Cracking the Code: Getting Started Finding Cousins and Common Ancestors at AncestryDNA
Speaker: Greg Liverman, Ph.D.
This lecture focuses on practical first steps one you have taken your first DNA test. We will use AncestryDNA as the platform, but much of this can be easily translated over to other companies (23andMe, FTDNA, MyHeritage)
We will introduce key concepts of DNA science with a focus on using autosomal DNA for genealogy. The second part of this talk is a detailed explanation of how to get started with AncestryDNA: testing, setting up a tree, linking the tree to your DNA results, making sense of the match list, how to get genealogical information out of the match list, using trees, Common Ancestor hints and ThruLines™ to identify an ancestor you have in common with a match.
About Greg
Greg Liverman, Ph.D., began tracing his family history in the 1990s with an old Macintosh computer and a copy of Family Tree Maker, but was not able to devote much time to genealogy until 2009. Greg quickly realized that he could bring to bear all the analytical and problem-solving skills he had developed in over forty years of working as a journalist, scientist and business manager. Living on a ranch on the western slopes of Pikes Peak, Greg has become adept at using online resources for both domestic and foreign research. He has researched his family history virtually worldwide and “on the ground” in libraries, cemeteries and records offices in seven states, with more on the list to visit. He has experience in using various techniques, based on the careful application of reason and logic, to successfully break down “brick walls.”
Greg and his wife Wendy added genetic genealogy or DNA testing to their brick wall demolition toolkit in 2013 and have immersed themselves in the details of DNA tests and evaluation methods. They have answered several questions about their family history using DNA evidence. Most of Greg and Wendy’s lectures deal with the use of genetic evidence.
Greg has completed both the “Advanced Genetic Genealogy” and “Fundamentals of Forensic Genealogy” courses at GRIP.
Greg launched Pinewood Genealogy to help people with their genealogy research and genetic genealogy analysis.
