Series. Overview · 1. File · 2. Profile · 3. Projects · Choosing · 4. Matches
You do not have to join only one project.
If the ancestors are tied to several regions, surnames or historical territories, one DNA kit can take part in several projects that actually belong to it. How the application works is in the article on joining. The question here is different: which project is already worth opening, and which is still too wide.
The more precisely the ancestral line is known, the narrower the project should be.
If you know a great-grandfather came from Pukhovichi district, Pukhovichi district of Minsk region in Belarus is a more specific research context than the general Belarus project. In the narrow project the people beside you have named that district themselves. In the wide one the whole country is beside you, and your line disappears in the list.
If the district is unknown and only a Belarusian origin is known, Belarus is the sensible start. A wide project is not a mistake then. It is a first sample, until the line sits on a particular place.
Which projects to search for
GEDmatch projects come at different scales: a country, a historical territory, a region or a governorate, a district or an uezd, a cluster of villages, a confessional group. Search for them by the name on the project card. Below are the Belarusian and neighbouring projects as they should be typed into Search.
Belarus
Belarus
A wide project for people whose ancestors are tied to the territory of present-day Belarus. A good starting point when the family’s Belarusian origin is already clear and a particular branch is not yet tied to a district.
A historical territory
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
A project for families whose ancestors lived on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. A modern state border and a historical territory are not the same thing here. The project can still fit when the family’s place today lies outside present-day Lithuania: on Belarusian, Polish or Ukrainian lands that the documents still read as the Grand Duchy.
Brest region and Polesie
Brest Region, Belarus. The card is also titled in Russian and Belarusian: Брестская Область, Беларусь, Брэсцкая вобласць. That is the region level.
Pinskae Polesie, Pinsk district of Brest region, Belarus (Pinsk Polesie, Pinsk district of Brest region, Belarus). For families tied to Pinsk and Pinsk Polesie this project is already much closer to the work than the whole of Brest region, and closer still than the whole of Belarus.
Mogilev governorate and region
The governorate level comes first: Mogilev province / Могилевской губернии. If you only know that the line is from Mogilev and not which district, this project is wider than the district ones and narrower than Belarus.
If the district is known, take that one:
- Byhov district of Mogilev region, Belarus (Bykhov district of Mogilev region, Belarus)
- Mogilev district of Mogilev region, Belarus
- Shklov district of Mogilev region, Belarus
A document or a stable family tradition about one of these districts is already reason enough to join that project, not the general list for the country.
Minsk region and uezds
- Lahoysk district of Minsk region, Belarus (Logoysk district of Minsk region, Belarus)
- Pukhovichi district of Minsk region in Belarus
- Volozhin district of Minsk region, Belarus
- Новогрудский уезд, Беларусь - Novogrudok district, Minsk region, Belarus
- Слуцкий уезд, Беларусь - Slutsk district, Minsk region, Belarus
If the line is from Volozhin district, the application to Volozhin district should name that line. My ancestors were from Belarus gives the administrator nothing to place: he cannot see which ancestor you brought.
The Novogrudok and Slutsk projects are named by uezd. That is a historical unit, not today’s district one for one. In the search box, type the name as it is written, including the Cyrillic part when it belongs to the project title.
A separate local project, a cluster of villages rather than a whole district: Koidanov - Rubezhevichi - Derevno - Ivenets (Koidanava — Rubezhevichy — Derevna — Ivenets). It makes sense when the ancestors are tied to Koidanov, Rubezhevichi, Derevno or Ivenets, not merely to “Minsk region”.
Vitebsk governorate
VITEBSK GUBERNIA ASHKENAZI JEWS | Евреи Витебской губернии
This is not a project of all of Vitebsk region. It is for Jewish families of Vitebsk governorate. If your line is not from that group, wide Belarus or a district project is the more honest application than one sent here on the word Vitebsk alone.
Old Believers
Old Believers of Belarus
A confessional project, not a geographic one. It fits when Old Belief itself is a line of the family, not a guess from the name of a neighbouring village.
A general project or a regional one
Suppose you know that a great-grandfather, Ivan Petrov, was born about 1880 in Pinsk district. Several levels then stand in front of you, and they do not cancel each other:
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
↓
Belarus
↓
Pinskae Polesie (Pinsk Polesie)
↓
Pinsk districtThe form still takes Latin script: Ivan Petrov, about 1880, Pinsk district.
