RootsChat.Com
General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: floppyslater on Wednesday 04 July 18 15:23 BST (UK)
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I hoping someone can provide me some enlightenment.
I have had my DNA tested using both Ancestry.com and 23 & Me and have connected with many DNA relatives in the States. I am curious why there never seems to be any DNA matches from people who still reside in my ancestor's country of origin, in particular - Ireland.
Some of my ancestors extended family did not immigrate yet I never get any hits for a 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th cousin who still lives in Ireland. It seems unlikely that no one in Ireland is having their DNA tested to determine their ancestry make-up.
Is it possible that these companies are withholding these test results and are only making them available in Europe (such as gaining access to foreign records that comes with an additional premium?
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To put things in perspective although Ancestry has the largest number of people who have taken these tests at about 7 million this pails into insignificance when put against the total number of people on the planet at about 7 billion. So in short the odds of a match are about 1000 - 1 and that is before you factor in that its only a very few people who take these tests and whole populations are missed.
Still don't despair someone sooner or later from the old country will take a test and match you. It may be in a year or it may be in 20, 30, 40 years time there is no way of telling. Still if you are looking for something or someone in particular from the old country you could put an advertisement in a suitable magazine and offer to pay for tests for people who mean a certain specified criteria. Oh and no I don't believe Ancestry are deliberately withholding results from anyone and I have not seen anything that would suggest such an eventuality.
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I agree with davidft. There is nothing at all to suggest that Ancestry are deliberately withholding results from people who have tested in other places than USA. What would be their purpose in doing so?
I am yet to find a connection with even one of my 'US matches'. So, it will work the other way as well - I have many thousands of US matches, which either are not genuine ones, or the connection is so far back that none of us has a common ancestor in our paper trail. You may have many thousands US matches as well, and only a handful of genuine ones from the other side of the pond. I think you will be very lucky to find that handful in your many thousands of matches, though they are probably there.
It depends upon who in your family line has tested, not where they are from. On a rootsweb mailing list devoted to my maiden name of Steer, there are only a handful of UK members who have tested, but I am encouraging more to do so. I have had no 5th to 8th cousin confirmed matches with my Steer line, one probability unconfirmed, one other possibility unconfirmed.
Rest assured, as more and more people get tested in various different countries of the world you will get many more positive matches.
I just wish I didn't have so many US matches, but a few more UK ones, so similar to you in some ways. :)
Regards Margaret.
Ps I too would like a match with my only known Irish family, Maxwell. No luck for me either.
M
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As many people do these tests for the ethnicity result it's not as attractive to people in Ireland, we know where we come from ;D
That said I live in Ireland and did the test but only because it was a gift, but I have a few matches from Ireland but most are from the UK or USA.
The ones who respond are usually the USA ones.