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The autosomal DNA tests offered by 23andMe and ftDNA are
becoming more and more popular for use in genealogy these days. Oftentimes
genealogists are overwhelmed by the number of matches they get back with their
test results though and are not sure where to go from there. I have 178 matches
to date and I took the test 6 months ago! They might have sent out several
emails to matches only to be disappointed when no one wrote them back. Or my
favorite so far is a match who simply tells me “My tree is online, check it out
and when you find a connection, let me know.” Of course, I am only
paraphrasing, but you get my point. And if you are lucky enough to find a match
who is interested in finding a genealogical connection, he or she might
actually ask to see your tree in exchange, so it might be good to have a copy
of your online family tree on hand as well. (I recommend keeping your
Ancestry.com tree private and invite matches as guests with viewing privileges
only).
So what happens when you find a match?
Last week I emailed one of my matches from my ftDNA
Family Finder test. It said we had 28.54 shared cMs of DNA and a prediction of 4th to distant cousin. She was also a match to a
gentleman that I had already confirmed a connection to via a paper trail – he
and I were 8th cousins, 2x removed on the HARDIN line from VA/KY. So
I prefaced my email with an inquiry as to whether or not she had any HARDINS in
her paper trail. Unfortunately, she did
not have any surnames uploaded to her profile, so I also requested a list of
her surnames with a promise of an exchange of my own (even though *my* surnames
*were* posted to my profile – some people don’t know how to access this or use
this utility of the ftDNA homepage.) She emailed me back and said she did not
have any HARDINs in her family tree, but she had Denham, Coats, Minter, Peugh, and Crew and
that her tree was posted online on ancestry.com. She told me the name of her
online tree – “Beauchamp-Denny” - but did not provide me with a link.
Although I have been using ancestry.com online family
trees for several years, both accessing other members’ trees and updating my
own, I still do not feel like I have a good handle on how to use it with any
measure of expertise. I find myself constantly bungling around the database and
waiting for pages to load and hitting the back button so I don’t lose my place.
How to find a member tree without a link:
The name of my match’s tree is “Beauchamp-Denny.” I could
not figure out a way to search for a tree name in Ancestry.com. The only
options I could find were in the Research Interests tab which searched by Last
Name, Location and Year. Typing in her last name brought up 2800 results.
Next I tried the Basic Information Tab and put in her
name as the User Name. I don’t know her actual Ancestry.com user name, but I
figured it would resolve a user name from whatever real name I put in, right?
Well that gave me over 10,000 results!!!
Ok, so simple solution…I noticed a trend lately. One of
my goals for 2012 is to do more Google searches and one of the annoying things
I’m finding come up in my results are links to entries at Ancestry.com (in
addition to geni.com and werelate.org, etc), so finally the light bulb went off.
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| I couldn't resist adding a DNA-themed lightbulb |
What if I do a google search on the “Beauchamp-Denny”
tree on “site: Ancestry.com”?
I click on the first result which says “Members
researching Ambrose Dixon – Ancestry.com.” I don’t know who Ambrose Dixon is,
but since this is my first time using Google search to find an Ancestry.com
online family tree, I am going to click this link to see where it takes me.
This is what comes up when I click the link – a list of members researching
Ambrose Dixon.
Even though I am not interested in Ambrose Dixon,
Ancestry.com has displayed a list of public online family trees, with user
names, and the names of the trees for me to peruse. The very first one on the
list is the “Beauchamp-Denny upload” tree name. I have put a red box around it.
So you see the Google search did a very good job retrieving this online tree
for me and I didn’t have to know the user name. It does tell me the user name
PDenny9470. It just so happens that my match’s name is P Denny, so this seems
to be the right tree, which is good, because as you can see, the box in the upper right hand corner tells me that there are 462
members researching the surname Dixon! I would hate to have to weed through all
of those trees!
In Part 2, I discuss how to navigate my match’s
Beauchamp-Denny tree and find a connection to my own line. I will also reveal a
surprise!
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Photo credits:
Dog and Cat shaking hands from Free Printable Coloring Pages
DNA Lightbulb copied from Terry Barton's worldfamilies.net page
DNA Lightbulb copied from Terry Barton's worldfamilies.net page
Hi Ginger,
ReplyDeleteGoogle is so great for genealogy searches. I did not think to use it like you just demostrated though. Great tutorial by the way.
Oh yea I see you have Putman in your line. Mine are out of upstate NY. Then into Canada as Loyalist, then on to Michigan.
Hi DuSyl, thanks so much for stopping by. Glad you liked the tutorial and the tip on using google search. It really saved my butt! Yes, I have Putmans that were from GA. Not sure how they got there though. I really like your blog and I'm glad to finally "meet" you!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Ginger! I love Ancestry.com, but it's not exactly the easiest to navigate at times. I'm sure I will be referring back to your post!
ReplyDeleteCherie, exactly! I have been having the hardest time with Ancestry.com as well and I think that's why there are so many errors - it's hard to navigate and then once a mistake is made, it's even harder to fix!
DeleteI get so frustrated when a DNA match simply gives you the name of their ancestry.com tree with no link and no list of surnames. It can be difficult to find their tree and I don't always have a current subscription, which means I can't access their tree.
ReplyDeleteValerie, I thought you could access the trees without a subscription but I could be wrong. Also, you can search for the tree with google search using the site:ancestry.com command in the search box.
ReplyDeleteWoW Ginger... perfect timing. I have used Ancestry for years. I took down my family tree a couple years ago, because people were using it and not giving me credit (personal notes about my parents that really got me). Anyway, just yesterday (before reading your Blog) I decided to try it again, this time keep it private. Needless to say, by 10 pm last night, I had taken it off. It is not easy to navigate, I keep getting lost. Thanks, at least I don't feel alone now. Alissa in Muskogee, OK
ReplyDeleteHI Alissa, I hope to make more blog posts about how to navigate our trees. You are right, they can be cumbersome and I think that's why there are so many errors out there. This is also why I don't add more stuff to my tree, or if I do, I am very careful with it. Thanks for reading!
Delete