My children know, or at least they should know, that they won’t be getting some large inheritance because I’m spending all my money on DNA testing. Well that might be a slight exaggeration but I’ve spent a lot and I plan to spend more.
Out of all that spending has come a greater visual understanding of how from one generation to the next you lose matches, at least with autosomal testing . What do I mean when I say that? First of all let me tell you who I’ve tested. I’ve tested both my sons, my parents, two uncles on my mom’s side of the family and one of my cousins on my mom side as well as a second cousin on my mom’s side of the family. On my dad’s side of the family I’ve tested two of my dad’s second cousins and a third cousin and a second cousin once removed. So what does that all tell me?
What I’ve found most interesting is the matches that my mom and her brothers get and how some of those are connected to one of my son and not to the other. I do understand that you get half of your chromosomes from each of your parents and that you don’t get the same half as your siblings. But I guess it didn’t really hit home until I saw who matched to who and who didn’t.
My mom was 78 when she passed away this year and my uncles are of a similar ages. When you start looking at who are their matches outside of the known immediate family and to which members of the younger generation they connect to you realize that by not testing the older generation when you are able you may lose valuable information that will help you understand your family connection to your matches.
I guess what I’m trying to get at is that with each generation you lose a bit of how you connect to someone elses tree, so you shouldn’t wait … you should test your oldest generation as their DNA has much to tell you.
Thank you for the reminder. I recently reconnected with an 87 year old aunt, sister of my late mother. I have been on the search for my great grandmother, her grandmother. This could just be the answer I need.