Hi Constance, OMG! This video was so enlightening! Thank you so much. I'd just stumbled onto the ThruLines for my sister last night and was blown away by the information received but I wanted to wait until I learned more about them. So today I did a quick youtube search and BINGO! I discovered your video. Keep up the good work.
I agree with your assessment of Trulines. I feel the same way about it. It's always important to do the homework on any documents that you find concerning the people in your tree.
I'm using Thru lines currently. It is providing interesting clues. It is definitely important to make sure to look for evidence to support any conclusions.
Thank you....thank you so much. I've been listening to an Ancestry video and having trouble following it. I basically have been doing just what you explained...and it made sense and makes me feel better that I'm doing this right. I have tried to look at circles and just didn't get anything from it at all. Then up shows that little blue circle on the upper left of a person in the whole family view. It was a GOLD MINE!!! I have spent so many hours honing in on brick walls, meeting new ancestors! Maybe I'm wrong to look at it this way, but seeing the little blue circles follow on up the line tells me what I've put together is basically true....confirmed that these people are in fact my ancestors!!! Thanks again for putting up this video!
j Bradley Just make sure to thoroughly check all the suggestions by ThruLines. It can be a very helpful tool but keep in mind that just because you have a ThruLine icon and DNA matches that list that same ancestor/ancestral couple, it does not necessarily mean that it is correct. It means that you are related to all your matches but you’re not 100% sure how since Ancestry does not give us tools such as a chromosome browser. While having lots of matches and a paper trail is good evidence, I just want to stress to be cautious. An example I use that is a bit silly but it’s meant to illustrate how ThruLines works is this. Say that you and 10 DNA matches and 3 non-matches all have trees that go back several generations and list Mickey Mouse as an ancestor. ThruLines will then tell you that Mickey Mouse is the likely shared ancestor of all of your matches because it pulled the info from the trees of your matches as well as other trees who may not have even tested and you’ll get that same icon saying Mickey Mouse is your 4th great-grandfather for example. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the ancestor is inaccurate but it also doesn’t mean it’s accurate either. It’s up to each person to research the suggested ancestor to see if there is documentation to support it. One potential downside is that because it uses tree data to suggest ancestors, if a person made a tree years ago that had incorrect data and many people have come along since and copied it (as we see so often on Ancestry) then you add in people taking DNA tests and know they’re related and see that lots of their matches have this person in their tree, it creates confirmation bias. In other words, use ThruLines as you would a hint or even another member’s tree. ThruLines has great potential to help us but it is susceptible to errors being introduced quite easily. I say this as someone who likes it quite a bit and thinks it’s a very good tool. Best of luck!
Well said! I am very skeptical of family trees and rarely use them due to early mistakes I made. I have a free membership which doesn't let me get as much information through thrulines so I may consider a short term membership while I thoroughly research potential ancestors and contact "cousins" for more info. Ancestry cousin matches have been extremely helpful in my opinion. This was definitely helpful to me by showing how much further I can go with a paid membership.
One big missing piece is the ability to refute the connection. I have a couple that are named Charles and Esther, but there is another Charles and Esther in the same area of Connecticut, in the last 1700's with the same last name. My couple is maybe 10 years older. I have historic and personal information that links Esther to my tree but Charles is a brick wall. I don't know who his parents are, but I know who his parents are not. Unfortunately, many trees attribute the unrelated parents to my Charles. Everyplace that I've seen the misattribution, I've contacted the tree owners. Now it shows up in Thru-lines. It's like the error that will not be erased.
Good observation. It kind of feels a little like FamilySearch.org where there is a common world tree with others mistakes. I keep advising people to just use ThruLines for clues. Just like looking at a census record, if it is not yours, move on the the next clue. Just keep in mind that Thrulines is not your tree... but is just showing you the possibilities within your tree. I think it is a mindset that everyone needs to think about and consider it as... here's a possible connection... not an absolute connection. I do wish they had a way to ignore each connection though, like they do with hints.
I just recently found your channel on TH-cam and have just started watching the shows and thoroughly enjoy and learn from each one. I have a second cousin and a third cousin (per cM's) and they are sisters. I cannot find how we are related. We have a lot of shared matches and from what I have been able to figure out, the connection is through my mother's father. I don't know how to proceed from here to find the "missing link" Many of my third cousins are shared matches with them as well, but I feel like I am going in circles. Can you point me in the right direction for how to search please, it is driving me nuts, lol. Thank you so much for your knowledge and willingness to share. (I have been doing genealogy for about 12 years sporadically but am strictly an amateur.
I watched your video on the cluster-fan research but was unable to duplicate it as I could not remember all the steps. Are there written notes with the various steps to take? That would be so helpful. Again thank you for such a wonderful resource and educational channel♥️
Naomi Fron when you have DNA matches like this that you can’t ascertain the connection, try building their trees for them in your own tree (or you can use a separate “research tree” for things like this where you do all of your theory work). In this case, your matches are sisters, so utilize this. Do either of them have any tree info showing? If so, utilize it and create a tree with their parents and build it back in time until you get to the shared ancestor/ancestral couple. If neither has ANY tree info at all and you’ve contacted both and haven’t heard back, then try looking at some other clues. Are either on GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, etc? Do their Ancestry profiles list a location where they live? Try using Google and some of the resources for living people that list relationships for people based on public records. If you know their approximate ages and locations, you’re more likely to know when you’ve found them in current public record searches. Utilize any data like that in which you can that will help elucidate their identities so that you can find obituaries, etc which can give you clues on who their parents and grandparents were. This is where it’s very helpful to have the fullest tree possible by utilizing descendancy research. Document as far wide and down to current day as you can and you’ll be surprised at how many more of your DNA matches will be revealed in the process. In order to do this, trace all siblings of your ancestors and then all of their children, grandchildren, etc down as close to present day as possible. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it’s SO worth it. It makes ThruLines exponentially more useful because it is more apt to find the possible connection (which you then must verify to make sure it is correct) plus you have the added benefit of making the most of your DNA match list. This aids in breaking down brick walls because you’ll start to see more and more matches that help you prove or disprove family relationship theories. I hope this helps! Best of luck!
