About us
For hints and tips on how to use your mtdna results, read this entire section.
To compare your results with others in the project, view the results portion of the webpage online at: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cumberlandgap-mtdna
Results are grouped by haplogroup for easy comparison.
If you are a project members, those who you match within the project will be listed among your matches on your personal page.
If you are not a project member, but have tested your mtdna with Family Tree DNA, those whom you match will be listed among your matches.
If you did not test with Family Tree DNA, and you have matches within this project, please contact the administrators for more information.
To find others whom you match, be sure to upload your information to Mitosearch!
Feb. 12, 2007
I often receive requests about how you can use the Cumberland Gap project, so I want to take this opportunity to talk about how you can use your own results page and projects together to learn more about your genealogy.
First, it’s important to use all of the tools that Family Tree DNA makes available to us for free. This is particularly important for mitochondrial DNA, because we cannot track our lines through surname projects, since the last name changes with every generation. The only way we are going to find matches is to be sure to use all the tools available to search for genetic matches.
I used to gather your mini-genealogies, as you early members recall, but few people ever sent them. Hopefully, when you match another person in the project, you’ll contact them and exchange info, but what if they don’t answer or their e-mail address has gone stale? This is why it’s so important to upload your Gedcom to your personal page web site. It’s easy to do. Here’s how.
Go to your personal results page. The tabs on the left will include one that says GEDCOM. Assuming that you have exported your data from whatever genealogy program that you use in Gedcom format, you will need to use the instructions provided to locate that file, and upload it. Only you, the group administrator, and people who match your DNA will be able to see your Gedcom. This is a wonderful way to be sure that even if you are unavailable to provide your information, it is available for others whom you match.
In addition, be sure to upload your information to mitoSearch (www.mitosearch.org), a free public data base provided by Family Tree DNA for all people to enter their data for comparison purposes no matter which company they tested with. You may find matches with people in this data base who tested with companies other than Family Tree DNA.
To upload your data to mitoSearch, go to your mtdna Matches orange tab. On that page in the box that says “Additional Possibilities for Searching Matches”, the last line in that box says “click here to upload to mitoSearch”. Your results are automatically uploaded for you and then all you have to do is to create your user, then search for genetic matches.
Visit your Preferences page by clicking on the tab at the left and be sure to update your most distant ancestor at the bottom of the page. The field is small, but I try to put as many of my female matrilineal last names in as I can fit. I have this set as the field to show on the project web site since the current last name of the participant is irrelevant to mtdna genealogy, so it’s important to include this information. Be sure to click update at the bottom of the page when you’re finished.
To compare your results with others in the project, view the results portion of the webpage online at: http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Cumberlandgap-mtdna
Results are grouped by haplogroup for easy comparison.
If you are a project members, those who you match within the project will be listed among your matches on your personal page.
If you are not a project member, but have tested your mtdna with Family Tree DNA, those whom you match will be listed among your matches.
If you did not test with Family Tree DNA, and you have matches within this project, please contact the administrators for more information.
To find others whom you match, be sure to upload your information to Mitosearch!
Feb. 12, 2007
I often receive requests about how you can use the Cumberland Gap project, so I want to take this opportunity to talk about how you can use your own results page and projects together to learn more about your genealogy.
First, it’s important to use all of the tools that Family Tree DNA makes available to us for free. This is particularly important for mitochondrial DNA, because we cannot track our lines through surname projects, since the last name changes with every generation. The only way we are going to find matches is to be sure to use all the tools available to search for genetic matches.
I used to gather your mini-genealogies, as you early members recall, but few people ever sent them. Hopefully, when you match another person in the project, you’ll contact them and exchange info, but what if they don’t answer or their e-mail address has gone stale? This is why it’s so important to upload your Gedcom to your personal page web site. It’s easy to do. Here’s how.
Go to your personal results page. The tabs on the left will include one that says GEDCOM. Assuming that you have exported your data from whatever genealogy program that you use in Gedcom format, you will need to use the instructions provided to locate that file, and upload it. Only you, the group administrator, and people who match your DNA will be able to see your Gedcom. This is a wonderful way to be sure that even if you are unavailable to provide your information, it is available for others whom you match.
In addition, be sure to upload your information to mitoSearch (www.mitosearch.org), a free public data base provided by Family Tree DNA for all people to enter their data for comparison purposes no matter which company they tested with. You may find matches with people in this data base who tested with companies other than Family Tree DNA.
To upload your data to mitoSearch, go to your mtdna Matches orange tab. On that page in the box that says “Additional Possibilities for Searching Matches”, the last line in that box says “click here to upload to mitoSearch”. Your results are automatically uploaded for you and then all you have to do is to create your user, then search for genetic matches.
Visit your Preferences page by clicking on the tab at the left and be sure to update your most distant ancestor at the bottom of the page. The field is small, but I try to put as many of my female matrilineal last names in as I can fit. I have this set as the field to show on the project web site since the current last name of the participant is irrelevant to mtdna genealogy, so it’s important to include this information. Be sure to click update at the bottom of the page when you’re finished.