I can remember when I first started my tree several people told me I had X line wrong in my tree, i thanked them, corrected the information, and let them know, and thanked them again. I still do. And one person actually told me I was the first to do so without getting huffy.
I have spent the last couple of months focusing on connecting with the descendants of my grandparent's siblings. They were from Eastern Kentucky and had siblings move all across the nation - Michigan, NW Indiana, California, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, etc. I have come across wonderful pictures and stories through these new contacts, things I could have never accessed myself. Find A Grave is also a great way to connect with people too.
Lol yes it’s almost like doing perpetual inventory. Every once in awhile you have to do counts of inventory and a reconciliation of each account . It’s constant investigation of information. Thank you
Can you make a video about how to research a Norwegian Military Veteran ? My Great - Grandfather Gilbert Strand served in the Norwegian Army, he was born in Hadeland, Oppland fylke, Norway. I’m trying to locate his military records in Norway. His farm name was Strandeeiet, and now it’s renamed to Strand, Gran,Oppland, Norway the farm is located in Gran. He married my great grandmother Gudbjør Olson Strand in 1892. There is a family story that my dad heard from my paternal grandmother ( Grandma ), that Gilbert was in WWI. I would like to learn and find out all the information that I can on him. As well in the 1910 United States Federal Census: it list his immigration year as 1906 but I went to the Norwegian Digital Archives and found a immigration record that stated in 1905. He left the Norwegian port of Oslo, in Norwegian immigration records from Kristiania 1871-1930 records. Thanks Cody
My father was adopted and I recently found out I have 1st cousins, 3 of them on AncestryDNA. I messaged them and it says they all read the message but no one messaged me back. I’m a little sad about this, to be honest. It is nice to know they exist though.
My wife had a completely unknown person get flagged as a 1st / 2nd cousin. That person has a public tree that had no common ancestors at all, the shared matches with my wife made it clear that she has someone with surname X (that all shared matches have, it's my wife's last name). They have not responded to our message that simply said "Ancestry.com DNA flagged us as cousins". Keep in mind that a DNA test can reveal painful family secrets. Either she has a grandparent who was secretly adopted or their was marital. We'd love to know how she fits in but it's understandable that she doesn't want to respond.
Thank you for sharing information on this topic. You had some other great points in the presentation. I receive messages all the time but they never indicate which tree they're referring to. I have several large trees I work, so it would be very beneficial if they included the name of the tree.
I am re-watching this video. In the beginning you say that people say to you "just look at my tree", people just think you have the 'god' mode turned on on your profile. Sorry, in this case, not a religious term but a gaming term. For a few years I have been doing this mostly on my own. I have just started reaching out to other family members(distant cousins.) In looking at their tree, I have been able to fill in that side. They then see my tree and realize really how big the family really is. I got a message about one of my trees that I manage. Lady wanted to know how we are related. She really pointed out that I got off on a wild tangent. Had to do some pruning. She then asked if we were, I told her what I did but that the link is their but it is not a direct link. A cousin's wife's brother...you get the point. I got click happy. But I do love your videos.
Interesting comment you made about trees which do not list all children in a family. I have wondered about this. I have a 'rule' which I've made up for my tree - if the person is a descendant of ancestors of mine, I include all children. If I'm adding parents and possibly grandparents of a spouse who married into the family, I generally do not include other children, but include census or other records attached to the record, so someone else looking for family members could see that info in the sources. Is this a poor practice I should change? I try to follow best practices and standards whenever possible!
I add all of the descendants of my ancestors as well. However, I do not typically add the parents or siblings of individuals who marry into the family. If I know who the parents of the spouse are (due to a marriage or death record) I will add the information into the notes for that person. That way if the family ends up marrying in again or being connected some other way, I have that documented. (Crista)
There's a match that came up as 1st - 2nd cousin, likely second cousin. They're test was administered by someone else who was not a match to me. After reviewing their tree, it seems they could be a half sibling-great aunt. I have this mysterious grandmother on my tree who my family has been trying to get info on for 3 decades and that person is listed as their half sister. It's been a big secret as to what happened to her and we know no one actually related to her so it was exciting to see that this may be someone who is. But I realized they live in the same city my family and I live in and it makes me nervous that they may already know who we are and is in on the secret and mentioning that her sister may be my grandmother may scare her off or maybe she has no idea that her sister had a child out there. I messaged them about being a close match before I realized it was just an administered test then I wrote back in a way to directly explain to the administrator. It's been a few weeks.
