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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: RebeccaNZ on Sunday 24 June 18 02:04 BST (UK)
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I've just had my DNA tested through ancestry I'm overall happy with how they've done things but I have a few questions that dont seem to be explained anywhere.
Do the match ups only include matches with other people who have Great British heritage. In my drop down menu to pick which areas I want to see matches from, it only let's me pick from the British areas. I do have about 60% heritage from western and eastern Europe. So, I'm not understanding how theres no matches from these areas
2. There are people who I'm matched with who are meant to be an extremely high match with as 3rd cousins but it seems that we have absolutely no connection. So, I'm not sure what to think.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? ???
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Yes.
You may have no matches for Eastern Europe because no Eastern Europeans have tested yet though if that's the case I don't know where they got the 60% from. I don't know the specifics of Ancestry though sorry.
I have several close DNA matches who I can't find a paper trail match with. One in particular I think might be a second cousin (probably X removed) and I have no idea where or how we match ...
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Hello Rebecca,
The info from Ancestry indicates that the regional origins relate to inhabitants from those areas a couple of thousand years ago.
Matches will only be from people who have also done the Ancestry DNA test and have some similarities to your DNA. If you have a reasonably researched tree on Ancestry going back at least 4-5 generations, anyone with a tree also on Ancestry with ancestors at some point identical to yours, will come up as a match to you. Your tree and theirs will be displayed side by side back to the common ancestor.
The predominant results are from people in UK, USA and Australasia, with a very small no. from Europe.
The results don't appear to be as precise as we would like since we get half our genes from each parent and then only a part of each parent's DNA makeup, so we are not identical to siblings.
Like you, we have matches that don't seem to have links that the closeness of relationship suggests. In one case we have a reasonably close match in USA, but the tree for that person has no-one even close to a match for many generations back. I wonder if something went on behind the sheltershed that no-one knows about or wants to know about?
In another instance, 2 sisters come up as different generation relations to my wife.
While the results are very interesting, there is still a fair amount of explanation needed to grasp the implications in some cases.
I also wonder if fluke combinations show up as matches when in reality they aren't genealogical matches.
Best wishes,
Garry
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Thanks to you both!
Hello Rebecca,
The info from Ancestry indicates that the regional origins relate to inhabitants from those areas a couple of thousand years ago.
Matches will only be from people who have also done the Ancestry DNA test and have some similarities to your DNA. If you have a reasonably researched tree on Ancestry going back at least 4-5 generations, anyone with a tree also on Ancestry with ancestors at some point identical to yours, will come up as a match to you. Your tree and theirs will be displayed side by side back to the common ancestor.
The predominant results are from people in UK, USA and Australasia, with a very small no. from Europe.
The results don't appear to be as precise as we would like since we get half our genes from each parent and then only a part of each parent's DNA makeup, so we are not identical to siblings.
Like you, we have matches that don't seem to have links that the closeness of relationship suggests. In one case we have a reasonably close match in USA, but the tree for that person has no-one even close to a match for many generations back. I wonder if something went on behind the sheltershed that no-one knows about or wants to know about?
In another instance, 2 sisters come up as different generation relations to my wife.
While the results are very interesting, there is still a fair amount of explanation needed to grasp the implications in some cases.
I also wonder if fluke combinations show up as matches when in reality they aren't genealogical matches.
Best wishes,
Garry
Thanks for explaining that. Yes, I agree about the potential for fluke matches and sometimes it takes a bit of research to figure out how you are connected. Its definitely been an interesting experience but perhaps a little more complicated than I first thought. Although it has been useful to confirm certain things in my family tree
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Many people upload their raw data to other companies.
This can often throw up different matches.
Some information here:
https://dna-explained.com/2017/04/11/autosomal-dna-transfers-which-companies-accept-which-tests/
I have found My Heritage nice and easy to use. :)
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Many people upload their raw data to other companies.
This can often throw up different matches.
Some information here:
https://dna-explained.com/2017/04/11/autosomal-dna-transfers-which-companies-accept-which-tests/
I have found My Heritage nice and easy to use. :)
Thankyou I'm going to try that!
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Let us know how you get on Rebecca. :)
As an aside, my FTDNA results show that I have 40% Eastern European, and am getting lots of matches with (presumably) Americans with Eastern European ancestry.
