Notating AncestryDNA Matches

Sunday morning is suppossed to be the day when I work on my DNA matches. 

Today it was my AncestryDNA matches who had the workout.  I began by filtering my match list by unviewed recent matches.

Today's matches were all in the predicted 4th-6th cousin range, with the highest cM totals being 27cM.

I went through each match by first opening up the match by clicking on the name.  Many had no public family trees or had trees that were not very complete.  I then selected the Shared Matches tab to see who we both shared DNA with.

Remember, AncestryDNA will only show you a match who shares 20cM of DNA with both you and the match.

Once I opened the shared matches between us, I scrolled down the match list to see what notes I may have already entered for the shared matches.  

If I notice a pattern of shared matches notes which might indicate descent from a particular line, I consider that a clue and add a note to the current match for further reference.  For example, if the shared matches indicate descent from the Crockett-Hedge lines, I would put a note in this new matches profile that indicates they have ICW (In Common With) matches on the Crockett-Hedge lines.

Until I do further research on this line, there's no guarantee that this match descends from my ancestral Crockett-Hedge line, but at least I have a clue where to start.

When AncestryDNA predicts a Common Ancestor between us, I indicate that by notating that we have a Predicted MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) and indicate the ancestral couple.  Later, I can work the match filters by Common Ancestors and verify the path of descent.  When I verify the descent, I indicate the Relationship (ie. 2C1R for 2nd Cousin Once Removed) and add each generation in the notes down to the match.

On those occassion where AncestryDNA is telling me that the match and I descend from a couple in my ThruLines that has not been verified yet, I simply note that match as "Hold for further review".  There are a few ThruLines predicted for me that are very speculative.

Today, I had a couple of matches that appeared with shared matches that I had no notes indicating any identified relationships.  Those I simply marked as "Hold for further review".

I've used this method to weed through the matches in a fairly quick fashion.