I am hoping that at some stage Ancestry will allow comparison of the shared genetics for matches so that it is then possible to get an idea of which part of the genetics is shared from which branch.
Great idea, however, in my account I do not have the same info at the bottom of my "DNA Results Summary" page nor does it ever convert back to the DNA circles. Sure wish I did.
I am fairly new to genealogy and am quite excited about ThruLines. However, there is one big problem with Thru-Lines not mentioned in the video. The first day I discovered TrueLines, I found a number matches on my Grandfather's line. The next day I went back to work on my list of matches, and they were all gone. True-Lines had discarded my G Grandmother already in my tree, and instead showed a "potential ancestor", and builds out a potential ancestor tree. It's wrong... the person is not my Grandfather's mother, she did have a son with the same first and last name as my Grandfather but different middle name, and the rest of her offspring are all wrong, and my grandfather's wife is wrong, and so on. But there seems to be no way to get rid of the erroneous great grandmother from True-Lines. I mentioned this in feedback a couple weeks ago, but so far no resolution. This is very frustrating.
+dtvdxer Yes it is possible that the ThruLines could be incorrect. Typically this is because of other family trees that have incorrect data importing into the line. That’s why am always cautious about what you see in there, because it’s using the trees of other Ancestry members. And if their data is incorrect, then it would show an incorrect line in the ThruLines. However, you might be able to figure out who has the incorrect data by looking at the source member in that ThruLine. Also keep in mind that the ThruLine is not your tree, it’s just providing you clues. It’s not perfect, I’ve heard some other issues with adoptive family names creeping in. Like any set of clues, some will be correct and some will not. It’s up to you to verify the data. Thanks for the comment and watching Genealogy TV.
As she stated in the video, there's different parts to this: 1. There's a DNA match aka Circles. This part is fact because it's DNA. (don't mix that information up with people's trees.) If you still don't understand I recommend that you go to Ancestry's TH-cam channel and watch their DNA videos. DNA is very tricky but once you understand it, it will help you a lot in your research. 2. There's tree hints. We are all human, some people take their research very seriously and some people attach everything to their tree. That is why you will hear the people who love this hobby and take it seriously to take notes; we take a lot of notes. When I am researching someone I attach and test documents and such but until I do the research for myself, I don't believe other people's research. On the hint for your Grandmother that is wrong. Ancestry is not going to fix that hint, it is just that, it's a hint for you to look at, if it's wrong you can contact them and let them know or you can ignore it and move forward with your research. As far as notes go, I do paper notes while researching, once I have something tested I will either make a note in the Notes or the View Comments on the Person I am researching. I also place notes in each Fact Detail Description (for example census records). Any and all Notes are wonderful down the road when you are looking at someone and trying to update information or you have someone asking you questions. Just and FYI in case you didn't know. "View Notes" is private and "View Comments" is public if your tree is public. I hope that helps and happy hunting :-)
I've had to contact a few people because they had wrong information in their tree and the algorithm seems to almost TRY to pick trees that have errors in the names or no photos lol. They should also add an icon for filtering to the DNA match list, in addition to the leaf that's already in the match lists. Hopefully they'll fix that and then it'll make the feature 3x better!
@@GenealogyTV I sent them feedback early in the week and I'm hoping they'll fix those issues! I'm working on combining my two trees to better the ThruLines. I have a tree for both my mom and my dad's side, which was fine until I did the DNA test in August.
@@wyattandwill12 I do believe combining trees is a good idea. The only time I keep separate trees if if I'm working a case and creating a hypothesis. When I do, I keep those trees private until I've proven the results.
Wow, thank you very much! I immediately singed up! My DNA Summary page does not have New Ancestor Discoveries Beta section, and the pretty much did not give me help on the phone with them. Can you tell me why I don't have any New Ancestor Discovery? Thank you!
+Jeroen Ashton I honestly don’t know. I wish I could help with that one. I’ve heard they’re rolling out different stuff at different times but that is unconfirmed info. See my new video about enabling some features. That may help.
@@GenealogyTV I am NOT able to use DNA Circles--no button available, and they could do nothing when I called a month ago. I never tries them, and would have likes to try it.
You'll always need to verify those links with traditional paper trail research. However, those ThruLines are created by others who have created their trees to say that is the line. So they may or may not be correct. Always try to prove each link in the line with normal (non-DNA) research. So can you rely on that? Not really, but it might be a great place to start looking. Use it like hints, just like any other hints on Ancestry, you'll need to determine if it's correct.
Hi Constance! Great channel...I sub’d! I am having trouble with ThruLines as though I have parents and grandparents going to 4th and some more...ThruLines is showing all with dotted lines and telling me to evaluate. I was merrily doing that, then Instarted to notice Innow had those folks TWICE in my tree. Once I merged them, back to ThruLines...person is back to having a dotted line and needing to be evaluated. I have sent this feed back to Ancestors. Please, what am I doing wrong? Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Carla
Hi Carla. More than likely, you're not doing anything wrong but a few things come to mind. Remember that ThruLines is a collaboration of other member trees lining up other peoples trees (dotted lined ancestors) within a view that also shows your tree (solid lined ancestors). So the dotted lined folks are hints to you from other researchers. Now keeping that in mind, if an Ancestry member has a change in name spelling or has attached a person to the wrong part of a tree, ThruLines might show it to you differently. For example, lets say that Ancestor A is correct in Member A's tree, but in another member... say Member B has Ancestor A attached to another branch of the tree by mistake, then I could see how Ancestor A is lining up in two different branches (or places) in your ThruLines view. Also know sometimes ThurLines needs a day or so to reevaluate after you make changes too... it needs to run it's algorithms again. So come back a day or two later to check. It might correct itself. I do know that Ancestry is working on a way for you to ignore parts of ThruLines to get rid of incorrect information from your view. I'm not sure if that has been implemented yet or not, I don't see it in there. They know it is a source of irritation for many members. Here's a note from Ancestry "ThruLines suggestions come from Ancestry trees and when members make changes to their trees, ThruLines may also change." I hope that helps. BTW, I love that you're a photographer... me too!
