Showing posts with label Genome Mate Pro. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genome Mate Pro. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Tracking and Tracing DNA Matches


During the cold, wintry days between Christmas and New Year's Day, I spent my genealogy time contacting and tracking the DNA matches of my maternal great-aunt using Genome Mate Pro.

This post is by no means a full review of the program - for that would take more experience than I have with it, but so far I'm really impressed with this tool.

The sheer volume of DNA matches in the 4th cousin level, for example, makes a tracking tool such as Genome Mate Pro so valuable.  Being able to track who you've emailed, what family lines they have, where the chromosomes match, etc. make this a wonderful tool.  There is a steep learning curve, and I'd recommend you watch all the You Tube videos and join the Facebook group.

My great-aunt is only tested at FTDNA, and I've know reached out via email to all of her matches greater than 20 cMs.  Now the fun part begins of finding the connections and marking where we match on each chromosome.

Since my maternal side has an unsolved mystery - the identity of my 2nd-great  grandfather, it is hoped that some of my great-aunt's matches will set me on the right path.  So far, there are a number of matches she has that do not match me, so I'm glad I was able to have her test.

Here's to a successful search in 2018!