Clavis Genetica
The key to genetic genealogy
This is the companion site to the book by Erik Schmidt. A printed book about a field that changes as quickly as genetic genealogy is out of date in some places on the day it appears. Here it is kept up to date.
Updates and corrections
What has changed since printing at the testing companies, in the services and in the law, ordered by chapter. Plus the errors that readers have found.
To the updatesFurther links
Every web address from the list of sources, ready to click and ordered by chapter, so that nobody has to type a long address.
To the linksThe Clavis Genetica app
Opens, explains and compares DNA files on your own Mac. Free, without an account, and without a single line leaving your computer.
To the downloadAbout the book
A DNA test delivers lists, numbers and files, but no ancestors. The book explains step by step how the results of a test become sound statements about your own family: what the three kinds of test can do, how to read a match list, what a segment is and when it can be trusted, how clusters, triangulation and the chromosome map work together, and where each method reaches its limits. Almost all examples come from the author's own data and his father's.
The book is written for beginners and for family historians who have worked with parish registers so far. It assumes no prior knowledge of biology. It is written in German.
Erik Schmidt: Clavis Genetica. Der Schlüssel zur genetischen Genealogie. Books on Demand, 2026. ISBN 978-3-696-76938-3.
Found an error?
If you find an error, think a statement is out of date or would like to share an experience that helps other readers, I would be glad to hear from you: Contact.