Genealogy TV Hi and thank you so much for replying! Yes, I did hear you say you are also a photographer, very nice! I want to take time to watch your restoration videos some day soon. I have just finished my second book on my journals I kept while searching for and photographing Pony Express ruins along the trail. I mean just finished...as in today! Thank you for the hint about ThruLines taking a day to update...maybe that’s why. As it has been my dad who I have added, who is deceased, and it continues to show him with dotted line and private. I finally just quite using it. Thank you again for writing!
I think there's a lot of value to Thrulines, but I have run into a lot of "Potential Ancestors" who are already in my tree. Some of them are name variations "Liza Cameron" vs "Elizabeth C. Cameron". Some I frankly don't understand as we match on Name, dob, marriage and dod.
Constance, have you tried the WATO tool with the DNA matches from Thru Lines? I did one for one of these potential ancestors with 15 DNA cousins and got big fat zeros in WATO. AND almost all the matches are tiny percentages.. 🤔
I have not. That might be a good idea for someone to explore. That's a totally new episode that I should consider. For those who might not know what she is talking about, I believe she is referring to What Are The Odds tool in DNA Painter tools.
I don't have the Personal Discovery Project or New Ancestry Discoveries. I see where you had suggested in another reply that it may have to be enabled under settings. I don't see that anywhere either... Help please???
Bill Miller Try a couple of things... at the top of your screen click on Extras, at the bottom of the drop down menu, go to Ancestry Lab and see if you can enable the items you're looking for. I've enabled everything... so I see the Personal Discovery Project in the DNA drop down menu, so look there too.
In your tutorial, I noticed that an ancestor's birth was listed in 1790 Greenbrier Co, WV which is true, however, prior to WV becoming a state 20 Jun 1863, all counties were part of VA and should be recorded as such to be accurate. For example, John Doe, b. 1700, Henrico County, VA. d. 1790, Greenbrier County, VA (now WV).
Great video, thanks. I found a quirk with ThruLines and hope you can help. I have a great grandmother in my tree, but she does not show up in my ThruLines. Her husband, my great grandfather shows up, but she does not. I don’t understand why she is not there.
Joe, It might be because the ThruLines is using DNA in combination with user trees... so could it be that she is not in the other users trees? Alternatively, it could be that there are no matches in the DNA data base that matches her. I'd like to use your question in an upcoming episode. It's a good one.
@@GenealogyTV The options I have under the DNA tab are: "Your DNA Results Summary"; "DNA Story"; "DNA Matches"; "Personal Discoveries Project"; "Activate A Test"; and "Buy A Test" No option for DNA Circles. None of those links have an option for DNA Circles either.
I'm creating a Q&A video right now... and I'm going to use your question. But in short, go to the DNA tab, click on "Your DNA Results Summary," under the DNA Traits Summary there are three boxes side by side. The right one will be your ThruLines box if you've enabled it, if not it will be the DNA Circles. If you've enabled the the Thrulines already, then at the bottom of the Thrulines box there is a link to take you to the DNA circles area. It says "Looking for DNA Circles?" Then pick any of the profiles and it will open up the DNA Circle for that person. You might have to scroll down some to see it. Let me know if that works for you. Also, to help others, are you a paid subscriber to Ancestry or using a free account? That helps me to help others.
I can click the explore thrulines and see lots of information but am not seeing the Beta View All New Ancestors Discoveries which seems to have some neat possibilities. I do see potential ancestors on thrulines.
Check out tomorrow’s episode about the new tags. I also talk about where to enable it. I’m also hearing that it is rolling out at different times for different people, but that is unconfirmed.
Hello. I was looking at my True Lines and found a 5th great-grandfather that had 0 dna matches. Could this mean he was not my biological grandfather? It seems all the other grandparents had at least 3 dna matches. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.
Not necessarily. A fifth great grandfather is going to have very little DNA from you or your cousins. Think of it this way, you inherit 50% of their DNA from your parents each, therefore you have 25% of the DNA from your grandparents, therefore you have 12 1/2% DNA from your great great grandparents, 6 1/4% from your great great great grandparents, about 3% from your 4X grandparent, and about 1 1/2% from your fifth grade grandparent. The DNA so small that far back, it’s probably not showing up.
For me, I go to the DNA tab at the top of the screen, select Your DNA Summary, scroll all the way to the bottom... the last section before the ads for ancestry is “New Ancestor Discoveries” and then it shows a beta symbol.
The software has been upgraded since that video was produced so it might look a little different. DNA circles has been replaced with Thrulines, which is a big improvement since then.
How about the new Ancestry DNA- percentages!! Haha I lost my Scot Heritage from 38% now 9%?? Are they crazy??? Isle of Mann promise I’ve found no Scot GGP from Isle of Man, Scotland!!
