Do you want to know if a DNA match is paternal or maternal? Using the information and techniques described in this post, you’ll be able to figure out which side of your family your match is on. It’s very common to have trouble determining whether a match is paternal or maternal, especially if you haven’t …
A few weeks ago, one of my close acquaintances got his DNA results back. He showed them to his mother, who is the daughter of a Mexican father and and an American mother. Her initial response was that they were wrong: “Those can’t be right,” she said. “Where is the Mexican in your DNA results?” …
How accurate are Ancestry DNA matches? Find out when they are 100% accurate and when you need to take a second look. Read more…
Can siblings have different Ancestry DNA results? If you and your sibling both did the Ancestry DNA test for fun, you might be confused over your results. If you are full siblings, why are your Ancestry DNA results different? Before you jump to any conclusions about mom or dad, you should definitely read this post. …
If your DNA match hasn’t responded, and you haven’t given up hope that they someday might write you back, there are a few things that you can consider to improve the probability that they will write you back. In this post, I’ve listed six secret tips that you can try to improve your chances that …
One frustrating aspects of using DNA to learn about your family tree is when you contact DNA matches and there is no response. Sometimes, you can even send multiple messages different ways and still get no answer. In this post, I will discuss a few reasons why your DNA matches won’t respond, and a couple …
What should you do if your elderly relative’s DNA test fails? Are there any options? This post will give you some ideas about what to do if it happens during your DNA journey. Have you received the dreaded “New DNA Sample Required” e-mail from Ancestry DNA? It is wonderful when our elderly relatives agree to …
Are you worried that your first cousin does not match on your DNA results? In this post, learn reasons why this might have happened and what to do next. More often than you might expect, people are surprised by their DNA results. It can be disappointing or shocking to expect someone to be genetically related …
Did you get your Ancestry DNA results back expecting to see Polish as your ethnicity? Surprise! In this article, you will learn why your Polish DNA might not show up on Ancestry’s DNA ethnicity estimate. This post was originally published in October, 2017, but was updated in August, 2018 to reflect the most current information …
I recently got an elderly relative’s DNA test results back from Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), and naturally the first thing that I wanted to do was upload his results to Gedmatch. There are many reasons that you might want to have a file that contains your raw DNA data, and in this post I hope …