2. My Background
• Using Ancestry for ~ 4 years
• 1130 People on my tree
• Mostly in Georgia, USA
• I’ve Taken the Ancestry DNA test
• Which of my research lines have DNA evidence?
3. Data Overload
• 254 Pages of matches
• (Over 1200 matches)
• Two 2nd cousin matches
• Eight 3rd cousin matches
• 60 DNA Hints
• 620 4th-6th cousin matches
• 19 DNA Circles
• (I have No “New Ancestor Discovery” Circles)
4. Back to Basics
• What areas of my family tree are solidly backed by
DNA evidence?
• I have a lot of DNA matches that don’t match my tree
• Are any areas wrong?
• How to use all this data?
• Ancestry provides very limited tools
• I Decided to make a paper chart
16. Chart Interpretations
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence
• Am I the Last of the Mohicans?
• What if I’m one of the only living descendants from this
family, and there’s no one else to match … or…
• My paternal grandfather’s folks don’t like genealogy/DNA
• Unlucky DNA - My DNA happens to differ so much as to
not be a match
• Non-paternity
17. The Fourth Case
DNA Match No DNA Match
Trees Match
DNA Hint or
Circle
Mismatch Alert!
X
No Tree Match
“New Ancestor
Circle” or regular
DNA match
unrelated,
ignore
18. Non-Paternity
Non-paternity - anytime someone’s actual parent(s)
are not who we think they are
• Non-Paternity Events:
• Infidelity
• Rape
• Secret Adoption - a woman pretends a child is
hers to protect the actual mother
20. Next Steps
• Test Family Members’ DNA
• Father (deceased)
• Mother ✔(Helps identify matches as maternal/paternal)
• Siblings ✔(Complete, another random sample of Dad’s DNA, similar results)
• 2nd or 3rd cousins ✔
• I’m looking for “cousins” who may not be cousins
• Cousins on my tree who have done DNA test (Found 4!)
• They don’t match my DNA - non-paternity confirmed
• Y-DNA Testing ✔ - since my straight male line is now in question
• NO matches to my surname
21. Help From ancestry.com
• We need help with all this data, please
• Ancestry should have drawn that DNA chart for me
• need WAY more searching & sorting options
• User-assignable tags & categories
• AND/OR/NOT filters
• Download DNA matches to spreadsheet