Ancestry DNA Help

[ErnieMac]

Interesting reading as my wife and I recently started thinking about DNA testing.

@LoriAnn - my wife considers you a soul mate; wonders how her stash compares against yours. Are you on Ravelry?

 

[LoriAnn]

@LoriAnn - my wife considers you a soul mate; wonders how her stash compares against yours. Are you on Ravelry?

Yes! Tell her I'm "BostonMama3" on Ravelry and Instagram. That yarn I mentioned earlier has arrived too. I just posted a photo here on Instagram.

Does she also pull all her yarn out about twice a year to happily roll around in it?

 

[ErnieMac]

Yes! Tell her I'm "BostonMama3" on Ravelry and Instagram. That yarn I mentioned earlier has arrived too. I just posted a photo here on Instagram.

Does she also pull all her yarn out about twice a year to happily roll around in it?

My wife, aka feistywoman, is currently in her studio spinning, but says hi.

 

[Karen Lips]

Funny thing is--there was a time I would not claim the English part, which might amount to as much as half.

Why not claim the English part, if I may ask?

 

[TerryB]

Why not claim the English part, if I may ask?

They have a history with the Scots and Irish that's best forgotten.

 

[Karen Lips]

They have a history with the Scots and Irish that's best forgotten.

I must agree with you on this.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Late poet Nigel Jenkins, of Wales. I first heard this one read by his daughter Angharad at the North American Festival of Wales (she's a terrific fiddler in the folk band Calan). Possibly a distant relative, although there's no way to be certain at this point.

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Having traced everyone back to at least the 1700s, and finding no hard evidence of Native Americans despite family legends, I have so far opted not to be tested. I know I'm English, Welsh, Irish and Scots, but I guess the percentages would be interesting.

The test on Ancestry won't break down the English/Welsh/Scottish percents, it's all one lump total and then Irish is separate. I was hoping for a more clear breakdown as well since I'm unsure if some ancestor surnames are English or Scottish as they are found in both areas.

Chiming in about whether to contact people with "private trees". I suppose there is a slightly different reason why each person chooses to have their tree private or not but here is mine. When I first started on ancestry I had a private tree because I didn't want anyone to see my research. As I got more comfortable with what I was doing and was sure of my work I made it public hoping to hear from other "cousins". I did connect with several with some interesting information exchanged. I recently made my tree private again because quite frankly I got quite tired of people grabbing several documents/pictures from my tree without the courtesy of responding to an inquiry from me to chat about our mutual ancestry. So in making my tree private I am hoping that people WILL contact me so we can share.

I certainly don't mean to be off putting with my response but when you have traveled great distances to get headstone pictures and saved your money to purchase many of the documents I have obtained I feel its the least someone can do is say hi while they pick through your research cousin or not

I can understand having information snatched off your tree after much research by others as frustrating. I've had a similar thing happen to me as I was the first person to break through a brick wall on one branch and find death certificates and burial sites for some great-great grandparents no one could seem to track down. I got a lucky break and low and behold suddenly a whole bunch of 'cousins' pulled it off my tree without contacting me either. I was pretty peeved at the time. Though as a whole I find having the public tree helpful as some people do reach out to me and I to them and most folks don't snatch stuff up without asking. Some are curious how you came by the information, as I think they're interested in not just learning the information, but the methods used to find it.

I have been considering doing this simply out of curiosity about just that, but I have no particular interest in contacting distant relatives. I did a lot of the genealogy back in the '60s and early '70s, and had solidly documented a few thousand individuals. ALL of the results of that were lost in a fire about 20 years ago (along with all my other stuff -- including family photos, decades of notes and files, and original documents dating back to the 1590s --sort of knocked the stuffing out of me emotionally, as you can well guess). All I have left is my memory of what I found and where I found it (which, so far, has been pretty good, I think). I don't have the time, the energy, the money, or, frankly, the spirit to do it all over again.

On another note, I have also considered it for my son, who is adopted -- if he should ever express an interest (he is mildly curious). His was an international adoption, by the way, and it's interesting to note that in some countries adoption records are open. We already have the names of his birth parents, and maternal grandparents (they're in the adoption records) -- a good starting place if he ever wants to trace it (my ex-wife, his mother finds that a frightening thought, for some reason). [BTW: He also has to keep away from Brazil until he's over 35, or he might find himself conscripted -- they say it's a real danger, we were warned even by people at the Brazilian Consulate.]

