Explore Your Matches
You are welcome to use these Guthrie Genealogy resources whether or not you belong to the Guthrie DNA Surname Project. Choose the section that fits your results.
Many branches. New clues.
Explore Your
Autosomal DNA Matches
Start with a question. Follow the evidence.
Autosomal DNA comes from both parents and can offer clues across many family lines. Your task is to discover which matches may connect through your Guthrie ancestry.
Begin with a few relevant matches.
Choose one question, such as “Could these two Guthrie families from the same county be related?” You do not need to work through your entire match list.
- Write your known Guthrie line. Begin with the tester and include every connecting generation back to the earliest proven Guthrie ancestor. Add spouses, birth and death dates, places and sources where known. Share what you know and mark uncertain links.
- Find possible connections. Search match trees for Guthrie and spelling variants. Look at shared matches, ancestors and locations. A surname in a tree is a clue to investigate.
- Record the useful details. Note the company, match name or alias, shared DNA amount, relevant ancestry and date checked. Add the match’s known Guthrie Family Group or Ungrouped Family status and its source. Leave unavailable details blank.
- Choose your next step. Identify a missing record, compare a family line or write down a question for Ann. Use either downloadable organizer to keep your findings together.
Use the tools where you tested.
Make the most of the tools and Help Center at the company where you tested. Explore its match tools, read the instructions and try the features that relate to your research question. Learning what your results can tell you is part of the discovery.
Open a company below for a starting point and official guidance. Use the company’s Help Center or support team for questions about how a feature works or problems with your account. Some features depend on your account or subscription; the linked guides explain current access.
AncestryDNA
Use filters, custom groups and notes to keep possible Guthrie connections together. Compare the trees of relevant matches, then use Shared Matches to find other people who match both of you.
Try this: Create a group for one research question. Add a few matches and a short note explaining why each belongs there.
FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder
Search ancestral surnames, review trees and add notes to relevant matches. “In Common With” finds people who match both you and a selected match. The Chromosome Browser offers a closer look at shared DNA segments when you are ready.
Try this: Choose one match with a documented Guthrie line. Review your matches in common and look for a second tree that helps explain the connection.
MyHeritage DNA
Open a match to review shared surnames, shared matches and available family-tree information. Shared segments and chromosome comparisons can provide additional details for further study.
Try this: Compare the Guthrie ancestors in two relevant trees. Record the earliest documented ancestor in each and the evidence for any proposed connection.
What do those clues mean?
Shared DNA and predicted relationships
A centimorgan, usually written cM, measures shared DNA. The amount helps suggest possible relationships, but several relationships can fit the same amount. Use ages, family lines and records to narrow the possibilities.
Record the company’s prediction separately from a relationship you have documented. Do not add together the cM amounts from different matches.
Shared matches and tree hints
A shared match matches both you and the person you selected. That can help you investigate a family connection, but it does not by itself identify a common ancestor.
Tree hints and suggested relationship paths also need checking. Verify each parent-child link and consider other ancestral lines that might explain the DNA match.
The match’s Guthrie Family Group
If the match’s Guthrie line belongs to an established Family Group, record its group and branch with a source. For an Ungrouped Family, record that status and identify the family by its earliest documented Guthrie ancestor. Use “Not yet checked” if you have not established the status.
This describes the match’s family. It does not automatically place your own Guthrie line in the same group.
Download your autosomal organizer.
The Match Research Guide explains the steps to collect your Autosomal DNA Matches for research and analysis using the Excel Match Log. Download both to get started.
Match Research Guide
For a focused research question, with room for your family line, match evidence and a question for Ann. Copy the match page when you need another.
Editable Word Document · .docx
Excel Match Log
For keeping several matches together in a sortable table. Includes a research summary, status dropdowns and columns for each match’s known Family Group or Ungrouped Family.
Editable Excel Workbook · .xlsx
Follow the paternal line.
Explore Your Y-DNA Matches
Find connections. Discover branches.
Y-DNA follows the direct father-to-son line. When that is the tester’s Guthrie line, it is especially useful for investigating connections between Guthrie families.
Start with the match level.
In your FamilyTreeDNA account, open Y-DNA Matches. Note the marker level being compared, each relevant match’s genetic distance and earliest known paternal ancestor. Compare your documented paternal lines alongside the DNA results.
Explore FamilyTreeDNA’s Y-DNA tools alongside its Help Center guides. Use those resources to learn how each feature works, and bring Ann your questions about what the findings may mean for your Guthrie line.
FamilyTreeDNA’s Y-DNA Matches guide →
What are markers and mutations?
Y-DNA tests examine particular locations called markers. Y-37 and Y-111 compare repeating patterns called STRs. The number at a marker tells us how many times its pattern repeats.
A mutation is a change in the DNA passed from one generation to the next. For example, a repeat count may change from 13 to 14. These changes can become clues that help distinguish paternal branches. They do not happen on a fixed generational schedule.
What does genetic distance mean?
Genetic distance (GD) counts differences in the STR results being compared. A GD of 0 means no counted differences at that marker level. A GD of 2 means two counted steps of difference; those steps need not occur at two separate markers.
It is not a count of generations. A GD of 2 does not mean that the common ancestor lived two generations ago. Even a GD of 0 does not identify an exact relationship or ancestor.
Always record the level as well: “GD 2 at 37 markers” is more informative than “GD 2.” A 37-marker comparison and a 111-marker comparison examine different amounts of information.
Why do matches differ between levels?
More markers can reveal differences that were not visible in a smaller comparison. Each match level also has its own reporting limit.
A person who has tested only 37 markers cannot be compared with you across all 111. Look at the highest level you both share, and check lower levels when someone appears to be missing.
Is a haplogroup the same as a Guthrie Family Group?
A haplogroup names a branch on the broader paternal DNA tree. Broad branches can include many surnames and very distant connections. More detailed testing may identify a more specific branch.
A Guthrie Family Group is a project research grouping that brings genetic evidence together with Guthrie family history. Sharing a broad haplogroup alone is not enough to establish the same Guthrie Family Group.
Two related testers may display different haplogroup labels because one has tested further down the same branch. The tree position and testing detail matter.
What can Big Y add?
Big Y examines many more locations on the Y chromosome, including changes called SNPs (pronounced “snips”). Shared SNPs help define branches of the paternal tree.
For Guthrie research, this can help distinguish branches within a family group and investigate how lines connect. The Block Tree shows how tested paternal branches relate to one another. New testers can help refine those branches.
Big Y’s non-matching variants and the genetic distance on a Y-37 or Y-111 comparison describe different measurements. Keep their labels with the numbers.
Introduction to the Big Y Block Tree →
If you are considering an upgrade, discuss your existing results and research question with Ann first. The next step should fit the question and your budget.
Still choosing a test? Visit Choosing a DNA Test.
Let’s work through your question.
If you are unsure what your findings mean, Ann welcomes your questions. Bring your known Guthrie line, a few relevant matches, what you have tried and the point where you are stuck. You do not need to have everything figured out before asking.
Your observations and follow-up research help turn shared clues into useful discoveries. For autosomal questions, either autosomal organizer can help you prepare a focused summary.
Ask general questions publicly, or contact Ann privately about living people and personal results. Use the private form to describe your question first and arrange how to share any worksheet. Use aliases for living matches in material shared more widely.