DNA Genealogy – build a full pedigree for every match
DNA Genealogy – build a full pedigree for every match
After more the 120 DNA cases my recommendation is the same for the last 80 of them. Take the first person closest and build their complete pedigree. Take the next and build theirs. If they connect, put placeholders from your root person to their common ancestors using 25 years between generations. It does not matter if you do not know. If you find a cluster of matches with what would be 3rd or 4th great grandparents, choose any open branch and put placeholders to that common ancestor. It does not have to be the right sex or the exact ages. Just get the common ancestor nodes build and start linking as many of the DNA matches to them as you can.
There are lots of “no regrets” benefits. If you do not find the parents exactly, you will know and be connected to the DNA matches. Filling in the trees of close matches lays a solid foundation frame for all the related people who often do not have time to make trees for themselves or others. If you become the goto person for DNA genealogy people will notice and be more forthcoming to unravel things.
Some cases where the missing parents spring in one or a few generation to other countries are nearly impossible. Some countries have almost no usable genalogy data and probably ought to use full genome tests for everyone in a strategic plan for whole countries or groups of people.
It is possible is about 30% of DNA matches with no tree to use public sources to find and make a tree for almost anyone. Avoid people who lock their trees. I have a rule simple never try to work with them. It will almost always fail after you put in a huge amount of work.
It is hard to summarize 6 years full time helping on such cases. But the core is simple. Build a tree for EVERY DNA match all the children, all the records, do it lovingly and carefully as it were your own family – because it is.
Link all the shared people in all the related trees, clean up and standardize dates, place names, and use names carefully and fully. When you process any record identify and link the information for ALL people in the record to someone in your tree. Add them. When ever anyone marries, expect their descendants to grow for many decades even centuries, because they do. And your few minutes building a node well and carefully can benefit millions of people, as you get to those deeper ancestors each with thousands of descendants. I can “see” most of it, but I am always surprised, even now to see new ways the it matters.
You will get better at it. I remember when I would spend hours on hints and only get a little out of them. Now I process it fast and efficiently so that Ancestry can do some of The heavy lifting. Every person with an unlinked tree, encourage them to link their DNA. That is how it works and Ancestry cannot help you or your matches if you don’t plug it in. Every person with no tree, offer to make them one. In their account by becoming an Editor of their tree temporarily. Crank out something until Ancestry automated methods click in. That is about 1950. Beyond the record hints, research community for each person, tree hints, DNA hints, thrulines and your DNA information about your matches kicks in.
Richard Collins, Houston Texas
Just start filling in the pedigrees for the close matches, don’t try to be too “smart”
If you have the results from two DNA matches from the same mother, you can take the list of all DNA matches for both and compare them by ID number. The IDs that are the same belong to the mother (mostly) and the ones unique to each are the fathers (mostly). That is how I did it a few years ago. But now on your DNA results it has “by parent” and they can identify which parent the match comes from. There are cases where a person is related to you through both parents. And there are some where it is just ambiguous. Of my 44,000 matches about 20 are “unassigned”
So you can just go to her DNA, select parent father (you have to name it from some knowledge, or guess and rename later).
Take the first person with a tree, or you can get enough clues to build their tree. Run it out about five generations. That takes me about an hour or two per DNA match for 4 or 5 generations. Two second cousin matches on the Dad side that is great great grandparents.
These are not hard, if you know how to build a full pedigree fast and accurately. And if the persons family kept some kind of records or shows up in the public records.
Usually after a few of the matches, some common ancestors emerge, link the person to those common ancestors by putting placeholders every 25 years until one of them fits into the family of the common parents based on age. Add that placeholder as a son or daughter as you like.
It takes 24 hours for Ancestry to process all the people in all the trees of the DNA matches to look for common ancestors. That is why it is SO important to have your tree public (so people can see, find connections without you having to talk individually to every one of what might be 10s of 1000s of people. Also Ancestry is getting more filled in trees with DNA now so they can completely fill in a branch from one person to another. I had one case almost three years ago now and the match had only themselves. But their full name led to trees that were well studied and the whole pathway was laid out.
When you build good solid, complete trees for the matches, if their tree is connected they will begin to get hints of who their DNA matches are in detail. It works pretty good out to 8th cousins. But usually you can have a “good” tree with only 5th great grandparents. I did have cases where we never could determine the true parent (two brothers both had died, which one?)
RichardKCollins on Ancestry and FamilySearch
About 2% of births in Texas are “no father listed” and more have a person different than the biological father. My paternal grandfather turned out to be a Saunders from an affair. We have a fairly large “Collins” family so legally we are all that surname, but biologically is is Saunders. It took me 30-40 years of paper genealogy to find the Collins, and I had to disconnect and start all over again. Now the Saunders is filled in as much or better than the old one. Most people I have helped do not change their names, and if there are any legal rights, most fall away with distance and time and no relations. I do not know if that is useful to you. But at least it is fairly simple now to fill in a tree for someone with only their DNA.
I have two thoughts. I did encourage CeCe Moore to pursue cold cases. I do not do those, but over time it works. There are many unidentified remains, and those need to be cleared out. And with somewhere about 2% of the 40 Million DNA tests that is 800,000 who have to use “from DNA alone”. And about 40% have no tree but know their parents names.
RichardKCollins
I was just filling in some 6th cousin matches from DNA common ancestor hints. I finished the person and checked DNA for close matches of theirs to save myself time later finding and adding them. One of the close matches was a half sibling. That sibling was adopted and looking for his family. I already had the family tree (I usually build trees for my matches as I go) so I sent him a note, checked his shared DNA matches with and found a few of his close family. I wrote out my notes in a message to him, and offered to help him get a good tree in his own account. But it would be so much easier if I could just attach ALL the records and connections I found for him in a few hours to him with the Message and on his side, he says “save that in a notebook inside my tree” Ancestry is really bad at sharing and verifying. Most all I do now, after more than 120 adoption and similar cases it click the buttons (based on thousands of hours of doing these). As a professional programmer and analyst and systems designer for more than 50 years, I know that about 85% of what I do by clicking, a subject matter AI can use Ancestry APIs to build.
Usually I would Collaborate on the DNA and Edit his tree and record what I do in a screen video. It takes me longer to message than to build the tree and verify it.
