Time for a DNA update. It has been a while. Since my last update. I have been keeping my hand in by watching webinars about the latest developments in genetic DNA testing. Recently I watched Which Spot Does X Mark Anyway? X-DNA Testing in Action, a Legacy webinar with presented Debra Smith Renard. I had been noticing the X matches which showed with some of my autosomal matches on FTDNA (Family Tree DNA) and had been wondering how to use them. This webinar was a very good basic primer on how to use that data to figure out which would be the likely family links on my tree as the X match eliminates certain lines.
While electronic education is good, nothing can beat face to face events and this week I attended a talk about DNA Painter. It reminded me that I really should start to use this site for more than their shared CM (centimorgan) tool. Another DNA related group that I attend is a DNA discussion group. Many of the people in the group are really into researching their DNA and have explored different sites. Gedmatch is a popular one. I signed up for Gedmatch a while ago but only had a few responses so nothing much came of it. I thought maybe putting a GEDCOM on there, so that my family tree could be visible to interested parties, might generate some interest so I did that today and will wait to see if there is any response.
Another new tool that the DNA discussion group is exploring is Genetic Affairs. From the demos I have seen it looks cool in action as the user's family links group together in clusters in front of your eyes. The idea is that you will be able to identify each group by family name. I was very impressed when I saw a novice user demonstrating her clusters and being able to identify most of them with family names. My Heritage has a similar tool on their website for DNA matches so I tried it with my own DNA matches on the My Heritage website. I ended up with a bunch of clusters and had no clue which families were represented or who any of my matches were. I wonder if it would be different if I used the actual Genetic Affairs site and downloaded my Ancestry or FTDNA matches. At least I know who one or two of those matches are.
The bottom line seems to be that I need to spend more time researching my DNA matches and, hopefully, getting some targeted DNA testing done of close relatives so I have more data to play with. I hope I have more to report on my next DNA update
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