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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: Shiny1 on Thursday 15 October 20 08:30 BST (UK)
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Morning All,
I'm sure I must be missing something here so I'm hoping someone can help me.
My daughter bought me an Ancestry DNA test as a birthday present, I've just had the results back and don't really see any new information.
It's told me I'm a mix of English, Scottish, Irish with a bit of Sweden and Norway mixed in, nothing I couldn't have guessed at really. I've linked my tree to the results for something called thrulines but can't see anything.
What am I missing? Surely for the price they charge there must be more to it than telling me I'm from the UK?
Thanks for the help,
Michael
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The point of the DNA tests is to discover people you share DNA with (relatives) not any 'ethnicity' nonsense. There is no 'Scottish' or 'Irish' gene, there is just the likelihood that if you have a match with someone who has said their ancestors were from a certain place, then yours are too. Nothing to do with the DNA.
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Thanks a lot, in that case I must definately be missing something as I can't see any relatives being suggested anywhere at all.
Michael
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You are looking at the wrong “part” of your DNA results, the ethnicity is more or less rubbish as there is no such thing as ethnicity for countries. The countries forming the UK for instance have been invaded, migrated into, enjoyed traders coming in and out for centuries. These people have consorted with the native peoples to the extent that it is doubtful whether any DNA from the first settlers in the UK countries is left.
To get any benefit out of DNA forget about ethnicity and concentrate on the raw data which is passed down to you from your ancestors, like pieces of a jigsaw, how much you share with another person.
Cheers
Guy
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Thanks Guy, so really I don't need the DNA then, I can just concentrate on the non DNA methods?
I can't see anything other than the ethnicity bit when I log in.
Thanks for the help,
Michael
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It depends what you are looking for.
Personally I have narrowed down an unknown father. I now know all my great grandparents, just missing which of their five sons is my grandfather.
I have confirmed research showing that my 2times great grandmother had siblings who followed her out to Australia. I had argued with a cousin about that.
Found that my grandmother didn’t ask strangers to be executors of her will but a cousin and the husband of another cousin.
Confirmed people in an address book of my mothers I found were relatives.
Found more relatives that I didn’t know about.
All this in about two years. It takes time. I’ve recently had an argument with thru lines as it kept following my step grandfathers line, not biological. Probably because that is how my half first cousins and others know it.
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It can’t be the case that you don’t have any DNA matches, surely?
If you click on DNA along the top menu of the Ancestry home page, it should take you to a DNA page which has various boxes.
Mine are: DNA Story, DNA Matches and Thrulines, respectively.
Does yours look different from this?
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Better with the Y DNA test!
Skoosh.
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Thanks everyone,
I've just had a look to see what headings I have and found the DNA matches seems to have populated since my last look with a number of 4th - 6th cousins.
Is that the sort of thing everyone else sees?
Michael
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Yes, that is where the fun is. Matching cousins, finding where they fit in relation to you and those skeletons in the closet come out.
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Great, thank you.
Maybe I just looked too soon, I thought when my results were in that was it finished.
Hopefully I'll get some closer matches if I wait a bit longer.
Michael
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Oh it has only just begun. As more people test you will have more matches. I have over 17,000 matches with 831 fourth cousin or better. Mind you I have a strong American link and a family which didn’t seem to know where their bed was. So many are searching for an unknown parent. Large families help too. My son is 11,000 and 270.
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Sounds great, thanks.
What do you mean your son is 11,000 and 270?
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My son has 11,000 matches, 270 fourth cousin or better.
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My son has 11,000 matches, 270 fourth cousin or better.
Where do you see the total number of matches? I can only see a number for 4th cousin and closer on mine.
NB 4th cousin & closer is misleading, as it includes matches assessed as likely 4th-6th cousins.
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Ok thanks
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Hi, my dna result saved me from making a huge mistake about who my grandfather was. The name O'Neill is so common in Ireland, plus a Smith wife that I had him down as the son of the wrong John O'Neill and Eliza Smith. Fortunately close cousins had had a dna test and I was put onto the correct family. As I was told 'dna does not lie'. In time closer members of your family will have dna tests and the results will be much closer than 4th cousin, which is really distant. Good luck
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I too have made important corrections to my tree as a result of DNA matching finding the right path back - especially helpful where families have used the same names over and over again.
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Click on DNA matches, then shared DNA on the new page. It shows you the numbers.
My son has 11,000 matches, 270 fourth cousin or better.
