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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: Finley 1 on Monday 01 January 18 22:52 GMT (UK)

Title: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Monday 01 January 18 22:52 GMT (UK): For those of you who have taken the DNA test - please can you tell me if you felt it really has been worthwhile.

There are one or two things I want to discover close to home, but have been told that the results can be random, for instance a match to one sibling may not match to a.n.other.

This is confusing.

do I take the bull by the horns, or will it just be distant - distant rellies...

I havent a clue, and the more I attempt to figure it out... the old brain cells are not having it...

is or are there laymens... laymens terms.. for all this cafuffle :)

xin sinking xin :'( :-\ :-\ :-\ ::)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Ayashi on Monday 01 January 18 23:08 GMT (UK): My parents both took the test via Ancestry and I've been working on my mother's results. By themselves they are practically useless in my opinion- Ancestry doesn't put any work into finding identities, you have to. I have been going through matches myself to find the shared areas, detective work in abundance.

Through this, I proved that the suspected family for the father of my illegitimate 2 x gt grandmother was indeed the correct one, with multiple matches to their ancestry. Unfortunately I am unlikely to ever know which brother actually did the deed.

Elsewhere I have about 30 or so trees that I've found shared ancestors with- annoyingly, many of them are for the same areas!!- and I find satisfaction in knowing that the DNA suggestively backs up the paperwork. There are a few matches I've found, though, that match up via DNA but thus far not by paperwork, to the point where I'm wondering if someone made a whoopsie at some point. My mother has a 3-4th cousin whose daughter I've been corresponding with and so far we are all baffled where the link is.

One of the problems I've had is that I have a largely developed tree and a lot of the other people who have taken the test have not (or have not added a tree at all). That means that I can't match up where the shared ancestors are.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Monday 01 January 18 23:14 GMT (UK): I see - so you buy the donkey and then learn to ride !? ( :-[ ) is that right..

Well luckily I am retired..which gives me lots of time to learn .... but sadly my brain took a trippple whammy this (whoops LAST) year.. so it takes a lot to 'make it work' ..

thanks for your help and forgive my uhm... thingymy ...oooo

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Ayashi on Monday 01 January 18 23:33 GMT (UK): Pretty much.

Basically, with Ancestry, it gives you a list of matches that you can organise by date or by how closely related. You can search by surname, but I haven't had good luck with this.

It also gives you green leaf hints with other matches "this person appears to be in both your trees!" kind of stuff. I have got six green leaf hints out of 160 odd matches and one of those is complete hokey. Ancestry said it was a glitch but there's no option of "no, this hint is wrong, please remove it."

When you click into the profiles, it shows a snapshot of the person's tree (if they've attached it) and a box of "these surnames appear in both your trees". If you are like me with a myriad of Smith, Jones, Brown etc, these might not be hugely useful! It can point the finger however. There's also a tab for "Shared Matches". In my opinion this tab is a bit unreliable but once you've got matches appearing you can start to map out where certain people fall in your tree. For example, my mother's uncle also tested so if he appears as a shared match then I know that the person must be related via my mother's father and cuts out half the tree already. The aforementioned 3-4th cousin has five people in common with me and four of those I know the shared ancestor. Unfortunately that has only made me somewhat more convinced of a whoops child!

For ease of doing that, I bookmark (little gold star) everyone whose match I've confirmed. I have the actual links in a document. You can leave notes on the profile but I've never been sure who can see the notes you leave!
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: LizzieW on Tuesday 02 January 18 00:54 GMT (UK): My son bought my husband and I DNA test kits for Christmas, but they are 23andme, so I've no idea what results we will get. We've not done them yet as they are more complicated than the ones where you just rub a swab round your mouth.

With 23andme, you have to wait until 30 minutes after you've last eaten or drunk anything, then there is a test tube about 1/2 inch in diameter with a funnel on top into which you have to spit saliva, until a mark on the tube, which is about 1/2 inch from the bottom - so quite a lot of saliva and the instructions say it can take from 2-5 minutes to collect enough. Then you put the lid on which splits some covering and releases fluid which mixes with the saliva. Having done that you remove that lid and put on a screw top that is supplied. Put the whole thing into a plastic bag and put into the stamped and addressed box provided. Post and wait for the results. ::)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Guy Etchells on Tuesday 02 January 18 08:39 GMT (UK): Quote from: xinia on Monday 01 January 18 22:52 GMT (UK)
For those of you who have taken the DNA test - please can you tell me if you felt it really has been worthwhile.

