Anybody used Ancestry.com?

[gerntz]

I just read an article about 3 identical triplets.

Good thing.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by Blue Collar Guy View Post
I just read an article about 3 identical triplets.

Good thing.

Is that 9 people? -ERD50

 

[Nemo2]

Is that 9 people?

Nonuplets R Us.

 

[Koolau]

I just read an article about 3 identical triplets(Identical Triplets Take A DNA Test, But The Unsettling Truth Is Revealed | NinjaJournalist). Their results were off as to heritage, the article concluded it should be used for entertainment purposes. Id like to further add my own observations. Once you submit a DNA sample to these places, with a court order the authorities can get it. Im sure everyone in here is squeaky clean, , but if your 2nd cousin is doing stick ups and he left some DNA, "they" can come visit you and want to get some information(Ancestry Guide for Law Enforcement). Im just putting it out there.

Hence, my tag line (below):

I could also add "Just because you've done nothing wrong doesn't mean you have nothing to hide." Of course, YMMV.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Is that 9 people? -ERD50

Glad i could provide you with some entertainment. I bet your more delighted that I amassed a 5 million dollar estate so far despite the fact Im not a master of the English language. Imagine how far i would have gotten.

 

[ERD50]

Glad i could provide you with some entertainment. I bet your more delighted that I amassed a 5 million dollar estate so far despite the fact Im not a master of the English language. Imagine how far i would have gotten.

I was hoping you would get some entertainment out of it as well, no charge. Heck, if I didn't do it, REWahoo would, he usually is quick to catch those things.

It was much more a poke at the English language than at you (not at all, really). The English language is full of these phrases than can be taken multiple ways. Tickles me sometimes, that's all.

Like the phrase "every other house on the block" can mean alternate houses (half of the houses on the block), or "every house other than the one I'm talking about" (n-1 houses). And in Cudahay, WI the houses are side-by-each.

Your estate value is your business, none of my concern. You seem kinda touchy for a guy with a conceal-carry permit (he says from half-way across the country ) ).

-ERD50

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I was hoping you would get some entertainment out of it as well, no charge. Heck, if I didn't do it, REWahoo would, he usually is quick to catch those things.

It was much more a poke at the English language than at you (not at all, really). The English language is full of these phrases than can be taken multiple ways. Tickles me sometimes, that's all.

Like the phrase "every other house on the block" can mean alternate houses (half of the houses on the block), or "every house other than the one I'm talking about" (n-1 houses). And in Cudahay, WI the houses are side-by-each.

Your estate value is your business, none of my concern. You seem kinda touchy for a guy with a conceal-carry permit (he says from half-way across the country ) ).

-ERD50

Thanks, I didnt know about the houses in Cudahay WI

 

[Marita40]

I use it often at the MN Historical Center in St. Paul, where it is free. Do note that a fair amount of material is also available, such as censuses, right from your home computer--no need to subscribe to anything, despite what some sites want you to think. We've traced ancestors on both sides back at least 200 years, although both sides were also peasants and no one of particular interest appeared. Too poor to even have gravestones when we've search cemeteries.

 

[target2019]

These seem trivial things - I never knew any of these people - but I love the stories I can imagine, based on these bits and pieces of real written history.

Yes, I've often thought how ordinary some of my family facts may seem to non-family members. I can't say that I've made earth-shattering discoveries. However, my perspective has changed quite a bit over the last year, and some of that has been due to searching for historic facts.

It was humbling to locate GM's childhood home that contained 11 siblings, mother, father, and M-I-L. Even more so to see (on Google street view) a similar abode that still stands across the street, near the Philadelphia waterfront. The family lived with two other families in a row home. Incredible!

 

[target2019]

Wondering if anyone here has used Ancestry.com and if so, what your experiences were.

This explains a bit about how you interact with your DNA match information in Ancestry. Below is a screen shot of the right side of the matches screen. It's showing 4 individuals (out of screen cap), who don't have a tree, have a tree, or have a locked tree. For the base testing fee, you cannot access the trees. However, I simply copy the link and look at the tree from spouse's Ancestry account ($150 for 6 months).

One thing that Ancestry does right is to have a list of names with birth and death, accessible from the tree view. Without this text feature, you need to move through the graphical tree, clicking on individuals to see more detail. In the case of a smallish tree, not too difficult. But if there are 2,235 individuals, it is an impossible task.

Hope that helps answer OP's question.

 

[Koolau]

I did try the LDS system in Laie. It had never heard of either side of my family. Go figure. I'm afraid to try the DNA tests now - they might prove I'm not even human since no record can be found of my family. YMMV

 

[braumeister]

I'm afraid to try the DNA tests now - they might prove I'm not even human since no record can be found of my family. YMMV

23andme says I'm nearly 4% Neanderthal, which has a certain cachet to it.

The Neander valley in Germany is not far from where my paternal ancestors were from, so I suspect the DNA results are fairly accurate.

 

[MichaelB]

I did try the LDS system in Laie. It had never heard of either side of my family. Go figure. I'm afraid to try the DNA tests now - they might prove I'm not even human since no record can be found of my family. YMMV

But if that turns out to be true, think of the bragging rights

23andme says I'm nearly 4% Neanderthal, which has a certain cachet to it.