Where do you see the total number of matches? I can only see a number for 4th cousin and closer on mine.
NB 4th cousin & closer is misleading, as it includes matches assessed as likely 4th-6th cousins.
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Thanks! Turns out I have 12,747 matches in total.
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Ok, thanks for the help everyone.
Hopefully it will prove worth while then.
Michael
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Your matches only show up on thru lines if you have spelt and dated them the same as your DNA match
For example if you have Margaret smith 1900 & your 2nd cousin twice removed has Peggy smith on their tree and your son has Peggy margaret smith thru lines wont show or if one has 1905
I recommend using full name and the also known as option in facts section for each person .
Or changing the spellimgs on your profile s occasionally to see if different thru lines show up
Btw I disagree with the comments about ethnicity my paternal aunt is almost pure Scottish so anyone from USA etc who matches her but only has small Scottish percentage can work out which ancestor links
My mother has a European jewish grandfather and a Welsh grandfather and again the ethnicity has been a good starting point for finding common ancestor .
4th cousins may be closer than you think ...with remarriages and premarriages you may share ine grandparent and with testees being aged between 18 and 95 you could be separated by 2 generations so
4th cousin level could actually be a half cousin twice removed .
Enjoy your results
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Ok that's great, thanks very much.
Michael
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You should also use the common ancestors filter, which utilises thrulines and other people's trees, you should be able to select common ancestors on your DNA page. But you do need to put in a good base tree in for it to work, say to all your eight great grandparents at least, using full names, birth dates and places preferably. You can then scroll down your match page and if you click the match you will get a match page which should show how you are connected on the left, it will show more information and a little basic tree if you click the names of the common ancestors. You can also click the shared matches tab on the match pages to see who you both connect to, and you can use that to start putting relatives into coloured coded groups either on each match page, or on the main DNA match list page.
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DNA was very useful to my husband. He discovered he had a half brother. Out of the blue he received a phone call from someone who thought he was related to my husband but did not know how. This person had been looking for his father for over 40 years and had, with the help of a second cousin match, narrowed down his father to be one of three. He asked if my husband was willing to do a DNA test. Six weeks later we had results back and they confirmed that my husband's father had a son, born a year before he had married my husband's mother.
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Kay that's great
I wonder how men feel when discovering a child they didn't know they had .Has your husband's half brother met up with the rest of his birth family ?
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Shiny I'm guessing the daughter who gave you the test has not done one herself .She must have thought it would be helpful to you in your research ..as hopefully it will be.
Do you have other family members who are interested in genealogy
Getting a known relative ....cousin. uncle .sibling .even child does help see the relationship lines and evaluate the unknown matches.
What is your closest match at the moment
With my aunt s DNA she had very few matches at first ...& Distant ones
Now a second cousin and some thirds have shown up .
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Yes, husband's half brother has met all of the family, including 2 other half brothers and a number of nieces and nephews. Sadly, he was not able to meet his father as he died over 35 years ago. We have had several family dinners and all meet up whenever we can. When we head off to Adelaide (capital city of SA) from the rural town where we live, we drive within 10 minutes of his place, so call in whenever we can. Lots of phone calls and text messages also. We don't know if my father-in-law knew he had another son or managed to keep this to himself for 66 years.
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A distant DNA match has just asked if anyone in my family has a certain medical condition she's discovered that 3 third cousins in their 60s have it .I know you can pay to have xtra medical details
I didn't but it may be useful to know and asking relatives is one way of finding where medical conditions are from
Another match was a adoptee hoping to start family so medical conditions also very important for her to know.
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Is it worth having an autosomal DNA test done if you don't have (or want to have) your tree online with the DNA test provider?
I'm cynical because I had a Y-DNA test done in 2004 with a well-regarded supplier and while I've subsequently had over 80 pages of so-called matches, none of them comes close to being of interest. In fact most are from Ireland or the USA but I've traced my paternal line back to the mid 1700s and without exception they all come from the East Midlands. None of them roamed much further afield than the local towns and cities during the Industrial Revolution and certainly none of them came from Ireland or emigrated to the USA.
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Tony hi
Yes itwould be worth doing a test which includes maternal side of family .
It sounds like someone on your blood paternal line did come from Ireland or emigrate or had brother or sister who did.