There are one or two things I want to discover close to home, but have been told that the results can be random, for instance a match to one sibling may not match to a.n.other.

This is confusing.

do I take the bull by the horns, or will it just be distant - distant rellies...

I havent a clue, and the more I attempt to figure it out... the old brain cells are not having it...

is or are there laymens... laymens terms.. for all this cafuffle :)

xin sinking xin :'( :-\ :-\ :-\ ::)

If you have plenty of money to squander then go for it; if you have an inquiring mind you should find the results at least interesting if not useful.

IF you do decide to take a DNA test do so based on your own research into what DNA can show not what a company’s advertising appears to promise.

What I find interesting is the number of genealogists who only follow the strict blood lineages never perusing the wider family who rush to purchase DNA kits to test for the widest lineage possible.

People seem to forget that these “big” databases complied by DNA testing companies are actually tiny databases when compared to a country’s population and miniscule when compared to world population.
This means that all their claims are simply guesses, it cannot even be proven that DNA is unique. It is probably correct that DNA is unique but until millions more people take DNA tests even that very basic assumption is just that an assumption.

That is the way science progresses, people put forward a theory based on assumptions and small scale tests which other people then in turn test this in turn leads to other theories being put forward and tested.
Each theory stands until tests in the future show it to be wrong and a further theory more accurate.

Cheers
Guy
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Tuesday 02 January 18 09:38 GMT (UK): Thank you for responses :) really help
and Guy your wise mind yet again explains beautifully x

(when can I admit - I am still 'confusilode' -(Stanley Unwin :) )

I will digest after the trail to the supermarket.

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: hurworth on Tuesday 02 January 18 11:25 GMT (UK): It's been very worthwhile for me.

Quite a few official records (death certificates and marriage certificates) for my relatives are either unintentionally incorrect, deliberately incorrect, or simply missing useful information. Records that could help with the paper trail had been exhausted. I had hunches, but something else that would verify my hypotheses (but which conflicted with official records) would be great.

For two lines now DNA has verified who two sets of gtgtgt-grandparents were.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: LizzieW on Tuesday 02 January 18 11:31 GMT (UK): I guess it's more likely to be worthwhile if you do an Ancestry test. I don't know what worth we will get from the DNA test our son sent us for Christmas. He did one in USA, where he lives, which I think might have been an Ancestry DNA test and he got two matches. One didn't respond to him, the other gave him lots of surnames of her ancestors but none that are in our family tree. She was supposed to be his 4th cousin, but I've got further back than that and not one single surname the American woman gave my son is in my tree, and I've got names of spouses of many ancestors.

My son asked her to give him some idea where these people came from originally, but the woman didn't respond the 2nd time.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Tuesday 02 January 18 12:07 GMT (UK): Lizzie, everyone can upload their DNA data to gedcom regardless of which company you took the test with so on that site you should get matches.

Also I had a DNA match with someone in Australia but without any matching surnames and my not knowing of any relatives in Australia. After following specific lines we discovered that someone who had left these shores as Henry Wray had arrived in Australia as Henry Campbell (his mother's maiden name) and that her descent was through him. As he was fairly distant to me I had not tracked him down in the years since his departure so I did not know that he had gone to Australia. Subsequent paper records have proved this but the initial link was our DNA match.

So just because there are no matching surnames don't give up.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: weste on Tuesday 02 January 18 12:46 GMT (UK): Yes it has.My maternal side great grandfather changed his name , we had sorted the paper trail and our dna has been pointed towards the suspected family several times.He's deffo found out. We were given a clue as we knew what the surname was changed to and area he was from. If you can get any other member of the family to test as it helps sort the matches out by comparing them to each other and it helps to decide what side of the family they come from. Also ancestry and 23 and me don't allow uploads of dna from other sites. I would do ancestrydna first and then download raw data from there an upload to other sites for free such as ftdna and my heritage. Go for it Xin if you like puzzle solving. You do have the problem on all sites that some don't have a tree or its private or they have n't linked there dna to their tree.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: LizzieW on Tuesday 02 January 18 13:56 GMT (UK): Well as we've got the tests we're obviously going to do them and see what we find out from there.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Tuesday 02 January 18 14:42 GMT (UK): thanks to all x

I have spoken to my nephew and he is going to show me the ropes... so there is a chance

we shall see :)

