Endogamy, marrying and having children predominantly within one’s group, allows DNA matches to appear to be more closely related to each other than they actually are. Alec Ferretti will teach us the current rules of thumb for weeding through endogamous matches, including learning how to visualize matches in ways to both help understand and analyze endogamy. He will explain the benefits and pitfalls of each testing company’s DNA tools, specifically within the lens of endogamy. Finally, novel strategies will be discussed, such as looking for pile-up regions in DNA Painter, along with other types of segment analysis.

Alec Ferretti is a professional genealogist based in New York, with degrees in archives and library science. He is a frequent lecturer at national conferences, is President of the New York Genealogy and Technology Group, and serves on the Board of Reclaim the Records, a nonprofit dedicated to wrangling public records from restrictive government agencies.

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