Everyone who is trying to identify their DNA matches

Anyone who is frustrated by DNA matches who don’t respond when contacted or who don’t share family trees

Anyone who wants to connect with birth relatives or extend their family trees

Genealogists and search angels who want to improve their skills and effectiveness

These are skills not typically taught to traditional genealogists, but if you are (or aspire to be) a genetic genealogist, you need these skills. 

The longer you go without knowing who your important DNA matches are, the more time, energy and frustration you waste on your genetic genealogy journey. You could be communicating with them more effectively (if you choose to). You could be finding more meaningful clues about who they are and how they’re related to you.

If you’re already a regular user of Google, Facebook, and newspaper websites, that’s great! You’ll love it even more when we show you how to harness these powerful information technologies in very specific ways. There’s always more to learn about using these tools. Like how to find someone’s DNA test username elsewhere online. How to build someone’s family tree using their social media account and mentions of them in their relatives’ obituaries. How to use lesser-known resources to tell you more about living (or recently-living) people and their associates. The examples we’re going to show you are pretty mind-blowing! These novel, clever strategies–taken together–can save you HOURS of time and frustration. They can lead you more quickly, more efficiently and more accurately to the DNA answers you’re looking for. 

Great question. For those who like to respect privacy and/or who typically confine their record searches to deceased relatives, this can feel weird. In our Finding Living Relatives Workshop, we teach you to mine public data. Internet searches are like a modern extension of a public library: they lead to information that is openly available. Social media profiles are available to anyone who cares to look, according to the user’s privacy settings. People-finding websites mine public, residential, business and other similar records.

Let’s also consider intention and focus. If you share a significant amount of DNA with someone, you’re related. We help you to focus on answering the question of HOW you’re related, which is a truth we believe you both have a right to explore.

The only way to find your ancestors through DNA results is to work with your DNA matches.  And your DNA matches are (mostly) living people! The focus of the Course is to help you identify those hard-to-find mystery DNA matches, but these skills can also equally strengthen your ability to do descendancy research, or to take your known deceased ancestors down to their children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, who are your living DNA matches!

The Finding Living Relatives Course takes place entirely online in our Circle community. After you enroll, we will send you an email with an invitation to join us there. You’ll need a reliable internet connection for watching the video instruction sessions and accessing the other Course materials. You’ll need access to DNA test results, which do not come with this Course.

We do not offer refunds for our on-demand courses. Because the Finding Living Relatives Course is entirely on-demand, without a live (timely) component, scheduling conflicts do not apply as a reason for returns. The course descriptions are very clear about who the course is for (what level of education is prerequisite); please read them and consider carefully your readiness before purchasing. If you find that you’re not quite ready after starting the course, we encourage you to keep learning and then come back to it. You have indefinite access to your on-demand courses, and at some point, you will be ready!