Mossie's Musings

These activities are designed to give you some familiarity with WATO prior to Module 4. To undertake these activities, you should register for a free  DNAPainter.com  membership if you don't already have one. Just do as much as you can. There's a link to a 30 minute video I've prepared to explain the case study  HERE. If you have any questions, your can raise them in our discussion session or post them in Basecamp. Research question:  What is Gail's relationship to Chris, Deb, John and Rob? This is an example of a DNA dilemma from my family. You were introduced to the case study during the Module 3 presentations. In the Module 4 presentations, we’ll take some twists and turns with the case study to look at the WATO tool. What we know: Gail is a shared match with Chris, Deb, John and Robert.   Deb, John and Rob are siblings. Chris is their first cousin. Deb, John and Rob's mother, Pat, is the sister of Frank, Chris's father. Frank and Pat are the children of...

A logical way to work through my musings- Introduction DNA testing strategies for Australians   First look at AncestryDNA   Your DNA - Another vital record How your DNA can help identify human remains and solve cold cases Module 1 - Introduction to AncestryDNA MODULE 1: Introduction - "4 types of DNA, 3 types of DNA tests"   MODULE 1: Working with AncestryDNA (Starting to solve your DNA dilemmas!)   MODULE 1: Let's talk tree terminology   MODULE 1: AncestryDNA: Shared Matches   Module 2 - Grouping your AncestryDNA matches MODULE 2 Preparation: Grouping your AncestryDNA matches   MODULE 2: Grouping your AncestryDNA matches - The Leeds Method and my "twisted" Leeds Method MODULE 2: Grouping your AncestryDNA matches - Dotting by generations and advanced dotting!   MODULE 2: Grouping activity and recapping you activities to date MODULE 2: Grouping activity solution    Module 3 - Building research trees at Ancestry MODULE 3: Buildin...

NOTE - Ancestry images in this blog are not current but the process is the same. To get the best out of my family history research, including DNA, I have a deep and broad public tree at Ancestry . There are currently over 15,000 people in my tree and many are "hanging branches". My tree is named as a "DNA Research Tree". The tree overview reads- "A working tree full of branches and twigs used to research my family with as much evidence as possible. If you have any questions or issues with what I've recorded, please contact me through Ancestry or at email[at]gmail[dot]com. Happy researching!" Many people choose to make their Ancestry trees private, searchable or unsearchable. While experienced researchers know how to navigate through private, searchable trees, remember that most of your "DNA cousins" are inexperienced. Some researchers choose to have a public tree containing just their ancestral pedigree back to great-great-grandparents. Whic...

These notes are for participants in the Society of Australian Genealogists' program,  Analysing your AncestryDNA results . Others are welcome to use these notes for their personal research. Please contact me at  chrisw9953[at]gmail[dot]com for other uses.  I'll strive to update the notes as there are further developments or my understanding of the area grows. In the following table, you'll see when I use private, unsearchable (Quick & Dirty) trees at Ancestry and when I do the research as a  "floating branch"   in the tree attached to my AncestryDNA test.   You can hear Blaine Bettinger speak about developing "Quick and Dirty trees"  HERE. The key to researching your DNA matches is finding the common ancestors that you share with the match or group of matches. The closest ancestors that you share with the match are called "most recent common ancestors" (MRCA). Here are some reason that you can’t find a MRCA with your match or a group of mat...