At Gedmatch My mother and I share 3,569.4 cM (segments at least 7 cM in length) At AncestryDNA, my mother and I share 3,305 cM That is a 264 difference. My father has been dead for over 20 years, and so there is no way of checking my DNA against his. but my paternal Aunt Carrie tested she is my father's maternal halfsister, and so she's my half aunt At Gedmatch, my paternal Aunt Carrie and I share 912.3 cM (segments at least 7 cM in length) At Ancestry DNA, my paternal Aunt Carrie and I share 766 cM That is a 146 cM difference. AncestryDNA is removing a lot of valid segments! I don't trust their Timber algorithm. I never did after I started losing matches that matched both my mother and me at other sites. I lost paternal Acadian DNA segment matches too, and some of them match me on other sites. I also checked my largest Acadian segment match at Ancestry. It's a Cajun woman that matches both me and my Aunt Carrie with a 27 cM segment match on Chromosome 5 but appears as a match to only me at AncestryDNA. AncestryDNA shows only 11.6 cM across 1 segment. That's 16 cM less than at Gedmatch. I am thinking that AncestryDNA wiped out much of my paternal European Chromosome 5 segment. I had three 11 cM Chromosome 5 matches that are 3 generations directly related at Gedmatch that used to appear at AncestryDNA. It was in the same area where I am matching people with Acadian ancestry. At Gedmatch, my largest chromosome segment with my Aunt Carrie is 89 cM segment on Chromosome 5 which seems to be my entire paternal Chromosome 5 European segment and where I am matching people with Acadian ancestry. Keep in mind that my Aunt Carrie is over 80 percent African. Ancestry seems to think much of my paternal European on Chromosome 5 is a pileup because I am matching too many people with Acadian (French in Nova Scotia,Canada) ancestry, and most of my 4 percent paternal European is the large segment on Chromosome 5. Well...If they read up on the Acadian history and genealogy, there is so much recent endogamy that all people with some amount of Acadian ancestry are related through at least one person that came to Nova Scotia from France in the 17th Century. Many of us are related to each other more than once and descend from an ancestor more than once. My 4th Great Grandmother Anastasia Bourgeois was 5 times a descendant of Jean Terriot and his wife Perrine Rau. She descended from 3 cousin couples that are no more distantly related than 3rd cousin.
Raymond this is not an uncommon complaint with the Timber algorithm. It does remove valid segments and leans more toward a conservative level of matching. It can be frustrating for sure, but the upside is that due to Ancestry’s more cautious estimates, it reduces the chances of false positives in IBS matches. This does tend to remove those matches which are of smaller shared centimorgan relationships, but it does it across all matches as you saw with your mother-I’ve seen many examples just like yours that illustrate the conservative estimation of Timber. The downside, of course, is the false negatives that we must deal with instead. Timber struggles with what constitutes an IBD match to a genealogically relevant ancestor/ancestral couple and with what is the IBS remnants of a shared biogeographical history. I think my biggest issue with Timber filtering out these matches is that because Ancestry refuses to give us the tools that every other company does to analyze our data, they have made Timber the arbiter of matching without letting us check it ourselves to see if we agree or disagree with the algorithm’s choices.
However truly this is not very different than what they’ve been doing all along by providing “Ancestry Family Trees” as sources when they are not. Most of my potentials, when I go to them all they have for sources are others family trees. I’ve yet to find solid evidence. It’s all he said she said. I’d appreciate simply hearing that it was a strong family tradition over this incessant “Ancestry Family Trees” as their source. People are lazy and they just don’t understand.
I agree it’s not much different than what they’ve been doing all along. However, they’re showing you (potentially) where all those cousin matches fit into the family tree, which I find helpful. Thanks for the comment and for watching Genealogy TV.
I am disappointed with ancestry ... the only thing I wanted to find with my DNA was who was my great great Grandfather... I thought maybe I might get a connection with someone out of all of the DNA connections I have but....you guessed it, nothing not a thing and as for the thrulines with this issue... yep not happening at all sigh...
+me heretoday Hang in there. Sometimes you have to wait for a match. I just solved a mystery that took two years for the right match to take the test. Alternatively you can export the raw DNA data and upload it to Ged Match for free and see if there are any matches over there.
I can't understand why people put there information on ancestry only to mark it private it should be shared that is the reason ancestry is there they need to unblock there trees
Junwell Brantley, sometimes people are looking for missing parents or they have sensitive information they aren't ready to share with the world. Sometimes I'll create private trees because I'm working through some pie-in-the-sky theories and want to see how the hint features help me. Until I prove those crazy theories, I don't want people importing unproven data, so I'll keep some things private.
@@GenealogyTV i have seen though out my 10 yrs of research many time there was wrong information and people take it as fact and it goes like wild fire. such as for my ancestors some one posted information about Daniel DeLozier as the one came to USA b. about 1685 or so and has a picture of his grandson and i have contacted them to let them know and it never got changes said they don't check in on it very often and have see eoplep have a grandson married to the same woman with same birth info as his grandmother they don't do there own resarch. i do i take nothing as is if there is a way to check the info out i do so. like my ex sister in law has someone as her grandmothers grandmother and the with out any proof just because she thinks they are part indian. her great grandmother is Deliah smith and she attaced her to the "" thought to be grandfather well she b. about 1843 some info is a little different but she is not on the 1850 census with the "" family"" but i found one same name different family and as a twin she still doesn't changes it the need to be part indian is so strong she is willing to use the wrong info. sorry for a long reply. Junwell
Appreciate how you are so thorough and to the point, it makes the information easier to understand.
Why thank you. I appreciate your comment. I try. 😀
Hi Constance, OMG! This video was so enlightening! Thank you so much. I'd just stumbled onto the ThruLines for my sister last night and was blown away by the information received but I wanted to wait until I learned more about them. So today I did a quick youtube search and BINGO! I discovered your video. Keep up the good work.
If you like that one, you’re gonna love tomorrow’s episode.
I agree with your assessment of Trulines. I feel the same way about it. It's always important to do the homework on any documents that you find concerning the people in your tree.
Yes... even when you have a ton of cousin matches with trees, those trees of other members may be wrong.
I'm using Thru lines currently. It is providing interesting clues. It is definitely important to make sure to look for evidence to support any conclusions.
Very very helpful insights not only to ThruLines, but on one’s approach to genealogy research. Worth subscribing!
Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.
Excellent. And shared.
+Bret Hawkins thanks!
Great job! I was interested to hear your take on this. 😊
+MsCybervamp Thank You MsCybervamp
Thank you....thank you so much. I've been listening to an Ancestry video and having trouble following it. I basically have been doing just what you explained...and it made sense and makes me feel better that I'm doing this right. I have tried to look at circles and just didn't get anything from it at all. Then up shows that little blue circle on the upper left of a person in the whole family view. It was a GOLD MINE!!! I have spent so many hours honing in on brick walls, meeting new ancestors! Maybe I'm wrong to look at it this way, but seeing the little blue circles follow on up the line tells me what I've put together is basically true....confirmed that these people are in fact my ancestors!!! Thanks again for putting up this video!