Even if the paper trail doesn't support that theory .don't take the test if you believe the bloodline will invalidate your research .personally I think the family you grow up in is the one that counts but following blood line is exciting too. My cousin has lots of matches in usa too turns out his greatgrandmother eldest child was born pre marriage and the highest USA match also had a great grandmother who was single had given birth in same Yorkshire town but the adopted baby taken to Texas so match was quite high half first cousins...and we don't know the birthfathers name yet !
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A DNA match has just told me that all her first matches were
Completely wrong then she got some useful ones
I realized she had been taking the suggestion "second cousin" third cousin level literally.
And not factoring in generations removed or descendants of half siblings etc
Eventually a close match contacted her ...it was her sister's son who.d been adopted and she knew nothing about .
If trees are open & linked to DNA
Ancestry thru lines will show true relationship for example half cousin once removed....which appears on matches as second cousin level
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Surely "matches" are only possible from those people who have bought the tests from Ancestry and have loaded their research data to Ancestry aren't they?
If people have done neither then there is no chance of Ancestry identifying a "match" is there?
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You would be surprised how many people test with Ancestry. After about eighteen months on there I have over 17,000 matches.
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I have just spent time tracking down the father of an illegitimate baby born during WW2.
My cousin received a letter to say his father had the same name as the baby's father and DNA showed it was someone in our general family. I'm the family historian so took on the task. We were lucky as another of our cousins had his DNA test on the same site and he was assessed as 4th - 6th cousin - not my uncle's child because that would be a 1st cousin.
I found another with the same name in our general family at the correct distance to me using my cousin's DNA result - after a DNA test by that person's son it was found he was a more distant relative than my cousin. The son knew he had a half sibling somewhere.
I advised the person that the DNA should be put on as many free sites as possible and gave the links, this would mean my DNA could be checked against the person's DNA. I map my known relatives DNA to help me. The person's DNA appeared on 2 of my sites and was assessed as a 3rd - 5th cousin and a 2nd - 4th cousin. I mapped the person's DNA where they met mine and was surprised to find they dropped into the area of my gt gt grandmother's DNA. This meant the person's father was a descendant of my gt gt grandparents and the person was my 3rd cousin.
There was only one with the father's name on that line born in the right era and his granddaughter was approached. The granddaughter's aunt had the answer, her parents had married pre WW2 and she and her eldest brother had been born before her father joined the army during WW2. There was an affair whilst the man was in the army and a baby born. He then came back to his wife and 3 more sons born. Only the 2 eldest knew of the affair and baby. The aunt then named the mother of the baby - we had the father.
Without DNA how would the person have found the right family to start to look for someone of the correct name and then prove it was their father? DNA has proved my paper trails which made the cost worth while because I have 4 lines back to the mid 1700s that are now known to be correct - that's priceless as far as I'm concerned. I'd tell everyone serious about family history to consider DNA to use it to prove your tree. One proviso - wait for the offers. ;)
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Is it worth having an autosomal DNA test done if you don't have (or want to have) your tree online with the DNA test provider?
I'm cynical because I had a Y-DNA test done in 2004 with a well-regarded supplier and while I've subsequently had over 80 pages of so-called matches, none of them comes close to being of interest. In fact most are from Ireland or the USA but I've traced my paternal line back to the mid 1700s and without exception they all come from the East Midlands. None of them roamed much further afield than the local towns and cities during the Industrial Revolution and certainly none of them came from Ireland or emigrated to the USA.
It is likely you will get more useful results with an autosomal test than a YDNA test. My OH has one of the most common surnames in the UK and only has about four matches, none of them useful. His autosomal test has many relatively easily identifiable matches.
I think it is probably as a result of none of his ancestors or their descendants venturing very far, and not many taking DNA tests.
My father on the other hand has many many YDNA 12 marker matches ..... not traceable via a paper trail, and no 67 marker matches which is as far as he tested. Pretty useless really .... ;)
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In the early-ish days of DNA for Family History research, I went for a mitrochondrial DNA test, not realising what a total waste of time that was!
Later, I did an autosomal test with the same company and found a few contacts but not many so retested with Ancestry, since they are the one company who won't let you upload tests from anywhere else. Since then I have gradually found the results incredibly useful - not so much the near matches but ones a wee bit further.
I have a private tree on Ancestry, which I've populated with names and dates but no pictures and ThruLines uses that to give me indicators of possible common ancestors. (I prefer to keep a very comprehensive tree on my PC at home rather than rely on putting my research solely on a commercial platform.
