitates identifying which segments descend from specific ancestors. I provided a list of triangulation resources, here.

For example, three maternal cousins above are compared on my chromosomes (in grey) using the chromosome browser at FamilyTreeDNA. The three bars under chromosome 1 represent my matches with three selected cousins who descend from Hiram Ferverda and Eva Miller.

  • The first blue cousin matches me in two locations on chromosome 1.
  • The second red cousin matches me in two locations on chromosome 1, one of which is the same location as the first blue cousin.
  • The third turquoise cousin does not match me on chromosome 1 but does on chromosomes 3 and 4.
  • None of those three cousins match me on chromosome 2.
  • On chromosome 3, you can see that all three cousins match me on a portion of the same segment which in this case indicates that we all inherited that segment from our common ancestral couple. I know these cousins, so I already know this is a maternal match, but I can easily confirm by checking my mother’s results or using the matrix tool to be sure we all match each other. Any unknown match who matches us on this same segment also descends from this same ancestral line – meaning either Bauke and Eva, or one of their ancestral lines.

All major vendors except Ancestry provide a chromosome browser.

Chromosome painting is different.

While a chromosome browser displays your matching segments with selected matches, ethnicity chromosome painting automatically paints your ethnicity on your maternal and paternal chromosomes at each location.

Ancestry paints your ethnicity on your chromosomes by parent, by assigned world region, based on YOUR designation of maternal and paternal “sides.” My maternal chromosome is displayed on the top, and my paternal chromosome is displayed on the bottom.

With chromosome painting, there’s no way to see which matches match you on specific chromosomes. Nor does Ancestry provide you with segment information. In other words, you can’t compare a specific segment to see which of your matches match you on that segment.

However, that’s one of the great features at DNAPainter, and they’ve found a way to utilize Ancestry’s painting for that purpose.

DNAPainter estimates the segment information from Ancestry’s chromosome painting, which means you can utilize the segment information from Ancestry at DNAPainter. Having said that, I’m very skeptical of Ancestry’s painting accuracy.

Note that almost all of Ancestry’s chromosome painting covers the entire maternal or paternal chromosome with one ethnicity. In my case, three maternal chromosomes have two ethnicities, and the balance of 39 chromosomes show only one ethnicity for the entire chromosome.

That’s very suspicious, given my mixed heritage, and does not align with ethnicities at the other vendors.

Furthermore, if you look at chromosome 10 as an example, my maternal chromosome shows Scotland, and my paternal chromosome shows Ireland. My mother, who is primarily (87.5%) German, Dutch, and French, and whose ancestors I’ve confirmed through 5 generations have zero, as in no Scottish or Irish. So, in this case, the ethnicity is misattributed, which means the painting of that entire maternal chromosome is incorrect as well.

That’s not the only one. Ancestry has also attributed all of maternal chromosome 18 and half of chromosome 2 as Scottish too.

Ancestry updates their ethnicity estimates periodically, generally every year or so.

If yours hasn’t been updated recently, updates are supposed to be complete by the end of September 2023.

Ethnicity estimates are just that, and each update varies slightly, but that’s about it. The only ethnicity update that would help me is IF Ancestry “rediscovered” my Native American segments that come and go at Ancestry, AND they would include matching segment information with cousins so I can determine which of my ancestors contributed that Native segment. Then I’d know which cousins share that Native segment and could utilize their trees to isolate the common ancestor. Yes, I know, I’m hallucinating, because that’s never going to happen.

However, maybe an ethnicity update will encourage people to sign in and create trees. That would be useful.

Compare My DNA Ethnicity and Communities

Another feature that seems to be new and does NOT say “Member Access,” so should be available to everyone, is the ability to compare DNA ethnicities and communities with others.

By selecting the Compare My DNA tab, then DNA Communities, you can see which of your matches share communities with you.

Note that I don’t match my own second test exactly.

By selecting Ethnicity estimates, you can see which regions you and your matches have in common.

Please understand that this does NOT necessarily mean you share those regions due to the same ancestors!

For example, my Ferverda cousin and I may or may not share some or all of our Germanic Europe or England and Northwestern Europe ethnicity from our common ancestors – and there’s no way to know or tell without segment information and a chromosome browser.

Future Features

Ancestry’s email referenced a future feature – Communities Inheritance by parental connection.

I only have three communities at Ancestry, and I know which ones result from which ancestors.

I’m presuming that if Ancestry is referencing this new feature, it’s not too far in the future.

Parental Sides Based on Ancestry Ethnicity

In the article about SideView, I discussed how customers indicate which parent is which based on ethnicity. If you can’t do it using ethnicity results alone, you can view your closest matches, which presumes you know how you’re related to them, and select ethnicity regions based on shared regions.

