Updated with more links
I originally wrote part of this as a reply to someone, hopefully what I've learned will help someone not waste time doing their tree. If anyone has any tips or correction of info, please let me know. I've been doing my family tree since fall of 2015, our DNA June 2016 so am fairly new myself. I wish I had found a basic guide but instead learned everything the hard way. My goal is to leave a tree for my kids, grand kids and my hubs grand daughter that we do not see, so she only knows her maternal history.
I started my family tree on
My Heritage a year and a half ago. It's been a learning experience. My parents both came to the US from Hungary in the late 50's. My dad passed away 11 years ago, his brother only speaks Hungarian which I do not speak. My uncle gave me what he knew of their family (father, mother and her parents) when I had someone to translate a letter. My mothers relatives are in Hungary too, I have one Hungarian cousin who can answer basic questions using google translate, so I have a little help if needed. He gave me my grandparents, grand mothers maiden name plus my mothers siblings that I didn't know, I still need some date of births and locations. I have 2 kids, my daughter is in the same boat with immigrant grand parents from Poland and Germany while I had a good amount of info on my son's side. I have help from my kids grandmothers when needed. For my hub I had a good amount on his mothers side but not his fathers. I was able to start my tree with a decent amount of info. Now I have about 2,000 people in my tree at Ancestry.
So, I did my 1st tree on My Heritage, it gave me matches and some times smart matches where I looked at the match, was able to take what I needed to add to my own tree. At one point someone copied my kids relatives; so I ended up going to Ancestry to work in private; so far it's been great. I keep my main tree there. I've gotten pretty far because Ancestry gives you hints too. With the free account you can't save the hints, you have to type the info out yourself which is no big deal. I really do not do much with the tree at my heritage any more but that may change after I do my DNA there or if I run into a relative road block. I'll enter them to see if I get a match on someone elses tree.
I've used
Family Search for records in the past. At some point I realized they gave free family trees too, so I started a basic one there. The tree view itself takes some getting used to but the person profiles are what I mainly use it for; I then go to their
records search page to get info on a relative I'm working on at ancestry. The only time I add more relatives to my family search tree is when I run into a dead end so to speak. What's nice is they let you attach those records to the person profile in the tree. I have found more records at family search for some relatives then I have at ancestry. What I like about family search is that when you're entering say parents for your mother, it will do a search to see if she's already listed there; you may get lucky with a full tree branch as a result; which you then attach there, and when you have time, enter it into your tree at ancestry. It's not going to be a quick process; but you'll get rewarded with knowing more about your family and who you're working on.
When you do your tree, make sure you pay attention to privacy settings. Some people make their trees public but mine is private because I have relatives that are private people, they do not want their info to be public. I personally do not want my info public either. As a matter of fact, check out the thread
'Creepy' genealogy site knows a lot about you, it's about the site
Familytreenow.com. In the search, enter your name; parents, grand parents, see what you come up with. That will give you an idea of what a public tree is like; info at anyone's finger tips. If you keep your tree private at ancestry or my heritage, people have to ask for an invite to view your tree. I didn't know about security when I started. I have not paid at any site and have not used my free trial at ancestry yet. I'm doing everything as a free account. I'm saving the free 2 week trial until I run into a dead end. Right now I'm getting tons of free info on 3 sites. IT takes more time entering things yourself but I feel it's worth it because the cost of membership at My Heritage or Ancestry is pretty steep. It wouldn't be bad if they did $10 a month but they want the hundred dollars or more in one shot. I'm going to need the world explorer which is a lot more.
Once you make a tree on Ancestry or My Heritage, you want to go to tree settings, save as GEDcom file. It's easier to make a tree on one site then upload the GEDcom file to other sites. I didn't know this when I started, had I known it, I would have started on Ancestry, then uploaded the GEDcom file to my heritage. I wasted a lot of time retyping my tree not knowing about it. Family Search also does GEDcom files, I haven't tried it so can't offer anything.
Family Tree Sites and GEDcom Files - Back up your family tree to upload to other sites
Ancestry - go to your family tree, next click the name of your tree in the top left corner, you'll see tree settings, click on it. On the right side you'll see a white box with Your home person in this tree; Your home person in this tree; Hint preferences; Manage your tree -
Export your family tree data, as a GEDCOM file, to your computer, the GEDcom download will take a few seconds to generate.
My Heritage - Go to your profile, At the top it says home, family tree, discoveries, DNA, photos, research; mouse over family tree you'll see import GEDcom and manage trees, click manage trees, on the far right under actions you'll see export to GEDcom. My Heritage is limited with free family tree accounts. I have 203 people in my tree, it's telling me I have reached the maximum and will have to pay to add more people.
