Ancestry's ThruLines tool can be useful in helping to find clues about more distant ancestors, but caution is imperative.

Today I will show you how to determine if a new match falls on your maternal or paternal sides. Generally, unless you are an adoptee or have

A step-by-step look at how I helped a second cousin find her paternal biological family.

So, let's get down to it. How does this DNA matching work? First, a centiMorgan is a unit of measurement used to determine the distance from scientifically indentified positions, or markers, on each of our 23 chromosomes. It is not a physical measurement, but a tool to show closely we are related to the matches we receive in our DNA test results. It is used by all the testing companies. DNA Inheritance Patterns Each of us receives exactly 50 percent of our DNA from each par

The popularity of DNA testing has surged in the past few years, and companies such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe and Family Tree DNA are reaping the benefits. In 2017, Ancestry alone went from a database of just over 3 million testers in January to almost 7 million in its database by December, according to analyst estimates. With an aggressive marketing campaign and efforts to make their test more genealogy friendly, 23andMe comes in at a not-so-close second, with about 3 million t