Rootstech is almost here and I can’t wait. It is not just the great talks that I love but also all the wonderful displays, shows, and tools in the exhibit hall and, of course, seeing old friends. Naturally I am going in a day early to spend time in that wonderful Family History Library, practically next door to the conference!

My talk is about triangulation, a technique used with DNA test results to prove descent from a common ancestor. I hope to see you there, Thursday at 11:00 in the morning in Ballroom J. As always my slides will be posted at slides.com/kittycooper after the presentation.

Wold line cousins Kitty (me), Ed, Marlys

If you have been to previous versions of this presentation, there will be much that is new this time around. It is amazing how much the DNA technology for triangulation has progressed in just a year. Most American 23andme kits are now on the new experience which includes an automated triangulation feature. Plus GEDmatch has added Triangulation Groups (TGs) to its Tier 1 tools.

Furthermore one of the semi-finalists in the RootsTech 2017 Innovator Showdown is a new Double Match Tool from Louis Kessler that provides triangulation for different ftDNA kits that you have the Chromosome Browser Results (CBR) for. Click here for his blog and description of DMT. Genetic genealogy has come a long way!

There is also news for those of you who remember the story of how I used triangulation to confirm a thin paper trail and prove that Kristine is my Wold side cousin (click here for that blog post and here for the follow up). The DNA test for Marlys, one of Charlie’s 26 grandchildren, came in and provides further proof. Not only that but Marlys had known the story all along about that first child of Charlie’s!