How Far Back Can You Go in Your Family Tree with atDNA

Just how far back can you trace your family tree using atDNA cousin matches found on places like Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage and 23andMe? In this episode we’ll answer that question.

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TIMINGS
0:00 Intro
1:01 DNA basics overview
2:20 Fan tree and DNA percentages
3:13 Researching 4x great grandparent
6:41 Connie’s G-Rule
9:30 Match probabilities using DNA Painter
11:36 Factoring about 25 years per generation
12:30 How much you did and did not inherit.
14:00 Why we need to do DNA and traditional research.
14:23 How to get handouts.
15:23 Other DNA related videos
15:36 DNA playlist on YouTube Channel
15:58 Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard courses

Best YouTubers for genealogy are Connie Knox on Genealogy TV, Ancestry's own Crista Cowan (The Barefoot Genealogist), The History Guy, Aimee Cross Genealogy Hints, Family History Fanatics, Geneavlogger, Legacy Tree Genealogy, , Ancestry, FamilySearch, Useful Charts, Genealogy with Amy Johnson Crow, and 23andMe.

#Genealogy #GenealogyTV #FamilyHistory
Music Credits for Song on Word Tree Open
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[jasonjase]

When I do genealogy it is 95% documents and 5% DNA. I don't have very many close cousins. I had 10000 cousin matches on 23&me and only identified two of them. I have a tree on Ancestry with 3 to 4 thousand people on it. DNA is good for proving you are right with documents.

[ron.v]

As an admin to a few DNA projects, I keep answering the same questions over and over. I watched this video asking myself the same questions, "What about ..." You answered each one of them faster than I could think of them. I'm not qualified to judge but it's amazing how you answered every last question exactly as I would have. As a person with over a decade of DNA experience, over 50 years experience in traditional research, and experience with 4 different testing companies, I think this video is amazing. If my meager opinion is worth anything, the info here is spot on! I'm saving this link to refer to others so I don't have to keep repeating the same answers you've already covered. BIG Thanks!

[MissSilencedogood]

I found a cousin from Hungary going back to the late 1590's -1600's there was no other way we could have been related and the family name remained the same the name and was so incredibly unique it was easy to trace even though there was at least 2 country changes in the family on that line! It was only 1-2 centimorgans in common still with this DNA cousin. So people it is still VERY possible to make connections even further back than is traditionally expected.

[scotbotvideos]

On Geneanet, I found a distant cousin with whom I have a common ancestor 10 generations back in the mid to late 17th century. We share a paltry 8.2cM. I don't see any other connection between our trees, so it basically confirmed that line of my tree.

[rosemaryrowlands]

I'm extra impressed that I matched up our DNA with someone where our paper trail goes back to our shared 3x great grandfather! The DNA portion was tiny, but our trees matched.

[greghanson]

Most of the time I ignore any single digit DNA matches. But, about a year ago I looked at one match that I only shared 6 centimorgans with. That match had an extensive tree and going thru it I found a married couple who were both born in the early 1600s. 400 years is a long way back, and it is the only one I've ever found a match. But that match was dropped off my Ancestry list when they changed how low they go for centimorgan matches.

[DavieOrr]

I would highly recommend that getting access to other cousins' DNA, is a great way of catching more Cousins with DNA, as Connie mentions you won't match EVERY distant cousin with your DNA but your sibling might, your Mum, Uncle and close cousins might match them also etc.
Sharing DNA is vital in my research and has enabled me to vastly dot the i's and cross the t's.
As I always say sharing makes family history/research that little bit easier.

[MrsMac]

Endogamy in some lines makes it easier. My dad's french Canadian, my mom's Amish Mennonite, my favorite southern colonial lines. American colonial lines are much easier. I have mine, mom's, her sisters, and my dad's DNA on all major sites. Plus access to 10 others cousins matches on ancestry. Been obsessed with this for years. I was into triangulations on GEDmatch too. My mom and dad have some thru lines on Ancestry with cousins in common that leads to Mayflower and Jamestown.

[cababyboomerq]

I first saw Diahan here on your channel last year. Since then I have taken both her Y DNA course and her DNA skills course. Both are amazing and will REALLY help you learn and understand how to use DNA along with paper research to answer those brick wall questions. I am looking for a set of 3x great grandparents. I already found the male but am still working on the female. But what I learned in her courses is amazing. She gives you the knowledge and the tools. Then it is up to us to put those to work for our genealogy questions. And you even get a “one on one” with an expert who will help you on you own personal question. It really is amazing. And you can view the course videos over and over again, forever. Plus there are live Q and A sessions every week. I loved it! I am hooked on DNA for solving seemingly “unsolvable” questions where there are no public records to help us out. This is a new way to attack the empty spaces on your family tree. And there are tons of free videos out there too. I started with the free ones but then went to these courses because they really lead you by the hand.

[griffin]

Thanks for another wonderful video, Connie! I was actually wondering about this question.

