By word of a cousin's mouth - An Introduction

Some time in 2017, my cousin "Marsh" purchased a DNA test from Ancestry.com.  The test involved placing saliva into a tube and sending it to Ireland in a postage paid box.  What seemed like a month later,  he'd received his results back.   There were two parts to these results.
(1) Ethnicity estimate - a break down of culture by location.  Polynesian was his highest, and then Great Britain and various smaller percentages [which will not be a focus of this blog]
(2) A Match list - a list of relatives, identified on the basis of shared DNA with people already on their database.

"Marsh" told me that "Neil" one of our other cousins, was on his list as a second cousin. Do the results actually "name him" as in, his full name ? I asked with growing interest.  He replied with a resounding Yes !  I was like - Wow !!!  "Uncle Joe's on the list as well, his daughter and his Grandson" he added ... as well as naming a number of other mutual relatives.  He told me, that there were 'pages and pages' of matches.  I couldn't help but think about the potential of DNA tests for ancestry purposes.  I hadn't realised that this test was on such an intimate yet large scale.

I work as a historian, and most of my spare time is spent tracing lineage.  I would describe myself as an enthusiast of genealogy.  I had been interested in Matrilineage (I still am) and after reading about it, I considered taking an mtDNA test.   This test uses the gender chromosome pair (chr. 23) to trace the direct female line (matrilineage) to a Clan Mother, and therefore a haplogroup.
Google mtDNA, Haplogroup, Clan Mother if you'd like to know more about this. 

The test Marsh, and other relatives of mine had taken was an autosomal test.  This gathered material from the other 22 chromosome pairs and provided usable data for all sides of the Family Tree.  An autosomal test, covered 250 years worth.  A time period equal to roughly 10 generations.

NOTE :  We all have 46 chromosomes, that are arranged in 23 chromosome pairs.    One of each pair comes from Mum, and the other from Dad.  The 23rd chromosome pair decides our sex.  Mum puts up an X, if Dad also puts up an X, the child is a girl.  If Dad puts up a Y, the child is a boy.   The 23rd chromosome pair is used for both mtDNA tests and Y-Chromosome tests for Males. 

On some of the branches of my family tree I can trace my descent from significantly more than 10 generations.  For example, I am a 23rd generation descendant of Hoturoa, the Commander of the Tainui Waka (Canoe).  Many people can trace this descent, because this genealogy has been preserved.   On my English side, I can trace a similar amount of generations from the original ancestor of the Ingpen (Ingpenne, Inkpen) family, a noble family of co.Berkshire.  Again because this lineage had been preserved.

Yet, on some branches, they were unknown, neglected and quite forlorn.  An autosomal test could help me in identifying lost lines.  I might find relatives, who knew the lineage, or who at least had the family names and might be associated with the relevant places.  So I did it.  I ordered the test, contributed my saliva, posted it back and about 4 weeks later, I too - had some results.

Admittedly I went straight to the match list.  The very first name on my list as a second cousin, was *Neil.  "Spot on" ! he was a first cousin to my late mother and therefore, my second cousin.   His Father and my Grandmother, both in good health are siblings.  Awesome! I am who I say I am.  Not that there was ever much doubt, but this was unfamiliar territory and one never really knows - until one knows!  Any fears I may have had were quickly dispelled when I saw Neil's name, and everybody else Marsh had named including him.  [A sample of the match list is pictured below, as well as the estimated relationships based on shared DNA].
NOTE : I have removed the surnames of my relatives below, for their privacy

Another relative, Uncle Ray also showed up on my match list.  Interestingly enough, the kinship relationship between Uncle Ray and I, and Uncle Joe and I is the same, yet Uncle Ray showed up closer.   All this meant was that he and I inherited more of the same DNA.  Its just the way it is some times and as it was my first introduction to autosomal DNA testing, I was happy enough to see those six matches on my list.  I have arranged these six matches into a family tree, to show the kinship relationships we have with each other.
Note : The silhouettes shaded in grey, indicate that these members of the Family tree have passed on. 

Proven! DNA testing was able to identify both my relatives and an estimated degree of kinship.  In this initial case, it was easy, because the descent lines were already known.   It still serves as a useful introduction to DNA for ancestry purposes.  Further into the blogs, I'll discuss various strategies for matches with relatives that we are yet to meet.