Ancestry Thrulines doesn't show all relatives

[Eric Hatfield]

I had a problem with discovering my great grandfather as my grandfather was illegitimate.
My sister and I started searching when I was 8.I finally discovered who he was  4-5 years ago so it took about 65 years!

That's amazing! Thanks for sharing that. I think there are ways forward for us too, but it will be difficult.

(1) Civil registration records aren't very helpful, but I notice that there are generally more civil registration birth records than there are baptism records on Ancestry. Some people didn't have their child baptised, some church records have been lost, and of course there were many different churches. Most Welsh records on Ancestry seem to be Anglican, but when John married in Australia it was in a "Primitive Methodist" church. So was that his religion in Wales, and are those records in Ancestry? I will have to check that out. But it may be that the records are simply no longer in existence.

(2) Sometimes the only way to make progress is to buy certificates, which may have more information than is available online. But buying dozens of certificates can be costly! (In Australia they are typically $20 or more, while in Scotland they are only a few dollars.) But I need to look at this option.

(3) Finally there is the old way of going to churches and historical societies in Wales to look at actual records. I'm unable to do that myself, but perhaps we can pay someone to do it. (My great grandmother and my grandmother's birth in Australia was found that way. The online records didn't allow searching on the exact date, but looking at the actual record book at the local council allowed my grandmother's birthdate to be examined.)

So I will have to either wait to see if DNA reveals John's parents, or put in a lot more work, as you did.

[Eric Hatfield]

Just double checking, are you saying the person is not showing, or that the person is there with just no matches ?  Most of the people have responded on the second option, but i have a few cases where a person in my tree is not appearing on the thurlines screen at all. In most cases they are at the end of a branch, and also happen to be dummy names i used to see if anything could shake out from them.  I did mange to get one person to appear after unlinking and relinking them to the spouse, but doing the same actions didn't work on the other 2.

Yes, you are right, it is the first option. He, and his ancestors, simply don't appear, while all the other great grandparents and their ancestors do.

I have tried changing his name, but I will try your suggestion of unlinking and linking and see if it works. That's the sort of possible solution I was looking for. Thanks.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

I've had some correct Thruline matches where the forenames in the trees are completely different but there's a relative I have that will never show up. Their female ancestor had three forenames but 'allegedly' hated them so picked one she liked. Maiden names are a concept  they don't seem to have grasped either so they don't enter them. They often pop up in a facebook group bemoaning a lack of records with the exception of the death and burial record/headstone. Three guesses who registered the death and sorted the funeral and stonemason.     I've pointed out the definition and significance of given names but apparently I'm stupid. I was stupid for trying to help someone who won't be helped so they might have a valid point there to be fair.

There is a way to enter a variant spelling or alias that the search engine and (to some extent),  Thrulines is able to use but few people do so correctly, the methods generally used don't fit the algorithms so won't produce results. 

[Eric Hatfield]

I said I'd try a few ways to "force" ThruLines to include the missing great grandfather, and report back. So far I have tried:

• I checked and verified that there are several relatives in the ThruLines list that don't have any matches, but they are still listed. So that can't be the reason (on its own).
• Most of the people in the ThruLines list are NOT in the tree, but worked out by Ancestry's algorithm. I don't know if they are all correct or not, because I am not interested in those branches of the tree. So that isn't a reason why the person I want is missing.
• I tried removing the relationship between this person and his wife, then re-instating it, as one person here suggested. Nothing changed.
• I tried removing the person completely and re-entering them, again, no difference.
• I tried adding this person's parents (even though this is still speculative), no change.
• I tried changing the spelling of his name, and removing his middle name, again, nothing.
• Finally, I removed spouses of his descendants, so the tree ONLY includes the line I am interested in. Still no effect.

This expremely frustrating. The only option I can think of is to copy the curent tree then remove it completely and then just add the person I am interested in and see what happens.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'm happy to try them thanks.

There is a way to enter a variant spelling or alias that the search engine and (to some extent),  Thrulines is able to use but few people do so correctly, the methods generally used don't fit the algorithms so won't produce results.

Can you clarify this please, it may be helpful for me. Thanks.

[brigidmac]

Use the " also known as " option  in the e facts list .on the person profile
 You can add as many different spellings or different names as you like .
The "also known as  " facts will appear at the bottom of the timeline on the profile.

I think thru lines takes this into account.

I sometimes add an alternative name as a middle name too.
But if your matches put punctuation such as brackets the match will not show

For women maiden name in surname box and married names  in suffix . Again if your match does not do this their thru lines will not show .

For example  name Charlotte Lottie
Surname ROBERTS
Suffix BROWN SMITH

NOT  name Charlotte,  (Lottie )
Surname BROWN /SMITH

I add comments on profile as matches are more likely to look at that . Such as "used name Tully Goodwin from 1939 before then Israel GOLDSTEIN "

But that doesn't explain why YOUR ancestor does not show .
Thru lines can take several days to readjust ,are you waiting long enough after each change?

Good luck .

Ps I've just had some success by adding someone unknown to a DNA common ancestor who appears in matches trees by just adding surname .
I don't know if the persons parent was a male or a single mother but 1 thru line showed up on same day

*Apologies reading back I realised you'd already answered some of my questions

[Eric Hatfield]

Hi brigidmac, thanks for your thoughts. I find several things you say interesting - I'll need to think about adding "also known as" and suffixes. I presume the comments you suggest also appear on the timeline?

But your post was helpful in another way. Prompted by what you said, I went into the tree again and found I had stuffed up how I showed John's parents. So I corrected that and now John's dad appears in ThruLines where he didn't before! I presume his parents will appear in time.

I don't know how long this error was there. Perhaps it happened when I was testing different things as outlined above.

But for now, I think the matter may be resolved, and I'll humbly apologise to Ancestry and admit at least a major part of the problem was me!!

[brigidmac]

Glad that was resolved

Q
Do you have management to the DNA & tree &thru lines of the person who you are helping.or is it only YOUR thru lines that you are looking at ?

I've been prompted to check my 3rd cousins thru lines and how they differ. Her's mostly show as green .

[Eric Hatfield]

I have been given temporary control of the account, so I have a subscription and we have Pro Tools.

Just to reiterate, the matter we are researching, John Jones married Elfreda Milthorpe, had 9 children and then died. Elfreda then married Edwin Holloway and had 3 more children. DNA testing has shown that the last of the 9 "Jones" children, Kate, was actually fathered by Edwin (a descendant of Kate matches a descendant of Edwin's sister, which couldn't happen except if he was the father).

So my task is to see if any other of the 9 were also fathered by Edwin rather than John. I have found many matches with descendants of 6 of the 12 children and I'm trying to make sense of the DNA matches I have. My hope was to use ThruLines to identify possible matches to John's family, so that anyone who matched with them came from John's line.

So I have lots of information, but have been missing the most important, more info and DNA matches about John's parents and siblings. All made more difficult by the fact that everyone in Wales at that time seemd to have the same few names in their trees!

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

The algorithms won't search for an 'also known as' entry, it has to be an alternate fact in the name category.

See from about the 5:55 mark on this youtube video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw4cl6bavRI