I would really encourage Michael to have a tree on Ancestry with at least the outline of as many generations back as you can do. It doesn't have to be public but it needs to be there for ThruLines to work. As has been pointed out though, it relies on whatever people put in their trees to suggest how you are connected and we all know what rubbish people put in trees, so you will be connected to them just not necessarily the way they think.
However, even without a tree, if you can find people on Ancestry that you know about and see what other people have shared matches with you and them, it narrows the field down considerably.
Apologies if this is a long ramble but I wanted to be encouraging - I have found quite surprising things as a result of the DNA test. Unfortunately, a number of people who tested (I have an apparent first cousin on my father's side) look like they have died and the frustration of seeing their name and not being able to contact them is enormous :(
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Granted this is from Ancestry's own advertising, but assuming they aren't outright lying, earlier this year the number of DNA tests on Ancestry was over 15 million.
At least amongst their American customers, that translates into an average of 50 000 DNA matches, apparently.
(Having recently done the dna test myself and whilst awaiting the results I have been watching videos by Crista Cowan.)
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Fingers crossed for some good results for you, Albufera32!
Ancestry certainly has far and away the most people tested, which is why it's a good idea to use their test and the results can always be exported to other platforms (eg GEDMatch I think) to broaden the scope a bit.
Over the past few years, I've noticed quite a lot of new matches for me in the UK, whereas before it was largely US people so I think it's becoming more and more generally useful.....
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Pat ..I'm on a very similar project for a war baby now know that her highest match MUST be grandson of her birth father but no tree and not answering messages yet .
But we are in touch with her birthfather half neice and grandson who have not tested but the descendant of their mutual grandfather & those of his sister have tested .
I can also trace mutual matches common ancestors to 1824 .1810 & 1789 so paper trail confirmed
My hint would be pay for someone from elder generation before you test yourself or agree with relatives to purchase a few tests at same time ..saves on postage costs
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Thanks for all your views and advice. It was the Ancestry DNA test I had in mind given that it is heavily discounted right now. I am not currently a subscriber. I have been in the past but I have never had a family tree there. The brick wall that bugs me most is in my paternal line where I can't distinguish between two likely candidates who could be my 4x grandfather. There are public trees on Ancestry which claim to know but whenever I've asked the tree owners they can provide no proof and indeed pretty much every tree owner was unaware of the second candidate. As most of you have seen it is clear that most of the trees are cloned so that the errors are also repeated but treated as kosher.
Given that the amount of DNA passed down reduces each generation and that by the time of 4th grandparents is pretty much negligible I don't really understand how a DNA test gets round my problem. I do understand that getting the oldest members of the line to take the test makes sense but I am that person. I also suffer from being perhaps the only person in my extended family who is interested in this obsession so I would be laughed at if I asked cousins to take a DNA test.
Maybe I will; maybe not!
Tony
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At the moment, as you say, the Ancestry test is heavily discounted so now is probably the time to jump!
I have a large number of connections via 4x gt grandparents (and like you am the only one in the family who is interested so no chance of asking cousins). It's all a bit random but one side of my family (my father's) seems to have very persistant genes or something so lots of confirmation of my research there. Still can't find anything further about my elusive William Cannings (see below!) but in a way, this is the fun of it! I don't regret forking out for my test(s) at all (apart from the mitochondrial one I suppose)
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I have got 11 contacts who are directly related to the siblings of my 3rd gt grandparents, we connect at my 4th gt grandparents. You can get back there, you just have to be aware DNA is variable at conception.
You only need to find one distant cousin to verify a paper trail.
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I have got 11 contacts who are directly related to the siblings of my 3rd gt grandparents, we connect at my 4th gt grandparents. You can get back there, you just have to be aware DNA is variable at conception.
You only need to find one distant cousin to verify a paper trail.
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Pat ..I'm on a very similar project for a war baby now know that her highest match MUST be grandson of her birth father but no tree and not answering messages yet .
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Pat ..I'm on a very similar project for a war baby now know that her highest match MUST be grandson of her birth father but no tree and not answering messages yet .
Hope you do have contact with the grandson.
The son made all the contacts and was lucky all wanted to help. He sent me a copy of the message naming the mother. I sat and cried, didn't realise how emotionally involved I'd become. It's a marvellous feeling helping someone find their family. :D
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DNA - the point for me is that it is bringing me nearer to finding out who my g.grandfather was. I know he lived with g.gran from mid 1880s onwards (my gran born 1884) and he died in 1935. I have photographs of him too. But his origins are a total mystery. He didn't marry g.gran so no marriage cert, although I think he may have been illegitimate and Jewish so a marriage cert probably wouldn't have helped. It's possible his mother was called Da Costa, but when my gran died her eldest daughter who lived with her burned all the photographs and paperwork relating to this Da Costa lady saying "We don't want to know all about that do we?" Whether it was because she was Jewish and that was a touchy subject just after the war, who knows?
