Do you need assistance in understanding how the Parent 1 and Parent 2 on Ancestry corresponds with your maternal and paternal sides of the family? In this post, find some easy techniques that can assist you.
There are two primary strategies for identifying Parents 1 and Parent 2 on Ancestry, depending on your knowledge of your parents, family history and whether any close relatives have taken an Ancestry DNA test. The one most suitable to you will depend on what information is known about both of your parents.
Identification of Your Parents With DNA Matches mes One way of quickly and accurately identifying who your mother and father are is by reviewing your DNA match list. Your matches automatically organize into two parental groups; we just have to figure out which group belongs to which side of our family.
If you already know much of your family tree, or many of your cousins on one or both sides have taken DNA tests with Ancestry, this part should be relatively easy for you. Perhaps even some familiar faces from matches under either parental group.
If the faces and surnames in either match group do not ring true for you, click on either Parent 1 or Parent 2 match groups to see if there are any familiar DNA matches among them.
Assuming you recognize some DNA matches on Parent 1 as belonging to your mother’s side of the family, for instance, this will allow you to recognize Parent 1 as maternal while Parent 2 would be paternal – we only need one parent’s identity before knowing which side corresponds.
If you don’t recognize any close relatives from either side of your family in your list and know something of their family tree, and want to identify DNA matches who could potentially help, try doing some research on how some matches relate to you and which group (i.e. Parent 1 or Parent 2) they belong in; that way you’ll know which group they belong in and which parent.
Some individuals have difficulty using DNA matches to understand their relationships, particularly without much background on their ancestry. If this is the case for you, ethnicity estimation or the DNA Story could provide additional insight.
Estimating Your Ethnic Inheritance
An ethnicity estimate provides you with an easy way to distinguish Parent 1 and Parent 2, using ethnicity estimates and comparison. Your ethnicity inheritance detailed comparison allows you to see which ethnic regions were passed from Parent 1 and Parent 2, with percentages assigned accordingly. With your knowledge of your family tree and personal relationships you can make an accurate determination as to who your paternal and maternal lines are.
Below is an image from my Ancestry DNA results. Three of my mother’s grandparents only share German, Polish or Slovak ancestry while my fourth grandparent has roots from Ireland, Scotland and England.
At first, it seemed evident to me that my mother’s family tree and thus its likely influence on my ethnicity estimate were an ideal match with Parent 2. Once this feature became available for DNA matches as well, I could confirm my conclusion was correct.
Examining your ethnicity estimate comparison will allow you to identify regions which you believe may have come from one parent over the other. As it’s common to find small percentages matching neighboring regions where our ancestors lived in our results, this may provide valuable clues.
What If Both Parents Share Similar Ancestries or Ethnicity? It could be that both your parents have shared ancestry or ethnicity; you may not know much about either side’s family tree; while this presents additional difficulties, additional research should help address them effectively.
Below, a DNA tester’s parents had predominantly Indigenous Americas – Mexico roots as evidenced by his 46% inheritance from one parent and 47% from the other; you can see they also inherited DNA from both parents in very low percentages (1%) matching different regions.
One person only knows who their parents and grandparents were on both sides, making it impossible for them to determine whether one side had a greater likelihood of also possessing distant Northern Africa, Cyprus, Sweden & Denmark, Spain Senegal Portugal or Ireland ethnicities; even with only 1% matching all regions it has proven difficult.
Our DNA tester could take two approaches in order to identify who Parent 1 and Parent 2 might be. The first would be building back their family tree as far as possible in order to establish some relationship between certain ancestors on either side of their family and some of their closer DNA matches.
An Ancestry DNA customer has decided to do something very smart by inviting his maternal half-brother for a DNA test, then once his results come back and matches are reassigned he should be able to determine which parent group (1 or 2) his brother belongs.
Triangulation, used by more committed researchers, is another means to determine how you are related to groups of DNA matches. Many use triangulation as a strategy for locating their immediate family’s biological parents and could also use this method for distinguishing maternal from paternal matches on Ancestry DNA match lists.
What Are My Parent Label Options Did you know that changing from Parent 1 and Parent 2 to Paternal and Maternal will make viewing your DNA results less confusing? Easily doable!
Once again, changing labels won’t matter if you forget which parent is Parent 1 and which Parent 2, since their labels will remind you. Furthermore, assigning maternal and paternal labels makes things simpler when creating your DNA match list.
Change your DNA Matches By Parent page or Ethnicity Inheritance breakdown by Parent page’s label quickly and easily – it takes only seconds! Plus if something goes wrong or needs changing later. Just undo what was changed!
No matter which set of instructions you follow below, changing labels on either list will automatically affect both, for instance if you alter DNA match list labels then they will also change on Ethnicity Inheritance Breakdown list, vice versa.
Change of Label for Parent 1 and Parent 2 on DNA Match List
On your DNA match By Parent page, you have the ability to change labels directly for Parent 1 or Parent 2, showing how many DNA matches belong to each parent as well as unassigned matches.
Once on this screen, you will notice a blue Edit parent link directly next to “View matches by both Parent 1 and Parent 2”. Click this blue link in order to assign labels for your parents.
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