The saying goes… “You won’t please all the people all the
time”, and Ancestry has learned this too. Even if you are not totally happy
with the changes with your AncestryDNA, doesn’t mean you can’t make them work
for you.
Many people have put their two cents about the tools and how
they are using them. This is my two cents and even if you don’t like the way I
do them, perhaps it will start your creative juices flowing.
There is a new refresh screen to viewing one’s matches. In
the First column you will find your matches names/usernames then the next
column has the predicted relationship along with how much shared DNA you have
with your match. The third column shows the status of their trees: No Trees;
Unlinked Tree, or the Size of their tree, plus if you see a lock this means
their tree is private. Right below the tree status, you may see a green leaf
along with “Common Ancestor”. This means that based on your trees, and other’s
trees (not just the matches tree), Ancestry has found a probable common
ancestor. Even if it is based solely on your tree and your matches’ tree, you
will want to research and verify that the match does descend from this
ancestor. Also keep in mind that the match might have more than one set of
Common Ancestors with you. The final column is where you can place your match
into one or more groups and below that you will find any notes you added to the
match.
When you click the down arrow next to the box that is
labeled “All Matches” you will see categories such as create a custom group, Starred Matches (NEW is the number matches in each category). Starred matches is something you can turn on
or off, thus a toggle switch. The default view for your matches is All Matches
and you will see a check mark next to this to signal this is what is being
displayed. All matches is the sum of your Close matches-4th
cousin or closer plus your Distant Matches. New matches are just that, matches
that are new and haven’t been viewed. Plus hidden matches, these are matches
that you can flag to be hidden for whatever reason you choose.
How I am sorting my matches;I created four groups, Paternal Grandfather,
Paternal Grandmother, Maternal Grandfather and Maternal Grandmother. You can
leave these labels or actually add the surname into the group. I have also put
a label before each #A through #D for the four groups. Thus if you are looking
at a pedigree chart, Paternal Grandfather would be #A and maternal Grandmother
would be #D.
NOTE: Because I have added a color heart into my Custom Group label, the groups are not sorting correctly. If you don't use the color heart, the #A will sort first, then #B and so on.
I also created three yellow shade groups; Confirmed – Not Entered,
Confirmed DNA Match – entered into Tree and NEED TO ENTER – RESEARCH.
The first group is where I have a confirmed person that I
know almost how they are related, however because of a vague username, or initials
that are common for more than one sibling I can't exactly place them in my tree. I use this group because I don’t
entered them into my genealogy software since I only have the general
family group they belong to.
Confirmed DNA Match – entered into Tree is just that. I like
to put everyone who I have figured out into my genealogy database. I did a
previous post about Tracking My DNA Matches which I find interesting to see
which Ancestor’s I have shared DNA matches with.
Finally, Need to Enter – Research; these are my matches that
I need to spend a little more time with to figure out how they are related and
then enter them into my genealogy database.
I also Star my matches in the “Need to Enter – Research” group
plus those matches that I have no idea who they are. I might have it figured to
one or more of the #A through #D buckets, however I just don’t have enough
information currently to figure out these people or how they fit exactly into my tree.
By having them Starred, I can review them and see if perhaps they now have a
tree, build out their tree or perhaps Ancestry has a Common Ancestor hint for
me.
As I was putting my matches into various groups, I realized
that the little color dots are nice, however I needed more visual, and since I
already had colored stars in my notes, I kept them. Thus the notes fields are a
very important addition to my sorting method; this is where I can leave myself reminders about this match. When a match is determined to fit into my tree, my
note is something like this:
I have been doing my genealogy for 35 plus years and
thus I know that McDonald is my Paternal Grandmother’s surname, MRCA is the acronym
for Most Recent Common Ancestor and the numbers before the ancestor’s names are
their Ahnentafel numbers from the pedigree chart. Finally in the parenthesis,
is my actual relationship to the match thus 2nd Cousin, and for removed relationships I would use an X such as 1X for once removed.
Another challenge I had is as the match moves up my pedigree
chart, having just #A through #D was not enough to remind me where our common ancestor
sits on my pedigree chart. Yes the numbers from the Ahnentafel chart helps,
however I wanted more. Thus I add P for Paternal and M for Maternal as the
common ancestor moves up the pedigree chart.
Warning: My brain doesn’t always work the same as others. So if this chart is too confusing, don’t worry about it, just ignore it.
However, where this method works for me is that I change the
Surname in my note to equal my male MRCA surname.
Remember, #C is my Maternal
Grandfather’s line and his surname is Tyler, however this match goes up to my
Maternal Grandfather’s Mother’s line, thus the MPP added to the #C. This couple’s
number is 52 and 53 and based on 52, and referencing my chart, it is labeled
with #CMPP and thus matches. Again, it works for me and if it doesn’t for you,
that is okay, develop a system that works for you.
Why I like this method, is when I look at our shared matches
to each other, I have figured out some of the shared matches MRCA and they are
within the PEDELTY surname either at 52 or his son 26. Thus the unknown matches
I have labeled at the 26 level because this is the first male MRCA with the
Pedelty name. When I am ready to further research these people, it has helped
me limit within my huge tree, where these people fit into the picture.
Keep in mind that my sorting method or any sorting method doesn’t work very well when you share more than one set of common ancestors. For example, my 2nd great grandfather, James Crinion and his two female siblings married siblings of the McMahon family. Thus there are three branches of the Crinion-McMahon descendants that go back to the same two sets of Ancestors, James Crinion’s parents and his wife, Mary Ann McMahon’s parents.
This does get messy however; no one said genealogy was easy.