Family Tree DNA FTDNA - Log into FTDNA, you'll be on the main page that shows Welcome to myFTDNA with your account info in the left box, you can't miss where it says family tree; which you click then upload GEDcom is right there.
Family Search Scroll down on the main page, you'll see Do You Have a GEDCOM File? Preserve and Share Your Family Tree. You'll then see Submit Your Tree. To submit your tree, you must sign in or register with FamilySearch.org. What does it mean to submit your family tree? When you submit your family tree, you can upload a GEDCOM file so that others can search it on FamilySearch.org. This process replaces the Share My Genealogy feature that was used to submit information to the Pedigree Resource File (PRF). It then goes more into detail. Family Search trees are public trees, which I only recently found out. They do protect living people so only you will be able to see the info you add but I'm unsure exactly what others see so it's on my list of things to check out.
wikitree is a public tree. It's a community of genealogists trying to connect the world on one tree. I have not spent much time on wikitree so I can't really say anything about it except it's a decent place to get info for your own tree, but from experience you have to make sure you check what they have because it could be incorrect. There is a relative of my son's family there who has a lot of wrong information. I left comments on some of the profiles that have wrong info, she has not fixed it yet. I've emailed her asking to be on the safe list for the relatives because some are set to private, she hasn't answered. I haven't had time to go back to wikitree to each relatives profile to ask to be put on the safe list for each of the relatives we share. From what I see you have to sign up to volunteer before they'll let you do anything such as edit incorrect info.
Now to the DNA
Where should you test? I personally suggest Ancestry because of their family tree feature. I have not done 23 and me yet, last I read it was on a new chip that can't be uploaded to all of the sites except Genesis. Once you get your DNA raw results at Ancestry, upload to My Heritage for free ethnicity, family matching, chromosome browser, surnames and family trees when available. FTDNA gives free family matching and for a small fee (under $20) you can get chromosome browser and ethnicity. Also GEDmatch and GEDmatch Genesis for free ethnicity and family matching. Please note, it is a public site where law enforcement have been using. I personally use nicknames for my 6 samples and do not have a family tree GEDcom file. My email also does not use my name, it goes to "Rose Lover".
For anyone needing advice on which DNA test to buy, see the blog post by PA2UK
Which DNA Test Should I Buy? A Comprehensive DNA Buying Guide
.
23andme Accessing your Raw Data
FTDNA Accessing your Raw Data to upload to GEDmatch
23 and me offers 2 tests, one for family finder ($99) and another for health ($200). If you do the family finder without health and you're interested in doing the health later on it will cost you an extra $25 so be aware of that. They do not support uploads from other sites.
23 and me uses a new chip that can only be uploaded to GEDmatch Genesis. If anyone wants to get their moneys worth, use ancestry. If your sample won't upload there is an online fixer tool
Ancestry DNA - costs $99 plus $10 shipping. They do not allow uploads from other companies. Tests normally go on sale mothers and father's day, black Friday $69 and the Christmas holiday $79. I have a coupon code in my 1st post here I believe where it's $89 but you have to add the $10 shipping to it. It's very easy to buy more tests to add it to the people in your tree.
Family Tree DNA costs $79 or you can
transfer your Ancestry DNA or 23 and Me autosomal DNA data to discover new matches for free. For $19 more they will give you myOrigins, ancientOrigins and Chromosome Browser. I haven't done it yet. I plan to do it at some point so I can get the experience. I have directions on how to upload multiple raw data files at FTDNA in case anyone gets stuck. Once you have the 1st one uploaded and have electronically signed it, logout of FamilyTreeDNA, then select the drop down box "DNA Tests" and select the "Autosomal Transfer". Fill out First Name and Last name of the person who's test you will be uploading and select if they are male or female and then enter your email address if you are the person who will administer this account. It will then assign you a new kit number and email you a new password for the kit. Then it will proceed to the upload DNA page. Make sure you look for the password email. You're going to get one for each sample you upload. You have to upload your family tree GEDcom file for each sample which is a pain in the butt but over all it's been a good experience.
Directions page in case anyone needs it.
My Heritage DNA is normally $99 but they're selling it for $79. They're a new company so you may not get many matches. I didn't have many matches until recently. Their database has really grown.. They allow free uploads from Ancestry, 23 and me and FTDNA.