However I keep wondering if :) :) I have it taken and then my records are added to a world wide database, they may (just may --- I saw it happen in a film :) ) confuse me with some mass murderer... for some questionable reason :) :) :)

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Bearnan on Tuesday 02 January 18 15:13 GMT (UK): My old dad has a DNA kit on his dining room table, it's a one big NO from him he's not doing it , he's 96 still as bright as a button but says it would worry him. He's the last of his line too . It looks like it's me who is going to be doing it, my sister and cousin have done theirs and are a match ( our mothers were sisters), I just wonder if it's worth me bothering........Still the things on the table :)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: DavidG02 on Wednesday 03 January 18 13:30 GMT (UK): Yes
No
Maybe

Depends on what you think it can do. Or what you want it for. I wanted it to see if it helped with some brickwalls and after 14 months I have broken/confirmed one brickwall and taken a line a little further back

So yes it gave me 2 names to check the paper record. I think this is the biggest point. Dont use DNA alone to try and find ancestors. Continue to use the paper records to verify, the same way you would verify newspaper records against what you have already found

No it hasnt been the magic bullet I had initially hoped. I have struggled at times understanding the wider implications and manifestations of it all xx here and y123 and DOC345 etc but that is on me.

Maybe in the future it will become clearer. There have been a few '' ok I matched with someone and both our paper records indicate we are related to this person'' moments and thats great. It confirms the paper record. But we are not suddenly email buddies or inviting people over for a family reunion.

All in all for me its about the future, whether that is mine or my sons to utilise is in the hands of fate. But its there on record so that one day , as Guy noted, it can be disproved or proved.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 10 January 18 18:16 GMT (UK): One of my 2x great grandfathers - George Bishop - left his wife and family and, reportedly (there's a short newspaper report on the scandal), tootled off to the USA with another man's wife.

This was in 1853 and I haven't been able to find any sign of him after that date. Before I found the newspaper article, I'd just about exhausted all possible death certs in this country, so am assuming he did indeed emigrate.

My questions: am I at all likely to find an American connection to George through DNA testing? Is it too far back? Are Americans more or less likely than us to do these Ancestry DNA tests in the UK?

Of course, I have plenty of other brickwalls, but all further back than George so presumably they are much too early to be 'picked up' in a test?

Jill
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: hurworth on Wednesday 10 January 18 19:04 GMT (UK): It's possible you might find him.

Several gtgt-grandchildren of my gtgtgt-grandfather have tested. He had a tenancy on a farm in Scotland and was the father of my gtgt-grandfather. They weren't married. He is named as the father in the parish minutes and ordered to pay to support his child. We didn't know what happened to him after that but a family historian had noticed that someone with the same name married three or four years later about 20 miles away and took out a tenancy on a farm there.

One day a match came up that matched several of our branch. She was a VERY good match to one of them, a poor match to another and a moderately good match to the poor match's sister. The new match was descended from the man who had married three or four years after our ancestor was born. Since then the new match's mother has tested and she's a better match.

It was helped by the fact that our illegitimate ancestor and his wife had a huge family, so there's lots of descendants to test and more of them are popping up all the time.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 10 January 18 19:32 GMT (UK): Thanks, hurworth, you make it sound quite promising.

Are you in the UK?
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: hurworth on Thursday 11 January 18 10:04 GMT (UK): Quote from: jillruss on Wednesday 10 January 18 19:32 GMT (UK)
Thanks, hurworth, you make it sound quite promising.

Are you in the UK?

No. My gtgtgt-grandfather married in Scotland and emigrated to the Antipodes a short time later.

The first DNA match descended from his half-sibling lives in Canada.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Nanna52 on Thursday 11 January 18 11:27 GMT (UK): A first cousin once removed did the ancestry test and was contacted by someone in New Zealand whose line I had been working on. She was descended from a sister of his great (my 2X great) grandmother. It finally proved our supposition of whom our 2 or 3 X great grandparents were. Still haven't found my 2 X great grandmothers baptism and many have looked.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: devongirl50 on Friday 12 January 18 11:30 GMT (UK): I carried out the 23andme test on 6th December 2017. The procudure was straight forward and the instructions good. It took 6weeks for the sample to arrive and now I have to wait 6-8 weeks for the results. Not sure how helpful the results will be.
Unfortunately my parents are deceased so I will not be able to follow up with further tests.
I will let you know how I get on.
I'm allowing my results to be used for medical research investigations; that is why I selected 23andme rather than Ancestry.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Friday 12 January 18 13:48 GMT (UK): I took advantage of Ancestry's £49 test just before Christmas and now await the results.

