DNA Group News and Topics of Interest 

1. The next DNA meeting will be on Thursday, Jan 17, 2019 at 7 pm at the LDS Church.

In the first part of the meeting we will again have an open forum where members will be able to ask questions and share their stories of successes or difficulties that they have encountered while pursuing Genetic Genealogy. Come prepared to participate.

This will be followed by a discussion of the Latest Tools for Analyzing Your DNA Matches. This is an exciting time with new or updated tools being released at a rapid pace. The discussion will include Automatic Clustering from Genetic Affairs, and the new version of the DNAGedcom Client, which implement the Leeds Method of Color Clustering. These provide a fun visual technique to see which matches belong to which family line.

Links to posts and videos are available in this Auto Clustering Handout.

For those of you who may have received your first DNA kits this Holiday season, we are planning to devote the February meeting to Getting Started with AncestryDNA - the Basics. This is intended to help beginners understand what they see when they logon to AncestryDNA for the first time. There is more than just an estimate of your ethnicity.

We have members with a range of experience levels and we want to accommodate everyone, so come and ask your questions or share your experiences no matter what level you are at.

If you have something that you would like explained, do not be afraid to ask. We encourage everyone to speak out, no matter what level of experience they have. Those with more experience love the opportunity to discuss these issues, and we all learn something.

Please contact Vernon Smith if you would like to request a topic for this or any other meeting.

2. We have a number of Handouts covering various topics of interest to this group which can be accessed here.

    A Handout on Downloading and Uploading Your DNA Data is now available.

3. Useful DNA Video Lectures
a)  Videos from lectures given at  "Who Do You Think You Are" conferences held in Birmingham, England.
b)  Videos from Genetic Genealogy Ireland conferences. Two from the most recent conference are
Using DNA to identify offenders & victims of violent crime by Barbara Rae-Venter and

What are the odds? – A tool for fitting a DNA match into a family tree

4. Blog Spot

Latest suggestions (updated 1/7/2019)
Posts for previous months, click here.

5. DNA Tools

a) AncestryDNA Helper App for chrome browser

b) MedBetterDNA App for chrome browser

c) Autosomal DNA Analysis Tools by Tim Janzen

6. Resources
a) A good resource has been provided by Kitty Cooper as 'DNA Newbie FAQ'

b) Stream a video on "DNA for Beginners: The Three Tests" by Debbie Kennett.

c) Kelly Wheaton offers a "Beginners Guide to Genetic Genealogy"

d) CeCe Moore has a four part series on "DNA Testing for Genealogy"

e) FTDNA eBook "Interpreting Genetic Genealogy Results"

f) John A. Blair provides a basic discussion with "DNA 101"

g) Donna Rutherford provides "DNA - What, when, how, why - FAQ's for beginners"

h) Discussion of "ICW vs. Triangulation" (download)

i) Which DNA tests to take - “Which DNA testing company should I use?”,
      “Sorting out the DNA Tests Available for Genealogy” , and
      "The Best DNA Ancestry Testing Kit"

j) Tips for Using GEDmatch

k) A video on GEDmatch basics from Angie Bush

l) A beginners guide to "DNA Genealogy Using GEDmatch"

m) Basics of DNA "Focus University: Understand DNA in 10 Minutes".

n) This has recommendations that some would argue with, "A Practical Guide to Using Autosomal DNA (atDNA) for Genealogical Purposes"

o) Handout for Downloading and Uploading Your DNA Data

p) Visual Phasing by Blaine Bettinger

q) Links to "Finding Biological Family With DNA Testing" (download)

r) References for X-DNA Testing and Matching (download)

s) Links to "Finding Lisa" story (download)

t) Lots of information, courtesy of NIH, on Genetics

u) Lots of useful links on "ISOGG Wiki" This has an interesting discussion of "Identical by Descent"

Please send comments or suggestions to Vernon Smith

Note that I am available to answer your questions when I volunteer at the Family History Center (LDS Church) on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month from 6 pm to 9 pm.