I'm also tremendously grateful to my cousins who have DNA tested, and especially to the one I refer to as "Mr. Silver Platter DNA"! He gets sooooo many fantastic DNA matches that it's almost as if our genealogy was served up on a silver platter! I'll explain how this helps our DNA sleuthing.
Most people seem to average 4 generations born in a 100 year period. But in my direct paternal line, our family has 3 generations born in each of the last three centuries. My paternal grandfather was born in the 1890's so you can see what I mean. I didn't have much time to get to know my grandpa (he died when I was 4) but less generations in-between puts my family genetically closer to the 1700's.
Since I became involved in DNA testing back in 2003, I have had a LOT of cousins tested. While I learned how to phase from none other than phasing expert Tim Janzen, I have not had the time to phase using a spreadsheet method. Many tools and features have come along but with the time crunch of my crazy busy life, I needed something very easy to use and quick to learn. What I was waiting for has been invented by Jonny Perl and is called DNA Painter.
Now if you haven't tried it yet, be sure to do all of the recommended prep before you begin painting because it will save you time and mistakes later. Watch Blaine Bettinger's video, and read Roberta Estes series of four articles on DNA Painter. I particularly recommend her advice that you don't try to paint ancestors using gender specific colors (i.e.: making females different gradients of pink, etc.)
I started out with my first DNA Painter account by painting in my known cousin matches to myself. And since I have so many BOLT cousins who've tested and we have those long generation lengths, I thought, "What if I painted the 3rd and 4th cousins to each other?" So I began to paint all cousins who shared the common ancestral couple of John Bolt Esq (b. 1788) and Nancy Hubbs. As I searched through my cousins' DNA matches looking for cousins from that couple, I stumbled across matches that were 2 generations farther back to his grandfather, Robert Bolt Sr. (b. 1710). So I painted those matches into their own profile.
In Mr. Silver Platter's matches list, I recognized cousins who had Y-chromosome tests in the BOLT DNA Project at Family Tree DNA, but since some are 5th or 6th cousins, I never dreamed they would show up in his autosomal DNA! I recognized three of his matches that way, which provided matches to three of Robert Bolt Sr's children, John, Sarah, and Abraham.
Then I wondered if I could find matches to the two elusive daughters, Mary and Frankey? You see, we knew about Mary and I just met a cousin through Mary last year in Georgia, but Frankey? We didn't know about Frankey until the BOLT Bible Record surfaced in 2003 even though the Frankey descendants knew about us! We've been told a DEARING bible exists that lists William DEARING married to Frankey BOLT. (I'd still like a copy of that if you know it still exists.)
Turns out it was easy peasy to find Mary and Frankey kin - I pull up Mr. Silver Platter's Family Finder matches list and do a search for DEARING - two pop up - one has a tree and voila! Did the same for Mary by searching trees for her husband, John GARRARD.
Robert Bolt Sr. and wife Elizabeth also had a son named James. But we've never heard of any descendants of James and he disappears from the records before 1800. There's also a blank space with a date on the bible record that we don't yet know the significance of; a child who died at birth perhaps?
Truly amazing though to paint the matches of cousins from the children who had descendants: Mary, John, Sarah, Frankey, Robert Jr. and Abraham! Another very interesting item to note is that Mr. Silver Platter inherited the same section on Chromosome 1 as did descendants of Mary (the oldest child) and Abraham (the youngest child).
But thanks to Jonny Perl, Family Tree DNA, and my cousins, I can now easily sort and see the chromosomes of my BOLT DNA!
It took me several hours over two days to do this, but if I can do this, so can you! Happy chromosome painting!
Turns out it was easy peasy to find Mary and Frankey kin - I pull up Mr. Silver Platter's Family Finder matches list and do a search for DEARING - two pop up - one has a tree and voila! Did the same for Mary by searching trees for her husband, John GARRARD.
Robert Bolt Sr. and wife Elizabeth also had a son named James. But we've never heard of any descendants of James and he disappears from the records before 1800. There's also a blank space with a date on the bible record that we don't yet know the significance of; a child who died at birth perhaps?
Truly amazing though to paint the matches of cousins from the children who had descendants: Mary, John, Sarah, Frankey, Robert Jr. and Abraham! Another very interesting item to note is that Mr. Silver Platter inherited the same section on Chromosome 1 as did descendants of Mary (the oldest child) and Abraham (the youngest child).
But thanks to Jonny Perl, Family Tree DNA, and my cousins, I can now easily sort and see the chromosomes of my BOLT DNA!
It took me several hours over two days to do this, but if I can do this, so can you! Happy chromosome painting!
