Latest DNA update

[Merry]

only she and I care in the end.

lol OC! I agree, no one I know is interested in my tree any more. The people who were have all passed away now. They were all people who had done slow laborious research that took years to get anywhere. I think it's too easy now - people don't appreciate anything when it's easy.

I'm so sorry - I didn't know your brother had died - at least, I don't remember.

[Margaret in Burton]

Originally Posted by Merry

lol Maggie! The skills I have picked up for FH were learned years ago and I've only had to tag on a few extra bits here and there over the decades.

Part of the trouble is, I don't really know what I want from it (I think I did suggest something up thread, but can't have meant it as I don't remember what I said!), and I don't really understand why I would care if I share a tiny bit of DNA with someone when I read on here it can be accidental?? I think I know I couldn't really care less about discovering I am related to someone I don't know. Most contacts I've had in the last ten years haven't brought me any joy really, they just take my research and vanish!! lol

I don't really research my own tree any more, so it would be good if looking at DNA matches galvanised me to do more research. <<<< Maybe this is what I want from it??

I was a bit shocked to discover last week I'd forgotten how to work my offline tree program, it's been so long since I've added anything!

I totally agree. I only look at potential matches for Peter Henry Harrison. Not really found any yet. I’ve always only had people in the past take my research and not give anything back. Not interested

[Mary from Italy]

DNA has confirmed one hypothesis that I thought I'd never be able to prove, and knocked down one major brick wall.

In the second case the DNA evidence of who my 2xG-grandmother was is overwhelming, yet I still don't have a rock-solid paper trail. I'll perhaps try starting a thread about it one of these days.

In that case I decided to make an all-out attempt on knocking down the brick wall during lockdown: I went through the trees of all the matches likely to be connected to it with a finetooth comb, and sure enough, found errors in 3 of them. Once I'd fixed the errors, about 15 trees all fitted together nicely, with each other's and with mine!

I still have some annoying brick walls (especially on my two Irish lines), and loads of closeish matches where I can't work out how we're connected, but every so often I have another go at one line or another, and quite often something new turns up.

So I've been delighted with it on the whole.

[KiwiChris]

DNA found my grandmother's birth family within minutes of me loading my results! So it solved that mystery rather quickly!

I do have matches that must be related to my illegitimate great-grandmother's birth father, but they are all rather remote, looking at their trees, I think I have found one couple that he must be related to in some way, but I cannot get closer. Maybe one day!

Not mine, but someone who I have been working with over many years to try and sort out her big family mystery, I finally worked out what I thought was her family tree, and with access to her DNA results, found a distant match with a good family tree, that finally proved it!

My experience has been useful, and I live in hope of finding something else exciting, but to be honest, useful close matches are getting few and far between.

[marquette]

I asked both my parents (in their 80s) to do DNA tests to try and break down some brickwalls. Dad asked why? And I said because I want to know if my research is correct, or if I am totally on the wrong trail.

Two and a half of three of Dad's brickwalls fell down with several DNA matches proving his 2xgreat grandfather DID in fact have parents (they were not recorded in the baptism register), and that they were who my research predicted, with DNA matches reaching even further back.

The half remaining is difficult as the pool of matches is very small, - research did not pin-point a baptism or death/burial for William Martin, and it seems that only one of his sons (Robert) had children - just two, Dad's grandmother Laura and her brother Harry, who married his grandfather, and his sister Elizabeth. As far as I can tell none of Harry and Elizabeth's descendants have done DNA tests, or even have a tree on Ancestry.

I have DNA matches in the families of Robert's wife (Susan) and his mother Elizabeth, but none that I can say - yes, that is one of William's family.

Over this Christmas period, I have been chasing down some of the closer matches who do not have family trees. I was really lucky with a man with an unusual name - I looked at his facebook profile and his friends - and found one with a name similar to one of my DNA matches' nickname (who manages several tests who are also matches). A bit of research built a small family tree, and searching more of their facebook friends, and friends of friends discovered a name I already had in my tree, cousin-ship solved!

My daughters are amazed that I have been cyber-stalking - it wasn't just facebook, but also the access many other online archives including on-line memorials for recent deaths which meant I could do this - and I don't intend to do anything with the information, except add it to my family tree.

From time to time I pursue distant DNA matches who have trees, but only solve about 1 out of 5.

DNA has been very helpful in some areas of my tree, confirming my paper research and broken down one brick wall.

I did help a DNA connection to my first cousin who contacted me to trace her great great grandmother, who was a Irish brick wall, I managed to find her parents and siblings born in Ireland. She came to England in 1860 and promptly had an illegitimate daughter who was in my cousin's tree on her father's side who lied her way through all the census, birth location, marriage certificates etc. It was very satisfying, not through DNA really but only contacted me because of this woman popping up in my tree because coincidently was in my tree as a married in and my cousin as an ancestor.