Ancestry DNA test - disappointing result

[Winterbloom21]

Funnily enough, Diplodicus, I'm starting to feel a bit more optimistic since this morning already!    With the help of Gedmatch, I have now found an albeit low, but nevertheless still a match with my fourth cousin and have also rounded up a group of suspects for another line who share my paternal surname.      The wheels obviously grind slow, and it's going to take work, but I do feel much better.   Thanks for the encouragement and advice!

[Winterbloom21]

    Since my posting yesterday, I have discovered that the group of people who shared my paternal surname are absolutely nothing to do with that line, and it looks like their link to me goes back to an immigrant from the UK in the 1690s, known only by their surname.      I'm thinking that if that is the level of closeness we are talking about for this amount of cms, I won't be wasting so much time on the computer from now on!

[familydar]

If you investigated their tree you may find it doesn't stack up and the only lines that have been worked back are the ones which support their theory.  Or more likely a founding father with the "right" surname has been worked forward and some forenames discovered which fit.  No matter that any number of people by the same surname will have migrated between the two countries in the centuries since.

Distant matches could be real or could be spurious, I wouldn't waste too much time on them if a candidate MRCA can't be found the appropriate number of generations back.

Jane :-)

[Winterbloom21]

You're right Familydar, there's no point in even trying to go that far back.    As you say, even if people have a long tree line (which most certainly do not) it's not reliable.      I suppose it must be everybody's dream to find a DNA match with somebody who can reliably trace their line back to someone in a social level that is more likely to have documentation available.   So having somebody in your family who had actually sunk down the social scale would actually be a good thing, for genealogical purposes!!    Ah well.

Incidentally, (looking at your surname interests) where are your Hills from?   My patrilineal line is Hill and they come originally (turn of eighteen and nineteenth century) from Worfield in Shropshire.

[familydar]

Hi Winterbloom21, my HILLs were in Somerset in the 1700s.  My earliest direct HILL ancestor was Edward born around 1786 in Axbridge.  His daughter married a LINTON.  Subsequent HILL generations seemed to gravitate towards Bristol but other than my direct line I've not traced them any further forward than the mid-1800s.  Where I have occupations they seem to have been mainly carpenters.  All run-of-the-mill forenames except possibly Soloman.  It's not inconceivable that they headed north but I have no evidence to suggest that they did.

I have an ancestor tree online at GEDmatch, I can pm you the gedcom number if you consider it worth having a browse.

best wishes
Jane :-)

[Winterbloom21]

Why not?   Yes please, a pm would be good.   As you say, it doesn't look like we're talking about the same family (my gggrandfather was an Edward Hill as well) but you never know, do you?    My Edward was born in around 1825 (from memory) in Tettenhall, Wolverhampton and his father William about 1785 in Worfield,Shrops.     I think William's Dad was an Edward, too.   Must be a popular Hill name!

Best wishes
Siobhán (which is, as it happens, the Irish version of 'Jane'!)   

[wendyridler]

Just received my results from Ancestry.com. Is this supposed to be funny?
They came up with 41% Irish, this could be possible from my mother's side.
Then 29% English, most unlikely.
And 30% not identified!
My father was 100% Danish. I am tall, blue-eyed and blond haired, does that sound Scandinavian
or not. What a waste of $180, don't get caught up in this nonsense.

[diplodicus]

I beg to disagree that it is all nonsense

In four hours time, I am meeting up with four third or fourth cousins for the first time, all found through Ancestry's DNA product. I am also in touch with some of my Scots cousins. Amongst them all, one is in Moscow, one in Hawaii and one in Georgia (USA) who is descended from African slaves.

I'm sorry that it hasn't been as interesting for you, Wendy.

May I ask what you expected Ancestry DNA to tell you? Sometimes, I feel it poses more questions than it provides answers.

[wendyridler]

It's the 30% that I'm not satisfied with, that's all my Scandinavian blood not recognized.  Why is that? Is Scandinavian (Danish) that hard to recognize?  30% they have no idea about! It seems like
pretty faulty "science" to me.