I'm not sure what to expect but having researched my tree for the last 20 years i'm looking forward to some positive matches.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Friday 12 January 18 20:00 GMT (UK): I didn't see the offer at that price :( its £79.00 now.. which is a whole weeks pension :( so I am having to really consider the cost...

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Saturday 13 January 18 13:22 GMT (UK): Quote from: xinia on Friday 12 January 18 20:00 GMT (UK)
I didn't see the offer at that price :( its £79.00 now.. which is a whole weeks pension :( so I am having to really consider the cost...

xin

And I see that the £79 excludes delivery charge. I wonder how much that adds to it.

Don't know about you xinia, but it just serves me right for failing to make my mind up about ordering a kit when it was on offer. I take so long to make my mind up about these things as I hate not having a good idea of what I'm getting myself into! My Libran qualitles coming out - got to weigh everything up!!

The question now is do I go for it at £79 + postage or will there be another discount offer around the corner?
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Saturday 13 January 18 13:44 GMT (UK): I believe the £49 offer was in the Black Friday sale (late November) so you could expect similar this Black Friday if you can wait until then.

Also I don't think any offer includes the postage which is always £20 on top.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Saturday 13 January 18 13:46 GMT (UK): I've thought about doing it for awhile but the price has always put me off. When I saw the offer I decided to bite the bullet & do it.

Jill if you're in no rush & can wait I would hold off & see if any offers come online.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Saturday 13 January 18 13:56 GMT (UK): Pheno - by 'this Black Friday' do you mean November 2018? I was rather hoping they might have another offer before then!

I'm not in any great tearing hurry, JayG (or I wouldn't have procrastinated for so long)! Can anyone remember the timing of offers last year?

But, REALLY, £20 postage??? Do they send it by personal courier??? ::) ::)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Saturday 13 January 18 14:04 GMT (UK): Yes I mean November 2018 for the very lowest offer there is likely to be. Will be others during year - particularly Mother's and Father's day I think but I don't remember any of those being as low as the Black Friday one.

OK, £20 steep but you don't want the sample getting lost do you and having to fork out for another test.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Saturday 13 January 18 14:44 GMT (UK): I did think the £20 postage was abit steep but in my case when you factor in the kit is shipped from the US to Dublin then couriered to you, then returned in the post to Dublin and shipped back to the US it doesn't seem that bad after all.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Saturday 13 January 18 14:53 GMT (UK): After having abit of a search on google it was on offer at £49 in November 2016 and 2017 so will more than likely be again this November. But like Pheno says there will be offers before then but I don't think they'll match the Black Friday one.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Saturday 13 January 18 15:11 GMT (UK): Quote from: JayG on Saturday 13 January 18 14:44 GMT (UK)
I did think the £20 postage was abit steep but in my case when you factor in the kit is shipped from the US to Dublin then couriered to you, then returned in the post to Dublin and shipped back to the US it doesn't seem that bad after all.

Jay

No, when you put it like that, it seems reasonable after all.

Just googled the date of mothers day - March 11th - so I might wait and see if there are any offers around then.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Saturday 13 January 18 16:15 GMT (UK): U know what !!! -- I bit the bullet - but it was so hard I broke 4 teeth (didn't really cos I haven't got any left :) !!!!)

I was lucky enough, to receive an insurance refund!!! after they had added extras to my DD without telling me and I managed to realise, what was going on lackadaisically I do not check DD's as often as I should so it had crept up.

Anyway

sorry wandering off again. I have sent off my £99.00 (bloomin heck) to see what will happen. So watch this space.
I thought better do it now .. cos it will then be there for my descendants.... at least..

If I now find out all my cousins are not mine.. I shall go and cry in a corner...

let you know all in good time..

or should I say,

watch this space......

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Saturday 13 January 18 16:18 GMT (UK): Good for you, xinia. I'm going to take a leaf out of your book and stop messing about - and go for it.

If it doesn't back up my own research, I might ask for a refund!!!!!!!!!!! ;D
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Saturday 13 January 18 16:26 GMT (UK): ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

yes lets collectively ask (everso nicely of course) when we discover King Lear is not our Cousin 20 times removed. :)
xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Jill Eaton on Monday 15 January 18 18:21 GMT (UK): It very much depends on what you are hoping to achieve.

