vital records research book

Vital Records Research: Using DNA Results

A process to match AncestryDNA results to research of birth, marriage, and death records in Pennsylvania.

Denyse Allen

22 Dec 2022 • 7 min read

With the ever-growing popularity of DNA tests for genealogy, many researchers are asking, “Can DNA test results help me find vital records on my ancestors?” Yes, but not in the way we have been led to believe in television ads.

The advertising for DNA tests leads people to believe that they can have an instant family tree arrive in their email. Simply spit into a tube and your genealogy is done for you! The reality is that DNA testers receive screen after screen of shared DNA matches with other testers which they then need to further analyze.

Then how do you use DNA results for genealogy research, specifically vital record research?

Your DNA test results can be used in three ways to help with your vital records research:

Confirming relationships between ancestors
Matching ethnicity results to vital records
Targeting research with genetic communities

The most useful DNA test results for genealogy purposes are currently offered by Ancestry, 23&Me, My Heritage, and FamilyTreeDNA. There are other companies, but these four have the largest databases of test results which are also updated frequently. Each of these companies provides in their results two things which can help genealogists:

A list of other living people the tester shares DNA with; and
An assessment of ethnicity, and for Ancestry, genetic communities.

Both types of testing results can be used with vital records research.

Confirming Relationships Between Ancestors

Sharing DNA with other DNA test takers means sharing a relationship to a common ancestor.

The majority of DNA testing utilized in genealogy is autosomal DNA testing, which is most effective within five generations from the test taker. This type of testing helps identify living relatives who share a common ancestor with the tester. The closer this common ancestor is in generations to the testers, the more DNA they share. The Shared cM Project on the DNA Painter website at https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4, managed by Jonny Perl, regularly updates the expected shared DNA amounts between ancestral descendants, providing a reliable reference for genealogists.

Genealogists use the amounts of shared DNA to confirm relationships between ancestors also. To make effective use of autosomal DNA, family trees must be built back to four generations or more. Additionally, the family trees must be built down from the oldest ancestor to present day living people. This is challenging work, but it is these living people who are the DNA test takers. Studying the shared centimorgans between test takers and comparing it to the Shared cM Project data confirms relationships from and between ancestors. Diahan Southard's Your DNA Guide offers practical instructions on effectively using autosomal DNA matches along with shared centimorgans.

Once a relationship through DNA is revealed, a genealogist can work collaboratively to share and swap family history, including vital records.

Some caution on using DNA to confirm ancestral lines: It is possible to blow apart existing family trees with newly discovered relatives. DNA test results often do this today. DNA testers receive results which inform them of new cousins, siblings, and occasionally parents or grandparents. Be prepared for this type of result when doing DNA testing.

Matching Ethnicity Results to Vital Records

America is a nation of immigrants. Every ethnicity in the world is represented within America’s borders today.

What is ethnicity? Ethnicity refers to shared ancestry, culture, religion, and/or nationality within a group of people. Multiple ethnicities are represented within a single race. For example, Pennsylvania’s largest racial group is “White.” Within that one group are the broad ethnicities German, Irish, English, Italian, and Polish (Pennsylvania’s historically most numerous ethnicities.). Each of those broad ethnicities can be further broken down into the specific regions, cultures, and/or religions. For genealogists, knowing the ethnicity of ourselves or our closest relatives through DNA testing, can validate completed family trees or point a direction for future research.

Vitals records such as birth certificates, marriage license applications, and death certificates provided a racial group and birth place on their forms. Ethnicity may or may not have been specifically named, but the race category combined the birth location can help determine ethnicity. For example, a German person could be noted to be from Bavaria or Prussia. An Irish person from Donegal or Mayo. These locations often correlate to ethnicity regions shown in DNA tests.

It can be helpful for researchers to compare ethnicity results across DNA testing companies. Each company has a different pool of testers and therefore categorizes their ethnicity results in its own way. Your DNA does not change, but how it is described changes depending on who your DNA is compared with. Each company providing testing shares their methodology, or thinking, about how they represent ethnicity. Check each company's help information for “white papers” which are in-depth reports on methodology.

Targeting Research with Genetic Communities

For a nation as genetically diverse as America, AncestryDNA’s genetic communities are extremely helpful for research.

A genetic community is created by the shared DNA of a group of AncestryDNA members who descend from a population of common ancestors. These common ancestors lived in the same place and time period together. A genetic community can span several states, or it can be as small as a part of a county. AncestryDNA is continually refining genetic communities, so people who have DNA test results with AncestryDNA will see their genetic communities change over time.

Pennsylvania’s genetic communities started with about a dozen communities six years ago, and now number over eighty communities. Having DNA results showing a relationship to one of these genetic communities can focus your Pennsylvania research, especially if you have a common surname.

