Ancestry DNA test - disappointing result

[julie7239]

BTW it has been fascinating to see the difference in matching between the children. My son seems to have inherited more of my Welsh DNA and my daughter has the Irish blend.

Does the Ancestry DNA test differentiate between Welsh and Irish? 

[diplodicus]

Does the Ancestry DNA test differentiate between Welsh and Irish?

No but it is interesting I have a lot more matches that I share with my son and my Welsh cousin than I have with my daughter and my Welsh cousin. In fact I have no instances where I have a shared match with my cousin and my daughter that isn't also matched with my son whilst I have lots with son, cousin but not daughter..

I know what I mean even if I have explained it very poorly 

[hurworth]

My mum's first cousin showed no Tasmanian birth location matches, where as Mum and I did. I did try a number of times.  Also tried Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.  Now she does show matches. She should have at least matched to us initially for common ancestors with that birth location.  Now she does.
Bit hit and miss.

I suggest you also upload to FamilyTreeDNA.  A transfer without the bells and whistles is free.  You can see your matches' trees and contact them via e-mail (rather than a FTDNA message system).  If you want to use the chromosome browser and My Origins there is a one-off fee of $19.

FamilyTreeDNA was selling DNA testing kits to Australia long before Ancestry was.  I know people with Tasmanian ancestry who tested years ago with FtDNA.  You might match them!

[RobertCasey]

Although I am primarily a YDNA researcher, I went ahead and took the Family Finder test just to see how many matches I would have. During the last forty years, I have published nine 600 page books which include 58,000 cousins (less than 5 % from any online sources). All my ancestors remained in the deep South in United States with only one European connection to date in the 1730s. To my surprise, I had around 200 matches at FTDNA. After looking at them, I quickly found where the connection in my family histories for around 20 or 30 of these testers. So if you have lines stuck in the US, atDNA should work pretty good. Not a single match in Europe to date - but this is not surprising as I have all my ancestry traced back to 1700s and all but one has anyone proven ties to Europe.

However, testing in of our possible cousins in Ireland is very limited. There is more in England but it pales compared to US testing. For the Casey YDNA FTDNA project which I am the admin, we now have around 75 Casey men who have tested for YDNA. We have around 15 US participants who have traced their ancestry back to Ireland (these are all related in the last 1,200 years or so) and they all came to America in the mid 1800s during the potato famines. But out of the 75 testers - not one person has tested to date that currently resides in Ireland. If you are a Casey descendant in Ireland with your line traced back to at least 1850, I will sponsor a 37 marker test (see my other post for more details). You can contact me offline for more details:

http://www.rcasey.net/DNA/R_L226/R_L226_Contact_Project.html

[diplodicus]

I have now re-examined all 74 matches that Ancestry thinks are 4th to 6th cousins using their "Shared matches" tab. It has revealed some interesting connections. for example,

I have a match with Person A and we both share a match with my son, my daughter and also Person B.

Then I have a match with Person G and share that match with Person B (but not A).I also share Person G's match with my Welsh cousin so the chances are that A,B and G are linked through one of my Welsh ancestors.

This puts these individuals in ancestral proximity.

I have one person who shows as only matching me but have several other matches who also match him as well. I appreciate that there might be other connections between them but I think this still might (only might) be significant.

Well I think it's interesting but I don't get out much

[Nova67]

I have now re-examined all 74 matches that Ancestry thinks are 4th to 6th cousins using their "Shared matches" tab. It has revealed some interesting connections. for example,

I have a match with Person A and we both share a match with my son, my daughter and also Person B.

Then I have a match with Person G and share that match with Person B (but not A).I also share Person G's match with my Welsh cousin so the chances are that A,B and G are linked through one of my Welsh ancestors.

This puts these individuals in ancestral proximity.

I have one person who shows as only matching me but have several other matches who also match him as well. I appreciate that there might be other connections between them but I think this still might (only might) be significant.

Well I think it's interesting but I don't get out much

How can I have failed to notice the Shared Matches function? Epic failure on my part. New fun to be had

[diplodicus]

How can I have failed to notice the Shared Matches function? Epic failure on my part. New fun to be had

I found this after watching a couple of the videocasts in the Ancestry learning centre.

If you are comfortable with excel, then I have found it useful to plot them on a spreadsheet. Each name along Row 1 and then duplicated down Column A.

In the example, Owain isn't shared with my Welsh cousin, but he is shared with Dick who is shared with my Welsh cousin so I assume that Owain is connected on my Welsh side of the tree.

I know what I meant to say. I'm just not sure if I said it.

[Winterbloom21]

I was attracted to the headline of this thread because I have just had my own very eagerly awaited DNA results back and am feeling an awful sense of anti-climax.       If it wasn't for the fact that I personally know my top two matches, I'd be tempted to think they'd got the kit boxes mixed up!

I know it's early days yet, but I haven't been able to find a single surname that matches to my father's side of the family amongst the long lists of 'cousins'.    But what concerns me more is that I haven't been matched with someone whom I know is a fourth cousin of mine, and neither am I matched to any of the other people in that line that she has been matched with.     Fortunately for me, I have a cousin in law who is much better versed and experienced in this field than I am (it wouldn't be hard!) and she is holding my virtual hand and helping me through it, but unless I find a match soon, I'm going to be worrying about a suspected extra marital event!

I take the point made earlier, that it is more helpful if you come from a more mixed ancestry.  Mine has come back 96 per cent British Isles with a smidgeon of Western Europe, which doesn't apparently help.

[diplodicus]

Keep the faith Winterbloom21.

Next Sunday I will be meeting for the first time a third and fourth cousin both found from DNA matches. These are from my Welsh family and I can't imagine being able to find the correct Thomas, Davies, Rees or Griffiths. The chance of identifying the correct cousin in any other way is remote.

As I have said in an earlier posting to this thread, getting a first cousin to take the test had enabled me to say with certainty that any shared match that also is shared with my cousin halves the number of potential ancestors within whom there is a common progenitor.

I have also met another "cousin" with whom we both share DNA. None of us can find the missing link despite each having ancestors living within a mile of each other on the B4337 between Llanybydder and Llansawel. Perhaps a grandparent had a wandering eye?

I have now persuaded a first cousin on my paternal line to submit a test and am really looking forward to finding common matches amongst the 12,500 matches (and rising daily).

Also, consider loading your results to FamilyTreeDNA. It's free and can only increase the admittedly slim chances of finding a living, breathing distant cousin. The site provides all the instructions need to complete the load and it then takes about a day to complete the initial matching and indexing of your results.