Both you and any siblings tested will have slightly different results because of the nature of acquired parental DNA but they will still flag up as being very, very closely related as will a parent, grandparent or cousins.

If, as someone I know, you were hoping to discover whether you have Viking ancestry, then you'd be very disappointed.

However, if you've got a good paper trail going but want to track down some cousins who ought to share some DNA with you and may know more about the family, then providing they've got a family tree and actually answer your message, you could learn something new or have a query confirmed ;D

If you've been following a particular lineage but find your DNA matches have completely different information/trees it could point to an "anomaly" in parentage or that one or both of you have got incorrect information.

I'm hoping that there will one day be a match from my mother's Irish Harringtons who will fill in the enormous chasm of missing information which makes up my current research on this family. So far the only matches are those who are already close family and have used my research.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: IgorStrav on Monday 15 January 18 19:47 GMT (UK): http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=784043.msg6391794#msg6391794

This was the thread I started about my own unrealistic expectations from DNA testing.

I spent some time doing research for a 'likely 4th cousin' in a part of his tree which he'd not researched (he doesn't seem to have done much genealogy at all), but despite geographical similarities couldn't find a match.

I'd done 23andme for the research contribution and the health info, but unfortunately the raw data from this is not allowed to be entered on to Ancestry.

Spookily got an Ancestry test for Christmas from someone who didn't know I'd done one already.

Spat into the tube this morning - it's not at all difficult - so let's see if Ancestry, where all my family research is located, can bring up any interesting matches for me.

Fingers crossed.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Monday 15 January 18 20:26 GMT (UK): yep fingers crossed... :D

I am going to need lessons when I get mine back ...

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: panda40 on Monday 15 January 18 20:39 GMT (UK): I’ve got a birthday coming up so might ask my siblings for one
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: RobinJ59 on Monday 15 January 18 22:43 GMT (UK): One of my ancestors in the 1800s packed his bags and left Liverpool to go to the USA. After years of searching I finally traced a distant living cousin. Luckily he had also taken the DNA test so we were able to 100% confirm that my findings were correct.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Tuesday 16 January 18 13:06 GMT (UK): Received my kit this morning - so that was quick. I hope to send it off by the end of the week.

As well as my 2xgt grandfather who probably went off to the USA, I also have 3 or 4 illegitimate great, 2x and 3x great gandparents whose fathers are officially unknown but for who I have an inkling as to their identity. Just to 'solve' even one of those would be fantastic.

Having done this for 10+ years, I've hit brickwalls on most of my lines now - admittedly some are way, way back so that a DNA test will probably not solve a thing, but it would be nice to be able to sort out at least back to x4 greats.

preparing to spit.... ::)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Tuesday 16 January 18 15:58 GMT (UK): Great that you have both taken the plunge!

My results are a few weeks off so i've got time to read up on the expected results and other places to upload the raw data.

I have several illegitimate ancestors and lots of brickwalls after researching for 20 or so years now.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Tuesday 16 January 18 16:20 GMT (UK): The whole DNA thing seems to be gaining momentum, doesn't it? Must be a good thing if it means there are more people testing.

I was reading another thread on the subject - about DNA and uploading your tree. Sorry if this is a daft question but is this a necessary part of it? I don't subscribe to Ancestry so presumably can't upload my tree onto their site, even if I wanted to. Do the DNA results not work if you don't have an online tree? Its just that I vowed never again after I had my tree on GenesReunited pretty much hijacked by unscrupulous people who just wanted to add names, come what may.

I thought perhaps it was a case of emailing people listed as probable/possible DNA matches and asking them for more info?

Sorry to be a bit ignorant of all this but I'm very new to all this DNA stuff!! :-[
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Jill Eaton on Tuesday 16 January 18 17:06 GMT (UK): Jill

My husband, my daughter and my mother-in-law have their DNA results on Ancestry. None of them have a subscription. I manage their tree so any communication will come through me

My nephew also has his results on Ancestry and I'm certain he doesn't have a subscription and he doesn't have a family tree but it still me gives me the option to contact him.

