Which DNA match should I use as DNA confirmation source?

Question

On both sides of my family, I have numerous (11 that I've found so far that I can also confirm genealogically)  AncestryDNA matches connecting us back to 6 GG-Grandparents. Also, none of these DNA matches is on WikiTree as far as I've been able to discover (no, I haven't directly contacted any of them).

Which DNA match should I use for reference in the DNA source citations?

I can't see how it would be necessary to include multiple matches if I'm not triangulating a more distant ancestor.

I can narrow it down to a minimum of 4 different 2nd and 3rd cousins that would genetically connect us to the "furthest" most-recent common ancestors and everyone in between, and also makes writing the citations the easiest.

But this doesn't necessarily trace the connection to the furthest point away from me nor include everyone connected genetically. (I don't see this as that important since there aren't profiles for the vast majority of the people being connected.)

Should I use the closest (ie strongest) match that confirms each parental relationship as I trace it back, or start at the furthest away to confirm the most relationships?

I guess I'm asking if there's a "best practice" to follow when deciding which among multiple DNA matches to reference in sourcing.

OR, am I just over-thinking it?

Thanks for your insight,

Joel

Answer 1

Hi Joel,

I think the most straightforward approach is to choose your highest DNA match (highest cM) whose common ancestors are the same couple that you want to mark as "confirmed by DNA". Use the DNA match that you think is the most convincing for proving the relationship to the parents.

Your DNA match doesn't have to be on WikiTree, just use their initials in your DNA confirmation statements for privacy reasons (see Source requirements if your match is not on WikiTree).

So if you want to DNA-confirm your grandfather's relationship to his parents, you would for example use your highest DNA match whose common ancestors are your great-grandparents (such as a 1st cousin once removed or a 2nd cousin).

You should note that if your common ancestor(s) with your DNA match are not the parents of the ancestor in question, you would only be able to use that DNA match to DNA-confirm either the relationship to the mother or the father, but not both using the one DNA match (see Which Relationships to Mark as DNA Confirmed). So it's easier to only use a more distant relationship for confirmation if you don't have a closer one available.

If you want, you could list multiple DNA confirmation statements on one profile like I did here and here. Some people would probably consider this overkill, but I find it helpful (and very convincing) to list the highest DNA matches I have through each of the ancestor's siblings.

Also I highly recommend using the DNA Confirmation Citation Maker app to help you write your confirmation statements.

Hope that helps!

Comments

Edit: nevermind, please ignore me, I think I misread the 6....

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Thanks Valerie for the quick answer. This helps a lot! I was leaning toward the highest DNA match connection as well. It technically connects fewer people than a match further down the line, but those people don't have profiles on wikitree so I don't see it as that important.

It turns out I actually needed 5 of the test matches to confirm all I could. I'll be using you're method of multiple match sourcing on my personal profile, so I can reference all the matches I used to confirm my more distant ancestors. Only saves a few lines of text, but looks so much more tidy.

And thank you for pointing me back to the Citation Maker app. I had stumbled across it when I started researching what was involved in DNA confirmation, but by the time I actually had all the required info gathered together, I had forgotten about it.