Uploading your Raw DNA Data to Gedmatch

I've been meaning to write about this one for the longest because it is VERY IMPORTANT! Gedmatch is a tool that you can upload your raw data from Ancestry, 23andme, and/or familytreedna...and a few others. The reason that this is important is because you can find family matches from all of them regardless of which one you chose to test with.

So, for example, if I tested with Ancestry.com then on their website I can only find matches with other people that tested with them. However, if I upload my raw DNA data to gedmatch, I can now find matches that tested with 23andme and Family Tree...and I can do this for FREE.

(PLEASE NOTE: Even though Gedmatch is a free site I do recommend becoming a Tier 1 subscriber for $10 whenever you can so that you can help the site continue to run since as we all know, nothing is free. Everything costs somebody something and there are great volunteers behind the scenes that make this all possible. Each $10 gives you access to additional helpful tools for a month at a time.)

Gedmatch Login screen

To get started, you want to go to gedmatch.com and register. There are some videos on YouTube that explain how to use gedmatch if you need help. Its pretty simple. If you have any trouble, please comment below and I will try to assist you.

In a nutshell, PLEASE UPLOAD TO GEDMATCH!!!

...until next time...

My Advice on where and how to begin your DNA / Geneaology journey

My plain and simple advice is to begin your DNA testing journey with Ancestry.com. For most people (especially African-Americans) this is the best place to start. It's less expensive than other tests, and it comes with the ability to add a family tree and to peruse the family trees of your matches to help find a common ancestor that you might not have known about. Also, it is a bit more specific on your ethnicity(s) than some of the other tests (i.e. Nigeria, Benin/Togo, Ivory Coast/Ghana, etc. vs. West Africa or Subsaharan Africa -- who says that anyway?) If you decide you care no more about the whole ordeal than that, then you are only out of $80 - $100 bucks depending on if you had a discount code or not.

If you have a very specific reason for wanting a test, this DNA test options page by DNA Tested African Descendants may be helpful to you.

Wherever you decide to test, please upload your raw DNA to gedmatch so we can find out if we are related! Here's a helpful video if you need it.

Also, if you are of African descent and having trouble researching your family tree or understanding DNA (yes, I know this ish ain't easy), join the very helpful Facebook group: DNA Tested African Descendants. I have learned soooo much very quickly that has helped me in my journey. There are other helpful groups dealing with DNA testing and Genealogy research too, so be sure to search out those. I belong to too many to list them all today.

Until next time...

Uploading my raw DNA data from Ancestry to Family Tree DNA

Another place that i took my raw DNA data from Ancestry.com  to was Family Tree DNA. They will process it for about $40. However, I am a member of a private Facebook group that has several posts on how to get the test for free (DNA tested African Descendants). They also constantly post useful and helpful info. I am thankful for everyone in that group because they have taught me a lot.

Back to our discussion at hand, I uploaded my data because each vendor has it's own slightly different way of processing your data. For instance, Ancestry only processes some of your data- and the parts that they choose may not all be the same as another vendor might look at. So it's good to see what the various vendors come up with.

Of course, some of it you take with a grain of salt. This is because depending upon the populations that your DNA is compared to will depend on what your analysis will say. This will be easier to see and discuss when I do a post about other vendors such as DNA Tribes and Gedmatch in the future.

When your results are processed from Family Tree, you will login and see a dashboard that looks something like this:

You want to select the button that is labeled "myOrigins" in the "Family Finder" section. That will take you to the results of your admixture processed from your raw Ancestry.com DNA.

As you can see, my percentages changed slightly as did the names of the ethnicity categories. You can see the differences between Family Tree and Ancestry better when they are side beside like I have them below. Ancestry.com is much more detailed in its breakdowns and descriptions / locations.

...until next time

Downloading Raw Data from Ancestry.com

One thing that I did to help me discover more potential matches (and hopefully fill in unknown gaps in my family tree) was to upload my raw DNA data from Ancestry.com to gedmatch.com. The reason is because gedmatch will match you to people that took their DNA test at other companies. For example, I can see matches to my DNA that tested with 23andme.com or Family Tree DNA and so on.

To download your raw DNA data from Ancestry.com, here's what you do:

Login to dna.ancestry.com. Select the settings button on the right side of the page (see the red arrow above).

On the right side of the page, select the dark gray button to download your raw data.

And that's it. You will receive an email from Ancestry that has a link in it. When you receive the email, save the file and remember where you saved it. This is what you will send or upload to other vendors for processing (should you choose to do so).

...until next time