These additional features are built upon the base of SideView, which is built upon a base of Ancestry’s ethnicity estimate.

Many of these features rest on your ability to accurately determine your maternal and paternal sides – either using your ethnicity results or your shared ethnicity of your known closest matches. My Mom is 50% German and 24% Dutch, with the remainder being equally divided between French/Native (Acadian) and English. My father has no German and no known French. The high percentage of German made my parents easy to separate. Had I made a mistake though, or if Ancestry makes a mistake in ethnicity attribution, such as the Scottish example I provided, all of these features that depend on an accurate parental division will also be inaccurate.

Summary

This new feature rollout was confusing to sort out since:

  • Some features require a full subscription
  • Some require the new AncestryDNA Plus subscription (or a full subscription)
  • Traits was previously an extra purchase but is now included with either subscription
  • Some features remain available with the AncestryDNA test with no subscription

I made a chart.

Feature With DNA Test Subscription Needed Comment
Traits Yes Was an uplift, now included with either subscription
Traits by Parent Yes Now included
Ethnicity Estimate Yes No
Ethnicity by parent Yes Was included, now behind paywall
Ethnicity Chromosome Painter Yes Was included, now behind paywall
Matches by parent Yes Was included, now behind paywall
Compare Communities with Matches Yes No Today, there is no “Member Access” label
Compare Ethnicity Estimates with Matches Yes No Today, there is no “Member Access” label
Communities by Parent Yes Future Feature
Full Access to Matches’ Trees Partial Full subscription needed, not AncestryDNA Plus Future features in email from Ancestry

Features not mentioned above remain included in the AncestryDNA test, meaning without any additional subscription:

  • Matching
  • Grouping Matches
  • Shared Matches
  • Communities
  • ThruLines

Opinion

I have two issues with this new rollout. Ancestry is now charging for previously included features. Secondly, many of those up-charge features are predicated upon ethnicity estimates that the customer has to divide maternally and paternally. In other words, there’s a significant possibility that you’re paying for and depending upon something inaccurate.

What bothers me the most is the fact that Ancestry giveth, and Ancestry taketh away. The SideView features were included with the original DNA test purchase price initially, but now Ancestry has pushed some of those features behind a paywall. I feel that’s disingenuous.

In the bigger picture, I’ve wondered how long companies can continue to fund new features with new test sales. The companies have to provide the results to their millions of legacy clients that now reaches back years. As the database continues to grow, the processing and storage requirements do, too – and that isn’t free.

The companies BEST able to continue to fund that development are the companies that utilize DNA tests to leverage larger and repeated sales – like Ancestry and MyHeritage records subscriptions.

Furthermore,  Ancestry and 23andMe both collaborated with pharmaceutical companies, although both initial contracts have expired. Ancestry’s current collaborations are listed here.

Companies that do not utilize DNA to leverage other sales would have more motivation to place at least some of their advanced tools behind a subscription paywall. 23andMe has been doing that progressively since 2020 and now offers a “membership” for $69 per year – assuming you have a recent test. Otherwise, you have to retest for the additional cost of $229 before you can purchase the membership.

MyHeritage also limits access to full trees for DNA testers without a Premium subscription, but by comparison, they have not put any features behind a paywall that were previously included in the DNA test, nor do they have a separate DNA subscription.

Both FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage require a one-time unlock, $19 and $29, respectively, for advanced features if you upload a test from another testing company, meaning you didn’t test with them – but that’s entirely different from a secondary yearly subscription to access DNA features for paying customers.

FamilyTreeDNA, whose only business is DNA testing, includes all features with a DNA test. No subscription is available or required.

I’ve included this to say that I understand the need to generate revenue. My issue is that I feel like Ancestry, the largest DNA testing company, who could best afford research and development investment, essentially did a bait-and-switch with their customers by taking something away.

When ThruLines went sideways a month or so ago, I knew something was up. I suspected that Ancestry was recalculating relationships in the background for some reason. Now we know that the reason was these new features.

However, the problem with ThruLines isn’t fixed. I don’t believe many previous connections were wrong and are correct now. Cousins who match me and had common ancestors in their tree still have common ancestors in their tree and still match me – but aren’t currently connected through ThruLines. And I’m not referring to just a few.

Then, there are the issues with maternal and paternal match assignments.

Neither of these issues inspire much confidence, especially as a company begins charging for previously included features. Issues happen in IT, but the issues need to be resolved as soon as possible. The fact that these issues aren’t resolved, in addition to the required subscriptions being rolled out before the issues are resolved, makes me angry with a company many within the industry recommend in good faith.