Stay tuned. Another video about this comes out this Friday. Thanks for the comment. I’m glad it helped.
@@GenealogyTV great!!
j Bradley Just make sure to thoroughly check all the suggestions by ThruLines. It can be a very helpful tool but keep in mind that just because you have a ThruLine icon and DNA matches that list that same ancestor/ancestral couple, it does not necessarily mean that it is correct. It means that you are related to all your matches but you’re not 100% sure how since Ancestry does not give us tools such as a chromosome browser.
While having lots of matches and a paper trail is good evidence, I just want to stress to be cautious. An example I use that is a bit silly but it’s meant to illustrate how ThruLines works is this. Say that you and 10 DNA matches and 3 non-matches all have trees that go back several generations and list Mickey Mouse as an ancestor. ThruLines will then tell you that Mickey Mouse is the likely shared ancestor of all of your matches because it pulled the info from the trees of your matches as well as other trees who may not have even tested and you’ll get that same icon saying Mickey Mouse is your 4th great-grandfather for example. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the ancestor is inaccurate but it also doesn’t mean it’s accurate either. It’s up to each person to research the suggested ancestor to see if there is documentation to support it.
One potential downside is that because it uses tree data to suggest ancestors, if a person made a tree years ago that had incorrect data and many people have come along since and copied it (as we see so often on Ancestry) then you add in people taking DNA tests and know they’re related and see that lots of their matches have this person in their tree, it creates confirmation bias. In other words, use ThruLines as you would a hint or even another member’s tree. ThruLines has great potential to help us but it is susceptible to errors being introduced quite easily. I say this as someone who likes it quite a bit and thinks it’s a very good tool.
Best of luck!
Well said! I am very skeptical of family trees and rarely use them due to early mistakes I made. I have a free membership which doesn't let me get as much information through thrulines so I may consider a short term membership while I thoroughly research potential ancestors and contact "cousins" for more info. Ancestry cousin matches have been extremely helpful in my opinion. This was definitely helpful to me by showing how much further I can go with a paid membership.
+Terri Dean Thanks Terri. Happy hunting.
very helpful
Thank you.
I LOVE this VIDEO. WOW. It really has helped THANK YOU!
Awesome. Thanks for the comment. 😊
One big missing piece is the ability to refute the connection. I have a couple that are named Charles and Esther, but there is another Charles and Esther in the same area of Connecticut, in the last 1700's with the same last name. My couple is maybe 10 years older. I have historic and personal information that links Esther to my tree but Charles is a brick wall. I don't know who his parents are, but I know who his parents are not. Unfortunately, many trees attribute the unrelated parents to my Charles. Everyplace that I've seen the misattribution, I've contacted the tree owners. Now it shows up in Thru-lines. It's like the error that will not be erased.
Good observation. It kind of feels a little like FamilySearch.org where there is a common world tree with others mistakes. I keep advising people to just use ThruLines for clues. Just like looking at a census record, if it is not yours, move on the the next clue. Just keep in mind that Thrulines is not your tree... but is just showing you the possibilities within your tree. I think it is a mindset that everyone needs to think about and consider it as... here's a possible connection... not an absolute connection. I do wish they had a way to ignore each connection though, like they do with hints.
... And thanks for the comment.
I just recently found your channel on TH-cam and have just started watching the shows and thoroughly enjoy and learn from each one. I have a second cousin and a third cousin (per cM's) and they are sisters. I cannot find how we are related. We have a lot of shared matches and from what I have been able to figure out, the connection is through my mother's father. I don't know how to proceed from here to find the "missing link" Many of my third cousins are shared matches with them as well, but I feel like I am going in circles. Can you point me in the right direction for how to search please, it is driving me nuts, lol. Thank you so much for your knowledge and willingness to share. (I have been doing genealogy for about 12 years sporadically but am strictly an amateur.
That’s a really tough question. Try researching the families of the DNA connections. Look at cousin match trees. Try the cluster research strategies.
I watched your video on the cluster-fan research but was unable to duplicate it as I could not remember all the steps. Are there written notes with the various steps to take? That would be so helpful. Again thank you for such a wonderful resource and educational channel♥️
Naomi. If this is the video I think you’re talking about, no. I don’t think I did steps for it but you can watch the video as often as you like! 😁
Naomi Fron when you have DNA matches like this that you can’t ascertain the connection, try building their trees for them in your own tree (or you can use a separate “research tree” for things like this where you do all of your theory work).
In this case, your matches are sisters, so utilize this. Do either of them have any tree info showing? If so, utilize it and create a tree with their parents and build it back in time until you get to the shared ancestor/ancestral couple. If neither has ANY tree info at all and you’ve contacted both and haven’t heard back, then try looking at some other clues. Are either on GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, etc? Do their Ancestry profiles list a location where they live? Try using Google and some of the resources for living people that list relationships for people based on public records. If you know their approximate ages and locations, you’re more likely to know when you’ve found them in current public record searches.
Utilize any data like that in which you can that will help elucidate their identities so that you can find obituaries, etc which can give you clues on who their parents and grandparents were.
This is where it’s very helpful to have the fullest tree possible by utilizing descendancy research. Document as far wide and down to current day as you can and you’ll be surprised at how many more of your DNA matches will be revealed in the process. In order to do this, trace all siblings of your ancestors and then all of their children, grandchildren, etc down as close to present day as possible. I know it sounds like a lot of work but it’s SO worth it. It makes ThruLines exponentially more useful because it is more apt to find the possible connection (which you then must verify to make sure it is correct) plus you have the added benefit of making the most of your DNA match list. This aids in breaking down brick walls because you’ll start to see more and more matches that help you prove or disprove family relationship theories.
I hope this helps! Best of luck!
I am hoping that at some stage Ancestry will allow comparison of the shared genetics for matches so that it is then possible to get an idea of which part of the genetics is shared from which branch.
Great idea, however, in my account I do not have the same info at the bottom of my "DNA Results Summary" page nor does it ever convert back to the DNA circles. Sure wish I did.
Yeah there have been new updates since then.
@@GenealogyTV I'm sorry they got rid of what you were showing. It did look very helpful!
