From tools to strategies to education and more, we talked about some ideas and strategies for working with our DNA results and perhaps some new things to try or revisit in the new year.
First, a couple of news items:
MyHeritage DNA adds an add-on traits feature: https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/12/introducing-myheritage-dna-traits/
AncestryDNA adds new Latin American and Iberian ancestral journeys: https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/dna/ancestral-journeys-for-latin-american-and-iberian-roots
And a few shameless plugs for upcoming speaking events:
January 13 (today, recording now available): https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/using-myheritage-in-your-genealogical-dna-testing-plan/
March 5: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/dnas-fan-club-using-shared-matches-to-solve-genealogical-mysteries
March 6: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/the-more-the-merrier-collaborating-with-your-dna-cousins
May 12: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/cousins-clusters-and-clues-using-myheritage-dna-for-your-genealogical-mysteries/
September 23: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/leafless-but-not-hopeless-identifying-dna-matches-without-trees/
Here are some of the resources we talked about:
Research questions: https://bcgcertification.org/skillbuilding-focused-versus-diffuse-research/
DNA Painter’s Ancestral Trees and things you can do (written before the new additions mentioned above): https://blog.dnapainter.com/blog/eight-ways-you-can-use-ancestral-trees-at-dna-painter/
We talked about marking genetic ancestors and also the tool to view tree completeness, both of which are part of the DNA Painter blog post. Blaine Bettinger also wrote about tree completeness and why it matters: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2015/08/11/how-much-of-your-family-tree-do-you-know-and-why-does-that-matter/
Clustering and sorting matches with custom groups:
https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/session/shared-dna-matches-the-only-dna-tool-you-will-ever-need
https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/11/introducing-labels-for-dna-matches-on-myheritage/
https://www.danaleeds.com/the-leeds-method-with-dots/
and my Solving a Virginia Mystery webinar: https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/solving-a-virginia-mystery-using-dna/
Ancestry Pro Tools:
https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Ancestry-Pro-Tools-Membership
Enhanced Shared Matches: https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/pro-tools-dna-matches/
Custom Clusters: https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/dna/using-custom-clusters-to-find-dna-matches
and https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Custom-Match-Clusters
The Shared CM Project: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2020/03/27/version-4-0-march-2020-update-to-the-shared-cm-project/
Contribute here: https://tinyurl.com/SCPSubmit
Come volunteer with GRIVA! Want to join the board? Want to just volunteer here and there? We’d love to have you! Email mail@griva.org with your name and interests!
SOME educational opportunities:
https://familytreewebinars.com/
RootsTech 2026: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/
GRIP Genealogy Institute: https://grip.ngsgenealogy.org/
(don’t forget IGHR and SLIG!)
National Genealogical Society Conference in May in Fort Wayne: https://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/
NGS GenTech Toolbox workshops: https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/gentechtoolbox/
Conference Keeper: https://conferencekeeper.org/