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myccrider

(484 posts)
36. Yeah, Ancestry has been getting bad,
Sat Oct 3, 2020, 10:23 PM
Oct 2020

but I started my tree there in 2008, when they were still pretty good and a whole lot cheaper.

[Edit]Have you tried the community help board? It doesn’t always work, but I’ve resolved a couple of problems with advice from there. I had a more serious problem once and did get a human tech eventually. [scrambles around at Ancestry] Ah, here’s the number! 1-800-615-6560 9am-11pm Eastern, every day. It was still a pain to get through all the hoops, but it got fixed.[edit]

I have sooooo much info, records, pictures, stories, links, etc attached to the 7,000+ person tree that it would take a monumental effort to download it all, then attach all the individual docs/pics/stories/etc to the correct people in my computer program. My computer program syncs with Ancestry but doesn’t download the actual docs, just the Ancestry links to the docs.

Is MyHeritage easy to use? Been thinking I should at least upload my gedcom there, might get some new family info. I have uploaded to 23andMe, but their family tree function isn’t great, imo. Also uploaded the tree to GEDMatch and FamilyTreeDNA. Most of the people who contact and share info with me do it through Ancestry, though.

They have a new feature called ThruLines where they use an algorithm to match DNA results to their millions of family trees and suggest common ancestors with those 3rd-6th cousins (often removed 2 or 5 times ) that you can’t generally find how you’re related to unless you have main surnames in common. I’ve blown through at least half a dozen brick walls using it and have another half dozen that are intriguing possibilities, but need more facts/docs to confirm. Records can be garbled or misinterpreted or get destroyed or never exist, but DNA doesn’t lie, to paraphrase.

In one case, I found that an ancestress (4th great-grandmother to me) that all our family researchers thought was one person turned out to be someone else that no one even suspected. I ended up in a spirited discussion with a family researcher from that new family who wasn’t convinced we were related (we didn’t have DNA in common, too distant to be likely). They finally had to admit that there was no other plausible explanation for me and other cousins on my side sharing DNA with descendants of the brothers and sisters of my newly discovered ancestresses parents!

My new cousin has contacted her biological parents and has been warmly accepted. Hers was a somewhat unusual story in that her biological parents married each other after she was given up for adoption, so there was no big reveal to, or angst or rancor from unsuspecting spouses. My aunt and her husband were shocked but ultimately thrilled to again see their only daughter and her children, they have two sons.

She had already gone through all the steps that someone upthread suggested, so she knew her date and place of birth and had her DNA in all the usual places. She said her adopted parents were wonderful and had let her know she was adopted from an early age (so no shocking revelation), her childhood had been great, but she just couldn’t release the drive to find her biological roots.

Best of luck to your cousin who was adopted. I can only dimly grasp the way adoptees feel, but wish all to find what they need to know.

I bet she's happy to have more roots now! Karadeniz Oct 2020 #1
No surprises with my own DNA matches The Genealogist Oct 2020 #2
i got in touch w my mom's brother's daughter. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #5
That is a LOT of new relatives to learn about The Genealogist Oct 2020 #11
yeah. my dad was a traveling salesman. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #12
That's exciting! I hope you can help her discover her unknown family MaryMagdaline Oct 2020 #3
i will sure see what i can do. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #6
My husband had something similar happen to him. mommymarine2003 Oct 2020 #4
well, i have to assume that is why the lady did the dna thing. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #7
A friend of mine that has since passed away did the DNA test. He discovered he fathered a doc03 Oct 2020 #8
aint science grand? ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #10
He was so happy about meeting her, he was very ill at the time and doc03 Oct 2020 #13
funny story. when i first did 23/me ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #9
also had a nice chat w a second cousin who still lives in offaly county. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #14
In trying to locate my fourth great grandfather's lineage csziggy Oct 2020 #15
well that's a great euphemism! interesting stuff this science. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #16
Family history is very interesting csziggy Oct 2020 #23
well, that english ggrandma doesnt seem to have left much of a trace. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #24
My only Irish ancestors were Protestants probably brought in by the English csziggy Oct 2020 #25
hmmm. well, no spanish, and the only african was sub saharan. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #26
Moorish is an old broad term, just as "Arab" or "Muslim" are today csziggy Oct 2020 #27
but no birth certs. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #28
Yeah, lots of families with no birth certificates csziggy Oct 2020 #31
i will check. there was a baby that died. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #32
RE: People of the British Isles wnylib Oct 2020 #37
Thank you for that detailed discussion! csziggy Oct 2020 #38
So true. There are no "pure" ethnicities. wnylib Oct 2020 #39
Learning the history and stories of my ancestors was what got me hooked on geneaology csziggy Oct 2020 #40
There is Native American ancestry in my family, too. wnylib Oct 2020 #41
We also have a mix of physical characteristics in the different families csziggy Oct 2020 #42
If your cousin is a direct line wnylib Oct 2020 #43
Yeah, my cousin showed no Native American DNA at all csziggy Oct 2020 #44
We know from craft items handed down wnylib Oct 2020 #45
The good news is that DNA results for Native Americans are more accurate now csziggy Oct 2020 #46
Goodness! Your family's history parallels mine. wnylib Oct 2020 #47
Yes, I agree. The only reason I'd like to know where I cam from is to understand csziggy Oct 2020 #48
My ancestors had a farm near wnylib Oct 2020 #49
Please help her customerserviceguy Oct 2020 #17
oh i am happy to. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #18
Good, I'm glad to hear that customerserviceguy Oct 2020 #19
well, you can just upload to the site. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #20
Great, that makes it easy customerserviceguy Oct 2020 #21
yeah. different goals. you want to narrow it down, and i want to expand. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #22
As an adoptee & advocate, I'm so very glad you're helping her... WePurrsevere Oct 2020 #29
i wonder, tho. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #30
The 'removed' thing myccrider Oct 2020 #34
Is through Ancestry.com? myccrider Oct 2020 #33
this was my heritage. ihas2stinkyfeet Oct 2020 #35
Yeah, Ancestry has been getting bad, myccrider Oct 2020 #36
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