The more precise the documentary genealogy, the more precise the DNA search. I do not treat Ancestor Projects as mutually exclusive boxes. The same kit is useful in several projects when they really belong to different levels of the pedigree: country, region, district, one line.
How to choose a project for one line
Only the country is known
Ancestors from Belarus. Start with Belarus.
A historical territory is known
The ancestors lived on the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Check Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
A region, a governorate or a district is known
Ancestors from Volozhin district. Search for Volozhin district of Minsk region, Belarus. Ancestors “from Mogilev governorate” with no district: Mogilev province. Ancestors from Bykhov, Shklov or Mogilev district: the matching district project, not the governorate one.
A specific line is known
Father, grandfather, great-grandfather, a particular family, Pukhovichi district. Then Pukhovichi district of Minsk region in Belarus is the most useful, and the application names that chain, not the whole pedigree.
Several branches are known
father
└── Volozhin district
mother
└── Pukhovichi district
another branch
└── Pinsk PolesieYou do not have to pick one project out of the three. Each is considered on its own. In the application, name the branch that belongs to that project. The kit can be the same one if the test is yours. If your father tested, his number means different things in the Volozhin and Pukhovichi projects: for the paternal district it is the sharper kit; for the maternal one, say honestly in the application that the kit is the son’s.
Why this matters for DNA
Imagine 500 DNA matches. Among them are people on the maternal line, the paternal line, side branches, and a very distant shared ancestor. If you are working one line, you need something else: which of these people are tied to the same district or the same family group.
An Ancestor Project narrows that context. It does not mean that every member of the project is automatically a relative on the line you want. A project is a research group, not proof of kinship. After a match the work continues with segments, trees, geography and documents. How to read the list is in the article on matches.
Do not choose a project by the title alone
The title is a hint, not a certificate that the ancestor belongs to the project. Before you apply, check:
- which region, uezd or family the project covers;
- how widely it reads the territory: today’s district, a governorate, or the Grand Duchy;
- which line of your tree belongs to it;
- which kit is the more honest one for that line: yours or a parent’s;
- what you will write to the administrator in English or Latin script.
If you are unsure, write the administrator a specific ancestor: a name, an approximate year, a place. An empty confidence that “the title looks right” is worse than a short honest description.
The aim is not the number of projects
There is no need to join every open project. Five projects with clear lines are more useful than thirty applications with the single text My ancestors were from Belarus.
A good project helps answer one genealogical question. Are there matches tied to the line from Volozhin district? Do several families from Pinsk Polesie share a segment? Are DNA links visible between branches from Mogilev governorate? Questions like these are what turn membership into research.
Names for the Search field
The Search Projects tab, the Search field. Copy the name whole, without the reading in parentheses: parentheses are not part of the search.
- Belarus
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Brest Region, Belarus - Брестская Область, Беларусь - Брэсцкая вобласць
- Pinskae Polesie, Pinsk district of Brest region, Belarus (Pinsk Polesie, Pinsk district of Brest region, Belarus)
- Mogilev province / Могилевской губернии (Mogilev governorate)
- Byhov district of Mogilev region, Belarus (Bykhov district of Mogilev region, Belarus)
- Mogilev district of Mogilev region, Belarus
- Shklov district of Mogilev region, Belarus
- Lahoysk district of Minsk region, Belarus (Logoysk district of Minsk region, Belarus)
- Pukhovichi district of Minsk region in Belarus
- Volozhin district of Minsk region, Belarus
- Новогрудский уезд, Беларусь - Novogrudok district, Minsk region, Belarus
- Слуцкий уезд, Беларусь - Slutsk district, Minsk region, Belarus
- Koidanov - Rubezhevichi - Derevno - Ivenets (Koidanava — Rubezhevichy — Derevna — Ivenets)
- VITEBSK GUBERNIA ASHKENAZI JEWS | Евреи Витебской губернии (Jews of Vitebsk governorate)
- Old Believers of Belarus
The short path, if the kit is not signed yet and the only application is to Belarus: 15 minutes.