Author Topic: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.  (Read 6264 times)

Offline Yonks Ago

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #27 on: Wednesday 03 January 18 10:09 GMT (UK) »
Sorry..on Ancestry

Yonks
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Offline Penholder

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #28 on: Wednesday 03 January 18 11:00 GMT (UK) »
Thanks so much for that extra bit of info.   It should help a lot in working out which part of the tree the match is with when no surnames in common appear or they are obviously wrong.
Hakes - Piddington, Northants; Bucks
Hillyard, Lebatt & Bodsworth - Piddington, Northants
Bonner - Warwickshire & Leicestershire
Caughlin - Clonmore Co. Wicklow/Carlow
Muzzell - Sussex
Jones - Rushbury, Shropshire; Nuneaton & Birmingham, Warwickshire; Piddington & Northampton, Northants
Penhorwood - Devon
Shutt - Devon & Kent
Oliver, Davies & James - Pembrokeshire
Green, Enser, Oldham, Bramman, Billings & Watmough - Nottinghamshire

Offline Yonks Ago

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #29 on: Wednesday 03 January 18 11:24 GMT (UK) »
yes..its a great tool..to use..

Yonks
Kilgallon Langdon Nicol Bolger Smith Carlisle Thomas Delahide Blackman Harley Amphlett Scarbourgh Murrish Oats Tonkin Aveyard Armitage Child Fox Bland Gomersal Mountain Gelder Harrison Armstrong Laws Steel Main Lambert Law Laws Christie Kirk Bell Black Amphlett Barclay Harley Dewar Rodger Fortune McCann Nealis Sutherland Rumgay

Offline Jill Eaton

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #30 on: Sunday 14 January 18 13:40 GMT (UK) »
I've recently contacted someone with a tree whose ancestry dna is apparently a close match to mine.

According to ancestry we should probably share a gt gt grandparent.

Unfortunately, there are no matching surnames for his gt gt grandparents and mine.

The exact relationships between matches according to Ancestry can be a little wavy and the match may not be a gt gt grandparent.

I have 1 missing gt gt grandfather whose name is unknown and another supposed gt gt grandfather (name on at least one of his children's birth certificate) who doesn't appear to exist. No record on any census. No marriage record. No baptism record....and more surprisingly, apparently having exactly the same unusual surname as his "wife's" maiden name.

So that's now 2 gt gt grandfathers whose identify is either unknown or suspect.

As yet I've received no response from the person I contacted, although there could be any number of reasons for this, and patience is apparently a virtue.

I may receive no response at all. I may be opening a can of worms. That's ancestry dna for ya!

Davis - Berkshire & London
Sutcliffe - Yorkshire & London
Harrington - Ireland and London
Fuller - Cambridgeshire and Essex
Waldron/Waldren - Devon & London
Frisby and Lee - Leicestershire
Hollingsworth - Essex
Williams - Ireland? and London
Ellis, Reed & Temple - London
Lane - ?
Surplice/Surplus - Cambridgeshire
Elwood - Cambridgeshire


Offline Penholder

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #31 on: Sunday 14 January 18 17:58 GMT (UK) »
I do sympathise as I am also experiencing the frustration of people who don't reply.   Luckily not everyone is so inconsiderate.   I have found that the people who do take the trouble to reply have been very friendly and happy to share.

I hope you get a response soon from the person you have contacted.   As you don't have a surname to work with hopefully you can narrow down where the match is by location.   As time goes by you may get some shared matches that will help.

Best of luck!

Diana
Hakes - Piddington, Northants; Bucks
Hillyard, Lebatt & Bodsworth - Piddington, Northants
Bonner - Warwickshire & Leicestershire
Caughlin - Clonmore Co. Wicklow/Carlow
Muzzell - Sussex
Jones - Rushbury, Shropshire; Nuneaton & Birmingham, Warwickshire; Piddington & Northampton, Northants
Penhorwood - Devon
Shutt - Devon & Kent
Oliver, Davies & James - Pembrokeshire
Green, Enser, Oldham, Bramman, Billings & Watmough - Nottinghamshire

Offline helvissa

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #32 on: Tuesday 16 January 18 10:18 GMT (UK) »
I think the lack of trees can be down to reasons for people testing.

As someone's said, it might be because they *have* to open an account on Ancestry and haven't got a tree themselves as they're testing to help a relative.

I think also there's people who just want to find out their ethnicity, and really aren't bothered about who their 3 x gt-grandparents were!

I originally tested with FTDNA, then did a test with Ancestry when it was on special offer. I have been frustrated by the lack of trees myself, but also by people sending me emails where they blast a load of their relatives names at me and demand to know how we're related. I don't know! Look at the tree - I've supplied it for a reason.

It's especially annoying when they've looked at my tree, then try to bend the facts presented in it to fit some random theory they have. "You've got the surname [blah] in your tree, but you're wrong, it should be [blah] which is the name of my [insert distant ancestor here], because we match at [insert genetic distance here] and that's the only way it fits into my tree." Because they don't get that the genetic distance presented by the test might not actually be correct, and they don't seem to appreciate that I might have spent years researching that family in detail, through multiple kinds of document. It gets in the way of looking for matches in a sensible manner. Arrghhh!

Offline Jill Eaton

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #33 on: Tuesday 16 January 18 12:51 GMT (UK) »
I've been very lucky so far. Everyone who has contacted me has been very polite except for one person.  I refuse to deal with people who are rude, critical or confrontational. There isn't any need for it.

Having said that though approaching someone who is apparently a close match to you about trees with absent surnames can be a bit of a minefield.

I left off contacting my last ancestry match for some time as there is a possible conundrum. It might simply be a mistake in either of our trees.

DNA matches can obviously set free some skeletons that have been hidden for a long time. It doesn't unduly bother me because, like many of us, the paper trail has thrown up illegitimate children and mythical missing fathers.

I imagine some people wouldn't react very well if their found out their families and ancestors had secrets.

DNA matching can have potentially explosive results.
Davis - Berkshire & London
Sutcliffe - Yorkshire & London
Harrington - Ireland and London
Fuller - Cambridgeshire and Essex
Waldron/Waldren - Devon & London
Frisby and Lee - Leicestershire
Hollingsworth - Essex
Williams - Ireland? and London
Ellis, Reed & Temple - London
Lane - ?
Surplice/Surplus - Cambridgeshire
Elwood - Cambridgeshire

Offline brigidmac

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #34 on: Friday 02 February 18 01:20 GMT (UK) »
Even if a tree is closed on ancestry
I've just found a magic button where you can search either a location or a surname or both
So you can find out how your 4th or more distant cousins may be related .

Also by look at known matches and seeing who matches them and yourself ...by a process of elimination you can sometimes work out which branch their tree is


I've still not worked out how to download to get file on my iPad

Roberts,Fellman.Macdermid smith jones,Bloch,Irvine,Hallis Stevenson

Offline helvissa

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Re: Ancestry DNA....so many "matches" so few trees.
« Reply #35 on: Friday 02 February 18 09:33 GMT (UK) »
Oooh that button sounds handy - I've often wanted to be able to search by location rather than by name.