Dots Redo

Have you ever revisited a genealogy task to make improvements? For me, it’s usually about refining sources to ensure their accuracy. Recently, while participating in Your DNA Guide‘s DNA Study Group, I realized that I hadn’t fully understood the concept of “dots” in organizing DNA matches. This led to a less effective use of the tool in my research.

Initially, I applied colored dots to both my 2nd and 3rd great-grandparent couples, as well as to the shared matches of my close cousins. However, this approach created too many dots, making it difficult to interpret relationships.

So, I’ve decided to start over! Now, I’m focusing on my 3rd great-grandparent couples to identify matches through the siblings of my 2nd great-grandparents or known matches. Shared matches of these known individuals are getting a dot. As I go through this process, I’m keeping a few key “rules” for dotting in mind:

• Everyone gets a dot: Even close cousins, like my parents’ first cousins, will receive dots when they share DNA with 4th cousin matches.
• Don’t remove a dot: Even if it’s from a different side of the tree, it stays.

Below, you’ll find diagrams showing the group names and colors assigned to the dots.

If a match receives only a Crawford-Smith dot without a dot from any other group, it indicates that their DNA connection is somewhere along my James Crawford/Martha Smith ancestral line. However, if they have both a Crawford-Smith dot and a Foster-Ostrander dot, it suggests they are more closely related, as they share DNA through multiple lines. If they receive both a green and a pink dot, it provides a clue that my paternal and maternal ancestors may have crossed paths at some point.

Now that I have a clearer understanding of how the dots work, it’s time to go back and reapply them!