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How Can I Work Out What Relationship Someone Is To Me From DNA cM Shared?

How Can I Work Out What Relationship Someone Is To Me From DNA cM Shared?

Sometimes, you’ll get a match on AncestryDNA, 23andme, FTNDA or another commercial DNA test and not know who this person is, or how they fit in to your tree. Using DNA Painter you can eliminate the relationships that aren’t possible and narrow your list down to a few possibilities and find out what relationship you have based on DNA shared. How do you keep your Genealogy Records? Paper or Online? Firstly just enter in the cM shared or percentage between you…

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Does DNA Testing Show Both Maternal and Paternal Ancestry?

Does DNA Testing Show Both Maternal and Paternal Ancestry?

Many commercial DNA tests such as Ancestry or 23andMe offer up a massive wealth of information on the tester’s ancestry, however some information is sometimes misinterpreted when researching DNA tests. A lot of people seem to think that if a male takes a test they can only see their Paternal Ancestry and if a female takes a test they can only see the Maternal part. This is not necessarily true, there are three main types of DNA test. Autosomal, Y-DNA…

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Understanding What Is Meant By “Second Cousin Once Removed” And Similar Relationships.

Understanding What Is Meant By “Second Cousin Once Removed” And Similar Relationships.

With companies now offering DNA kits as standard such as Ancestry and 23andme, a lot of people and myself included when they start researching don’t know the actual meaning of relationships like “Second Cousin Once Removed” or “Third Cousin Twice Removed” and only know the simple stuff like great grandfather, great great grandmother etc. A few things first, in genealogy and on most genealogy related websites the “Great Great Great Grandmother” relationship type is often abbreviated to things like “3xGGM”…

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Guide To Researching French Records

Guide To Researching French Records

The further you go back in your tree and the more branches you find, chances are you’ll find a French ancestor. Unfortunately with French research you need to know the exact place that person was born (Or get very lucky with a unique surname) to be sure you’re looking at the correct person. French records are indexed by town (Archives de la ville de ____) and/or Departement (Archives Departementales de ____) Plus modernised versions i.e. Rouen incorporated adjacent towns so…

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How to Sort Ancestry Hints by Collection

How to Sort Ancestry Hints by Collection

One feature of Ancestry that puts it at the top of it’s field is it’s hint feature. However most users don’t know that you can actually sort these ancestry hints in to the collections that they are part of. Sorting by collection can be beneficial in a number of ways, I find that the most useful thing about it is that I am not distracted by other types of sources. I can search for one type of source and blitz through…

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