They haven't written me back. Maybe I just didn't write them in the most effective way. I don't want to draw assumptions. It's also a possibility that she has her sister listed because she's actually looking for her children. Any advice as to how to approach such a delicate situation?
It is possible this person has not yet seen your message. I'm guessing you sent the first two messages through the DNA match page. Try clicking on the admin user name to see their profile page. Send a brief message from that page explaining that you messaged them before and wondered if they received your previous messages. Include an email and phone number for them to contact you directly. Good luck! (Crista)
Hello Crista. Is there a way to go directly to the Millennium Files to research them. It seems a hit or miss action when I discover a Millennium File related to my ancestors or relatives. I realize this question may be off the course of the subject of this particular video, and I apologize, but I was unable to find you on ancestry.com and ask you there. And I haven't seen a video covering this subject. Thank you for your help.
You can go to the Ancestry Card Catalog and search on the title. I searched on Mil* using the wildcard character and it came up at the top of the list, then you can select that database and do a search on it
Thanks Crista for another very informative video. I have a question about an issue with the mislabeling of DNA testing, which I have experienced and have seen with some other members' testing, too. The first DNA test I had done was for one of my sons, not myself. His DNA is correctly attached to his profile, but evidently by default, his test was made administrator on my account, which means my username, frauwarner, is shown for his DNA along with my photo. My DNA test shows to others with my initials and no photo. I called customer service to correct this, but I was told this could not be corrected. Is this true? Must my username and photo always show with his test making him appear to be a female and confusing DNA cousins when they look at our tests and I contact them?
Decko, if you've had your DNA done on Ancestry... On your DNA home page, you'll see a button that says "View All DNA Matches". Click on that, and it brings up your list of cousins. If you'd like to see how much DNA they predict that you share with someone on your list, click on that person's name and it opens their page. You'll see an orange DNA logo with "confidence level" predicted on it. Right after the confidence level is little black circle with an "i" in it. If you click on that little circle, it tells you the amount of DNA that you and that person share. For example.. on my list, first it shows my dad & my brothers as "immediate family". But for the first person after that, it has my highest match's name and it says "possible range 1st to 2nd cousin". When I click on that little circle with the "i" in it, it says "501 centimorgans shared across 23 DNA segments". Right after that amount it says "what does this mean?" When you click on that, thankfully it provides a detailed explanation of what those numbers mean! It mentions that anything above 60 centimorgans means that there's a 100% chance you share DNA with that person. In my case, that person who topped my list turned out to be my mom's half-sister's son. (So he's a half-cousin) We share the same grandmother, but different grandfathers. Anyway.. I'm not one of those people who know all the DNA jargon, but that page that explains what the numbers mean has some pretty good info on it. :0) (PS.... I just created one of those overly long messages that Crista just warned us not to do... LOL!) :D
I recently had a first cousin show up on my DNA result. My mother was adopted, and through DNA, I have discovered her biological mother. Her mother has passed but through communication with her uncle I have learned that her father is unknown. This cousin is not related to that side of the family so I think he is related through her bio father. I am wondering what your advice would be about approaching this gently.
Does this cousin have a public family tree? If so, look at the Shared Matches you have with him and see if you can determine which side of his family tree you are connected through. Then approach him by saying that you think you are related through his "Smith" grandparents and you wonder if he would be willing to investigate this with you further. Provide a phone number as a means to contact you. It is often easier to explain and discuss over the phone than via email. Good luck! (Crista)
With DNA results what does Great Britain mean? Originally my brother had England and mine was Great Britain. His results now show a lesser % of Great Britain no England and mine still shows Great Britain. Our heritage is mainly Irish. We have grand parents from Scotland. No Scottish ancestors are in our results. Does GB differ from British Isles (England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) Surely GB does not include Scotland. Great Britain does NOT appear to be an "ethnicity" but a region. I have looked up definitions and I just do not understand. Crista your explanations usually really help. Thanks Kate from Ann Arbor
Kate, When viewing your Full Ethnicity Estimate, click on each region and it will give you detailed information about what that region covers. (Crista)
The name “Great Britain” was adopted for the Union of Crowns between England and Scotland, to ensure that Scotland would be an equal partner, and not regarded as a portion of England. It did not work because most Americans seem to think that Britain is England. Ancestry DNA uses the terms to refer to a particular DNA which I would describe as Anglo-Saxon. It predominates throughout England (except perhaps Cornwall). Scotland has no DNA type of its own, the DNA there is either ‘Great Britain’ (i.e. WASP), Scandinavian or ‘Irish’. The ‘Irish’ DNA’ is not merely Irish: it is found in Scotland Wales Cornwall Western France and Northern Spain, among people who have no Irish Ancestry: it would better be referred to as ‘Celtic’.
