Hungarian Genealogy & DNA: An Introduction To Autosomal DNA & DNA Painter

Many members of our Facebook Group (Hungarian Genealogy - Magyar Roots) have either asked or shown interest in better understanding and utilizing their DNA test results. This article will discuss using Ancestry DNA and MyHeritage DNA test results.

Ancestry DNA

Look for "DNA settings"

1. Ancestry ultimately does not provide the segment data for you and your DNA matches, which is necessary to continue forward, so you'll need to obtain that data elsewhere. Download your DNA data file from Ancestry DNA (it should be towards the bottom of the DNA settings page).

Look for "Download DNA data"

2. Once you have downloaded your DNA data file from AncestryDNA, go to GEDmatch.com and create a free account. Then upload your RAW DNA from Ancestry to GEDmatch and allow it to integrate into their system (usually takes ~24 hours or so).

You can upload DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry,
FTDNA, and many others.

GEDmatch also provides step-by-step instructions, though their examples are outdated:

https://app.gedmatch.com/gedwiki/index.php?title=Ancestry.Com_DNA_Upload

You do not need a subscription to use their basic tools, though further down the road you may find some of their subscription-based tools rather useful. The subscription to GEDmatch is currently $10/month and I personally use it ~3-4 times a year; only when I'm trying to figure out something very specific.

3. After that ~24 hour integration period, you'll be able to use either of the two "One-To-Many" tools under the "Free Tools" menu. This will show you all your DNA matches who've also uploaded their DNA to GEDmatch. You may quickly recognize names you've seen on Ancestry, which is beneficial and what you want. Look for DNA matches you already know and copy their KIT number.

Look for the KIT of your identified DNA match

4. Under the "Free Tools" menu go to "One-To-One Autosomal." For Kit Number 1 choose your kit (it should be a drop-down menu), and for Kit Number 2 input/paste your DNA match's KIT number from the previous step. Click "Compare" and the results should show bar graphs and tables for each of the 22 chromosomes.

An example of the "Autosomal One-to-one Comparison" results page.

5. Go to DNAPainter.com and create a free account, then create a new "Chromosome Maps" for your DNA kit. Once that is set up, you'll find a dark-blue "PAINT A NEW MATCH" bottom at the top-right of the page.

Look for "PAINT A NEW MATCH"

6. There you will then copy and paste the table data from step 4. Click "PREVIEW THESE SEGMENTS" and it should show where on each chromosome you and your DNA match share DNA.

Simply copy and paste the entire table, or specific rows of table data,
from GEDmatch; it will sometimes look like gibberish - trust the process!

7. Then you can save that match under whichever settings and colors you'd like. DNA Painter provides a lot of options, so you can be very thorough with organizing everyone into specific family groups and such. Over time, your Chromosome Map on DNA Painter will gradually fill in and this will ultimately help those trying to research brickwall ancestors.

An example of the Chromosome Map that I've
created for my mother's DNA matches.

MyHeritage DNA

The process for MyHeritage DNA is vastly different from Ancestry, while also being significantly easier. MyHeritage already provides the necessary segment data for you and your DNA match, which immediately eliminates your need to download your DNA data (like at Ancestry) and upload it to GEDmatch. As much as I always recommend GEDmatch, it could be entirely eliminated from the process by using MyHeritage DNA.

Towards the bottom of any MyHeritage DNA match's page, unless they have opted-out for privacy reasons, you will see the "Chromosome Browser – Shared DNA Segments." This is essentially the same data that GEDmatch provides. At the top-right corner of this data, you'll see an "Advanced options" drop-down menu which allows you to "Download shared DNA info."

Look for "Download shared DNA info" under the "Advanced options" menu.

The file you download will be a spreadsheet with the same segment data we were obtaining from GEDmatch for Ancestry DNA. With this data you can now follow steps #5-7 for the Ancestry DNA route described above.

New-Updated Databases & Collections: February-April 2026

Each month we will highlight the new and updated databases and collections beneficial to Hungarian genealogy. This post will showcase the months of February through April of 2026.

