How essential is an Ancestry subscription for getting the most in my DNA test?

[phil57]

I haven't tested at all. 
I asked about Ancestry as everywhere I searched about using DNA seems to talk about having a tree on Ancestry.

Probably because Ancestry has the largest number of users and DNA tests, and hence the largest database, by some margin. You are more likely to find the greatest number of matches on Ancestry as a result. That doesn't mean if course that your closest or most relevant matches will necessarily be on Ancestry, only that the odds are greater, but you could find them elsewhere, which is why it is good advice to get into as many databases as possible.

You can transfer an Ancestry test elsewhere as I previously said, but Ancestry don't allow transfers in from other vendors, hence Ancestry is a good place to start.

If you are serious about DNA testing and want the best advice and answers to your questions, I'd recommend obtaining a copy of "Tracing your ancestors using DNA", edited by Graham S. Holton.It covers everything from the basics of genealogical DNA testing to more complex issues, with chapters written by different experts in each field.

[jc26red]

I have to agree with phil57.
I built my tree on my family history software which sits on my pc, and it was very happy there, especially after I had a poor experience about 15 years ago when I shared my tree with one person and asked them not to share  . That tree is now littered with errors all over ancestry.
Earlier this year I finally did an Ancestry DNA test.

Results arrives and the closer matches were pretty easy to work out but there are the frustrations of private trees.., extremely small trees and no trees at all. It then became more time consuming to work out the matches, so, like phil57, I uploaded a barebones tree, kept it private but searchable, which is necessary to get the thru-lines and hints.
More matches to work through, some frustrations with very no matches at all and my original shared tree keeps coming up  …
I email one person linked to this tree and he very politely replied today and said yes, you know the Morgan line is a very big tree lol! If only he knew! Anyway, he didn’t answer my question (he has one of those clown1234 user names and kept his parents and grand parents private). No worries, I know roughly where he sits in the tree.

So yes, if you do decide on doing a dna test, I suggest you do as phil57 has done.

I’m still learning with this dna lark and must thank several members on the boards who have shared their advice.

My aim was not to find a missing grandparent but to try and verify my years of research. It’s working out quite well and I have also found the parentage of 2 NPE matches so far.

[phil57]

I have been an ancestry member for 10 years and did my DNA earlier this year, but it's been rather disappointing. My closest match is a young cousin who lives 2 streets away and only has himself in his tree. The other 'close' ones don't have trees on Ancestry; most of the others don't have any matching surnames, nor do most even appear to be in the UK. I did have one match which looked interesting as it was on my troublesome Irish line - but his tree has no sources, has my great grandfather married to his sister (same first name), and one ancestor has 135 siblings

I'd suggest reading through this topic, particularly the posts by Biggles50.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=863488.0

Have you researched your tree as far and wide as possible? Most matches will not have your surname or that of your mother. They will be the descendants of the brothers and sisters of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc. who share a common ancestor with you several generations back, and whose names will have changed one or several times due to marriages of their ancestors in the intervening generations. If you research those lines (your collateral lines, since they are not in your direct line of descent) and bring them forward to as near the present day as possible, you will stand a much greater chance of recognising some surnames, or having algorithms such as Ancestry's Thrulines identifying them.

[Deirdre784]

Thanks phil57, i will have a read later, but i’ve already done that, in fact right from the start as I quickly realised that widowed parents invariably ended up with one of their children. With ancestors having anything up to 15 children it’s a very wide tree, with masses of detail and sources. Back to pre 1800 on all but my Irish lines (with a few missing deaths), and further on a few. I have every birth, marriage and death certificate for my primary line, and a large number of related infant deaths. Only a few very distant cousins emigrated and none of those are popping up 😀

[Biggles50]

Thanks phil57, i will have a read later, but i’ve already done that, in fact right from the start as I quickly realised that widowed parents invariably ended up with one of their children. With ancestors having anything up to 15 children it’s a very wide tree, with masses of detail and sources. Back to pre 1800 on all but my Irish lines (with a few missing deaths), and further on a few. I have every birth, marriage and death certificate for my primary line, and a large number of related infant deaths. Only a few very distant cousins emigrated and none of those are popping up 😀

You are most definitely on the right track, I have found that having a wide tree really does help with getting DNA matches successfully linked into my trees even if they have no trees or user names that give no clue to their ID.

