Family Historian User Group

Hi Colleagues,

I want to upload my family tree to FTDNA and I was wondering if I can filter and export only people that may share DNA with myself.

I believe this would include all my direct ancestors, siblings of ancestors, descendants of ancestors...

The only people to be excluded would probably be wives/husbands of ancestors that are not genetically linked to myself...

Regards,
Pedro Inácio

Hi Pedro, I have moved this to the Importing and Exporting forum.

You should be able to achieve that by using the File > Import/Export > Export > GEDCOM File feature.
To filter blood relations click Select, and make sure your Individual record is selected on the left.
Then click Add using Query at the bottom and choose All Relatives and click OK.
Check you are shown as Starting Person and click OK.

That will include all direct blood-line Ancestors and their Descendants including Spouses, but NOT anyone related only by marriage.

You will probably want to set Multimedia Records to Exclude.

After clicking OK the Gedcom will be exported to your Public folder, and you will be offered to view it in FH.
Accept that offer, and run the Export Gedcom File Plugin on that Gedcom.
I am not sure what details the FTDNA website expects, but I suggest you use the (Min) Minimum GEDCOM 5.5 mode.
That will remove all FH custom Gedcom tags leaving just the standard data, which should be more acceptable to FTDNA.
Upload the ...\Public\Export folder Gedcom file to FTDNA.

If we discover FTDNA needs any particular Gedcom structure, then it could be added as an Export Gedcom File mode.

tatewise wrote:
That will include all direct blood-line Ancestors and their Descendants including Spouses, but NOT anyone related only by marriage.

But Pedro says he does want to exclude spouses:

The only people to be excluded would probably be wives/husbands of ancestors that are not genetically linked to myself...

So he needs to exclude
1. Any spouses of direct ancestors who are not also themselves direct ancestors, i.e. if an ancestor had more than one spouse, exclude the non-ancestral spouse(s).
2. Spouses of anyone else in the group, UNLESS they are also a blood relative (there may have been marriages between distant cousins).

That looks a bit more complicated.

Pedro needs to clarify exactly who he does or does not want included.
I am not sure exactly what the FTDNA website prefers.
Although they discuss how to upload a GEDCOM file, they don't say who it should include.

The 'problem' spouses only apply where there are multiple marriages for direct ancestors.
If the family is not too large, those 'problem' spouses can be identified fairly easily.

So a refinement of the technique is to create a DNA Named List from the All Relatives Query beforehand.
Then remove Individuals from that DNA Named List who are not genetically linked blood relatives.

In the Export > GEDCOM File process I described, choose the Named List Members Query and select that DNA Named List, instead of using the All Relatives Query.

The 'problem' spouses only apply where there are multiple marriages for direct ancestors.

But in order to "export only people that may share DNA with myself" he also needs to exclude spouses of cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, etc UNLESS they happen to be related in some other way as well. These people are all included in the All Relatives query, and although they could be removed manually it might not be a trivial task.

You could use a custom query.

Add All Ancestors, not ticking the Spouse box and then add all descendants of people already in the list.

The only people who might be missed are siblings of the top of the tree person, but you could do an extra pass for them.

Hi All,

Thanks for your prompt responses and support here. As suggested by Mike, let me clarify a little bit my request.

I need do add only people that may share DNA with myself.

This would exclude a lot of people from my tree, as Lorna has well explained.

E.g.
1) My father has married three times. The only wife to be added would my own mother. The other wives have presumible no DNA relation to myself. (Unless of course if my stepmothers share common ancestors with me, but in this case, they would also appear on the plot based on the fact they are descendants of my ancestors....)

2) Multiple spouses of my ancestors. (Unless the common ancestor clause exists again..)

3) Spouses of my brothers, uncles, aunts, and so one...

4) ALL spouses of any descendants of my ancestors too (This would exclude a huge amount of people...)

As you can see it is something that I consider impossible to do manually...