Rachida, When you're looking at the DNA profile of your match, hover the the little 'i' icon in a circle that appears to the right of the confidence level, it will share the number of centimorgans and the number of segments you share with that particular match. You will see that information varies when reviewing each match.
Thank you, Ancestry for your reply and explanation. I do appreciate it. So if I understand correctly: If I and M.S. share 391 cM across 23 DNA segments we share a common ancestor and are very likely to be first or second cousins. According to the information on this person, she is related via my paternal lineage as her tree has surnames belonging to those in my own tree who direct ancestors of my uncle.This is what comes up in my own Autosomal DNA match: Amount of Shared DNA391 centimorgans shared across 23 DNA segments
Yes, that sounds like it would be a very high confidence match based on the amount of shared cM. You can learn what the match confidence score means and how we determine this by clicking on the "What does this mean?" link in the same box that shows the cM and shared segment information. A full page description with breakdown should appear and offers much greater detail.
I've had people ask me about a person by name... and nothing else. I have one that says, "Can you explain our possible connection?" No other info. That kind of query leaves me with no place to start. The user's name did help and I could see their 4 trees so I could dig around but the query put all the work on me. My response to queries like this is to ask them to provide details.
I can remember when I first started my tree several people told me I had X line wrong in my tree, i thanked them, corrected the information, and let them know, and thanked them again. I still do. And one person actually told me I was the first to do so without getting huffy.
I have spent the last couple of months focusing on connecting with the descendants of my grandparent's siblings. They were from Eastern Kentucky and had siblings move all across the nation - Michigan, NW Indiana, California, Cincinnati, Wisconsin, etc. I have come across wonderful pictures and stories through these new contacts, things I could have never accessed myself. Find A Grave is also a great way to connect with people too.
Lol yes it’s almost like doing perpetual inventory. Every once in awhile you have to do counts of inventory and a reconciliation of each account . It’s constant investigation of information. Thank you
Very helpful, as usual. There is still SO much I have to learn...
Can you make a video about how to research a Norwegian Military Veteran ? My Great - Grandfather Gilbert Strand served in the Norwegian Army, he was born in Hadeland, Oppland fylke, Norway. I’m trying to locate his military records in Norway. His farm name was Strandeeiet, and now it’s renamed to Strand, Gran,Oppland, Norway the farm is located in Gran. He married my great grandmother Gudbjør Olson Strand in 1892. There is a family story that my dad heard from my paternal grandmother ( Grandma ), that Gilbert was in WWI. I would like to learn and find out all the information that I can on him. As well in the 1910 United States Federal Census: it list his immigration year as 1906 but I went to the Norwegian Digital Archives and found a immigration record that stated in 1905. He left the Norwegian port of Oslo, in Norwegian immigration records from Kristiania 1871-1930 records. Thanks Cody
My father was adopted and I recently found out I have 1st cousins, 3 of them on AncestryDNA. I messaged them and it says they all read the message but no one messaged me back. I’m a little sad about this, to be honest. It is nice to know they exist though.
Natalie.. I hope by now you've learned something. Seems like so much keeps changing on Ancestry DNA! 😵
My wife had a completely unknown person get flagged as a 1st / 2nd cousin. That person has a public tree that had no common ancestors at all, the shared matches with my wife made it clear that she has someone with surname X (that all shared matches have, it's my wife's last name). They have not responded to our message that simply said "Ancestry.com DNA flagged us as cousins". Keep in mind that a DNA test can reveal painful family secrets. Either she has a grandparent who was secretly adopted or their was marital. We'd love to know how she fits in but it's understandable that she doesn't want to respond.
Thank you for sharing information on this topic. You had some other great points in the presentation. I receive messages all the time but they never indicate which tree they're referring to. I have several large trees I work, so it would be very beneficial if they included the name of the tree.