Since you have to provide an email address when you activate your test I imagine this is the contact that will be available to anyone who wants to contact you
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Tuesday 16 January 18 17:15 GMT (UK): Crikey it has arrived!!!

better sort that out tomorrow.

xin :o ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Tuesday 16 January 18 17:34 GMT (UK): Quote from: Jill Eaton on Tuesday 16 January 18 17:06 GMT (UK)
Jill

My husband, my daughter and my mother-in-law have their DNA results on Ancestry. None of them have a subscription. I manage their tree so any communication will come through me

My nephew also has his results on Ancestry and I'm certain he doesn't have a subscription and he doesn't have a family tree but it still me gives me the option to contact him.

Since you have to provide an email address when you activate your test I imagine this is the contact that will be available to anyone who wants to contact you

Thanks Jill - that's reassured me. Its like everything - very puzzling when you're new to it.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Ayashi on Wednesday 17 January 18 11:53 GMT (UK): The problem with not having a tree is that people who match to you can't suggest where you are related. If you come up as a 4-6th cousin, for example, and you have no tree at all, I won't even bother looking because there's nothing to look at. I'd have to wait for you to contact me if you've seen something on my tree.

You could consider making a sort of skeleton tree just for this, even if you only put the surname and the county. At least with that information I'd think "Yes, I've got Smith in Northumberland too" and ask you for more information.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 17 January 18 13:10 GMT (UK): Quote from: Ayashi on Wednesday 17 January 18 11:53 GMT (UK)
The problem with not having a tree is that people who match to you can't suggest where you are related. If you come up as a 4-6th cousin, for example, and you have no tree at all, I won't even bother looking because there's nothing to look at. I'd have to wait for you to contact me if you've seen something on my tree.

Why couldn't you just email me and ask for more details of that particular match?

You could consider making a sort of skeleton tree just for this, even if you only put the surname and the county. At least with that information I'd think "Yes, I've got Smith in Northumberland too" and ask you for more information.

Am I able to do this on Ancestry even though I don't have a subscription?

I've just been out and posted mine so will now sit back and wait for the results in 6-8 weeks.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Jill Eaton on Wednesday 17 January 18 13:26 GMT (UK): Jill

the last three tests for family that I sent off were in November. The results were back within 2 weeks. I imagine it depends on how many new tests Ancestry Testing have received but I think you'll find you get the results sooner than they quote.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Wednesday 17 January 18 13:37 GMT (UK): My kit was returned just before Christmas, they received it 2/1/18 and 'lab processing began 8/1/18' according to the DNA tab on Ancestry.

Ayashi are your trees on Ancestry public? I have a few trees but they are all set as private & not to appear in any tree search results.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Wednesday 17 January 18 15:50 GMT (UK): oh - thats something to think about.. As my trees are private and I intend them to stay that way? So does that mean I wont find any connections...via Ancestry. :-X ??? ::)

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Wednesday 17 January 18 16:13 GMT (UK): No it doesn't mean that.

If your tree remains private it means other potential dna matches just won't be able to see exactly where you match but they are able to message you if they want.

Even if your tree remains private you will be able to view all matches with those trees that are public and you can message those with private trees if you want, asking about where you might match.

I have a private tree and often contact other 'private tree/no tree at all' holders re a dna match just saying that we appear to have a match and are they interested enough in genealogy to follow this up.

Surprisingly most do want to, even those without ancestry trees, as they often have genealogical info held elsewhere and those that don't either reply saying not interested or just don't reply at all. On balance, in my experience, more reply than don't.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 17 January 18 17:10 GMT (UK): That's good to hear, Pheno.

You'd think that if someone has gone to the trouble (and expense) of doing a DNA test, they would be willing to go to the trouble of emailing possible matches.

I still don't like the idea of having a public tree online after my bad experiences with my tree on GenesReunited.

I just hope I get some matches. I put a helluva lot of my ancestors on the Lost Cousins site ages ago - and have had the grand sum of zero matches from it. Heigh ho!
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Wednesday 17 January 18 17:54 GMT (UK): I am sure you will get some matches - I can't cope with the number of pages of matches I have - up to 111 now I think. Obviously you can look at some and discard straight away as not likely to have any ancestry link but some you just can't tell so I am slowly working my way through them using the Search for Name facility which I have found quite helpful. It works wonderfully well for unusual names as in there is likely to be a familial match in these instances but I just tried it on the Murphy name I have a brickwall with but you can imagine how many possible matches I had, most of which are no dna match at all.

