Ancestry now allows searching by ethnicity

[Mary from Italy]

Ancestry has just done an interesting new update. It won't be useful for everyone, but it's enabled me to trace all of my son's matches with Italian ethnicity (his father was Italian).

I'd obviously already searched for matches with Italy as the birthplace of someone in a tree, but not everyone has a tree online, or knows where their ancestors were born, so a lot of people weren't picked up.

To use the search, on the main DNA page don't click on "By location" but on "All matches". Then click on "Filter" and "Region" , and select the region you want. It will only list regions that are included in your own ethnicity results.

You can also filter by "Journey", but that's less useful, because it somehow combines ethnicity results with family trees, and can show up people who don't have the ethnicity you want.

There's also a pop-up saying that they're improving their Sideview technology (sort by parent), and there may be some inconsistencies in the results for up to a week.

[Phoenix]

It is totally weird. Apparently, my 7th great grandmother Ann has Scottish and North Eastern roots. She has no surname, husband or descendants, but I am invited to agree that she is the daughter of Henry Miller.

Great, except that my tree has no surname-less Ann in it.

Until I get back to the Tudor period, I have found no ancestors living further north than the Wash.

[Phoenix]

Okay, I've sorted out who they are talking about. Someone who was born married and died in Wiltshire before 1800. Scottish????

[ElizabethHerts]

Rubbish, as it totally ignores my proven Cornwall and Devon ancestry!

Interestingly one of my daughters has Cornwall as one of her regions whilst the other does not. My husband has no Cornish ancestors.

[Mary from Italy]

The ethnicity results have always been a bit odd, probably because nearby places will have similar ethnicities. According to Ancestry I have Welsh and Scottish ancestry (as well as English and Irish). No trace at all of Scottish in my tree, but one line goes back to a part of Shropshire which borders on Wales, which could explain that one.

My guess is that their system could easily mistake Cornwall for Devon, but unlikely to mistake Chinese for Italian, for example, because they're so distant and different.

[Phoenix]

It's an absolute nonsense. It's saying my Scottish and North Eastern roots come from my mother, while directing me impartially to connections with every side of the family, but largely on my father's side.

It will be at least five years, and probably longer, before I have any faith in ethnicity.

[Mary from Italy]

Same in my tree and my son's, the division of ethnicities between parents is total rubbish.

[Sue from Southend]

My DNA results revealed 10% Jewish, which was a surprise but I have worked out the relationship and I have found that for that ethnicity, linked to my paternal line, Ancestry is very reliable. Would I trust it for UK regional ethnicities? No, not at all!

[kiterunner]

In case it isn't clear, the change that they have made recently is that you can search your DNA matches for people who have a certain ethnicity in their results.

[Mary from Italy]

But as I said earlier, as far as I can see, you can only search for Regions (ethnicities) that appear in your own results.

For example, I've noticed that some of my matches have a certain unusual ethnicity, but I can't search to see if any other matches of mine have it, because that ethnicity doesn't appear in my own results.

That's not a search that's likely to be useful very often, though.