June 2017 - New, they now give free ethnicity estimates. I won a kit from My Heritage for a founders project. They were interested in me because my family has lived in Hungary for a long time. I got my ethnicity report from it, I'm 96.3% East European and 3.7% Italian. It took 6 months, they wouldn't release it until they were done analyzing data from everyone that was in the project. They did give me DNA matches, I only have 5 where on FTDNA and Ancestry I have a lot more. To upload your DNA from another company, go to your profile, you will see the DNA tab where you can upload your raw data. They're saying they will eventually be charging to upload raw data. They're also going to add a surname feature where they will give surnames at some point. To upload DNA to another person in your tree, find them on the tree then click their name, it will open a box on the left that has the link to upload.
My Heritage has a lot of neat features they recently added. I'll post a link to their newest blog about it
Introducing the New DNA Match Review Page
My Heritage free kits to adoptees and birth family - For any adoptees, my heritage is giving away free tests, you only have to apply. It's called
DNA Quest main site
DNA Quest application
WeGene, - gives ethnicity for free as well as haplogroup. I'm still learning the site. 23andme's V5 chip now has been supported by WeGene. Users who tested with 23andme after August and uploaded your data shall have access to your ancestry composition analysis and others
GEDmatch Genesis Also be sure to upload to here too as it is separate from GEDmatch. Right now it's beta, eventually it will be merged with GEDmatch. IT contains results from the major 3 as well as results from 24 Genetics, Atlas, Complete Genomics, DNA Land, Full Genomes, Gencove, Gene By Gene, Genes For Good, Genos, GPS Originas, HGDP (Stanford), Living DNA, NatGeo, Oxford (FTDNA), We Gene, YSEQ, and some labs that a few of my matches used; Parabon, Dante Labs, Whole Genome and other sites that are not supported with regular GEDmatch. It also says there are more accurate matching tools.
GEDmatch where you can upload both your DNA and a GEDcom file; look for matches and do all sorts of things with finding out your ethnicity that's more involved then any of the other companies. They go back to hunter-gatherer.
GEDmatch upload in case you can't find it. It only takes a few minutes to upload the DNA, then you can play around with the tools. Full results will come in a day or 2. I have not spent much time here so can't go into more detail on the matches. There are tutorials on DNA matching that I have not read yet.
Click here to register
To get the break down on your ethnicity, see below GEDmatch Heritage Tool
GEDmatch Tools for DNA and Genealogy Research -
Analyze Your Data
'One-to-one' compare
X 'One-to-one'
Admixture (heritage) - Eurogenes and other admixture utilities
Admixture/Oracle with Population Search
Phasing
People who match one or both of 2 kits Updated
Predict Eye Color
Are your parents related?
3D Chromosome Browser
Archaic DNA matches
Multiple Kit Analysis NEW
DNA File Diagnostic Utility
GEDmatch Heritage Tool
copy your DNA sample number, go to Admixture (heritage), select project, Eurogenes. Next page, Select how you want to process it: Admixture Proportions (With link to Oracle); Enter your kit number: Select the 'calculator' model to use: Eurogenes K13, Enter your Ethnicity: you'll then get the graph, Eurogenes K13 Admixture Proportions; under the populations on the left, you'll see oracle and oracle -4
Here's a basic intro guide to gedmatch's admixture calculators:
Genealogical Musings: Finally! A Gedmatch Admixture Guide!
Near East Neolithic K13 - select Admixture (heritage), Select the project GedrosiaDNA, Select how you want to process it: Admixture Proportions (With link to Oracle); Enter your kit number; Select the 'calculator' model to use: Near East Neolithic K13
DNA Land - free upload of raw data. See the
Frequently Asked Questions to see what you can do and directions to upload multiple raw data files from other relatives
Q - I have consent from a number of my family members to upload their DNA files/I have DNA files from all three of the companies, but I only have one email address. Is there anyway I can make multiple accounts with one email? (top)
A - We can currently handle a single genotype file per user/account as part of the consent process. But, if you are able to use a Gmail account, there is a trick that will allow you to create all your accounts using one email address. Say that your Gmail address is
dna.land.user@gmail.com. To upload another family member (say your mother) to DNA.Land, create an account with the email
dna.land.user+mom@gmail.com. Though it may look weird, DNA.Land will accept this as a valid email account. When we send the validation email to
dna.land.user+mom@gmail.com, Google will redirect the message to YOUR account (dna.land.user@gmail.com). You can do that for as many genomes as you’d like, all under one Gmail account
Those that have done DNA, please consider uploading your results to GEDmatch and GEDmatch Genesis (directions above) as there is a new organization by Colleen Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press called
DNA Doe Project, they're taking on Doe cases, right now Lyle Stevik and Buckskin Girl have been identified by them.
To see a list of their cases go to
DNA Doe Project Cases. Here is their FB page
DNA Doe Project
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