Pro Tools Enhanced DNA Shared Matches

Using enhanced shared matches I can see that Wendy’s sister has tested and her first cousin has also tested.

Excitingly, Wendy’s sister has a public tree, and after reviewing this tree I can tell that Ruby is their paternal first cousin. With this, I now have enough information to build a tree and identify common ancestors, putting me one step closer to solving a decades long mystery involving an unknown Norwegian great-grandfather! Before enhanced shared matches, I didn’t know how Wendy or Ruby might be related and I couldn’t use these DNA matches to help me solve my mystery but now I can!

2. Pinpointing the Relationship

It can be difficult to tell the difference between relationships based only on the amount of DNA shared between two people.

These two matches could be a similar relationship to the test taker, Nora, but when we use enhanced shared matches we can see that James is likely in the same generation as Nora, as James shares about the same amount of DNA as she does with shared matches, and the relationship predictions for each shared match are the same. This means that James is likely a half-sibling to Nora.

Polly, on the other hand, is likely in a generation older than Nora as she shares about double the amount of DNA as Nora does with their shared matches, making Polly an aunt to Nora.

3. Endogamy and Pedigree Collapse

Have you ever worked with matches who are endogamous or related to each other in more than one way? enhanced shared matches can help you sort through these matches, too! 

Lewis and David are paternal first cousins to each other, but they come from a community where there has been a lot of intermarriage between a few families for the last several generations. I wanted to research Lewis’ maternal family tree, but could only find a few matches that weren’t shared with David. Because Lewis and David are in the same generation, they will likely share similar amounts of DNA with their close paternal matches. Looking at the enhanced shared match list, I can see several matches that share quite a bit less DNA with David and I can hypothesize that those matches might be maternal matches for Lewis.

Enhanced shared matches is a complete game changer for anyone using DNA matches to verify, expand and build their family tree. 

In addition to enhanced shared matches, don’t forget to check out the other Pro Tools benefits that will allow you to take your research to the next level:

• Tree checker that looks for duplicate individuals, people with no sources and other possible errors.
• Smart filters that let you search your tree by a particular line, events, places, errors and more!
• Tree mapper  that shows the locations where any event took place in your ancestors lives. This is my personal favorite tool for planning research in a particular location!
• Charts and reports including a 7-generation fan chart that can be filtered by family line, hints, photos and sources.
• And tree insights that provide more context to your family story.

Want to get access to enhanced shared matches and all these other great benefits, Sign up for Ancestry^® Pro Tools Membership* today and then navigate to the Shared Matches tab of one of your matches.

*An active Ancestry family history membership is needed to be eligible to purchase Pro Tools

Not an Ancestry^® member, Sign up for an Ancestry^® Family History Membership or Start a family tree for Free