Ancestry "Thrulines" question .. (find, search, family tree, public)
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Zero that have taken AncestryDNA's test, share DNA with you, and have added and attached a viable tree for ThruLines to pick up on, yes. You won't match all of your distant cousins, and ThruLines can only work off of trees attached to the DNA test. Additionally, there needs to be enough data in other trees to make the connection from your tree to their tree.
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Is it as rare as I'm thinking?
Not necessarily. Due to the above requirements, I have a few ancestors from that time period that are not an MRCA for any DNA matches (none that ThruLines has picked up on). Sometimes, if you make the effort, you can find ones ThruLines doesn't pick up on, either because people haven't attached their tree to their DNA test, or because there's just not enough info for ThruLines to make the connection.
Zero that have taken AncestryDNA's test, share DNA with you, and have added and attached a viable tree for ThruLines to pick up on,
Yes - good point - they need a family tree beyond themselves.
But sometimes those family trees are wrong with incorrect links and your DNA match pops up on Thrulines and you are looking at the family lines and realize that their tree latched on to the wrong person with the same name. I have a case where the link is assumed by Thrulines to be through an Edmund McSweeney in Kerry. It turns out that there were two Edmunds in the same general area born around 1819. They have my Edmund in their tree. My Edmund appears in the US about 1858. Their Edmund (and wife) disappears from their tree in Ireland in 1858 leaving a whole bunch of kids, presumably orphans. I figured, OK, maybe she died and he abandoned the family and came to the US and remarried, had a family of 3 kids and then died in 1869 as did two of the kids, of smallpox. He was dead by 1870 census and all three are in the mortality schedule. This all seemed pretty odd so I kept looking and found the other Edmund in the small town in Kerry in a property record after mine had died. It turns out that we are actually DNA matched on another Kerry family (Healy) which is not shown in their tree. Thrulines assumes that the trees are correct as it creates the link but you have to evaluate and decide if it is right.
Yes - good point - they need a family tree beyond themselves.
But sometimes those family trees are wrong with incorrect links and your DNA match pops up on Thrulines and you are looking at the family lines and realize that their tree latched on to the wrong person with the same name. I have a case where the link is assumed by Thrulines to be through an Edmund McSweeney in Kerry. It turns out that there were two Edmunds in the same general area born around 1819. They have my Edmund in their tree. My Edmund appears in the US about 1858. Their Edmund (and wife) disappears from their tree in Ireland in 1858 leaving a whole bunch of kids, presumably orphans. I figured, OK, maybe she died and he abandoned the family and came to the US and remarried, had a family of 3 kids and then died in 1869 as did two of the kids, of smallpox. He was dead by 1870 census and all three are in the mortality schedule. This all seemed pretty odd so I kept looking and found the other Edmund in the small town in Kerry in a property record after mine had died. It turns out that we are actually DNA matched on another Kerry family (Healy) which is not shown in their tree. Thrulines assumes that the trees are correct as it creates the link but you have to evaluate and decide if it is right.
The more you use Ancestry the more you know there are many people on the site that have NO CLUE what they are doing. It's a good reason to make a tree private. When you see trees with tens of thousands in their tree that is a red flag that who ever owns that tree does not know what they are doing. Verify as much about your entries to your tree as you can before posting if you go public.
The more you use Ancestry the more you know there are many people on the site that have NO CLUE what they are doing. It's a good reason to make a tree private. When you see trees with tens of thousands in their tree that is a red flag that who ever owns that tree does not know what they are doing. Verify as much about your entries to your tree as you can before posting if you go public.
There are people who have tens of thousands in their trees who have been doing research for decades. I have a cousin who does DAR level research. She still goes to courthouses to track down original sources. I look for such sources to evaluate a tree, not just the size of the tree.
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