When AncestryDNA had their latest special, I ordered one more test. This one is for my father-in-law. As with all my tests, I’m doing prep work to make it easier to analyze the results before they arrive. Essentially that involves cleaning up the paper pedigree, tracing down loose ends that have been overlooked, and thinking about the makeup of the known tree for the person involved.

Looking at the makeup helps me to sift through the matches initially and allows me to focus on the “problem people” that I hope to work on when the results come in. That’s different for just about every person (unless they are siblings). For my father-in-law, sorting those matches will be somewhat easier based on what’s already known about his pedigree. This time the clusters will be:

• Belgian immigrants to Rock Island County, Illinois–the ancestry of the tester’s grandfather Mortier.
• Swedish immigrants to Knox County, Illinois–the ancestry of the tester’s other grandfather.
• German immigrants to Scott County, Iowa–the ancestry of the tester’s great-grandfather Freund.
• Swiss immigrant to Scott County, Iowa–the ancestry of the tester’s great-grandmother (nee Cawiezell)
• The remaining is a little more difficult to categorize but it appears that one second great-grandfather was of New England heritage with the others being of Ohio, Virginia, and South Carolinia origin (at least as far back as I have it).

The first four groups are all relatively distinct–there was not intermarrying and double/triple relationships as I have in my own background. The “remaining” portion appears to have (at least on paper from what I know at this point) one New England branch. The others I’m not certain about yet enough to sort further.

This should serve to get me started on my initial sorting. Hopefully this test will be easier to sort through than the others given that the background of this person is either to separate out than mine was.

Stay tuned!