I am fairly new to genealogy and am quite excited about ThruLines. However, there is one big problem with Thru-Lines not mentioned in the video. The first day I discovered TrueLines, I found a number matches on my Grandfather's line. The next day I went back to work on my list of matches, and they were all gone. True-Lines had discarded my G Grandmother already in my tree, and instead showed a "potential ancestor", and builds out a potential ancestor tree. It's wrong... the person is not my Grandfather's mother, she did have a son with the same first and last name as my Grandfather but different middle name, and the rest of her offspring are all wrong, and my grandfather's wife is wrong, and so on. But there seems to be no way to get rid of the erroneous great grandmother from True-Lines. I mentioned this in feedback a couple weeks ago, but so far no resolution. This is very frustrating.
+dtvdxer Yes it is possible that the ThruLines could be incorrect. Typically this is because of other family trees that have incorrect data importing into the line. That’s why am always cautious about what you see in there, because it’s using the trees of other Ancestry members. And if their data is incorrect, then it would show an incorrect line in the ThruLines. However, you might be able to figure out who has the incorrect data by looking at the source member in that ThruLine. Also keep in mind that the ThruLine is not your tree, it’s just providing you clues.
It’s not perfect, I’ve heard some other issues with adoptive family names creeping in.
Like any set of clues, some will be correct and some will not. It’s up to you to verify the data.
Thanks for the comment and watching Genealogy TV.
As she stated in the video, there's different parts to this:
1. There's a DNA match aka Circles. This part is fact because it's DNA. (don't mix that information up with people's trees.) If you still don't understand I recommend that you go to Ancestry's TH-cam channel and watch their DNA videos. DNA is very tricky but once you understand it, it will help you a lot in your research.
2. There's tree hints. We are all human, some people take their research very seriously and some people attach everything to their tree. That is why you will hear the people who love this hobby and take it seriously to take notes; we take a lot of notes. When I am researching someone I attach and test documents and such but until I do the research for myself, I don't believe other people's research.
On the hint for your Grandmother that is wrong. Ancestry is not going to fix that hint, it is just that, it's a hint for you to look at, if it's wrong you can contact them and let them know or you can ignore it and move forward with your research.
As far as notes go, I do paper notes while researching, once I have something tested I will either make a note in the Notes or the View Comments on the Person I am researching. I also place notes in each Fact Detail Description (for example census records). Any and all Notes are wonderful down the road when you are looking at someone and trying to update information or you have someone asking you questions. Just and FYI in case you didn't know. "View Notes" is private and "View Comments" is public if your tree is public.
I hope that helps and happy hunting :-)
I experienced the same thing. Did find some helpful information though.
I've had to contact a few people because they had wrong information in their tree and the algorithm seems to almost TRY to pick trees that have errors in the names or no photos lol.
They should also add an icon for filtering to the DNA match list, in addition to the leaf that's already in the match lists.
Hopefully they'll fix that and then it'll make the feature 3x better!
+Wyatt Cerri Yes I recommend you also give feedback to Ancestry. They do listen. Thanks for the comment.
@@GenealogyTV I sent them feedback early in the week and I'm hoping they'll fix those issues!
I'm working on combining my two trees to better the ThruLines. I have a tree for both my mom and my dad's side, which was fine until I did the DNA test in August.
@@wyattandwill12 I do believe combining trees is a good idea. The only time I keep separate trees if if I'm working a case and creating a hypothesis. When I do, I keep those trees private until I've proven the results.
Wow, thank you very much! I immediately singed up!
My DNA Summary page does not have New Ancestor Discoveries Beta section, and the pretty much did not give me help on the phone with them. Can you tell me why I don't have any New Ancestor Discovery? Thank you!
+Jeroen Ashton I honestly don’t know. I wish I could help with that one. I’ve heard they’re rolling out different stuff at different times but that is unconfirmed info. See my new video about enabling some features. That may help.
@@GenealogyTV I am NOT able to use DNA Circles--no button available, and they could do nothing when I called a month ago. I never tries them, and would have likes to try it.
Humm... it might be interesting to jump on a video chat to see what you’re seeing... and share with others if we can figure it out.
Connie, what about the box that says list? It a lot of times will say “so and so is your 5th great grand parent”. Can you rely on that?
You'll always need to verify those links with traditional paper trail research. However, those ThruLines are created by others who have created their trees to say that is the line. So they may or may not be correct. Always try to prove each link in the line with normal (non-DNA) research. So can you rely on that? Not really, but it might be a great place to start looking. Use it like hints, just like any other hints on Ancestry, you'll need to determine if it's correct.
Hi Constance! Great channel...I sub’d! I am having trouble with ThruLines as though I have parents and grandparents going to 4th and some more...ThruLines is showing all with dotted lines and telling me to evaluate. I was merrily doing that, then Instarted to notice Innow had those folks TWICE in my tree. Once I merged them, back to ThruLines...person is back to having a dotted line and needing to be evaluated. I have sent this feed back to Ancestors. Please, what am I doing wrong?
Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Carla
Hi Carla. More than likely, you're not doing anything wrong but a few things come to mind.
Remember that ThruLines is a collaboration of other member trees lining up other peoples trees (dotted lined ancestors) within a view that also shows your tree (solid lined ancestors). So the dotted lined folks are hints to you from other researchers.
Now keeping that in mind, if an Ancestry member has a change in name spelling or has attached a person to the wrong part of a tree, ThruLines might show it to you differently. For example, lets say that Ancestor A is correct in Member A's tree, but in another member... say Member B has Ancestor A attached to another branch of the tree by mistake, then I could see how Ancestor A is lining up in two different branches (or places) in your ThruLines view.
Also know sometimes ThurLines needs a day or so to reevaluate after you make changes too... it needs to run it's algorithms again. So come back a day or two later to check. It might correct itself.
I do know that Ancestry is working on a way for you to ignore parts of ThruLines to get rid of incorrect information from your view. I'm not sure if that has been implemented yet or not, I don't see it in there. They know it is a source of irritation for many members.