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Let us know how you get on Rebecca. :)
As an aside, my FTDNA results show that I have 40% Eastern European, and am getting lots of matches with (presumably) Americans with Eastern European ancestry.
That's interesting, than you!
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After my last post I checked my My Heritage account. Sitting at the top of my matches is a new first to second cousin match - I was surprised to see my grandmother included in their family tree! Looks like they are Canadians with Eastern European/Russian heritage.
I have just sent off an email so keeping my fingers crossed for a reply. Sadly they appear to have a fairly sparse tree so I don't think I will get any new leads from them. :)
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I think that while DNA genealogy is a useful tool it’s no substitute for traditional research. I got my Ancestry results back a year ago and in that time I’ve managed to find the links to just ten of those. One is a second cousin once removed, one is a half-second cousin, seven are 4th cousins and one is a 5th cousin. In most cases they had good trees, although in one case they had just four people in their tree but by luck there was an unusual surname also in my tree which turned out to be the link.
I have many other matches where I’m still doing work to establish the links. I guess I’ve learned two main things over the last year:
(1) Up until doing my DNA test I had always focused on going back in time with research. I went sideways across each generation (e.g. added in siblings) but never went back down these lines again to more recent generations. I now realise that coming back down these lines helps enormously with trying to place DNA matches.
(2) Linked to this, I now realise that I shouldn’t dismiss matches who are based in other countries. Initially I thought “no point in following this one up, she lives in the USA. No one in my family tree lived there.” Wrong. Coming back down these sideways lines I now find people who emigrated to the USA, Canada and New Zealand. The common ancestor was in England, but people moved away.
Once you’re u get started you’ll learn some tricks, and making the first few links will give you new links. It does become a bit easier, honest!
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Many people upload their raw data to other companies.
Take a look at GEDmatch. This site will accept raw DNA uploads from different sources (Ancestry, 23andme, etc) so that you are comparing your DNA in a larger pool. And it is a free service!
Bryce
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Sorry, I should have said that the results I mentioned above were after uploading my Ancestry results to GEDMatch, MyHeritage and FTDNA. Without that I wouldn’t even have reached ten confirmed matches.
I’m sure I’d make more progress if I had other family members who had tested, and/or more leisure time (working Mum) ;D
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I think that while DNA genealogy is a useful tool it’s no substitute for traditional research. I got my Ancestry results back a year ago and in that time I’ve managed to find the links to just ten of those. One is a second cousin once removed, one is a half-second cousin, seven are 4th cousins and one is a 5th cousin. In most cases they had good trees, although in one case they had just four people in their tree but by luck there was an unusual surname also in my tree which turned out to be the link.
I have many other matches where I’m still doing work to establish the links. I guess I’ve learned two main things over the last year:
(1) Up until doing my DNA test I had always focused on going back in time with research. I went sideways across each generation (e.g. added in siblings) but never went back down these lines again to more recent generations. I now realise that coming back down these lines helps enormously with trying to place DNA matches.
(2) Linked to this, I now realise that I shouldn’t dismiss matches who are based in other countries. Initially I thought “no point in following this one up, she lives in the USA. No one in my family tree lived there.” Wrong. Coming back down these sideways lines I now find people who emigrated to the USA, Canada and New Zealand. The common ancestor was in England, but people moved away.
Once you’re u get started you’ll learn some tricks, and making the first few links will give you new links. It does become a bit easier, honest!
Thanks, I do the same with my search. Add siblings but not follow them down through the generations. I can see how this would help find the connection .
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Many people upload their raw data to other companies.
Take a look at GEDmatch. This site will accept raw DNA uploads from different sources (Ancestry, 23andme, etc) so that you are comparing your DNA in a larger pool. And it is a free service!
Bryce
Thanks, I've had a little look at Gedmatch and Myheritage, how do I upload my raw data?
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Many people upload their raw data to other companies.
Take a look at GEDmatch. This site will accept raw DNA uploads from different sources (Ancestry, 23andme, etc) so that you are comparing your DNA in a larger pool. And it is a free service!
Bryce
On the main page of GEDmatch there is a link to upload raw DNA results. Just follow the instructions.
Thanks, I've had a little look at Gedmatch and Myheritage, how do I upload my raw data?
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Thanks!