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Gen 111 Ancestry

A Comment on Ancestry

1.         Ancestry Records are Great.

2.         Ancestry Family Trees often are flat out Wrong. Ancestry makes it easy, too easy, to copy sources and trees into your own tree. Ancestry has no method to correct the mistakes of others, so they get copied over and over and over again. Over time these mistakes begin to look like facts which they are not. Family Tree is a wiki and tens of thousands of users are constantly refining its accuracy into one shared Family Tree.

3.         Take the time to fix what you know is wrong in Family Tree and document why you are correct. I guarantee you will reap hidden rewards. In fixing the mistakes of others and revisiting your own conclusions, you will make many important discoveries.

Hint: Be Thorough. Use both Family Search Shared Family Tree and Ancestry.

Ancestry Thrulines

We have all marveled, rightfully so, at Ancestry Thrulines. It is a great new tool. However, it does not replace good old fashion research.

Observation: Thrulines is not a magical DNA matching tool. It looks at the family tree you submitted and the DNA matches it found. There is always a possibility of a false positive. The DNA tests find (accurately) that you are related. However, you are not related on the line you are looking at.

Observation: Matches often increase as you go further up the tree as you are adding another more distant batch of cousins. Matches drop off as you go up the tree if (1) other people are missing a person in their tree; or (2) one of you has a made a mistake in your tree.

Observation: Ancestry can be dangerous because of “copycats” that see a family tree and copy it without doing confirming research. This is compounded by Thrulines that looks like DNA confirms the line, so it can’t be wrong! Right?

Observation: Thrulines has in their graphic an area to “evaluate”. Click on these and look around. If the other matches do not cite “records” or the records don’t confirm the relationship, then ignore those folks.

Observation: Endogenous communities with a lot of cousin marriages can really skew aDNA results like Ancestry making it look like someone is more closely related than they actually are.

Here are a few scenarios:

1.         Many Matches - DNA Looks Right.

            What Might Be Happening:

            A. Everyone is right. This is what we want. All parties have well researched and accurate trees. The DNA tests find a match. Suggestion: Go back another generation and review those results.

            B. Everyone is wrong, but agree with each other, i.e. faulty group thinking. This is a disaster. The DNA tests find (accurately) that you are related. However, all parties have made the same mistake. This is really hard to spot and evaluate.

2.         No Matches.

            What Might Be Happening:

            A. I am right and others are wrong. Suggestion: Drop back a generation to where you agree, look at their tree. Determine where they went wrong. Be a good Samaritan genealogist, if you know you are right and enlighten them with sources. Above all, be humble.

            B. I am right and others are clueless. Others match at a recent generation, but they are not a match as you go further back to earlier generations. Be a good Samaritan genealogist. If you know you are right, enlighten them about the generations they are missing with sources. Above all, be humble.

            C. I am wrong and others are right. You match and agree at recent generations, but you do not agree as you go further back to earlier generations. Suggestion: Review both of your sources; and do some more research, if applicable. Confirm they are right, eat a serving of humble pie, and make additions and corrections to your tree.

            D. I think I am right (but have no proof) and know others are wrong. Confirm they are wrong and diplomatically alert them, preferably with sources. Above all, be humble. Let them know you cannot confirm your tree either.

            E. I think I am right (but have no proof) and others are clueless. Others match at an earlier generation, but they are not a match as you go further back. Suggestion: Let the others know you cannot confirm this ancestor. Give them your theories and logic and ask for theirs. Don’t add to your tree until you at least have some confirming evidence even though it may not be conclusive..

            F. I am clueless and others are clueless. Suggestion: Research like crazy and drive your family nuts.

Thruline Hints. There are a lot of false positives in Thruline Hints. This is because: (1) the match could be from another surname altogether; (2) the match might be from someone entirely different in the same surname line; or (3) results are skewed by first or second cousin marriages. Look at their sources and update your tree if you agree. Do nothing if you can not confirm with sources. Do not contribute to faulty group thinking. If the hint has many matches from many siblings, there is a greater likelihood the hint is correct. If the hint has only matches to your line, be very skeptical.

Final Thoughts.

            A. Good genealogy is all about sources. Add them to your Ancestry family trees. Take the time to link to sources in Ancestry. Find more sources through research and attach them to your trees.

            B. FS Family Tree. Don’t forget about the shared Family Tree in the Family Tree section of familysearch.org. It is often superb in finding and linking records. Take the time the merge duplicate records and add sources to files there.

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