Pamela Flynn
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I am re-watching this video. In the beginning you say that people say to you "just look at my tree", people just think you have the 'god' mode turned on on your profile. Sorry, in this case, not a religious term but a gaming term. For a few years I have been doing this mostly on my own. I have just started reaching out to other family members(distant cousins.) In looking at their tree, I have been able to fill in that side. They then see my tree and realize really how big the family really is. I got a message about one of my trees that I manage. Lady wanted to know how we are related. She really pointed out that I got off on a wild tangent. Had to do some pruning. She then asked if we were, I told her what I did but that the link is their but it is not a direct link. A cousin's wife's brother...you get the point. I got click happy. But I do love your videos.
Interesting comment you made about trees which do not list all children in a family. I have wondered about this. I have a 'rule' which I've made up for my tree - if the person is a descendant of ancestors of mine, I include all children. If I'm adding parents and possibly grandparents of a spouse who married into the family, I generally do not include other children, but include census or other records attached to the record, so someone else looking for family members could see that info in the sources. Is this a poor practice I should change? I try to follow best practices and standards whenever possible!
This is exactly what I do, so I am very curious to see what Crista says about this. Thanks for posing the question!
I add all of the descendants of my ancestors as well. However, I do not typically add the parents or siblings of individuals who marry into the family. If I know who the parents of the spouse are (due to a marriage or death record) I will add the information into the notes for that person. That way if the family ends up marrying in again or being connected some other way, I have that documented. (Crista)
Thanks Crista! That makes total sense. Appreciate your response.
There's a match that came up as 1st - 2nd cousin, likely second cousin. They're test was administered by someone else who was not a match to me. After reviewing their tree, it seems they could be a half sibling-great aunt. I have this mysterious grandmother on my tree who my family has been trying to get info on for 3 decades and that person is listed as their half sister. It's been a big secret as to what happened to her and we know no one actually related to her so it was exciting to see that this may be someone who is. But I realized they live in the same city my family and I live in and it makes me nervous that they may already know who we are and is in on the secret and mentioning that her sister may be my grandmother may scare her off or maybe she has no idea that her sister had a child out there. I messaged them about being a close match before I realized it was just an administered test then I wrote back in a way to directly explain to the administrator. It's been a few weeks.
They haven't written me back. Maybe I just didn't write them in the most effective way. I don't want to draw assumptions. It's also a possibility that she has her sister listed because she's actually looking for her children. Any advice as to how to approach such a delicate situation?
It is possible this person has not yet seen your message. I'm guessing you sent the first two messages through the DNA match page. Try clicking on the admin user name to see their profile page. Send a brief message from that page explaining that you messaged them before and wondered if they received your previous messages. Include an email and phone number for them to contact you directly. Good luck! (Crista)
+Ancestry thank you. Appreciated.
Hello Crista. Is there a way to go directly to the Millennium Files to research them. It seems a hit or miss action when I discover a Millennium File related to my ancestors or relatives. I realize this question may be off the course of the subject of this particular video, and I apologize, but I was unable to find you on ancestry.com and ask you there. And I haven't seen a video covering this subject. Thank you for your help.
You can go to the Ancestry Card Catalog and search on the title. I searched on Mil* using the wildcard character and it came up at the top of the list, then you can select that database and do a search on it
+Mary Sedivec Thank you. That wildcard tag made a world of difference with an elusive ancestor.
Melanie Herbruck Glad I could assist!
Thanks Crista for another very informative video. I have a question about an issue with the mislabeling of DNA testing, which I have experienced and have seen with some other members' testing, too. The first DNA test I had done was for one of my sons, not myself. His DNA is correctly attached to his profile, but evidently by default, his test was made administrator on my account, which means my username, frauwarner, is shown for his DNA along with my photo. My DNA test shows to others with my initials and no photo. I called customer service to correct this, but I was told this could not be corrected. Is this true? Must my username and photo always show with his test making him appear to be a female and confusing DNA cousins when they look at our tests and I contact them?
This is a great question. I'm not sure of the answer. I will follow up on it and get back to you. (Crista)
What are the default settings as far as a private/public tree? People tend to leave the default settings.
The default setting when you create an online family tree at Ancestry is public.
Hi Christa, I am not familiar with your comment on the last communication where you ask about 52.4 cM on 4 segments...what does that mean?