My trees are Private and my DNA settings allow for being found.

The Common Ancestor hints is by far the best Ancestry tool but as you are probably aware the lines suggested to link to the match are cobbled together from many trees and can be full of errors including missing generations.

Once you are comfortable with using the DNA then downloading the Raw DNA Data from Ancestry and uploading it to Gedmatch and the other comparison websites can yield even more results and the tools available can help in drilling down to paternal and maternal sides and many other analytical tools can support identifying where a match shares an ancestor.

On Gedmatch each Tool has an accompanying How Too video tutorial that explains usage, it may be beneficial for anyone interested in gaining more understanding of DNA to watch these video tutorials.

[Guy Etchells]

My DNA test kit is in transit to me. On Friday Ancestry offered me a 1-year UK subscription for £60 or worldwide subscription for £90. How is essential is it that I subscribe to one of these to get the most from my test ?

Zaph

I am a bit late in replying.

It is not essential at all as all testing companies give a short term subscription to their databases with the test kit.
This free subscription is long enough to dertmine if a long term membership would add any value to your research, or whether you would be better subscribing with a different company.
Cheers
Guy

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Biggles50, i am on leave next week so will look into downloading to gedmatch and others.

[Biggles50]

I haven't tested at all. 

I asked about Ancestry as everywhere I searched about using DNA seems to talk about having a tree on Ancestry.

To get the best out of a DNA test if the main aim is to find Family then you really need an online Family Tree, its not essential but it really helps.

Your online Tree can be hidden by setting it to Private and once you link your DNA results to yourself in your tree then the floodgates will open.

I have added 70 Cousins to my tree and 76 to my Wife’s tree which is separate this would not have happened without being Tested.

The wider your tree going back to 1800 the better and easier it will be to find links.

There is a lot of frustration, there can be NPE’s, there can be endogamy not to mention matches with no trees and a username like Joe90 that is neither use nor ornament.  A biggie is a female with a user name like JaneJones, is Jones her married name or her birth name and if it is her married name is it her first, second or even third married name, I highlight this because living people are seen as Private so you do not see the full picture and the fathers surname may well not be seen.

Hence it is not a bed of roses and it can take a few years to get reasonably proficient in the finer points of DNA but using the Common Ancestor, Shared Matches and Thrulines means you can make progress without knowing a lot about DNA.

One thing to know about DNA is the use of the free online tool DNA Painter, using its Shared Matches Tool you enter the DNA matches cM value and the App gives you the probabilities of various relationships, ie enter 100 and amongst the Probabilities is 3C which will give a good idea of where to pitch your research.

I am far from being an expert, its just that I have been using DNA for a good few years now.

[Biggles50]

My DNA test kit is in transit to me. On Friday Ancestry offered me a 1-year UK subscription for £60 or worldwide subscription for £90. How is essential is it that I subscribe to one of these to get the most from my test ?

Zaph

I am a bit late in replying.

It is not essential at all as all testing companies give a short term subscription to their databases with the test kit.
This free subscription is long enough to dertmine if a long term membership would add any value to your research, or whether you would be better subscribing with a different company.
Cheers
Guy

Zaph

My view is the opposite to Guy’s.

A subscription for at least a year is essential if you are serious about finding Family via a DNA test.

Without the subscription then following up on all the DNA matches, using Common Ancestor hints, Shared Matches and Thrulines will be far more difficult.

Put a time value on the £90 using how much you get paid per hour and the subscription has to be great vfm.