Adding a DNA match to your tree

You might like to enter your DNA matches into your trees, I prefer to use Ancestry’s online tree service, in addition it synchronizes with my off-line software (FamilyTreeMaker 2019). Most of my matches are there - but I can add info from the other testing companies and link it back to a matches profile in the Ancestry Tree. You can build a tree for free at Ancestry, MyHeritage (limited to 250 entries) and FTDNA.

There are some assumptions to be acknowledged, before adding information from a DNA match.

• that the person testing has attached their DNA to the correct place in the tree and
• that the information for the closest deceased person/s in the tree is correct.

It pays to verify what you can before adding information to you DNA research tree, do note that sometimes you cannot verify this information by usual genealogy means due to privacy restrictions.

To limit transcription errors, it is best to save information directly from a match’s tree to your DNA working tree. Do this via the tools drop down menu from within a profile view.

For consistency edit the formatting to your standards, ie: date and location. Then build DOWN to your DNA match eg: add a son or daughter. 

You may need to add living people between this newly added person and your DNA match -for instance, if this is the grandparent of a match and the first name of the living parent of your DNA match is unknown use “parent of DNA match” in the first name. Then add the correct gender for the child which is your DNA match. 

Then you can do your own genealogy research looking alone all their ancestral lines for the various ancestors you share with this match. (ie: DNA inheritance paths) It may have come from more than one lines so it is important to research all possible lines of DNA inheritance.

To make it easier to find DNA matches within your tree use MyTreeTags to mark the DNA Match and the inheritance path/s with the DNA Connection and Common DNA Ancestor Tags.

         

A new feature is being rolled out at present - the first steps at AncestryDNA of intergrating your DNA match as another record in your tree. So once you have a match in your tree head back to your DNA match list for that match, 

Click on this icon to the right of their name   then link the DNA match to the name in your tree.

Click on the icon to link the DNA match to a person in your tree

A dialogue box opens to use to find the DNA match in your tree

The icon colour will change once you have linked the tree and the DNA match

 Now wherever you see this icon, 

1. you will know you have added that match to a tree
2. that clicking on this icon will take you to their place in your tree
3. and it will show in your tree so you can click on it and be taken to the DNA match

Use the Add Web Link facility in the profile page of each match to link back to the:

1. DNA match link if from another testing company,
2. Tree info sources and
3. Relationship Probabilities the amount of Shared cM Project suggests.Blaine Bettinger has a version of this technique in his YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmOZXCxsqNU

Then the fun part begins - researching their tree.