tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post6635665244895629304..comments2024-03-18T07:38:53.380-07:00Comments on Genea-Musings: Trying to Find Common Ancestors for Close DNA MatchesRandy Seaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17477703429102065294noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-58199494027420375822015-06-27T10:46:35.636-07:002015-06-27T10:46:35.636-07:00I've been working on genealogy for several yea...I've been working on genealogy for several years now, and began to suspect that my grandfather, Oscar Evans, wasn't really an Evans. My male cousin took the y dna test and we are Bentleys. But that's all we know. Our haplo group is really rare. But that only seems to mean we have ten matches instead of pages and pages worth. I would love to narrow down the potential Bentley candidates, but we know nothing.<br /><br /> I think it's worse than being adopted because there are no records for the time period I'm dealing with. (Oscar was born in 1896 in Ohio with no birth certificates.) We used family tree DNA, but didn't get any help from them. The Bentley DNA site helped as much as they could, but they don't know any Ohio Bentley descendents. Short of roaming the streets trying to see if any Bentleys look like any of us in the family, or knocking on doors, I'm stumped. It's really heartbreaking, and frustrating. I just agree with prior comments that not enough family is interested in genealogy and/ or dna.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17265765368722506131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-78772643742839437382015-06-25T12:48:14.123-07:002015-06-25T12:48:14.123-07:00I have been totally amazed at the lack of trees an...I have been totally amazed at the lack of trees and ancestors shown by my father's matches at FTDNA! I have been able to identify my father's connections to nine cousins at FTDNA. Three people were 'known' connections (via internet); and the other six had good trees which made a connection pretty easy.<br /><br />The incredible thing is - we've been able to find my great-grandfather's father! My great-grandfather was adopted by a Baker family; but we confirmed that his name (& ours!) was Brown through my brother's Y-DNA testing. However, Family Finder testing gave us the wonderful gift of finding our gr-gr-grandfather & his father & grandfather - who were known members of Brown Group 10, which we already knew we belonged to! We also connected with descendants of both a sister and an aunt of my gr-gr-grandfather!<br /><br />Having said that, I will note that in each of the nine 'solved' relationships, and in a number of relationships where research is ongoing - I was the one who did the contacting; and I was able to locate a tree for their family. It absolutely amazes me that people pay for testing, and then don't contact close matches! Even more amazing are the many, many matches who do not respond to email.<br /><br />I feel very blessed for the connections we have found!!<br /><br />I've also created trees at Ancestry for matches who give at least a little information, and believe that this will pay off in the end.<br /><br />Thank you for this post, detailing ways to find common ancestors.anitabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00581214810248124603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-15426353769834162472015-06-25T11:24:17.438-07:002015-06-25T11:24:17.438-07:00I hear of and from people giving DNA test kits to ...I hear of and from people giving DNA test kits to friends and relatives who aren't exactly engaged in genealogy. Sometimes it's because the giver is interested in genealogy and hopes to learn by it -- even twists arms to get the test performed. Sometimes I think it might be a case of "What do you give a guy who has everything?"<br /><br />Test-givers should arrange to have the contact email be their own or to be copied automatically on any messages about it.Marianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08873605766046172611noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204193.post-20231414453388966122015-06-25T05:43:40.574-07:002015-06-25T05:43:40.574-07:00I haven't had any luck at all using ancestry m...I haven't had any luck at all using ancestry matches. I don't know if people don't check, don't really care to contact matches, don't care that matches contact them, don't stay paid up so they can see more information about their matches or what. A lot don't have a tree, have a private tree, have 10 people in their tree which, of course, are all living, so private. What do they expect to get from testing at ancestry? Or did they never intend to use ancestry matching? I won't be paying ancestry to see any more of my match trees. But GEDMatch and FamilyTreeDNA has been great. The contacts I've made there seem to be willing to collaborate and best of all, they answer my contact email! In fact, at this moment I am not contacting anyone else until I can figure out the information I've received so far. The $39 I spent at FTDNA was money well spent, especially compared to what I've gotten from ancestry.Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13256855136448978468noreply@blogger.com