Ancestry Lab beta features

Originally Posted by kiterunner

Hmm, it seems a bit fiddly at the moment! I clicked on the person's name on the DNA match list and it took me straight to the "compare" screen and then I had to click on her name again to get to the page where it lets you add or edit notes.

ahh okay, I was trying to click on the icon of the notes didn't think to click on name again. As long as I can get to them to edit and add.

[kiterunner]

Originally Posted by maggie_4_7

Interestingly I had a 10 new matches appear today and I looked at one that intrigued me and when I went to the profile it told me which ancestor connected us which I thought 'ooh brilliant' but when I looked in his tree this ancestor isn't there!

But he is connected by that ancestor through a granddaughter but he hasn't got any ancestors on that part of the tree and also he has misspelt her name as Kirby when it should be Kilby (I have both names in my tree to make it more confusing) so I assume they are looking at both trees and comparing potential ancestors of his lady with mine.

Wow, that's exciting! I wonder if they have done this with any of mine. Will have a look.

[kiterunner]

Ooh, yes! It is saying:

"How are you and XXXXXXXXXXXX connected?
Common Ancestors

According to Ancestry family trees, these are common ancestors you and XXXXXXXXX share. You can view each relationship to see if it’s correct."

And those people are not in XXXXXXXXX's tree, but they are actually our shared ancestors. Now to see whether they have managed to solve any of my puzzles...

[kiterunner]

Well, I haven't found shared ancestors who I didn't already know about yet (but I've only looked through a very few), but there is someone who has the wrong couple in their tree where our shared ancestors should be, and ancestry is showing the correct people as our shared ancestors. So maybe some people will use this kind of information to correct their own trees.

[kiterunner]

Sorry to say they don't seem to be labelling matches as "Father's side" once I get to the 5th-8th cousins, though I suppose it could be misleading if they did, since I have come across one or two who have shared matches on both sides of my tree.

[kiterunner]

And yes, I have now looked at a new match who only has a small tree and ancestry is showing me our supposed shared ancestors who are not in that person's tree. Only problem is, it says their 4xg-grandmother was a sister of my 4xg-grandmother, but I haven't got that sister in my tree, and it is a Nottinghamshire family, so I have (previously) looked through the PR baptisms and there is no such sister.

So, proceed with caution! To be fair, ancestry does say "you can view each relationship to see if it's correct", rather than claiming it definitely is.

Originally Posted by kiterunner

And yes, I have now looked at a new match who only has a small tree and ancestry is showing me our supposed shared ancestors who are not in that person's tree. Only problem is, it says their 4xg-grandmother was a sister of my 4xg-grandmother, but I haven't got that sister in my tree, and it is a Nottinghamshire family, so I have (previously) looked through the PR baptisms and there is no such sister.

So, proceed with caution! To be fair, ancestry does say "you can view each relationship to see if it's correct", rather than claiming it definitely is.

Yes with Ancestry caution is the key word but the first one I looked at was right which was a miracle seeing as the name had been spelt incorrectly too but it might give us clue.

[JayG]

I've just been having a look at this.

I've lost all my 'common ancestors' hints. On my main DNA page it says I have 23 of them, clicking on it brings up the new DNA matches list but there aren't any matches, just a message 'No matches match the selected filter'.

It looks like some of the features might be useful tho.

[kiterunner]

If anyone else is wondering how to add someone to a group when you haven't got them showing in a list, for instance you are looking at their profile or the "compare" page (and say, they are 5th-8th cousin, unlinked tree), you can click through to the page that has tabs for their pedigree and surnames, shared matches, and map and locations (I don't know what this page is called, but it's basically a summary of a particular person from your DNA match list) then click the star next to their name, then go to view your DNA match list and choose "starred matches" from the Group dropdown menu, then that person should appear in the list of starred matches and you will have the option to add them to a group. (Then you can click on the star again to removed them from your starred matches.) It seems something of a "round the houses" way of doing it, but it's the quickest way I could find, unless someone has found a better way?

I filled in a feedback survey, but I was expecting to get to a page where I could type in all my suggestions etc and only realised I should have done it where it said "tell us more about any of your answers" when I had gone onto the final page and it submitted.

[Anstey Nomad]

Late to the party (had started my own thread). Now not convinced by this shared ancestor feature given the inaccuracies of some of the trees on Ancestry and the fact that I’ve looked more closely at the Bodycote shared ancestry and the line of descent is wrong.