FamilySearch

During the month of February, FamilySearch updated the following collections:

-Hungary, Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895 (added 1,051 indexes)
-Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980 (added 249 indexes)

During the month of March, FamilySearch updated the following collections:

-Hungary, Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895 (added 11,252 indexes)
-Hungary, Church Books, 1624-1950 (added 2,487 indexes)

-Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980 (added 147 indexes)

During the month of April, FamilySearch updated the following collections:

-Hungary, Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895 (added 130 indexes)
-Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980 (added 191 indexes)

Hungaricana

• 1767 Urbarial Census: There has been ongoing work to improve the indexing of the 1767 Urbarial Census. If you haven't checked specific counties recently, many of the handwritten "settlement" signatures and witness lists are being more accurately transcribed.
  
  
• Probate Records: A push to digitize 18th-century probate inventories (hagyatéki leltárak) from the trans-Danubian counties has seen new batches added to the Hungaricana portal. These are incredibly detailed, often listing every single item in a household upon death. This is valuable for social history as much as genealogy.

Hungarian Genealogy & DNA: Comparing Ancestry.com & MyHeritage.com

There has been considerably discussion in our Facebook group regarding DNA testing and which companies are the most beneficial in regards to Hungarian research. While both Ancestry and MyHeritage offer powerful tools, they serve different strategic purposes for those tracing roots in Hungary. This post will highlight the pros and cons of the DNA tests and matches available through both Ancestry and MyHeritage.

DNA with Ancestry.com

Pros:

• Database: Because Ancestry is the market leader in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, it is the best tool for finding "cousin matches" among the Hungarian diaspora who emigrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
  
  
• Ethnicity Origins - Regions: Again, because Ancestry is a market leader with DNA testing, their ethnicity estimates are superior to MyHeritage. Ancestry's last update from Oct 2025 significantly expanded their regions and sub-regions.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Clusters: Ancestry introduced an enhanced version of their "custom clusters" tool in October 2025. This tool allows you adjust the filter to include matches as low as 20 cM, which is vital for deeper research, and proceeds to automatically sort your matches. This is very similar to the "Auto Clusters" introduced by MyHeritage in 2019, though with greater filter capabilities. The example below is my most recent cluster created at Ancestry for a branch of my maternal great-grandmother's family.
  
  
  
  
  

Cons:

• RAW DNA: While Ancestry provides the option to download your RAW DNA with their settings, they do not allow you to view or download matching segment data with your DNA matches. This is crucial information for determining proper DNA connections, as well as triangulated matches (3+ individuals sharing the same segment, thus indicating they all descend from a common ancestor.).
  
  Ancestry also does not allow you to upload your RAW DNA from another company - you must test with Ancestry.
  
  
• Filters: Ancestry allows you to filter your DNA matches by Tree details (private, public or unlinked trees) and Shared DNA (close matches, distant matches, custom centimorgan range). They furthermore allow you to filter by Groups (user-created), Journeys (Ancestry-created) and Parent. From a genealogical standpoint, I personally feel these tools don't particularly help us well with accurately narrowing down our search.
  
  
• Pricing: DNA tests through Ancestry are undeniably the more expensive option. They regularly have sales throughout the year, however, those sales can vary between $29, $39 and $59; while the non-sale test goes for $99 (including shipping).
  
  

DNA with MyHeritage.com

Pros:

• Database: More people currently living in Hungary and neighboring countries (Slovakia, Romania, Serbia) tend to test with MyHeritage. Testing with MyHeritage will increase your chances of finding local matches whose ancestors and immediate family remained in Europe.
  
  
• RAW DNA: MyHeritage is a step ahead of Ancestry, and has been for many years, in that they do provide and allow you to download the matching segment data with your DNA matches. This is crucial and extremely important data when analyzing and conducting DNA research. This segment data allows you to see (and download) on which chromosome you share DNA with a match. You can then take that downloaded segment data and input it into an application, such as DNA Painter.
  
  

  

  Advanced options > Download shared DNA info

  
  
  

  

  Screenshot of my personal DNA Painter account, using the
  downloaded segment data from MyHeritage and GEDmatch.
  This significantly helps with triangulated matches (a shared common ancestor).

  
  
  
• Filters: MyHeritage allows you to filter your DNA matches by tree details (user-submitted family trees), relationships (close family, extended family, and distant relatives) and locations. The locations filter may be the most beneficial, in that you can specifically narrow down your matches to only individuals presently residing in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, etc.
  