I have just tried to export GEDCOM using the Query "Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage"

It looks to be working... Does anyone knows this query in details? It has excluded all spouses from ancestors and descendants...
Not sure if it is messing something else...

Regards,
Pedro

PS. FTDNA has clarified no restrictions regarding the data format as long as being a GEDCOM file.
Nevertheless I will exclude everything but the main facts, as Mike suggested.

Hi Jane,

I have tried your custom query adding all ancestors (without ticking spouse box) and after adding the descendants.

I got 5,502 people. The same output from the pre-existing query "Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage".
I believe they do the same task.

Regarding the siblings. You are right. If any of my top ancestor have siblings they would not show up.

To have siblings in top ancestors is something very unusual in my file. I remember maybe 2 events.
Normally I add a generic common ancestor with "no name" to link these siblings...

So, I believe "Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage" can also be seen as good way to track people in your family tree that theoretically share DNA with you....

Pedro (Brazil)

Yes, the Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage Query does look a very good candidate.

It first finds all the direct blood-line Ancestors of the Starting Person, which will exclude all ancestral spouses who are not genetically linked.

Then it adds all the direct blood-line Descendants of those found above, which will exclude all their spouses.

I notice that the query Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage does include adopted children. There are three such children in my data. Two of these certainty do not have any blood relationship to me but for the third I do not know.

Tony

I think it would be impossible for a Query to filter on non-blood relationships such as adoptive/foster parents or children, assuming such relationships are even recorded.

So the only way to produce a definitive genetic list automatically is by writing a Plugin that examines all the detailed parent-child relationships, and perhaps even takes Source Citations for Birth Events into account before adding people to the list.

I find that FTDNA and FamilySearch ignore baptism and burial dates and places in uploaded GEDCOMs. My trees there therefore show blank information for the people affected. Both organisations expect users to have birth and death dates and places for people which is often impossible for English relatives prior to 1837.

Jane wrote:You could use a custom query.

Add All Ancestors, not ticking the Spouse box and then add all descendants of people already in the list.

The only people who might be missed are siblings of the top of the tree person, but you could do an extra pass for them.

Jane, can you please tell me, once the root person and ancestors are chosen, how do I add the descendants? I've searched and tried different methods without finding the right one.

Thanks,
Kathleen

Kathleen, Jane's advice is slightly misguided, because as mentioned, the View > Standard Queries > Relations, Excluding Relations by Marriage already has exactly that 'customisation'.

If you examine its Rows filter tab, you will see how the Ancestors and Descendants are added by using standard options from its Relations tab.

For general advice see how_to:creating_a_query|> Creating a Query.

Just to answer the question directly.

Add people based on all the people already in the list on the Relations tab just tick the box which says 'Anyone in the current result set'. I use it to only add a selected number of generations for exports to public trees as I only include siblings of Ancestors and not all the descendants. Hence the 1 generation in the image below, just set to 999 for everyone.

Thanks Mike and Jane. I'm getting closer now with your tips. I'm trying to create a gedcom for my cousin with only her ancestors+siblings from our shared line.

Appreciate your help.

As usual with this sort of question you need to be more precise about the desired relationships.
What does "only her ancestors+siblings from our shared line" mean?
Do you mean:

• All the direct ancestors of your cousin that exist in your Gedcom.
  Plus the siblings of your cousin that exist in your Gedcom.
  OR
• All the direct ancestors of your cousin that exist in your Gedcom.
  Plus all the siblings of each such ancestor that exist in your Gedcom.

• i.e.
• Add if an ancestor (max. 1 generations) of ["Starting Person"]. (Parents of Starting Person)
  Add if a descendant (max. 1 generations) of anyone in the current result set. (Children of those Parents)
  Add if an ancestor (max. 99 generations) of ["Starting Person"]. (All direct ancestors of Starting Person)
  OR
• Add if an ancestor (max. 99 generations) of ["Starting Person"]. (All direct ancestors of Starting Person)
  Add if a descendant (max. 1 generations) of anyone in the current result set. (Children of all those ancestors = siblings)