Legacy MyHeritage tree, new DNA upload, and main tree on Ancestry.

[btquil]

I have a fifteen year old tree with just 80 people on it from when I started researching. I used Ancestry after that to build my tree and did an Ancestry DNA test a few years back. Attracted by MyHeritage's DNA tools, especially the AutoClusters report (yes, I have tried doing my own, but theirs is better, and I am resisting Ancestry Pro Tools), I uploaded the test results to MyHeritage and can see that it has great potential, but really need to get my current tree on there. I don't need the media or anything like that as I will be only using it as a research tool. Is it best to import to a new tree and if so would I need to re-import the DNA results, or is there a better way of doing it? Any advice would be appreciated, my knowledge of MyHeritage is limited at the moment and I can't find the right guidance in their help.

[Biggles50]

In Ancestry, create and manage trees.

Select the tree, and in Tree Settings select Export.

When it is ready download the tree, it will be a Gedcom File.

Upload the Gedcom File to My Heritage.

That said one does not really need a tree on My Heritage to make use of their DNA Tools.

Simply use the tools and download the results.

It can be useful to take screenshots of the top DNA matches that you have on My Heritage.

I have to say that I am not a fan of the website though due to it loosing my Wife’s data hence blitz using it, take screenshots and download all DNA reports that you can.

I no longer use the site and another reason was they kept eMailing me with spurious matches and hints from other family trees that included my own family images that others had “borrowed” to their trees and assigned to the wrong people.  Hence my low opinion of My Heritage, and whilst I am in whinge mode, take zero interest in the work of fiction that is their Admixture results.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

If you're going to add a new tree add it and reassign the kit before deleting the old one. Remember that false matches on MH can occur at 50cM and sometimes higher than that. Relationship predictions are by default full relationships and some digging is needed to view half options. I deleted everyone from my tree save for myself and my parents as the Theory of Relativity suggestions along with Smart Matches I was getting where nothing short of ridiculous.

I haven't had a match above 40cM for two years and I can't say anything useful has come back from my dna being on there but I'll leave it as you just never know what might happen one day.

[btquil]

Thanks for your replies. I have also read the “DNA hope” thread started by Wulfsige and found it very interesting, as my paternal family name brick wall is around the same time as his, and DNA will be very low. I have done most of the things suggested there, including a spreadsheet matrix of matches, and uploading to Gedmatch. I know that any one case of low level DNA won’t be proof, but am looking for clues in lines I can prove by doing my own research beyond pre brick wall dates so that I can steer my own old style genealogy to the right places to look. Match clusters may help in this. If I can get a good set of matches pointing to one branch or location I will be happy.

So, I am doing what Biggles suggests and using DNA matches which have my family name in the linked tree somewhere to build trees to see if that reveals a common ancestor or at least common locality of origin. In my case I am putting the individuals on WikiTree, so they aren't really “my” tree and there is also potential for links to Gedmatch there if users have uploaded their DNA to that site. It isn’t easy going, but I am getting the hang of it.

On MyHeritage I will take up Glen in Tinsel Kni's suggestion as a way forward and upload a Gedcom from Ancestry, reassign my DNA test, then delete the old. That was something I wasn’t sure I could do.

Yes, I agree, many of the matches, smart or dumb, and hints and recommendations can be a real pain. I wish they could be filtered in some way. There is occasionally a nugget somewhere, but often it is just a photo or document I originally put on from my family collection coming back to me as you mention, Biggles, even across sites, or a heraldic crest far distant from the world of Ag. Labs. and Weavers that populate my tree for the most part.

My winge over, can I just mention that I did do a Y-DNA 37 marker test with FTDNA as a toe in the water. That just proved it would be pointless splashing any more cash in that direction as there were no matches that included my family name and the only close match at that level didn’t know his family history at all. I have enough strong paternal line autosomal DNA matches to know it wasn't a family name problem. It was a gamble.

If any of this works, I will post it.

Thanks to all.

[rsel]

My winge over, can I just mention that I did do a Y-DNA 37 marker test with FTDNA as a toe in the water. That just proved it would be pointless splashing any more cash in that direction as there were no matches that included my family name and the only close match at that level didn’t know his family history at all. I have enough strong paternal line autosomal DNA matches to know it wasn't a family name problem. It was a gamble.

Hi,
   Its not unusual not to have any name matches for Y-DNA.  Unless you are very lucky to have had close family members tested, most matches will be quite distant.  In my case i have done the BIG-Y test, and the estimated time line for my halogroup is around 1400, so before surnames became established in general use in the UK.  The way to think about it is that atDNA is for your modern research, and Y-DNA/mtDNA are more for historic lineages and trying to find out where your lines migrated (i.e. one big question is around halogroup DF27 and did it originate on the spain/france border, or further north).

Richard

P.S. On the usage of MyHeritage, i tend to ignore the 'records' and tree matches on the site, but i have found the DNA tools useful in helping to correct one of my family lines, after finding a group of relatives using them.