I would suggest just take time to get used to how the Ancestry matching works and when messaging people include some reference to the fact that you understand that they may not be interested in their genealogy but if they are then you are happy to correspond.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Jill Eaton on Wednesday 17 January 18 18:32 GMT (UK): When you get your list of matches, which expands as more people take tests, you should find that your list of matches is organised with the closest to you at the top.

My daughter is my first match
My nephew is 2nd on the list
My two 1st cousins are 3rd and 4th

On your list-to-view there is a green box on the right hand side that says "view match" when you click on this it will tell what the predicted relationship is to you and the confidence level;

These start at Extremely High (my daughter) for a very close relationship and then work down to High, moderate etc.
Next to that is an "I" logo in a grey circle - click on this and it will tell you how many centimorgans you share across a certain amount of DNA segments. So for instance my daughter is 3,459 centimorgans shared across 56 DNA segments. A supposedly 4th cousin is 59 centimorgans shared across 4 DNA segments

I'm certainly no expert but the more centimorgans you share across the more segments the higher the chance that you really do share a family connection.

This hopefully means you can prioritise you time contacting the matches that are realistically going to give you useful results.

I imagine there is a cut-off point where the figure of centimorgans is so low that it simply isn't worth persuing. Perhaps someone more experienced could point out what that is likely to be?
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: devongirl50 on Wednesday 17 January 18 18:39 GMT (UK): Thank you Jill that is very helpful.
I have used 23andme so I will not be able to place my results on Ancestry but hope to use other sites like MyHertiage.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 17 January 18 18:40 GMT (UK): Sorry again if this is a daft question,Jill, but does the list of matches actually NAME the matches e.g. is your daughter's name given?

I ask because Pheno mentions a search for name facility.

I'm confused!
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Wednesday 17 January 18 19:14 GMT (UK): this info is great - and really appreciated

thanks

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: hurworth on Wednesday 17 January 18 19:14 GMT (UK): You won't necessarily know the match's name unless they used their real name.

The name search looks for surnames in their tree, which isn't necessarily an ancestral name of the tester. For this reason I prefer matches with smallish trees and not thousands of people. For one person I manage I've put a tree that is mostly the straight pedigree.
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Pheno on Wednesday 17 January 18 19:20 GMT (UK): Yes every match is associated with a username but that doesn't necessarily give you any clue as to who the person is or what name you match with.

At the top of the page is a search facility that you can either use with a name or a place or both and then it should search your list of matches for anyone whose tree contains the name or the place or both if that is your search term.

However, as I recounted with my Murphy search, lots of my matches have a tree containing the name Murphy but are not necessarily anything to do with my Murphy's about whom I know next to nothing. And adding Ireland in the place box does nothing to reduce the number of matches.

However searching with one of my much less common names sifts out loads of matches reducing the hits to one page and then combined with an associated placename (which you can really only do if these named persons have resided in one place for any reasonable length of time) it will likely reduce the matches even more and quite likely point to a real match.

As I said just get used to it first - difficult to visualise when you don't yet have access to the dna pages.

Pheno
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: jillruss on Wednesday 17 January 18 19:31 GMT (UK): Thanks, Pheno - again!

You're right - I'm putting the cart before the horse, and shall have to wait and acclimatise!! 8)
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Wednesday 17 January 18 23:25 GMT (UK): I am all panicky too .. stupid I know.

so now its all done just have to wait and see if I did it right..

How many get sent back --- ha ha ..

just going to forget about it now and await any poss.results.

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: JayG on Friday 19 January 18 13:22 GMT (UK): I got all excited when I noticed an email from AncestryDNA this morning, unfortunately it was short lived as 'after multiple attempts we were unable to use the sample you sent'.

A new kit (no charge) is on it's way to me.

Jay
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: Finley 1 on Friday 19 January 18 13:34 GMT (UK): Yes I worry about that too... I did everything as told to... but ---- just got to get on with this exciting life and forget about it till and or if...

(can life be classed as exciting if all I do is just chase dead rellies... I wonder ... well that is all there is at the moment.... sad to say, (miserable winter mood) its the nearest mad house for me and soon at this rate.. then they can all visit me.)

xin
Title: Re: so are the results of test worthwhile
Post by: devongirl50 on Monday 29 January 18 19:31 GMT (UK): My DNA results from 23andme have just arrived; not sure what to do next. Need to read all the information and find out how to load the results onto other sites. Exciting!
Any advice welcome.

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