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The first update for Ancestry Sideview is in and now you can label which parent is maternal and which is paternal.
Ancestry currently can't tell which of your DNA comes from you mother and which from your father. That means that Parent 1 or Parent 2 could be either and this can differ between DNA testers.
If you are able to work out which is which (and see my last blog post to show how I did this) you can now label each parent as maternal and paternal and here's how.
1. On the Sideview page, click on "Edit parents" ad the top right of the Detailed comparison.
2. In the window that opens on the right hand side you get the choice of Maternal, Paternal or Not sure. 
I'm going to choose Maternal here as I'm pretty sure based on the Germanic Europe ethnicity that this has to be my Mum's side of the family.
3. Because I picked Maternal, I then was given an image that shows the labelling for both parents. If you are happy with your choice click on "Sounds good" (shouldn't that really be "Looks good"?)
4. Your Detailed Comparison will now look like this with Maternal and Paternal labels.
A couple of notes:
1. You can "Edit parents" after you have labelled them, however if you then choose Not Sure for both parents it will revert back to your originally labelling , rather than deleting the naming of Maternal or Paternal (a bug perhaps?).
2. In your original choice, if you choose "Not sure" for Parent 1 then you will get the chance to label Parent 2. I'm still not sure why this is even an option, it you don't know one parent then you won't know the other and if overall you're not sure, then why start labelling them at all, shouldn't they just remain Parent 1 and Parent 2?
3. It should be noted if you have worked out that Parent 1 on your DNA is Maternal then that doesn't mean that Parent 1 on a siblings DNA or any other kit if you have access to will be Maternal; each DNA kit is treated individually.
I still think this has made the DNA Story portion of Ancestry's offerings much more interesting and look forward to seeing where this technology will go next.... maybe into our Shared Matches...
If you would like some one on one help with your DNA book a 15min chat with me to see if I can help.
1 comment
Thank y0u very much for this help. The write=up is not only very informative but is easy to read and understand. Anyone who is new ought to join Talking Family History. Michelle Patient and Fiona Brooker are very knowledgeable and helpful. Dorothy Lewis