  

  

  Filter by Location > Hungary

  
  
• Pricing: The standard price for DNA kits at MyHeritage are $89 (including shipping), which is already $10 cheaper than Ancestry. While they have sales, the prices of their DNA kits can range from $25, $29, $36 and $59. MyHeritage currently has a sale for DNA tests at $36, ending at midnight on February 24, 2026 PST (early morning February 25th for those on the East Coast or in Europe).

Cons:

• RAW DNA: MyHeritage previously allowed users to upload their RAW DNA from other companies, for a small fee, however, during the summer of 2025 this unfortunately came to an end. MyHeritage now requires you to purchase their DNA kit.
  
  
• Ethnicity Estimate: Because of the smaller user-base at MyHeritage, their ethnicity estimates are not as accurate or reliable as Ancestry.com.

Conclusion

Test with both Ancestry and MyHeritage while they have sales on their DNA tests. Ancestry will help you locate family members from branches of immigrant-line ancestors, while MyHeritage will help you locate family members still in Europe. Because Ancestry does not allow you to download or view specific segment data between matches, it is always suggested to upload your RAW DNA to GEDmatch.com.

New-Updated Databases & Collections: December 2025

Each month we will highlight the new and updated databases and collections beneficial to Hungarian genealogy. This post will showcase the month of December 2025.

FamilySearch

FamilySearch had previously indexed a vast majority of the baptism records for the Catholic Church; they've now begun indexing the marriage and death records.

25 Dec 2025:    Croatia, Church Books, 1516-1994 (7,025,204 total records)

25 Dec 2025:    Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980 (13,080,318 total records)

25 Dec 2025:    Slovakia, Church and Synagogue Books, 1592-1935 (19,479,296 total records)
24 Dec 2025:    Hungary, Jewish Vital Records Index, 1800-1945 (105,717 total records)
03 Dec 2025:    Hungary, Catholic Church Records, 1636-1895 (18,253,083 total records)

Holocaust Era Archives

A major collaborative effort between the Zekelman Holocaust Center and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) has resulted in a new searchable website holding over 160,000 frames of microfilm. The records were sources from the Hungarian National Archives (MNL) and they detail the persecution and seizure of property during World War II. The database is fully keyword-searchable for names, as well as words. While the physical reels were sourced from the National Archives of Hungary in the 1960s, this is the first time the complete collection has been made fully searchable and viewable online to the general public.

Hungarian Documents Microfilm Collection

Hungarian National Archives (MNL)

19 Dec 2025: The Hungarian National Archives (MNL) has expanded their Civil Registrations database and began using AI to interpret handwriting on the documents. They have successfully fully-indexed the Civil Registration records for Aszód District in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County, covering these localities:

• Aszód
• Bernecebaráti
• Galgamácsa
• Ipolydamásd
• Ipolytölgyes
• Kemence
• Kismaros
• Kóspallag
• Letkés
• Márianosztra
• Nagybörzsöny
• Perőcsény
• Szob
• Szokolya
• Tésa
• Verőcemaros
• Vácegres
• Vámosmikola
• Zebegény

Source Article:
https://mnl.gov.hu/mnl/ol/hirek/forradalmi_fejlesztessel_segiti_a_csaladfakutatokat_az_mnl
Source Database:
https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/allami-anyakonyvek-kezirasfelismeressel

4 Dec 2025: A new database was introduced highlighting civilian and military losses, examining the death registers between 1944 and 1952, as well as war-damaged documents from 1944–1945. There was previously no known compiled database that processed the World War II casualties of an entire country in a similar fashion.

Source Article:
https://mnl.gov.hu/mnl/ol/hirek/uj_adatbazis_magyarorszag_1944_1945_os_katonai_birtokbavetelerol

Source Database: 
https://mo44-45.mnl.gov.hu/

Scientists Just Proved Where the First Hungarians Really Came From

Mt. Yamantau, the highest point in South Ural Mountains.

For over a thousand years, we’ve been trying to piece together the "prehistory" of the Magyars. We had the medieval chronicles (which are half-legend), we had the linguistic link to the Uralic languages, and we had archaeology. But there was always a missing piece: The DNA.

