Possibility/likelihood for DNA match from 1830?

[Lisa in California]

Susannah Vaus was born in 1829 in Albury, Surrey, England. She was my gggrandmother; her parents were born in 1797 in Shipley, Sussex. She had quite a few siblings. Susannah and her husband sailed to Canada c1857.

I am Canadian and live in California, USA.  My DNA results are through Ancestry. I have yet to find any matches with any Vaus (Vaux, etc.) descendants from Sussex or Surrey.  Nor have I found any matches from Susannah’s mother’s side and none from her grandparents.  Note: the other surnames are very common and I have not finished looking at those matches.

I understand that matches result from individuals actually taking DNA tests, but I am wondering which could be more likely, please?
1.  There was a whoopsie somewhere along the way and I don’t actually have a true Vaus ancestor. 
2.  Given the generations between Susannah and me, and possibly other Vaus descendants having not yet taken DNA tests through Ancestry, that could be the reason why I have yet to find DNA matches.

I look forward to reading any comments about my dilemma. Thank you, Lisa

[Galium]

Looking at the fifteen surnames of my own GGgrandparents (so just four generations back), among my Ancestry matches, only one of those names has passed down to living relatives who have also tested with Ancestry.

So going by that, I don't think it should be assumed that you don't have matches connected with your Vaus ancestors. Also, not everyone has a tree linked to their result, not everyone's tree is complete back to all ancestors born in the late 18thC, and not everyone's tree is accurate.

It might be worth using the search for birthplaces of your matches' ancestors to see if any are connected to Albury or Shipley.

[Lisa in California]

Thank you, Galium.  I have been researching for a friend and a year or two ago I finally found out why his uncommon grandfather’s surname never had any matches — the man was not his biological grandfather.

I couldn't sleep last night and suddenly remembered the above and panicked about the possibility that my Vaus’ weren’t actually mine. 

I have searched for just Shipley and Albury and there are at least several matches but I didn’t delve any further to see if my match is through our Shipley/Albury ancestor or if we were related some other way and they just happened to have an unrelated ancestor from that area.  (I hope that makes sense.)

Thank you for your comments and suggestion. I realize there could still be a hiccup with my ancestors but I’m not as panicked now.

Either I am experiencing a problem on my end with Anc*try or they have a problem but since last night when checking family trees for matches, I get a “something went wrong” message so at this time I cannot check trees and DNA numbers.

Note: a relative has a very detailed list of Vaus names, dates and relationships from 1797 through 1851.  I used this “family bible” style paper when I became interested in genealogy and it almost perfectly matched historical records. The list is the main reason why I care about my Vaus line…an ancestor took the time to record births and deaths and explained how the people were related to each other.

Thank you again, Galium.

[Rosinish]

Hi Lisa,

You're correct, the DNA matches are to the persons who did the test & what info. they have in their trees whether correct or not & many can be unreliable in my experience.

I have similar to Galium & very little matches on my maternal side, only one of the surnames in those lines to date.

The trouble is with descendants, they tend to follow their paternal lines initially which leads to many different surnames (via marriages) unattached to our own lines.

I find the biggest problems are lack of trees & of those who have trees, they don't go back far enough.

DNA sites have a habit of fooling people into thinking their family tree will magically appear when they do the test!
We know this isn't the case, hence the lack of trees or like many (as I've found) trees go no further than g/parents i.e. info. they already know which doesn't need further research.

Many people don't know how to 'research' or expect it to be free & give up at the 1st hurdle i.e. certs. which need to be ordered/paid for.

Have you tried the LEEDS METHOD?

https://www.danaleeds.com/dna-color-clustering-the-leeds-method-for-easily-visualizing-matches/

Annie

[Lisa in California]

Hi Annie, you brought up very good points.  I was concerned because I actually have been very lucky finding matches for a number of my ancestral lines, but no apparent Vaus connections — I, possibly unnecessarily, jumped to conclusions. It is comforting to read that I don’t necessarily have a problem.

While I’ve been researching “forever”, I am still a beginner with DNA things and just don’t/can’t absorb the little details. 

I’ve not heard about the Leeds Method but will check the link shortly.

Thank you as well, Annie, for your help.  RootsChatters are amazing.

[bearkat]

As you know I am also researching the name VAUS but we haven't found a link.

The most distant VAUS relative with a DNA match that I have found was born in 1798.  The amount of shared DNA is 7cm. Ancestry no longer shows smaller matches because they are less accurate. How much DNA is passed on to a child by each parent can vary considerably which, over the generations, can give a wide variation in shared DNA.

[Lisa in California]

Hi Bearkat, it’s good to bump into you again.  I think your Vaus’ were from the London area and had something to do with water? If so, it has been a long time since I’ve compared our ancestors.  I will compare our families again, perhaps this time I might notice something helpful.

It’s good to read that your match has such a small amount of shared DNA.  Good for me, not necessarily good for you. 

My most beloved ancestral lines seem to be the ones that are difficult to find.

Thank you for your comments, Bearkat. They, too, are helpful.

I have to run outside for a bit; sorry for dashing off.

[bearkat]

I have found that the London VAUS had links to Lewes, Sussex but possibly only by marriage.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/01rt5/

The last two results. 

[coombs]

It is easy to assume the worst when doing DNA testing, hence why it can mean some studying to interpret the results correctly, and you then find you are related, or on occasions you may find you are not related after all.