OMG! That's horrible that you lost your research I'd be beyond devastated. Your adopted son might find the the DNA test useful, especially one maybe from another company outside of Ancestry that claims to provide health details that are lurking in your DNA. That especially may be handy to know about.

 

[Allie]

Public trees are meant to be a resource, and historical facts are not the private property of the person who uncovers them. Why would you be annoyed that someone was benefitting from your research? I for sure don't contact someone and say thanks every time I add a burial location to my tree. How on earth would anyone searching Ancestry even know you were the first to break through a brick wall, or even that it had been a brick wall? It seems a little odd to describe using the program in the normal way as "snatching."

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Public trees are meant to be a resource, and historical facts are not the private property of the person who uncovers them. Why would you be annoyed that someone was benefitting from your research? I for sure don't contact someone and say thanks every time I add a burial location to my tree. How on earth would anyone searching Ancestry even know you were the first to break through a brick wall, or even that it had been a brick wall? It seems a little odd to describe using the program in the normal way as "snatching."

It took a year of digging around since these ancestors just seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth. I had reached out to some people who shared the ancestors asking them about some of the info they had and none responded to me. So when I posted my findings months later those same people used the information in their tree. That's why I felt miffed about the experience. I don't expect a thank you or an acknowledgement from people for using things from my tree. It was just that particular situation that got under my skin.

 

[LoriAnn]

Just wanted to report that within 2 days of signing up, I found cousins on my maternal grandma's side. And they are sending me info and photos, quite giddy to have found another family member.

I agree that it's good manners to contact the tree owner, but honestly...(to tree owner)..."That's MY grandma in your photo there, pal."

 

[Anna Elizabeth Henry]

Just wanted to report that within 2 days of signing up, I found cousins on my maternal grandma's side. And they are sending me info and photos, quite giddy to have found another family member.

I agree that it's good manners to contact the tree owner, but honestly...(to tree owner)..."That's MY grandma in your photo there, pal."

That's great! It's wonderful when you have those kinds of experiences. Most people are friendly, but I suppose you're always bound to get a person who doesn't want to deal with people reaching out to them. LOL! Yes, exactly some people do have photos and info you don't have of a person who is dear to you.

My great-grandfather was fortunate enough to get photographs and some documents out of Austria as refugee of his parents and his in-laws and I'm always thrilled when someone reaches out to me asking me where I got the photos from since most cousins never knew they existed or if they ever did were lost during WWII.

 

[diane]

Just wanted to report that within 2 days of signing up, I found cousins on my maternal grandma's side. And they are sending me info and photos, quite giddy to have found another family member.

I agree that it's good manners to contact the tree owner, but honestly...(to tree owner)..."That's MY grandma in your photo there, pal."

That's precisely my problem with some family trees people have put up. Some people are just wonderful - glad to find another family member and more information - but some people are...not wonderful! I contacted a distant cousin who had my grandparents, parents and us all messed up...unbelievable, really...and this character wouldn't even admit the whole lot of us are Indian. Seriously, cousin, when everybody looks like Geronimo, you have to admit to it! (Or Jackie Chan... My sister is always being mistaken for Chinese or Hawaiian...)

 

[LoriAnn]

LOL! Yes, exactly some people do have photos and info you don't have of a person who is dear to you.

It's so funny. I briefly regressed back to the age of 5. "Hey! She belongs to me!" *has flashbacks to sleepovers, trips to the zoo, baking cookies*

 

[LoriAnn]

Seriously, cousin, when everybody looks like Geronimo, you have to admit to it!

 

[RobertBruceFerguson]

Which trait is Neanderthal?

I'm saying that my Neanderthal DNA came from the European side of my family tree rather than the American Indian. Neanderthal remains have been found in Europe but not in North America ... "Neanderthals have traditionally been portrayed as dark haired, darker skinned primates, recent research indicates that quite the opposite may be the case." (http://www.dailytech.com/NeanderthalHuman+Breeding+Was+Hard+But+Yielded+Benefits/article34236.htm)