DNA cousins on 23andme

Since we match DNA on 23andme (or you match DNA with some relative of mine whose account I manage) I will now be attempting to see which ancestor(s) we have in common.  To start this process I need to know the names of your 4 grandparents and when/where they were born.  Even if all you know is approximate dates or countries or states and not cities as much as you know will be a great starting point. 

If you have any other relatives that have tested on 23andme, please tell me this as well, as it will help me to narrow down the possible ancestors or focus on the most likely areas of the family tree. 

If you have a public family tree on ancestry.com, please send me a link to you on that tree.  I am unable to locate trees on ancestry.com by name of family tree (if anyone out there knows how to do this please tell me!)

If you havent had any other relatives tested on 23andme, please consider doing so.  It helps a great deal to be able to sort your matches according to which parent or grandparent they are related to.

I often get asked how to see which DNA segments we share at 23andme.

To see what segment we share, go to Ancestry Labs, under My Ancestry on the left on the screen. 

Then go to Advanced Family Inheritance.

(I will try to come back and add screen shots)

Then, put me on one side (or whoever you match) and you on the other side.  You will see a chart showing where we match DNA.  I prefer to view it in the table format, so click "View in a table"

It will say which chromosomes match and which segment. 

I record all these matches in a spreadsheet.  This way I can see who else I match in the same segment, or overlapping segments to see if they also match each other. 
If you also record your matches in a spreadsheet (which I highly recommend) then I would appreciate hearing who else  you match in the same segment so I can see if they also match me.

If you can add a picture to your 23andme profile it really helps.

It is also great if you can set your profile to public.  Public matches can be invited to share without using the 5 invites a day, which is really helpful!  They can also be viewed with the name instead of Anon in Ancestry Finder.

If you can upload your raw data to GEDMATCH that also helps more people that match you find you and helps to be able to view data not displayed at 23andme (smaller than 5 cM shared segments etc.).  You can read more on GEDMATCH in a seperate post.

I am always very happy to see a profile that has either a link to their family tree or a list of 4 grandparents etc.   Blank profiles make me sad :(