In case you missed it in the newsletter, I wrote an article about how I use WikiTree to find my common auDNA ancestors with my matches. This is not triangulation and it can not be used to mark a profile as confirmed with DNA, but finding cousins is why I participated in a 23andMe / FamilyFinder test. How do you use WikiTree with your auDNA matches?
Here is my method, in practical application:
1. I look at the family tree posted by one of my matches on their FTDNA account page. (This is why it is so important to upload your family tree to your FTDNA account!) I look for any familiar surnames and locations. (For example: Smiths in the northern U.S. states, but not in the south. Coopers in the south, but not in the north.)
2. Once I find a familiar surname, I go to WikiTree.com and start adding the branch from the earliest listed ancestor on the FTDNA family tree. I proceed up the direct ancestral line as displayed on the FTDNA page with a Source of “Private tree on FTDNA”. When I get to living or recently deceased profiles, I make them Anonymous Surname with a privacy setting of “Private with Public Family Tree”. (I make their birth year “blank for extra privacy” and death year “blank because living”; and I mark the gender.)
3. Once I have their direct line in the WikiTree, I go back to the earliest ancestor and work the other way to try and connect the line to the WikiTree trunk. Sometimes I get lucky and my branch connects nicely with the new twig and I can easily see our common auDNA ancestor.
4. Then I email my match and send them links to the various important WikiTree pages (their Anonymous profile, family tree, and our relationship page) and offer to let them take over their Anonymous profile. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but they always seem to appreciate my efforts to make the connection and that their FamilyFinder investment is paying off.
5. I go back and try to add better sources than "Private tree on FTDNA" after the initial research. It is easier for me to do the sourcing and the connection research separately.
6. If a match has not posted a family tree on their FTDNA account, I encourage them to do so and I send them my list of Surnames http://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Cooper-1/10 and ask if any of those names are also on their family tree.
Without the WikiTree cousin connections, I would never be able to narrow these relationships. It is the interconnectivity of the family tree branches on FTDNA with the full tree on WikiTree, that enables me to find my common auDNA ancestors that are shared with my matches.
How do you use your auDNA matches on WikiTree?