I feel like all customers, full subscribers who want and need to utilize advanced tools to solve genealogical puzzles, along with customers who “only” tested their DNA, are being penalized.

The very least Ancestry could have done was delay the subscription rollout until they fixed the mess they made. The honorable thing would have been to only place new features behind the paywall, not taking existing features away from customers already enjoying them.

I have a full yearly subscription, so I’m covered, but if I were not, there’s nothing in the new features that I think will benefit my genealogy.

  • Traits doesn’t benefit genealogy
  • Traits by parent doesn’t benefit genealogy
  • Ethnicity by parent doesn’t – even if it was accurate.
  • Chromosome painting doesn’t – in part because the ethnicity and division is inaccurate and in part because no segment information is provided.
  • Matches by parent could be useful, but since it’s currently malfunctioning and is based on SideView ethnicity divisions, I don’t have much confidence in the results.
  • Communities by parent, a future feature, might be useful for some people, assuming parents are assigned correctly.

Since we are discussing Ancestry’s new features, I know that someone will ask if I’ve noticed the new Ancestry Dog DNA test that rolled out simultaneously.

Yes, I noticed. I suggest you read this article before purchasing any dog DNA test from any source.

There’s so much that Ancestry could do for their paying customers, whether we’ve paid for a DNA test, a subscription, or both, but instead, they’ve focused their efforts on another revenue-producing product that has nothing to do with human genealogy.

I feel like Ancestry is offering a lot of window dressing eye-candy, while what we really need are genealogical answers that are within their power to provide.

The four DNA-related features that Ancestry could provide that would be the most beneficial for genealogy would be:

  • DNA match search by ancestor. Not surname-only like is provided today. Not just Estes, but Moses Estes, or better yet –  the Moses Estes born in 1711 who died in 1787. I have 106,000 matches, and I’m not going to scroll through what are probably thousands of never-ending unrolling matches, each of which I have to click on their tree to see if my ancestor is there. This is entirely unnecessary.
  • Matching segment information for matches, including triangulation. I want to confirm which ancestor I share with my matches – and prove it.
  • Chromosome browser – seeing is believing.
  • ThruLines extended back at least another two generations, from 7 to 9.

Working without these features is akin to riding a unicycle with one hand tied behind your back. I swear, sometimes I feel like Ancestry doesn’t want us to FIND our ancestors; they just want us to keep looking!

But that really doesn’t help them in the long run, either.

Helping genealogists actually identify ancestors means we have an entirely new generation to search for in those subscription records, and then another, and another. Yep, we’d have more reason than ever to subscribe!

I want more than a carrot dangling at the end of a stick. I want tools that facilitate answers. Now, for that, I’d gladly pay a subscription.

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

 

Genealogy Books

  • com – Lots of wonderful genealogy research books
  • American Ancestors – Wonderful selection of genealogy books

Genealogy Research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancestry’s ThruLines Are a Hot Mess Right Now – But Here Are Some Great Alternatives

Posted on by
41

Right now, ThruLines at Ancestry is one hot mess.

Aside from the inherent frustration, especially over a holiday weekend when many people had planned to work on their genealogy, I’d like to say, “don’t panic.”

I don’t have any inside information about what’s going on at Ancestry, and I’ve attempted to make contact through their support page with no luck. They make talking to a person exceedingly difficult; plus, it’s a holiday weekend, and they are probably inundated.

Regardless, I have an idea of what is happening. Ancestry has been in the midst of recalculating “things,” perhaps in relation to their other changes, which I’ll write about separately in a few days.

In any event, Ancestry SURELY MUST KNOW there’s a significant problem because I imagine thousands of their customers are screaming right about now. Adding another voice won’t be helpful.

Symptoms

  • You may not have ThruLines at all.
  • If you do have ThruLines, don’t trust the information, or more to the point, don’t trust that it’s in any way complete.

I have two tests at Ancestry, both connected to different trees so that my matches and Thrulines are calculated separately for each test.

Test One

My first Ancestry test is connected to my primary tree. I’ve been amassing Thrulines cousins ever since the feature was released. I have hundreds of cousin matches descended from some of my more prolific ancestors.

Additionally, my sister’s grandchildren have tested, as have other close relatives who have connected their tests to their trees.

Today, those people are still showing on my match list, but are NOT showing as matches in ThruLines. None of them. Most of my ThruLines ancestors are showing zero matches, and the rest are only showing very few. Ancestors who had hundreds before now have 2, for example.

Here’s an example with my cousin, Erik.

