You've taken that all-important DNA test, waited the designated six to eight weeks to get your results and you see that you're 100% European. What's next? A lot of people take these DNA tests thinking that a few percentages on a screen can tell them so much about themselves. While it can be fun to see how different websites break down your ethnicity, it's worth noting that a lot of these websites base your results their databases and therefore results should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The real way to discover yourself and step into your past is through your DNA matches. They are the pieces of a puzzle that prove that branches in your family tree actually exist. I've found myself digging down this rabbit hole and I've done a lot of things which have allowed me to create a family tree of over 200 people on my mum's side without paying a penny!
Find out how I made the best of my DNA, and how you can too!
1. Build a Family Tree - One of the greatest pieces of advice I can give is to build a public family tree on whatever site you've been DNA tested with. I was tested with MyHeritage DNA so I added a basic family tree on my MyHeritage profile. What I didn't expect was that one of my 6th cousins would find me and discover how we are related through this family tree. At the time, my family tree had less than 20 people in it, but this cousin of mine was able to figu
re out that my four times great grandparents are a common ancestor of ours.
Family trees also give you the option to add in places of birth death, marriage, and other life events. Make sure to add those details to your family tree also.
2. Check your matches and matches you have in common to find triangulations - Your shared matches can provide hidden clues to how you are related to someone. I had shared matches with people on 23andMe which allowed us to figure out that two people were on the same side.
3. Reach out to your Matches - Reach out to those matches of yours (especially those who are closely related to you). Tell them what you know, how you think you guys may be related and allow them to tell you what they know too. Doing this can confirm some hunches you may have. I must say, it is super exciting when two stories add up!
4. Get other family members tested but on different websites - Interestingly, I didn't find out that my mum was DNA tested with 23andMe until after I was tested. The fact that we are both tested on different platforms, exposes us to more matches which can help us find out more about our past.
Through browsing my mum's matches on 23 and Me, I've found that our links to the Baltic countries could be specific to Lithuania as some of her close matches have parents who were born in Lithuania.
5. Transfer your DNA to other websites - There are several websites that exist where you can transfer your DNA. If like my mum you tested with 23andMe or if you tested with Ancestry,com, there is an option to download your DNA file. You can reupload this to MyHeritage and DNA Land which can give you more matches and more information than you had before.
6. Use Ancestry resources - Ancestry.com has a range of resources such as birth certificates, marriage certificates and even immigration documents. Unfortunately, we have to pay a price for much of this information. However there are odd bits of information you can get for absolutely free!
The following link will lead you to most of their free information -https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/freeindexacom/
7. Provide as much useful information on your profile as possible - A door of knowledge grants plenty of opportunities. Make sure to provide as much information as possible to allow your matches to help you solve this puzzle. I'm not saying you have to give people your home address but things like where your ancestors lived can do wonders.
Giving your profile a bit of purpose in your bio can also help. On my profile I wrote a little bio saying that I was interested in finding out more about my family history and also finding out where the CF gene in my family originated from. I've seen a couple from others who are interested in health concerns and also ones from adoptees who are trying to trace their family and lineage.
I hope this post will help some of you who are going through a journey into your family's past.
Happy Searching!
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