Here's a note from Ancestry "ThruLines suggestions come from Ancestry trees and when members make changes to their trees, ThruLines may also change."
I hope that helps. BTW, I love that you're a photographer... me too!
Genealogy TV Hi and thank you so much for replying!
Yes, I did hear you say you are also a photographer, very nice! I want to take time to watch your restoration videos some day soon. I have just finished my second book on my journals I kept while searching for and photographing Pony Express ruins along the trail. I mean just finished...as in today!
Thank you for the hint about ThruLines taking a day to update...maybe that’s why. As it has been my dad who I have added, who is deceased, and it continues to show him with dotted line and private. I finally just quite using it.
Thank you again for writing!
I think there's a lot of value to Thrulines, but I have run into a lot of "Potential Ancestors" who are already in my tree. Some of them are name variations "Liza Cameron" vs "Elizabeth C. Cameron". Some I frankly don't understand as we match on Name, dob, marriage and dod.
Makes sense since Ancestry members may have varying information in their trees.
Constance, have you tried the WATO tool with the DNA matches from Thru Lines? I did one for one of these potential ancestors with 15 DNA cousins and got big fat zeros in WATO. AND almost all the matches are tiny percentages.. 🤔
I have not. That might be a good idea for someone to explore. That's a totally new episode that I should consider. For those who might not know what she is talking about, I believe she is referring to What Are The Odds tool in DNA Painter tools.
Please do! I have 15k ppl in my tree and am still really dubious of ThruLines. I haven’t seen any videos where or how they verify these results.
I don't have the Personal Discovery Project or New Ancestry Discoveries. I see where you had suggested in another reply that it may have to be enabled under settings. I don't see that anywhere either... Help please???
Bill Miller Try a couple of things... at the top of your screen click on Extras, at the bottom of the drop down menu, go to Ancestry Lab and see if you can enable the items you're looking for. I've enabled everything... so I see the Personal Discovery Project in the DNA drop down menu, so look there too.
In your tutorial, I noticed that an ancestor's birth was listed in 1790 Greenbrier Co, WV which is true, however, prior to WV becoming a state 20 Jun 1863, all counties were part of VA and should be recorded as such to be accurate. For example, John Doe, b. 1700, Henrico County, VA. d. 1790, Greenbrier County, VA (now WV).
I’ll check that out. Thank you!
Great video, thanks. I found a quirk with ThruLines and hope you can help. I have a great grandmother in my tree, but she does not show up in my ThruLines. Her husband, my great grandfather shows up, but she does not. I don’t understand why she is not there.
Joe, It might be because the ThruLines is using DNA in combination with user trees... so could it be that she is not in the other users trees? Alternatively, it could be that there are no matches in the DNA data base that matches her. I'd like to use your question in an upcoming episode. It's a good one.
I wish I had access to the DNA Circles... but I don't have the option to view it at all. :-/
I’ve been able to get back to the DNA circles thru the cousin matches.
@@GenealogyTV Where do I find that in the cousin matches?
Under the DNA tab, third option down the list. Thanks for watching.
@@GenealogyTV The options I have under the DNA tab are: "Your DNA Results Summary"; "DNA Story"; "DNA Matches"; "Personal Discoveries Project"; "Activate A Test"; and "Buy A Test"
No option for DNA Circles. None of those links have an option for DNA Circles either.
I'm creating a Q&A video right now... and I'm going to use your question. But in short, go to the DNA tab, click on "Your DNA Results Summary," under the DNA Traits Summary there are three boxes side by side. The right one will be your ThruLines box if you've enabled it, if not it will be the DNA Circles. If you've enabled the the Thrulines already, then at the bottom of the Thrulines box there is a link to take you to the DNA circles area. It says "Looking for DNA Circles?" Then pick any of the profiles and it will open up the DNA Circle for that person. You might have to scroll down some to see it. Let me know if that works for you. Also, to help others, are you a paid subscriber to Ancestry or using a free account? That helps me to help others.
Thank you
+SassyBashir Thanks for the comment and for watching Genealogy TV.
I can click the explore thrulines and see lots of information but am not seeing the Beta View All New Ancestors Discoveries which seems to have some neat possibilities. I do see potential ancestors on thrulines.
+Carol Kubala I think you have to enable it under settings. I’ll try and look when I can get a minute.
Check out tomorrow’s episode about the new tags. I also talk about where to enable it. I’m also hearing that it is rolling out at different times for different people, but that is unconfirmed.
Hello. I was looking at my True Lines and found a 5th great-grandfather that had 0 dna matches. Could this mean he was not my biological grandfather? It seems all the other grandparents had at least 3 dna matches. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.
Not necessarily. A fifth great grandfather is going to have very little DNA from you or your cousins. Think of it this way, you inherit 50% of their DNA from your parents each, therefore you have 25% of the DNA from your grandparents, therefore you have 12 1/2% DNA from your great great grandparents, 6 1/4% from your great great great grandparents, about 3% from your 4X grandparent, and about 1 1/2% from your fifth grade grandparent. The DNA so small that far back, it’s probably not showing up.
How do I view 'New Ancestor Discoveries'? - Have Thru Lines which is in Beta
For me, I go to the DNA tab at the top of the screen, select Your DNA Summary, scroll all the way to the bottom... the last section before the ads for ancestry is “New Ancestor Discoveries” and then it shows a beta symbol.
@@GenealogyTV I don't have this New Ancestor Discoveries ;-(
Why is it, your DNA results contain items that mine doesn't? I don't have anything called DNA Circles.
The software has been upgraded since that video was produced so it might look a little different. DNA circles has been replaced with Thrulines, which is a big improvement since then.
How about the new Ancestry DNA- percentages!! Haha
I lost my Scot Heritage from 38% now 9%?? Are they crazy??? Isle of Mann promise I’ve found no Scot GGP from Isle of Man, Scotland!!
I just went and looked at mine. Also dropped from about 23% to 9%. Thanks for supporting the channel.