My grandfather, William George Estes, shown in Erik’s tree, above, is his great-grandfather. Erik is my half first cousin, once removed, and we share 417 cM over 16 segments.

Yet, looking at my ThruLine for William George Estes, neither he nor my other cousins are shown as matches. Same for William George’s parents, and so forth.

ThruLines is VERY ill right now.

Test Two

My second DNA test at Ancestry is even worse. There are no ThruLines calculated, even though my DNA is tree-attached, and I had ThruLines previously.

I see this message now, and I can’t even begin to tell you how irritating this is – in part because it suggests the problem is my fault. It’s clearly not. My tree hasn’t changed one bit. I’m not alone, either. I’ve seen other people posting this same message.

And yes, if you’re thinking that there is absolutely no excuse for this – you’re right.

However, outrage isn’t good for us and won’t help – so let’s all do something else fun and productive instead.

Productive Genealogy Plans

Here are some productive suggestions.

At MyHeritage:

At FamilyTreeDNA:

  • Build your haplogroup pedigree chart by locating people through different companies descended from each ancestor in your tree through the appropriate line of descent, and see if they have or will take a Y-DNA or mtDNA test.
  • Tests are on sale right now, and there’s no subscription required at FamilyTreeDNA for anything.
  • Check Y-DNA and mtDNA tests to see if there are new matches and if you share a common ancestor.

At 23andMe:

  • Check for new matches and triangulation.
  • Check to see if 23andMe has added any of your new matches to your genetic tree.

Remember, the parental sides are typically accurate, but the exact placement may not be, and 23andMe deals poorly with half-relationships. It’s certainly still worth checking though, because 23andMe does a lot of heavy lifting for you.

DNAPainter

For me, the most productive thing to do this weekend would be to copy the segment information from new matches with whom I can identify common ancestors at FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage and 23andMe – the vendors who provide segment data – and paint those segments to DNAPainter.

Not only does DNAPainter allow me to consolidate my match data in one place, DNAPainter provides the ability for me to confirm ancestors through triangulation, and to assign unknown matches to ancestors as well.

As you can see, I’ve successfully assigned about 90% of my segments to an ancestor, meaning I’ve confirmed descent from that ancestor based on my autosomal matches’ descent from that same ancestor – preferably through another child. Will new matches propel me to 91%? I hope so.

What percentage can you or have you been able to assign?

If you need help getting started, or ideas, I’ve written about DNAPainter several times and provided a compiled resource library of those articles, here.

Have fun!!!

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research

23andMe and GlaxoSmithKline Partnership Ends, Sparking Additional Layoffs

Posted on by
13

23andMe has been slimming down. In April, they announced they were cutting about 75 jobs in their therapeutics division, equating to about 9% of their workforce, and now they have cut another 71 employees in response to the end of the five-year GSK partnership.

GenomeWeb reported the earlier and most recent 23andMe layoffs, along with a 6% revenue dip, here. 23andMe is a publicly held company and reported a net loss of $104.6 million.

In 2018, 23andMe partnered with GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, a British drug company, to jointly develop drugs based on the genomic profiles of their customers who choose to participate in this type of research. You may have noticed that 23andMe asks a wide variety of questions that genealogy testing companies typically don’t, and they also report on health and traits.

At the onset of the partnership, GSK made a $300 million equity investment in 23andMe. If you need to cure insomnia, you can read the SEC filing, here.

The original partnership was to last four years and could be extended for an additional 5th year, which it was, landing another 50 million dollars in the 23andMe coffers.

According to the press release by 23andMe and this 2020 blog article, the partnership has been successful, adding more than 40 genetically validated drug discovery programs to the GSK portfolio, making me wonder why the partnership was not extended.

Customers

The 23andMe page for medical professionals states that they have more than 12 million customers worldwide.

23and Me has stated several times that about 80% of their customers opt-in to research, which means that their de-identified DNA sequences are made available to both 23andMe and their selected partners for research purposes.

Accordingly, about 8 million people have opted-in to research.

If you’re doing the math, that means that:

  • 23andMe received $29.17 for each of their 12 million customers

Viewed another way:

  • 23andMe received $43.75 for each of their 8 million customers who are opted-in for research

Attempting to Increase Revenues

In the past several months, 23andMe has attempted to staunch the corporate blood flow by:

Neither of these moves have been well-received by genealogists.

Purchase Price

23andMe sells two types of tests. One is for both health and ancestry, and the second is for ancestry, aka genealogy, only.

  • The 23andMe Health and Ancestry test is currently priced at $229. The yearly membership costs an additional $69, for a total of $298, but the membership is currently free during the first year. That’s a lot for an autosomal test that only buys you up to 5000 matches.
  • The 23andMe ancestry-only test is $119, but comes with restrictions, including the 1500 match limit.

