Many of your ancestors passed down their DNA to you, your cousins, and other family members. That’s why DNA matching can connect you with other family members and act as a source of validation and discovery for your genealogical research.
First, to get the most out of your matches, link your tree to your DNA results. Then—if you haven’t already—fill out each of your parents’ and grandparents’ lines as completely as you can.
Here are a few tips to help you jump-start your research using your DNA matches.
Find DNA evidence for your genealogical research
Depending on how much of your family tree you’ve documented, you may find that some of your DNA matches have ThruLines associated with them. This means that AncestryDNA has compared your trees and found someone with the same name and other details who appears in both your and your match’s tree.
ThruLines is one piece of evidence that the identified common ancestor of you and your DNA match is your ancestor, but they do not guarantee that your research is correct. So, take advantage of the other tools (described below) to verify your relationship.
Try to identify your common ancestors
One of the most exciting parts about reviewing your matches is trying to determine how you might be related by identifying the ancestor you and your match share. Even if you don’t have common ancestors, you can use clues from your DNA matches to help you do this.
The relationship range
The degree of your relationship with your matches can give you a good estimate of how long ago your shared ancestor lived (learn more).
Shared ancestral origins
You can compare your results to see which ancestral origins you might share, which may give you a clue about your common ancestor.
Shared surnames and birth locations
AncestryDNA identifies any matching surnames and birth locations in your and your match’s trees. Exploring these could give you insights into where your shared ancestor might have lived or the lineage where you might want to look for your shared ancestor.
Your match’s tree
If your match’s tree is private, message them and ask if they will share it with you. If their tree is public, you can look through it for clues (if you have a family history membership). You may find relationships you didn’t know about, records that support connections in your trees, or other details that can break through the brick walls in your research.
Note: To see your matches’ trees or use the features that rely on access to trees (common ancestors, matching surnames and birthplaces in matches’ trees, and ThruLines), you must have an Ancestry family history membership and a linked family tree. To link a tree to your DNA test, follow the steps in Linking a Tree to your AncestryDNA Results.
Use search and filter features
Want to find matches with ancestors who share a certain last name or birthplace? Instead of checking each match one by one, you can search all of your matches at once. You can filter your matches by those that are new (unviewed) or have common ancestors. You can also filter by matches with family trees (public, private, or unlinked), a certain amount of shared centimorgans, or those in specific groups. Additionally, you can search for matches with specific surnames in their tree or whose ancestors were born in a certain place.
Learn about other branches in your family tree—not just your direct ancestors
DNA matches give you a jump-start on discovering where other members of your ancestor’s family went and what they did. This is because the cousins you find through AncestryDNA have come through a different family line than you did. Your ancestors had siblings, nieces, and nephews, all of whom may have played an important part in your ancestors’ lives.
Meet and collaborate with new cousins and family members
The best part about your DNA matches is that it’s a list of relatives—some of whom you never knew you had. Get in touch with them. As you discover your shared ancestors, you can work together to piece together information, stories, and records. You can even start to build a network of people who are all trying to learn about the same ancestors that you are.
Keep coming back for more
Every time a new AncestryDNA member joins, their DNA will be compared to yours to identify whether you might be related. Keep checking back to find new matches; they might be the key to your family story.