"Possible networks found" on Ancestry trees

[Josephine]

I was looking at the tree I have up on Ancestry and noticed at the bottom right a rectangle labelled "Networks BETA - Possible networks found - View."

When I clicked on it, I got a pop-up section inviting me to "Create my own" network. Without knowing what this is for, it just seems like busy-work to me.

Has anyone used this? If so, has it been useful or helpful to you, and why?

Thanks in advance.

[David Nicoll]

I think this is one of those things where Ancestry hope you will do the hard work for them. Building trees of families who, were in the area of yours, may be related or just lived in the same place at the same time.
Potentially useful for those DNA matches who you can’t link …..

[Josephine]

I suspect you're right. I'm not interested in the neighbours of everyone in my extended family tree.

Many years ago, before the census records were indexed, I went through specific cities page by page, looking for family members. Then I'd have to do it all over again, because what I'd learned sent me backwards or forwards in time.

It did give me a sense of which extended family members lived nearby, and that can be interesting, but it's really only do-able in a small village, town or city. Imagine trying to track all the Reillys in Boston and then trying to figure out if any of them were related to me -- what a colossal waste of time that would be (for my purposes, anyway).

[David Nicoll]

The potential benefit is getting through a brick wall, and it is interesting, and gives you a better picture of your family, but at least with my family, in certain branches, I am getting the impression that before about 1700 they are related to everyone in the area. Whole  genome analysis may give better granularity, but only time will tell, and even now Ancestry and others have the ability to give us automatically significantly more accurate trees. You can do it manually but it is a slog.

[Josephine]

Those are interesting points; thank you.

[Biggles50]

The theory is there but at present it is like looking for a needle in a haystack that is somewhere in East Anglia.

Creating a network to find someone who you have no idea who that person is, in reality it is mind boggling.

Actual Live Scenario.

Two DNA tests that I manage are First Cousins and one is Once Removed to the other.
The older Cousin has a Great Grandmother (b1873) whose Father is unknown.
I have looked at over 120 DNA matches who both the Cousin’s share.
Where possible I have built trees going back to 1820.
There are no DNA Tools available.
Gedmatch and My Heritage were no help.
I have had this brickwall for 20 years.
The Brickwall has a question ”who is the Father of the older Cousin’s Great Grandmother?”.

With this I genuinely have no idea how a Network could possibly help.

[Josephine]

My impression is that Pro Tools now includes a "private workspace" for figuring out the "networks," which seem to be comprised of our relatives' neighbours.

But if you stop paying for Pro Tools, you won't be able to access anything that you've put into that private workspace: unless you've also saved it to your home computer, it will be hidden from you.

This might be fine with people who put their tree(s) only onto Ancestry and who do most or all of their research (clicking yes or no on Ancestry's hints) within Ancestry -- perhaps this is, or will be, the case especially for people who primarily use their phone rather than their laptop or a desktop computer.

I don't see how it would help with Biggles50's search (or mine, for that matter). Perhaps the networks will appeal to people who are more interested in the social history of a location during a specific time frame.

Maybe, over time, people who use it will let us know if/how it was helpful to them.

[David Nicoll]

Hi, I think that is why I said Ancestry want us to do the hard work. We are afte4 all the product and do the hard research for them.
I think the are encouraging us to put those bits and pieces of trees we all have into Ancestry in a managed way, this will give their AI tree building software more to munch on for things like Thrulines. The best data will come from those obsessed enough to cough up for Pro Tools.

[Josephine]

I suspect you're right, David Nicoll.

I have coughed up for Pro Tools recently, and it's been worth it for me, because it has enabled me to identify the probable fathers of my grandmother and my great-grandfather (different lines). It has also enabled me to identify the probable father of a distant cousin.

This new feature doesn't appeal to me, however.