DNA

Recently, my husband did the dna test through Ancestry and got back his results.  I personally have not done the test, but my sister has and I suspect my results would be similar to hers, so I have not done one of my own.

I've spent some time over the past few weeks looking at the results and trying to find ways to make the data useful to my research.

My first reaction was to be overwhelmed.  As soon as his results were live on the site, there were over 200 potential 'matches.'  "Wow!" I thought.  But after having some time to review, I'm not nearly so wowed.

I realize that perhaps Ancestry is not the best place to do the test, but since I am a complete newbie to dna as it relates to genealogy, it seemed a logical place to start.  The database there is growing quickly and so potential matches pop up regularly.  They seem to be working to improve their interface and I suspect that over time, it will become more useful to me than it is now.

One frustration is the high number of 'matches' that have no family tree attached.  I wonder what is the point?  There is no way to determine if there is a connection or not if there is no family data to compare to mine.

A second frustration is the private trees that seem to be 'matches.'  I understand the need to keep a tree private, but why not create a more basic tree that you don't mind making public and linking your test to that?  That is what I did for my husband's results.  It allows other 'matches' to review enough of his tree that they can determine if there is any possible connection. 

A final frustration is that the people managing the various dna 'matches' don't answer when you write to make a connection.  Of all the attempts I've made to connect with potential dna cousins, only two have responded.

The way the dna has been useful, however, is by reviewing the 'Shared Ancestor Hints.'  This is where Ancestry looks for ancestors who are in your tree and the trees of your dna matches.  Using the shared ancestor hints, I marked a printed pedigree chart for my husband with a star on each 'shared ancestor.'  Since these are dna matches as well as research/tree matches, I see these as another piece of evidence toward proving those particular ancestors as being actually my husband's.

So far, the lines for which I was most eager to find potential cousins are the lines without any matches.  I hope over time this will change.