Chromosome Mapping – Why Should You Do It?

Ellen T-J’s Gold Standard Map

I’ll be honest I’ve only played a little with chromosome mapping. The reason being is that I wasn’t sure if it would help me; especially with my Beaton/Batten Mystery. But after watching a FREE video, I found on Legacy Family Tree Webinars I decided to give it a closer look.

That video was; Blaine Bettinger’s Mapping Your DNA Matches on MyHeritage. I love that his example cousin match name is Ellen.

This was recorded at MyHeritage Live 2019 in Amsterdam. You can find all of the recorded sessions from Live HERE and best of all they are FREE.

If you watch the video, the steps are quite straightforward. You’re going to use this process for known cousin relations. So that’s why it won’t be that helpful; especially in the beginning with the Beaton/Batten Mystery. But I’m already thinking there may be a way of using it so it would help and I’ll write about that later.  

There are only a few of the DNA testing sites that you can get the “GPS” coordinates from (as Blaine calls them).

Just as Blaine had suggested, I called my map “Ellen T-J” Gold Standard. So I started mapping, my mom’s half-sister and then some second cousins, then the second cousin 1x removed, third cousins and third cousin 1x removed.

I used DNA Painter to create my chromosome map. I’ve spoken about DNA Painter before, and for mapping your chromosome, it’s free to use. But be sure to explore the other areas at DNA Painter as there are so many tools (some free some paid) that can be so useful and will help you understand your DNA better and for mapping your relationships. I love the Ancestral Trees and I use “What are the Odds” often.

Once you’ve found the chromosome information of that know DNA cousin, then all you do is copy the data and then on your map, choose “paint a new match” and paste the information. It is as simple as it sounds.

There is lots of information on mapping on the DNA Painter site that explains how to get the info from each of the DNA testing sites and how to paint it. Be sure to read that if you have any trouble. But once you’ve done it a couple of times it’s pretty straight forward.

I was able to assign DNA segments to my 2x great grandmother; Charlotte Vincent (see purple). I’m sure some of you could go further back than I did, but it’s a start. It tells me that that DNA is 110 years old and as I continue to add to my map I’m sure I’ll get even older DNA.

My chart now shows that I’ve painted 22% of my 79 segments, and that was accomplished in just a few hours. But again as I do more, I think it will show the DNA that comes from my brick walls by the obvious blank spaces. (I have the challenge that two of my lines have brick walls. )

So what did I learn from this exercise? That perhaps I need to concentrate more on the lines that I know than the ones that I don’t. At least for a little while.

I learned that by painting my DNA, it might visually identify that I’m connected with a cousin more than the one way I thought. But the more I can map the know cousins then I can use this when I have an unknown cousin match by comparing them and seeing where they fit it.

Note:

If you’ve tested at Ancestry, you can transfer your raw data to MyHeritage or Family Tree DNA where you can see your DNA chromosome browser. To transfer your DNA to MyHeritage, you can find more information HERE. To transfer to Family Tree DNA you can get more information HERE.

Legacy Family Tree video is a wealth of information. Sign up for a subscription and watch and learn any time of the day. Find out more HERE.

The post above contains affiliate links. This means I make a small percentage on the sales via these links. This does not INCREASE the price you pay as a consumer. This is a supplement to my income so I can continue  to support The DNA Angel Project and to make donations to the Alzheimer’s’ Society

3 Comments