Anyway I have been in touch with a 4th cousin in USA (via DNA and 23andMe, not Ancestry), who is Jewish and I'm now researching all his family to find the missing link. Hopefully, I'll get there in the end, if not at least I know I was right about the Jewish connection.
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Just to add to my previous comments - I've just checked some relatively recent additions to the Ancestry DNA set and have found some very convincing connections back to 5xgt grandparents.
However, what I've found before with ancestors from that particular village is that there was a certain amount of inbreeding so it's possible that this particular contact is connected via more than one route (and thus potentially increasing the level of DNA match)
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Lizzie W
I've just done name search of Cost costA & Decosta :on my mother's huge DNA matches
There are a few matches from Portugal & France & south Africa none interlink
one from Lithuania who may have been Jewish
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I've just come across a tree on Ancestry which links into some of the Da Costas I found in my research of the ancestors of my 4th cousin in USA. Although the tree owner hasn't done her DNA, there is someone (possibly) a granddaughter who has and I link into that tree too. Now to find who my g.grandparents parents were. There are very few possibilities, so someone somewhere must have the missing link.
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Click on DNA matches, then shared DNA on the new page. It shows you the numbers.My son has 11,000 matches, 270 fourth cousin or better.
Where do you see the total number of matches? I can only see a number for 4th cousin and closer on mine.
NB 4th cousin & closer is misleading, as it includes matches assessed as likely 4th-6th cousins.
Thanks Nanna52, I just got my results today and couldn't figure out how to see how many matches I had in total. I knew I had seen something about it on roots chat and a few minutes turned up this post. Turns out I have 26 554 matches, which should keep me busy for a while.
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For me, It's been a game changer. In my DNA matches I've found out who my Great Grandfather was. My Nan only ever knew his name and that he went to Montreal. My second DNA match linked to a Canadian woman with his surname and a third with him in his tres and being born where my family live.
It was a gift from my husband and the best gift too !
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I've just come across a tree on Ancestry which links into some of the Da Costas I found in my research of the ancestors of my 4th cousin in USA. Although the tree owner hasn't done her DNA, there is someone (possibly) a granddaughter who has and I link into that tree too. Now to find who my g.grandparents parents were. There are very few possibilities, so someone somewhere must have the missing link.
Well so far I've found 3 people who are all descended from the same man, Isaac Da Costa b.1715 through different children of his and a 4th who I think is descended from the same man but I'm researching that one myself at the moment. Also coincidentally, via Zoom my U3A group had a talk from a family history researcher who was called Da Costa. He kindly agreed to look at my research free of charge and thinks we are possibly distantly related as he is descended from Isaac Da Costa's brother!
I will find out who my g.grandfather's parents (or at least one of them) are even though it's taken me years so far. All I need is just the one DNA match, maybe descended from my g.grandfather's siblings (if he had any).
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DNA like every other record resource available to genealogists/family historians is a very limited resource that depends on other resources being available for it to be useful.
It does not prove any relationship but may show the possibility of a relationship being correct, this is the same as written records they do not provide proof but build up information to draw conclusions.
There are basically three different routes in family history, legends/remembered knowledge, written records and DNA.
Under UK law if a married woman gives birth to a child that child is assumed to be the child of her husband unless it can be shown the husband could not have had contact with her during the relevant period.
In a similar way a DNA match is normally assumed to be made through the closest common ancestor but some matches may actually come from a more convoluted source.
In reality a well researched tree complied from written records may be enhanced by both family legends/knowledge and the results of a DNA test, but a DNA test really requires written records to become useful in a similar way to family legends requiring written records to supply support for them.
However I have been interested in family history since about the age of 3 or 4 when I was shown by my mother a “huge” family tree complied by my grandad. That tree fascinated me and got me hooked, despite researching throughout my life DNA revealed a half-brother I never knew about and through a cousin contact with a half-sister I knew very little about.
In other words use every tool you have available to form a picture of your family, every source is valuable in it's own right and every source needs to be investigated to find the full picture.
Cheers
Guy