The Neander valley in Germany is not far from where my paternal ancestors were from, so I suspect the DNA results are fairly accurate.

I just got back my results from 23andme. I have less German ancestry, but also lots of Neanderthal (just under 4% and 339 variants).

 

[gerntz]

(Along the same lines, it used to be said that, in Australia, an 'aristocrat' is someone who can trace his ancestry back to his father.)

From the few Aussies I've talked with, the highest ancestry status there is to be descended from an English prisoner brought there in the late 1700's. So I ask if they are descended from a murderer, a robber, or a mere petty thief.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

DW gave me a DNA test for Christmas. Results were (in descending %)
Europe West
Scandinavia
Great Britain
Ireland
Finland/NW Russia
Italy/Greece
North Africa

The last five had a range that began with "0%".

Frankly, I didn't find it that interesting, since it's so vague. Or maybe I'm just a caucasian mutt.

 

[Nemo2]

From the few Aussies I've talked with, the highest ancestry status there is to be descended from an English prisoner brought there in the late 1700's. So I ask if they are descended from a murderer, a robber, or a mere petty thief.

I believe that, for some time now, it's been 'fashionable', (reverse snobbery), for (mainly) law abiding Australians to present the image of having some kind of spiritual 'reformatory chic' relationship with Ned Kelly.

 

[tinlizzy]

Can these companies use a person's DNA to develop human cell lines (like the HeLa cell line)?

 

[target2019]

Alas, I am not matching any Neanderthal. No Aleutian or Clovis either.

Per this page, I am a fast coffee metabolizer. I would have guessed that, if I had known such a thing existed.

Coffee: how many cups are safe to drink? - Genes and Nutrition

 

[Taxman59]

I have been on Ancestry for about 20 years. I have had generally good experiences with it, but as others have posted, some people don't double check their research and they end up with a parent having children before they were born (wasn't that the problem with the Tribbles in the Star Trek series?)! There is a ton of information out there, and Ancestry lets you sift through much of it and make your own decisions. The DNA testing is OK, but there are better ones out there (FTDNA for the all male line and the all female lines for example).

 

[target2019]

There is a nice selection of tools for use at the following page.

Genetic Genealogy Tools: Tools

I used the Ancestry Calculator (large) to make comparisons of my autosomal file with various ancient remains. Ancestry uses similar to calculate your matches from a high level and render your ancestry map at their site.

 

[meierlde]

The best thing to do is go to your nearest Family history center. Ancestry.com is free to use there. Ancestry.com is awesome. At the FHC there is always an experienced researcher to help you look up census records or any other records they might have.

Actuallly there is a web site associated with the family history center https://familysearch.org/ which is free and has census records and others records online. In addition if you live near them several public libraries have significant sections on geneology such as Fort Wayne In, Houston Tx. I used to live in Houston so it was easy to get there. Fort Waynes is a big bigger however.
Managed to confirm a few family stories etc.

 

[meierlde]

I did try the LDS system in Laie. It had never heard of either side of my family. Go figure. I'm afraid to try the DNA tests now - they might prove I'm not even human since no record can be found of my family. YMMV

If your parents were born before 1940 you can likley trace them with census records assuming you know where they lived in 1940 or earlier (census years only). familysearch.org has the 1940 census online. It does help if you also know the name of any siblings of your parents. Then you look at the census records and see if you can match the family. My parents did this for a while and I have confirmed what they found and gotten some other facts.

 

[meierlde]

In addition to understand the life a bit, there were a lot of books published in the late 19th century with histories of communities, some are online. This gives information on the communities founding etc.
Also there is find a grave, which I managed to use to find where some great uncles are buried.

 

[braumeister]

If your parents were born before 1940 you can likley trace them with census records assuming you know where they lived in 1940 or earlier (census years only). familysearch.org has the 1940 census online.

You still have to use a bit of creativity in guessing the spelling of names.

I was one of the volunteers who digitized the 1940 census and in some cases it was incredibly difficult to decipher the census taker's handwriting. Even though they used a multiple interpreter/consensus/referee system to minimize errors, quite a number of egregious (IMHO) mistakes were made in the spelling of a lot of names.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Actuallly there is a web site associated with the family history center https://familysearch.org/ which is free and has census records and others records online. In addition if you live near them several public libraries have significant sections on geneology such as Fort Wayne In, Houston Tx. I used to live in Houston so it was easy to get there. Fort Waynes is a big bigger however.
Managed to confirm a few family stories etc.

I know, but unless you subscribe online and give them information you may not want to, your resources are limited. About 10 years ago you could go into a LDS family history center and put in a name and get an ancestor's ancestry ,"pedigree" chart without being a subscriber. You can't do that anymore unless you either subscribe to their website or are a member. I don't want to do either one of those. But you still can't use ancestry.com unless you pay or go to a family history center. Well, I am not sure if you are a non paying subscriber to family search.org if you can access ancestry.com for free or not. My guess would be no. You can't even get an ancestor's pedigree file without logging in, and that is at a family history center. It did not used to be like that.