Author Topic: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?  (Read 26577 times)

Offline ggrocott

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #9 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 10:35 GMT (UK) »
I have found it useful in terms of confirming that a number of other people who match, have also traced back to the same place which reinforces my faith in my research.  It is comforting that this shared DNA appears on almost every part of my, fairly extensive, tree.

Yes, it is frustrating that so many people have no linked tree, including me at the moment because I made it private whilst I made some changes and now Ancestry won't let me change it back to public or invite people to it via user name. I am having to ask them for email addresses which is irritating.  I have constructed a tree purely for DNA matches, which is considerably less detailed than my main one.  Following a couple of bad experiences with people taking stuff (mainly pictures) and making them public despite being requested not to do so, that is kept private and rarely shared. I do not want the hassle of asking Ancestry to remove wrongly assigned pictures on a regular basis.

It is particularly sad that I have a batch of people, who all share matches, with no trees and who fail to answer emails, but you never know, one day .....................................
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Online KGarrad

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 10:51 GMT (UK) »
Quote
I still feel its all a big.............  ho ha.....

I agree, that's why I haven't done it.

Me, neither!
And, I have no intention of doing so any time soon.

My research had taken my tree back to the mid-1500s and, as far as I know I have no gaps, anywhere.
Further, I have absolutely no interest in contacting living "relatives" ;D
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline groom

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 11:05 GMT (UK) »
I wonder what percentage of people who have had their DNA tested are those who are actually interested in genealogy? Judging by some of the comments here and those I've seen elsewhere, they may be in the minority. As mentioned by Chris, a lot of people may have just done it to find out where they came from and have no interest in following it up and making contact with distant relatives.

I haven't had mine done and probably wont in the foreseeable future. My first cousin had hers done and it didn't show any German connections although we are 100% certain that our paternal grandfather and grandmother were German. I have also made contact with a relative of my great grandmother's sister, who still lives in the same village in Germany. So in this case a paper trail has found a relative that DNA wouldn't have done.
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Offline sugarfizzle

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 11:32 GMT (UK) »
Groom, If you are interested in DNA testing you really have to research which company is best for your individual needs.

If your cousin tested with ancestry she is unlikely to get many German matches - they don't offer testing there. Some other companies may not either.

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Offline Finley 1

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 12:02 GMT (UK) »
OK

Will do a big big dig today  with one of the matches...  but the sun is tempting me out...

No I must attempt to understand what is going on.. and yes  I have all 16 I think as is this added pic..

plus plus plus... 20 years work...

xin

Offline Pheno

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 12:11 GMT (UK) »
Hi Xin, just wondering whether Ancestry will give as many matches as if might have done as after all your names you have things like gg or 2gf which I know mean something to you but actually won't match another person in someone else's tree as they won't have the annotation, just the name.

The algorithm might be clever enough to get round that - I'm not sure but you might be reducing your chances.  You don't really need that added annotation though if you are the home person on your tree as the info on the profile against each person will indicate how they are related to the home person in the tree.

Pheno
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Offline JAKnighton

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #15 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 12:26 GMT (UK) »
Quote
I still feel its all a big.............  ho ha.....

I agree, that's why I haven't done it.

Me, neither!
And, I have no intention of doing so any time soon.

My research had taken my tree back to the mid-1500s and, as far as I know I have no gaps, anywhere.
Further, I have absolutely no interest in contacting living "relatives" ;D

Back to the mid-1500s and no gaps? On all lines?
Knighton in Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire
Tweedie in Lanarkshire and Co. Down
Rodgers in Durham and Co. Monaghan
McMillan in Lanarkshire and Argyllshire

Offline jillruss

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #16 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 12:30 GMT (UK) »
Some interesting, and opposing views!

Yes, I do look at it as some kind of investment for the future but, if current responses are anything to go by, not much of one! Still, hope springs eternal and all that!!

If lots of people have taken the test purely for ethnicity results and that is why they haven't bothered with trees, all I can say is that they must have more money than sense. Its not exactly cheap!

I used to be as belligerently convinced as both Milliepede and KGarrad about not taking the test but then I got so frustrated with my many brickwalls that I decided to have a go, especially as more and more people are adding to the 'pool'. As I said in my original post, I don't actually regret doing it, its the response, or lack thereof, of most people that makes me want to spit (oh no! not doing that again!!  ;D). I have very little faith in humankind at the best of times, and this exercise has only served to bolster that sentiment.

I worked out via FreeBMD that my main match is a 2nd cousin - our grandmothers were sisters but, for geographical reasons, the different branches of the family were separated. I messaged him, informing him of the link but assuring him that I had no wish to invade his privacy family-wise - nothing! Zilch! Absolute zero!!

I have used, and will always use, the traditional documental method of research. I will check on my DNA matches now and then because I hate the thought of actually missing something!

Margaret, I was overwhelmed at first but quickly became disillusioned. I suppose its disillusionment with the people rather than the system. By the way, apart from the lines of unknown fathers of illegitimate ancestors, I know the names of at least all 4x ggrandparents and most up to and beyond x6. I put a lot of names on my Ancestry tree but have stopped now because I really don't see the point.

One more point before I stop bleating: I started out 2+ weeks ago with 121 4th cousins or closer - and still have 121. I was told that Ancestry update these but my number hasn't shifted. At a rough guess, I'd say I've contacted 75% of those people yet not one has made the first move and contacted me first, which leads me to believe even more that the vast majority of people taking the test are NOT family historians, genealogists - call us what you will!

Oh dear! Just another sentence, on a positive note, yes I also read Blaine T. Bettinger's Guide to DNA testing - and it is very informative without being overly technical.

Moaning Minnie  Jill  8)

ADDED:  Just seen Xin and Pheno's posts and, whilst I'm not sure what effect Xin's hieroglyphics might have, I would just point out that I found a couple of DNA matches (with trees! hallelujah!) without matching surnames and, after further delving, found that I use the surname Patchett for my grandmother's family but these other people had used Padgett - and the surname match had not been picked up. There must be loads of surnames with such spelling varieties - I have another line which starts off as Barnett but was Barnard as you delved further into the past. I wouldn't have known this unless the Borthwick Institute hadn't pointed it out years ago.
HELP!!!

 BATHSHEBA BOOTHROYD bn c. 1802 W. Yorks.

Baptism nowhere to be found. Possibly in a nonconformist church near ALMONDBURY or HUDDERSFIELD.

Offline Jill Eaton

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Re: How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?
« Reply #17 on: Wednesday 14 March 18 12:49 GMT (UK) »
It can be frustrating when so many people don't have trees, presumably many people have taken notice of the Ancestry advert for ethnicity with little or no interest in genealogy.

However, I've got a match which initially seemed completely spurious, but with checking it may be the answer to one of my brick walls - an illegitimate great grandmother. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to prove it but just the notion that I might be able to makes the money spent worth-while
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