This is the current list of AncestryDNA genetic communities for Pennsylvania's historical population:

Early Connecticut & New York Settlers
Rhode Island, Southern New York, and Northeast Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Ontario, Northern New York & Northern Pennsylvania Settlers
Early Pennsylvania Settlers
Early Settlers of Central Pennsylvania
Early Settlers of Eastern Pennsylvania
Early Settlers of North-Central Pennsylvania
Early Settlers of Western Pennsylvania
Eastern Ohio River Valley & Northern Blue Ridge Mountains Settlers
Southeast Pennsylvania & Northern Maryland Border Settlers
Southern Pennsylvania & Amish Country, Ohio Settlers
New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania Settlers
Mid-Atlantic Settlers
Philadelphia, South & Central Jersey Settlers
Northern Mid-Atlantic Settlers
Bradford County, Pennsylvania & Southern Tioga County, New York Settlers
New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Northeast Pennsylvania Settlers
Northeastern Pennsylvania & South-Central New York Border Settlers
Southern New York & Northern Pennsylvania & New Jersey Settlers
Southwestern New York & North Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia & Maryland Settlers
Adams County, Pennsylvania & Carroll County, Maryland Settlers
Allegheny & Butler County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Area Settlers
Bedford, Blair & Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Cameron & Eastern Elk County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Central & Eastern Pennsylvania Settlers
Central & Eastern Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Central & Northern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Central & Western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Central Eastern West Virginia Settlers
Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Centre & Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Centre & Clinton County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Clarion & Venango County, Pennsylvania Area Settlers
Clearfield, Centre & Clinton County, Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Clinton & Lycoming County Pennsylvania Settlers
Columbia & Western Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Columbiana & Mahoning Counties, Ohio & Western Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Dauphin, Cumberland, York & Adams County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Allegheny & Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Centre & Southern Clinton County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Crawford & Western Warren County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Jefferson & Western Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Mercer & Western Venango County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern Pennsylvania Settlers
Eastern West Virginia & Northwestern Virginia Settlers
Eastern West Virginia, Western Maryland & Northern Virginia Settlers
Fayette & Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Indiana County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Jefferson, Clarion, & Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Lancaster County Area, Pennsylvania Settlers
Lawrence & Beaver County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Lawrence & Mercer County, Pennsylvania & Ohio Border Settlers
Lebanon, Dauphin & Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Lycoming, Sullivan, Columbia & Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Settlers
North Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Northeastern West Virginia Settlers
Northern Armstrong & Southern Clarion County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Northern Cambria County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Northern Somerset County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Northern Susquehanna River Settlers
Northern West Virginia, Southeastern Ohio, & Southwestern Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Northern West Virginia, Southern & Eastern Pennsylvania & Northern Maryland Settlers
Northumberland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Northwestern Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Northwestern Cambria County, Pennsylvania Area Settlers
Northwestern Pennsylvania Settlers
Northwestern West Virginia Settlers
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Region Settlers
Schuylkill & Northwestern Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers
South Central Pennsylvania & Northern Maryland Settlers
South Central Pennsylvania & West Virginia Border Settlers
Southeastern Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southeastern Ohio Settlers
Southeastern Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Armstrong & Northern Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Armstrong County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Bedford & Fulton County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Butler & Northern Beaver County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Central Pennsylvania & Northwestern Maryland Border Settlers
Southern Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southern Somerset County, Pennsylvania & Western Maryland Border Settlers
Southern Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Southwestern Pennsylvania & Northern West Virginia Border Settlers
Southwestern Pennsylvania & West Virginia Border Settlers
Southwestern Pennsylvania Settlers
Southwestern Pennsylvania Wilds Settlers
West Central Pennsylvania Settlers
West Central Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Settlers
West Virginia, Pennsylvania & Maryland Border Settlers
Western & Central Pennsylvania Settlers
Western Clearfield, Southwestern Jefferson & Northern Indiana County, Pennsylvania Settlers
Western Maryland & Eastern West Virginia Settlers
Western Maryland & Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Western Maryland & Southern Pennsylvania Border Settlers
Western Maryland Settlers
Western Pennsylvania & Eastern Ohio Border Settlers
York County, Pennsylvania & North Central Maryland Border Settlers

By mapping the genetic community location along with an ancestor's location noted in documents, genealogists get a confirmation that their research is correct.

When a genealogist has gaps in his or her family tree, the genetic community can provide a direction where he or she should focus. For example, an ancestor, aged 75, died in Ohio in 1870 giving their birthplace as only Pennsylvania. This ancestor was born around 1795 and in that time period there are no birth records issued by the Pennsylvania government. The next best record to use is a baptism done in infancy, because these records often note the date of birth or age of the infant. In order to effectively research in church records, a county needs to be identified first.

For example, a test taker studies his genetic community results, and the community "Schuylkill & Northwestern Berks County, Pennsylvania Settlers" is shown. This indicates that the DNA test taker shares DNA with other testers who can trace their ancestors to that geographic area. Research for further records on this ancestor can now be focused on Schuylkill County and the northwestern part of Berks County, rather than the entire state.

Due to the small amounts of shared chromosomes shared by test takers in a genetic community, researchers are advised to use additional family members’ DNA to confirm their findings. Perhaps one descendant’s DNA is not a match to a Pennsylvania genetic community, but another descendant’s DNA is.

Anyone doing DNA testing for any reason is encouraged to read the terms and conditions and privacy policy with each company to know how the results are used, stored, and shared. There are few state and federal laws regulating DNA testing currently and things can change quickly in any direction in the future.

While DNA results will not provide instant access to vital records, the results will help confirm documentary research completed and focus future research.

From the book Pennsylvania Vital Records Research, by Denyse Allen. Print and ebook copies available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQX915KK