Have any Geekzone members had an Ancestry DNA test?

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#2042612 22-Jun-2018 18:54

@kiwifidget on GEDmatch you can compare kit numbers one to one

DM the kit numbers (yours) and let me take a look I have used GEDmatch quite a bit, If you don't have the kit number then just DM me the email address they emailed you from

But I still need your kit number will start with A

John

thepatientgenie

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#2042664 22-Jun-2018 21:21

kiwifidget:

I uploaded my Ancestry DNA results to GEDMatch quite a while ago.

I dont really understand anything that it tells me.

But today I got an email from someone claiming to be related and asking me to get in touch, but their description of their ancestry bears absolutely no resemblance to mine.

And like I said, I dont understand the GEDMatch data enough to work out if they are legit or some kind of scam.

Are there any known scams of this nature though?

As a scientist I have looked into this long before I jumped in. There are things called false positive - the nature of there only being four base pairs and a few other technicaly things like endogamy, but these false positives are only with small matches. This is why all sites word matches as hints to explore not facts.

You can check this persons match yourself - head to GEDmatch, login run the One to Many tool for your kit and Ctrl+F to find their email addy and kit number.

Unlike learning to drive a car - we have no foundation knowledge to draw on when first looking at ones DNA results. So there is a steep learning curve - so the geek in me says RTFM. Larger companies offering these tests have great online help and videos.

While you get your head around things best to reply to the GEDmatch person - that you are new to all this and just starting out and not sure how you can help at this point in time - basically a holding reply. People on that site are more interested in comparing their results with people from other testing companies - and using tools that it offers the others dont have. So are generally more experienced. this blog post might help you.

http://www.genie1.com.au/blog/78-tips-for-using-gedmatch

Not knowing the ancestors they mention can be for lots of reasons - like the total amount of cM you share indicates that you say share 3rd great grandparents - do you know all of their names? Further back double the number of names to find.

The key is to build your family tree back 4 or 5 generations and add in all you ancestors siblings and their partners and children and so on for each generation as best you can, because if you go back to your 128 6th great grandparents they have hundreds of descendants carrying DNA segments that you too might share - so they turn up in your matches.

Best current advice

1 just use one site at a time to get your head around things, when you dont feel so overwhelmed then start playing with another site

2 watch the help videos on Ancestry (or the place you first tested at)

You Received Your AncestryDNA Results. Now What? (Part One)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmbmAt5bm34&t=710s&index=15&list=PL2F65E97B57EF8279

You Received Your AncestryDNA Results. Now What? (Part Two)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG-8Y19ANCc&index=13&list=PL2F65E97B57EF8279

If you like numbers and stats this is well worth reading

https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2017/08/26/august-2017-update-to-the-shared-cm-project/

If you have no idea what a second cousin once removed is this quirky video explains it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM79Epw_cp8

Hope that helps @kiwifidget

kiwifidget

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#2042727 23-Jun-2018 06:57

@thepatientgenie the person didn't mention any names, just countries, but I don't know of any ancestors in those countries. Which is what made me wonder if there was anything suspicious to be wary of.

I will follow your instructions, as my main reason for doing the DNA in the first place was to find my unknown great-grandfather. And to date I haven't actually gotten very far.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

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#2042743 23-Jun-2018 09:11

@kiwifidget You share just over 7cM so this person is a very distance relative like 8th cousin or maybe further @thepatientgenie

Not surprised you know nothing about them and it could be a false positive

John

thepatientgenie

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#2042744 23-Jun-2018 09:14

kiwifidget:

@thepatientgenie the person didn't mention any names, just countries, but I don't know of any ancestors in those countries. Which is what made me wonder if there was anything suspicious to be wary of.

I will follow your instructions, as my main reason for doing the DNA in the first place was to find my unknown great-grandfather. And to date I haven't actually gotten very far.

There are techniques for this @kiwifidget - am off speaking today - will be back to you tonight

thepatientgenie

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#2043240 24-Jun-2018 18:30

thepatientgenie:

kiwifidget:

@thepatientgenie the person didn't mention any names, just countries, but I don't know of any ancestors in those countries. Which is what made me wonder if there was anything suspicious to be wary of.

I will follow your instructions, as my main reason for doing the DNA in the first place was to find my unknown great-grandfather. And to date I haven't actually gotten very far.

There are techniques for this @kiwifidget - am off speaking today - will be back to you tonight

Finally a moment to reply to you @kiwifiget

1. RE: Various countries - you share DNA with ancestors many many generations back - so their living descendants today will be spread far and wide across the planet and will have lots and lots of different surnames you will never have heard of unless you research all the siblings of your ancestors and all their descendants LOL

2. To find unknown's like your great grandfather you need to eliminate the knowns so you can work on the ones that are left to see if they can point to him. Can be a lot of work depending on how close you matches are. Sometimes one ust has to wait for the right person to turn up ni your results! This video just came out and should help a lot, so when you have one hour and 10 minutes to watch a not boring presentation - you cant beat Dr Maurice Gleeson. http://bit.ly/UnknownMG

3. If you are a facebook user you might like to join this group - lost of learning to be done there and a safe plave to ask DNA understanding and analysis questions as well as research other records q's. This is where I hang out the most. Hard to be spread over too many media channels so FB is my most frequented place

www.facebook.com/groups/NZDNAUsersGroup

HTH