For comparison purposes, this article shows how many matches I have at each vendor.

If you want more than 1500 matches, you MUST PURCHASE the Health and Ancestry test, not the lower-cost genealogy-only test, plus the additional membership.

This is a very difficult pill to swallow (pardon the pun.) None of the other DNA testing companies limit your matches or charge for matching, and their prices right now for their autosomal tests are as follows:

Subscription aka Membership

In order to entice customers into purchasing subscriptions, called memberships, 23andMe allows up to 5000 matches instead of 1500. 23andMe has also limited additional features, taking them away from their original customers and putting them behind the subscription paywall.

In October 2020, when they implemented subscriptions, called memberships, along with these changes, they reduced their customers’ original match limit from 2000 to 1500. Of course, to receive more matches, you could purchase a new test and subscribe. No thank you.

In another attempt to throttle services to earlier customers, there were initially no ethnicity updates for people in October of 2020 who had tested on V2, V3 or V4 chips, although following public outcry, they reversed that position for at least the V3 and V4 customers. No other DNA testing company excludes customers from ethnicity updates. 

One cannot perform other functions, such as sort or filter by haplogroup on their site, unless you purchase the Health and Ancestry test, plus a membership. You can, however, download your matches and sort/filter that way..

What’s Next for 23andMe?

23andMe says they are now actively pursuing new big pharma partners.

I hope they can find their way forward. While I don’t often find relevant matches at 23andMe anymore, and I have an issue with their subscription policy, especially removing features from existing customers, they do have a pool of 12 million-ish people. These matches certainly help many people, especially because their health customers probably won’t have tested elsewhere.

Having said that, I can’t help but wonder how many of those 12 million are the same person multiple times because they’ve had to purchase multiple tests. I’ve purchased three for myself over the years, and I’m not purchasing a fourth – but I digress.

  • 23andMe is still a good site for matching, especially for adoptees or people seeking unknown family members. You can also see how your matches match each other. You just never know where that critical match is going to pop up.
  • 23andMe provides painted ethnicity chromosome segments, along with FamilyTreeDNA. In my opinion, they are the top two vendors for ethnicity accuracy.
  • 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA both report X-DNA matching, which can be very useful.
  • 23andMe is still the only vendor to construct a genetic tree – and yes – I know it’s not always completely accurate. Still, their tree creation is innovative and automated – based on how you match people and how they match each other. For adoptees and people seeking parents or grandparents, it’s essential because they start with nothing.
  • 23andMe doesn’t allow customers to upload or create a family tree, so you can’t view the family tree of your matches to find a common ancestor. You can include a link to your online family tree in your Enhanced Profile under Settings, but many people never see this, or aren’t genealogists.

Unfortunately, 23andMe is not focused on genealogy – at all. Their focus has always been medicine and health. From their perspective, genealogists are candidates to opt-in for genetic research, but that doesn’t mean genealogists can’t still benefit – even if we don’t opt-in, don’t purchase the more expensive $229 Health and Ancestry test, and don’t purchase their membership.

If you’re interested in more recent relatives, 23andMe is great because the 1500 match limit won’t impact you at all. Closer relatives will cluster at the top of your match list.

If you’re looking for matches that descend from more distant ancestors, you may find it worthwhile to purchase the more expensive test and the membership, at least for one year.

Filtering/Sorting Restriction Workaround 

While there’s no way around the 1500 or 5000 match limit, except that 23andMe won’t roll someone off of your match list if you’ve communicated with them, or tried to, there is a workaround for the restrictive filtering.

I check my matches periodically, sorting by the newest matched relatives. I also download my match list occasionally. I find it easier to review the information in spreadsheet format because I can search for surnames, locations, haplogroups and other information much more easily than online, especially given the restrictive filters.

However, when you download your match list, that information is downloaded as well.

Be sure to record notes on each match at 23andMe when you discover relevant information by clicking on the match and scrolling to the very bottom of the page. Your notes at 23andMe are downloaded onto the spreadsheet along with the rest of their information.

The instructions for downloading your match list, which is NOT the same as downloading your DNA file, are contained in this article. Give it a try!

_____________________________________________________________

Follow DNAexplain on Facebook, here.

Share the Love!

You’re always welcome to forward articles or links to friends and share on social media.

If you haven’t already subscribed (it’s free,) you can receive an email whenever I publish by clicking the “follow” button on the main blog page, here.

You Can Help Keep This Blog Free

I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.

Thank you so much.

DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

Genealogy Products and Services

My Book

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Research