I can’t find a birth cerficate for my mum born UK
+Harry Southwell keep digging. Don’t forget to work backwards, finding everything you can in more recent times and then work backwards to the birth.
UK ? Try Christening / Baptism records. In UK and Colonial America, Churches are much better with records than the state.
I do not have new ancestor discoveries on mine. Should I be concerned?
Not really. Give it time.
Is thrulines beta over with?
No, it just started, unfortunately not everyone gets Beta items at the same time so if you don't see it don't worry you may get it later.
At Gedmatch
My mother and I share 3,569.4 cM
(segments at least 7 cM in length)
At AncestryDNA,
my mother and I share 3,305 cM
That is a 264 difference.
My father has been dead for over 20 years, and so there is no way of checking my DNA against his.
but my paternal Aunt Carrie tested
she is my father's maternal halfsister, and so she's my half aunt
At Gedmatch,
my paternal Aunt Carrie and I share 912.3 cM
(segments at least 7 cM in length)
At Ancestry DNA,
my paternal Aunt Carrie and I share 766 cM
That is a 146 cM difference.
AncestryDNA is removing a lot of valid segments!
I don't trust their Timber algorithm.
I never did after I started losing matches that matched both my mother and me at other sites.
I lost paternal Acadian DNA segment matches too, and some of them match me on other sites.
I also checked my largest Acadian segment match at Ancestry. It's a Cajun woman that matches both me and my Aunt Carrie with a 27 cM segment match on Chromosome 5 but appears as a match to only me at AncestryDNA. AncestryDNA shows only 11.6 cM across 1 segment. That's 16 cM less than at Gedmatch.
I am thinking that AncestryDNA wiped out much of my paternal European Chromosome 5 segment. I had three 11 cM Chromosome 5 matches that are 3 generations directly related at Gedmatch that used to appear at AncestryDNA. It was in the same area where I am matching people with Acadian ancestry.
At Gedmatch, my largest chromosome segment with my Aunt Carrie is 89 cM segment on Chromosome 5 which seems to be my entire paternal Chromosome 5 European segment and where I am matching people with Acadian ancestry.
Keep in mind that my Aunt Carrie is over 80 percent African.
Ancestry seems to think much of my paternal European on Chromosome 5 is a pileup because I am matching too many people with Acadian (French in Nova Scotia,Canada) ancestry, and most of my 4 percent paternal European is the large segment on Chromosome 5. Well...If they read up on the Acadian history and genealogy, there is so much recent endogamy that all people with some amount of Acadian ancestry are related through at least one person that came to Nova Scotia from France in the 17th Century. Many of us are related to each other more than once and descend from an ancestor more than once. My 4th Great Grandmother Anastasia Bourgeois was 5 times a descendant of Jean Terriot and his wife Perrine Rau. She descended from 3 cousin couples that are no more distantly related than 3rd cousin.
Raymond this is not an uncommon complaint with the Timber algorithm. It does remove valid segments and leans more toward a conservative level of matching. It can be frustrating for sure, but the upside is that due to Ancestry’s more cautious estimates, it reduces the chances of false positives in IBS matches. This does tend to remove those matches which are of smaller shared centimorgan relationships, but it does it across all matches as you saw with your mother-I’ve seen many examples just like yours that illustrate the conservative estimation of Timber. The downside, of course, is the false negatives that we must deal with instead.
Timber struggles with what constitutes an IBD match to a genealogically relevant ancestor/ancestral couple and with what is the IBS remnants of a shared biogeographical history. I think my biggest issue with Timber filtering out these matches is that because Ancestry refuses to give us the tools that every other company does to analyze our data, they have made Timber the arbiter of matching without letting us check it ourselves to see if we agree or disagree with the algorithm’s choices.
However truly this is not very different than what they’ve been doing all along by providing “Ancestry Family Trees” as sources when they are not. Most of my potentials, when I go to them all they have for sources are others family trees. I’ve yet to find solid evidence. It’s all he said she said. I’d appreciate simply hearing that it was a strong family tradition over this incessant “Ancestry Family Trees” as their source. People are lazy and they just don’t understand.
I agree it’s not much different than what they’ve been doing all along. However, they’re showing you (potentially) where all those cousin matches fit into the family tree, which I find helpful. Thanks for the comment and for watching Genealogy TV.
I am disappointed with ancestry ... the only thing I wanted to find with my DNA was who was my great great Grandfather... I thought maybe I might get a connection with someone out of all of the DNA connections I have but....you guessed it, nothing not a thing and as for the thrulines with this issue... yep not happening at all sigh...
+me heretoday Hang in there. Sometimes you have to wait for a match. I just solved a mystery that took two years for the right match to take the test. Alternatively you can export the raw DNA data and upload it to Ged Match for free and see if there are any matches over there.
I had to wait 12 years for a DNA match for my adopted Father.
I can't understand why people put there information on ancestry only to mark it private it should be shared that is the reason ancestry is there they need to unblock there trees
Junwell Brantley, sometimes people are looking for missing parents or they have sensitive information they aren't ready to share with the world. Sometimes I'll create private trees because I'm working through some pie-in-the-sky theories and want to see how the hint features help me. Until I prove those crazy theories, I don't want people importing unproven data, so I'll keep some things private.
@@GenealogyTV i have seen though out my 10 yrs of research many time there was wrong information and people take it as fact and it goes like wild fire. such as for my ancestors some one posted information about Daniel DeLozier as the one came to USA b. about 1685 or so and has a picture of his grandson and i have contacted them to let them know and it never got changes said they don't check in on it very often and have see eoplep have a grandson married to the same woman with same birth info as his grandmother they don't do there own resarch. i do i take nothing as is if there is a way to check the info out i do so. like my ex sister in law has someone as her grandmothers grandmother and the with out any proof just because she thinks they are part indian. her great grandmother is Deliah smith and she attaced her to the "" thought to be grandfather well she b. about 1843 some info is a little different but she is not on the 1850 census with the "" family"" but i found one same name different family and as a twin she still doesn't changes it the need to be part indian is so strong she is willing to use the wrong info. sorry for a long reply. Junwell