so are the results of test worthwhile

[Ayashi]

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.

[jillruss]

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.

[Jill Eaton]

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.

[JayG]

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

[Finley 1]

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.   

xin

[Pheno]

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

[jillruss]

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!

[Pheno]

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

[Jill Eaton]

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?