How do you prove that a group of people in the 10th-century Carpathian Basin are the exact same people who lived thousands of miles away in the Ural Mountains just a generation or two prior?

A massive new study just published in the journal Cell (led by Balázs Gyuris, Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, and David Reich) finally settled the debate. Using 1.2 million genetic markers from 131 ancient individuals, they’ve mapped the "smoking gun" of Hungarian origins.
The study used a technique called Identity-by-Descent (IBD). Think of it like a genetic tracer dye. When two people share long, identical stretches of DNA, it means they share a very recent common ancestor.

The researchers found these "long shared haplotypes" between the 10th-century Magyars in Hungary and a group from the Southern Urals called the Karayakupovo culture. It proves that the "conquering" Magyars didn't just pick up Uralic culture along the way; they were literally the descendants of the people living in the Southern Urals.

One of the most surprising things the DNA reveals is the speed of the migration. Historically, some thought the Magyars spent centuries wandering through the Russian steppes. But the high level of shared DNA suggests the move from the Urals to the Carpathian Basin was incredibly fast—likely happening within just a few generations. This was a organized, rapid migration, not a slow drift.

Have you ever heard of Friar Julian? In the 1230s, this Hungarian monk traveled east and claimed he found a group of people in the Volga region who still spoke Hungarian. For centuries, historians wondered if he made it up. The DNA shows genetic continuity in the Volga-Kama region all the way into the 14th century (the Chiyalik culture). These people were the genetic "cousins" who stayed behind while the rest of the Magyars moved west.

Finally, the study shows that the Magyars weren't a "pure" isolated group. By the time they arrived in the Carpathian Basin, they were a complex alliance. They carried a mix of:

• Uralic ancestry (their core roots)
• East Eurasian signatures (from deep Siberia/Lake Baikal)
• Steppe ancestry (from their time interacting with Turkic and Iranian groups)

For a long time, the "Uralic origin" theory was under fire from people who preferred different historical narratives. This paper effectively ends that debate. It tells us that the Hungarian story is one of incredible mobility, a rapid "leap" across Eurasia, and a deep-seated connection to the mountains of the East that survived for millennia in our genetic code.

If you’re a science nerd or a history buff, this is the definitive paper to read.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/396632194_Long_shared_haplotypes_identify_the_southern_Urals_as_a_primary_source_for_the_10th-century_Hungarians

Hungarian National Archives (MNL) Helps Genealogists With Revolutionary Development

The Hungarian National Archives (MNL) has begun using AI handwriting recognition to fully index the Civil Registration records which began in 1895. Their announcement states "the technology has so far been applied to the civil registry offices of some settlements in Pest County, but according to plans, it will be extended to other state civil registry offices in the future."

From what I could find, it appears these localities have been completed for Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County:

• Aszód
• Bernecebaráti
• Galgamácsa
• Ipolydamásd
• Ipolytölgyes
• Kemence
• Kismaros
• Kóspallag
• Letkés
• Márianosztra
• Nagybörzsöny
• Perőcsény
• Szob
• Szokolya
• Tésa
• Verőcemaros
• Vácegres
• Vámosmikola
• Zebegény

The entirety of the documents are transcribed, along with spelling variations (and variance percentages). And I mean the *entire document*.

The article can be read here: https://mnl.gov.hu/mnl/ol/hirek/forradalmi_fejlesztessel_segiti_a_csaladfakutatokat_az_mnl
The database can be found here: https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/.../allami...

Below are two example images:
1) Shows how detailed the AI handwriting recognition is, with every word underlined and providing a transcribed word(s).
2) The search function works incredibly well. I immediately found the death record for my great-grandfather's sister-in-law, which I hadn't been able to previously locate.

Hungarian National Archives (MNL) - Civil Registration Records for Csongrád-Csanád and Somogy Counties

An update from the Hungarian National Archives (MNL) states they've added Civil Registration records from 1895-1980 for Csongrád-Csanád and Somogy Counties. This is in addition to the Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kisun County records that are already available.

Click on "Hierachia" to browse the folders and find specific content: https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/allami-anyakonyvek/informacio