2024 ABCs of DNA
DATE: November 16, 2024
TITLE: ‘Quick & Dirty’ and ‘Floating’ Trees: Creating and Connecting Them
PRESENTER: AGS Member Marty Brady
DESCRIPTION: Ever see someone in your DNA match list that you can’t figure out how you are related? Do you have a good idea how you are related, but they don’t have a tree and you need a little more information for confirmation? In this presentation, Marty Brady discusses why ‘Quick & Dirty’ and ‘Floating’ trees are useful and the process of setting up.
Click here to watch the video and here to download the handout.
DATE: October 19, 2024
TITLE: Y-DNA & Surname Groups
PRESENTER: AGS Member Marty Brady
DESCRIPTION: This presentation explores the ways we use Y-DNA. It will also cover uses and benefits of FamilyTreeDNA Surname groups.
Click here to watch the video and here to download the handout.
DATE RECORDED: August 17, 2024
TITLE: DNA Challenges
PRESENTER: AGS Member Philip Spivey
DESCRIPTION: This presentation discusses some of the biggest challenges facing genealogists when working with DNA, and offers strategies for overcoming them.
DATE RECORDED: July 20, 2024
TITLE: Getting Started with GEDmatch and more
PRESENTER: AGS Member Philip Spivey
DATE RECORDED: May 18, 2024
TITLE: Coverage Analysis for Genealogical Research
PRESENTER: Paul Woodbury, Senior Researcher at Legacy Tree Genealogists
DESCRIPTION: Different descendants of a research subject inherit different portions of that ancestor’s DNA. They share different amounts of DNA with key genetic cousins on different shared DNA segments and may have different pertinent genetic cousins altogether. By working with the test results of multiple descendants of a research subject, it is possible to maximize the active and accessible coverage of an ancestor’s DNA and better estimate how closely related an ancestor might have been to key genetic cousins and descendants of close potential relatives of a research subject. In this class, learn how to apply coverage estimates to segment comparisons between multiple kits and estimate how much DNA a research subject might have shared with pertinent genetic cousins and their ancestors.
Access to the handout and video expired on June 18, 2024.
DATE RECORDED: April 20, 2024
TITLE: Exploring Small Segment Clusters
PRESENTER: AGS member Susan Goss Johnston
DESCRIPTION: You’re in an enviable position. Most of your remaining brick walls involve people from the 17th and early 18th centuries, but the paper trail has run dry. The problems don’t lend themselves to Y-DNA or mtDNA analysis, either. What is the intrepid family historian to do? Explore the power of autosomal DNA’s small segment clusters, of course. Learn methods, limitations, and cautions with this presentation of a few successful case studies.
DATE RECORDED: March 16, 2024
TITLE: Endogamy
PRESENTER: AGS member Alvin Holtzman
DESCRIPTION: Alvin has been building a family tree since the late 1970’s. Recognizing its potential, he embraced DNA testing early . . . in the year 2000 when FamilyTree DNA first commercialized DNA testing. He is kit number 60. He has since tested with 23andme, Ancestry and MyHeritage. With the massive amount of endogamy in his ancestry, he has had to adapt new approaches when looking at his DNA match list. Alvin will cover just what is endogamy, how it differs from pedigree collapse, and review strategies to assist in understanding our shared matches.
Click here for the handout.
DATE RECORDED: February 17, 2024
TITLE: Intermediate DNA Concepts and Strategies for Extending Family Trees
PRESENTER: AGS member Philip Spivey
DESCRIPTION: This presentation is intended to build on the Basic DNA talk that was done in January by Laura Weber. The focus of this discussion will be on using DNA to help solve specific genealogical questions. It will include a step-by-step process for approaching complex cases. We will also touch on more intermediate concepts such as segment analysis, endogamy, and the use of online tools like DNAPainter and GEDmatch.
Click here for the handout.
DATE RECORDED: January 20, 2024
TITLE: Back to Basics: Understanding Autosomal, Mitochondrial, X-DNA, and Y-DNA Inheritance Patterns
PRESENTER: AGS member Laura A. Weber
DESCRIPTION: Whether you are a beginner or seasoned genetic genealogist, this introduction or refresher of genetic inheritance will guide you through the complexities of the different DNA types, their distinct inheritance paths, and how and when to use each to solve genealogical research questions.
There was no handout for this program.