My grandmother’s great grandmother was full Portuguese—my grandma’s only source. That’s why I can be pretty confident about DNA relationships to Portuguese cousins for her and my results. I’ve found a few NPEs (both great grandparents), so I was hesitant when I found connections to my grandma’s 4x great grandparents. However, there are so many from their same family line that I’m confident that’s the connection. I actually match some of them, so I have connections to my 6x great grandparents! 🙂 (Mainly because the test takers are, although much younger, of my great grandma’s generation.)

I also recently have been searching for matches from a specific location in the Azores, and found one linked to my grandma’s 7x great grandparents. It looks like it makes sense right now (their entire tree is built out well—no other connection), but I want to prove the lines below them before celebrating and claiming a DNA connection.

[jeffh]

Really good, thx. One thing that would be obvious to most, but maybe not to newbies is that it's best to get the eldest in your family tested, for all the reasons you stated.

[Paul_Sheila]

Sheila here. I love your charts! The visuals help me so much. I just started using Ancestry DNA matches a few months ago. Wow! A few shared- match groups opened up my paternal great grandparents’ line that we previously had no info on through traditional genealogy. I found their home village in “the old country.” Endogamy abounds, but I’m excited to sort them all out. And I have you to thank 😊

[sharpear]

I am glad you put a caveat on your personal practice, because I do not have plenty of cousins for verification. I dwell in the land of 9cM to 13 or 14CM. I have nobody much to work with. I have a fifth cousin but we think there is a different grandmother at the 3rd great grandparents. It is odd to me that I have many cousins at about 13cM. There is a message in that to me, but I haven't broken the code. This is all Early American colonial heritage. I have been trying to find the women to take me back to my 4th great paternal grandparents.

[cherylgarrett]

I have hundreds maybe even a thousand 4-6th cousins (best Ancestry can do). Due to many in family who have kept great records, I have usually been able to find common ancestors. I did find that my parents had a common set of 5th gr. grandparents. My daughter has not had the same luck with her father's family. I simply don't have the time anymore to spend days looking for ancestors, no matter how interesting the information I find is. 🙃

[jjbud]

I only pay attention to at least 25 cM, but if I see someone below that with a good sized tree I will check that out. I have found some good info doing that. I wish more folks would do a family tree, at least a few generations. It would be so helpful if they did. I have 77 matches of 40 cM and above. My grandparents were born in England on my father's side and I have almost twice as many matches on my mother's side. Most of her family go back to the 1600's. I have 29, 000 total matches, but many of them have no tree. Only 1680 are not assigned to one parent or the other.

[klkw]

I just love your channel! I have to say, I LOVE genealogical research, but I do not watch many videos about it. Your channel is honestly my favorite on the topic. Thank you for the excellent info you put out here in cyberspace for us! ❤👍

[MagnaMater]

Wonderful thank you. One caveat, I found out recently coming across an allegedly 4th to 5th cousin: Valley and village-endogamy.
Imagine that nice pie chart at 13:39. And then you have a churchbook that tells you in almost every second marryage: 'dispensatio because of 3rd degree in main(male line) and 2nd and 3rd dregree in sidelines(mothersides)'.
This 4th/5th degree cousin with high reliability turned out to be - at the lowest level - an 8th degree cousin. But some 8 times a cousin in the 10th and 11th generation.

[ramsesemerson]

DNA helped me find records that I hadn't been able to find. Turned out ancestry's search algorithm HID records from me that were the right person because there were different names attached because of his 2nd marriage (that I didn't know about). If even his obit had come up, I would've found it. Wish ancestry's search algorithm was less "helpful."

[AndrewMartinIsHere]

Nice clearly explained and visually clear video on what can be a daunting subject. Thanks Connie.

[gmpet]

I just have a piece of advise while doing this. Do not assume that someone your age that you believe is a family member, ignore age completely. I went to highschool with someone I believed was a cousin, my mom said sh thought he was from one of the ranches who move to my county when she was little. The actual family tree places him in my grandfathers generation. Grampa was one of the oldest, born to one of the oldest, born from one of the youngest. Guy I went to school with was born to a line that was all youngest. They were all descended from large families, most numbered 5 or more. My mom was 1 of 11 as was my grampa. The middle to younger kids in my moms family mostly had smaller families so I am only 1 of 50 grandchildren. Most of the next generation had 3 or fewer. And the next so far is 2 kids or less.
My aunt spent 40-50 years gathering info and tracing things plus getting updated info yearly from everyone who would respond. She and my cousin input all that data on a program and had it printed as a book. They only traced the patriarchal line so I’ve started working on the matriarchal line for my grandpa s mother as well as my grandmother and all those past great grand on my dads side.
My aunt had a distinct advantage because their were still members of the first or second gen born in America Alive into the 60s. I had great grands alive with the last dying when I was 17. I had a 2 nd great grand aunt until my 20s. My moms family is very long lived. My grands were 96 and 104. My mom is 80 and still has 3 older siblings, one of the dead was killed in his 20s, the other was 89 and had she not refused treatment she would have lived longer. I alway tell people to just assume I’m related either by blood or marriage to everyone in that county. I’m only related to one branch of the Mennonites, I think the more conservative one, and one Amish family though.