Decko, if you've had your DNA done on Ancestry... On your DNA home page, you'll see a button that says "View All DNA Matches". Click on that, and it brings up your list of cousins. If you'd like to see how much DNA they predict that you share with someone on your list, click on that person's name and it opens their page. You'll see an orange DNA logo with "confidence level" predicted on it. Right after the confidence level is little black circle with an "i" in it. If you click on that little circle, it tells you the amount of DNA that you and that person share. For example.. on my list, first it shows my dad & my brothers as "immediate family". But for the first person after that, it has my highest match's name and it says "possible range 1st to 2nd cousin". When I click on that little circle with the "i" in it, it says "501 centimorgans shared across 23 DNA segments". Right after that amount it says "what does this mean?" When you click on that, thankfully it provides a detailed explanation of what those numbers mean! It mentions that anything above 60 centimorgans means that there's a 100% chance you share DNA with that person. In my case, that person who topped my list turned out to be my mom's half-sister's son. (So he's a half-cousin) We share the same grandmother, but different grandfathers. Anyway.. I'm not one of those people who know all the DNA jargon, but that page that explains what the numbers mean has some pretty good info on it. :0) (PS.... I just created one of those overly long messages that Crista just warned us not to do... LOL!) :D
@@bearpawz_ 👍
I would communicate with cousins if Ancestry's messaging actually worked.
Absolutely. Mine stopped working weeks ago. Multiple 'feedback' sent to Ancestry. Zero response, as ever.
Hi, I am the administrator for my daughters DNA results. She wanted to know why her picture is not displayed.
The only picture that shows is that of the account holder, I believe. I administer lots of tests and my profile picture only shows for my test.
I recently had a first cousin show up on my DNA result. My mother was adopted, and through DNA, I have discovered her biological mother. Her mother has passed but through communication with her uncle I have learned that her father is unknown. This cousin is not related to that side of the family so I think he is related through her bio father. I am wondering what your advice would be about approaching this gently.
Does this cousin have a public family tree? If so, look at the Shared Matches you have with him and see if you can determine which side of his family tree you are connected through. Then approach him by saying that you think you are related through his "Smith" grandparents and you wonder if he would be willing to investigate this with you further. Provide a phone number as a means to contact you. It is often easier to explain and discuss over the phone than via email. Good luck! (Crista)
With DNA results what does Great Britain mean? Originally my brother had England and mine was Great Britain. His results now show a lesser % of Great Britain no England and mine still shows Great Britain. Our heritage is mainly Irish. We have grand parents from Scotland. No Scottish ancestors are in our results. Does GB differ from British Isles (England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales) Surely GB does not include Scotland. Great Britain does NOT appear to be an "ethnicity" but a region. I have looked up definitions and I just do not understand. Crista your explanations usually really help. Thanks Kate from Ann Arbor
Kate, When viewing your Full Ethnicity Estimate, click on each region and it will give you detailed information about what that region covers. (Crista)
The name “Great Britain” was adopted for the Union of Crowns between England and Scotland, to ensure that Scotland would be an equal partner, and not regarded as a portion of England. It did not work because most Americans seem to think that Britain is England.
Ancestry DNA uses the terms to refer to a particular DNA which I would describe as Anglo-Saxon. It predominates throughout England (except perhaps Cornwall). Scotland has no DNA type of its own, the DNA there is either ‘Great Britain’ (i.e. WASP), Scandinavian or ‘Irish’. The ‘Irish’ DNA’ is not merely Irish: it is found in Scotland Wales Cornwall Western France and Northern Spain, among people who have no Irish Ancestry: it would better be referred to as ‘Celtic’.
How do you find the % of DNA matched with another person?
Rachida, When you're looking at the DNA profile of your match, hover the the little 'i' icon in a circle that appears to the right of the confidence level, it will share the number of centimorgans and the number of segments you share with that particular match. You will see that information varies when reviewing each match.
Thank you, Ancestry for your reply and explanation. I do appreciate it. So if I understand correctly: If I and M.S. share 391 cM across 23 DNA segments we share a common ancestor and are very likely to be first or second cousins. According to the information on this person, she is related via my paternal lineage as her tree has surnames belonging to those in my own tree who direct ancestors of my uncle.This is what comes up in my own Autosomal DNA match: Amount of Shared DNA391 centimorgans shared across 23 DNA segments
Yes, that sounds like it would be a very high confidence match based on the amount of shared cM. You can learn what the match confidence score means and how we determine this by clicking on the "What does this mean?" link in the same box that shows the cM and shared segment information. A full page description with breakdown should appear and offers much greater detail.
I've had people ask me about a person by name... and nothing else. I have one that says, "Can you explain our possible connection?" No other info. That kind of query leaves me with no place to start. The user's name did help and I could see their 4 trees so I could dig around but the query put all the work on me. My response to queries like this is to ask them to provide details.