Some experiences using DNA results for my family history research.

DNA matches may inform and also may pose questions that are hard to answer.

The first comment I would make is that it is very useful to have tests on as many of your close family as you can.  By close family I would suggest that starts with as many of your parents and grandparents if you can; followed by as many brothers and sisters. Then I would enlist as many 1st cousins as possible.

I have available myself, my two children and my two nieces, my brother's children. I have also been given access to two other tests as an observer, for particular branches of the family. I repeat the detail on the previous page as it shows the variation between closely related individuals in test results.

Michael Jefferies; Tests on Ancestry, MyHeritage. Result connected to the Wansbury Family Tree on Ancestry. Y-DNA test on FTDNA at Y700 level. Currently there are 21,000 matches on Ancestry & 10,150 on MyHeritage. Currently there are 384 matches to 4th cousin or closer. In practical effect this is pointing to ancestors at my g-g-grandfather level who will be in the ancestry of those matches.

Louise Simon; test on Ancestry; result connected to the Mead/Gough Family tree on Ancestry. DNA also uploaded to MyHeritage on Michael Jefferies' account. Currently there are 17,550 matches on Ancestry & 14,410 on MyHeritage

Nicholas Galton Jefferies; test on Ancestry; result connected to the Mead/Gough Family tree on Ancestry. DNA also uploaded to MyHeritage on Michael Jefferies' account. Currently there are 19,000 matches on Ancestry & 12,5050 on MyHeritage

Melissa Clark; test on Ancestry; result not connected to a Family tree on Ancestry. DNA also uploaded to MyHeritage on Michael Jefferies' account. Currently there are 20,200 matches on Ancestry & 11,500 on MyHeritage

Elinor Nash; test on Ancestry; result not connected to a Family tree on Ancestry. DNA also uploaded to MyHeritage on Michael Jefferies' account. Currently there are 17,650 matches on Ancestry & 14,510 on MyHeritage

Each individual inherits DNA from their parents practically equally, but which parts of the DNA passed on is random. Looking at the sets I have there are plenty of examples where one sibling has strong matches to DNA from a great-grandparent line and the other has none.  In the case of my nieces this is even more marked and they have DNA matches to persons descended from ancestors further back that I don't have.  This is often useful to confirm possible ancestors where the documentary evidence is not conclusive.

The second issues are where matches show strong relationships but the documenty evidence suggests otherwise; often referred to as Non-Parental Events (NPE).  So far such DNA pointers allow people to find their biological relatives, or at least suggest possible ancestors.

The most useful tests are those where the person tested has also provided a family tree to which the test is attached.  This should always be checked against actual records as errors are easly made.  Many people just copy from one tree they find on-line without so doing so perpetualting errors and assumptions.  The commoner the surname the easier it is to make these kind of errors.

 

 

Revised February 2025