Are Notes on an Individual DNA Match Enough?

I’m working on shared DNA matches I have with DNA matches who are known descendants of my Irish ancestor John Neill (born around 1810 or so). I’m starting that work by looking at those matches that have trees. AncestryDNA, like the other sites, allows me to have notes attached for each match.

For me that’s not an efficient way to keep track of my thoughts, analysis, speculation, etc. since the notes are tied to each match individually. Instead of putting my process in each match’s notes, I’ve created one Word document with the name of each DNA match in this group and what I’ve noticed about the matches, why I’ve decided certain parts of their trees are the best places to start really looking for a match, etc.

That keeps the analysis of this group of matches in one place, allows me to review it easier (printing it out if desired for note taking), make additional notes easier, etc.

Sometimes individual notes are great and sometimes they are not. Don’t always force your process to fit the system.


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