I agree completely with what Karla said about it being vital to test cousins and that we should not expect our relatives to finance our hobby. Like her, I've been pleasantly surprised when some have offered to pay themselves and thrilled when they share their kit numbers and passwords with me. In a couple of instances where non-keen genealogists have paid for their own kits and not given me access or loaded to GEDmatch, I am very frustrated and wish that I had paid for the test myself. We pay for subscription databases, conference/workshop attendance, research trips-- DNA tests are just another way of spending the money we are prepared to devote to genealogical pursuits. I can't think of anything more productive than testing the oldest generation still alive. If you don't have known relatives in your match list to compare to, you are just spinning your wheels guessing how matches might be related. If Americans are frustrated by discovering matches who don't know much about their family trees, think about how much more frustrating it is to non-Americans. I am a Canadian and my grandparents were all the immigrants: two from England, one from Ireland and one from Scotland. I wish that there was a marker on matches indicating "interested in US only". It would save me so much time! If I had not been pro-active at getting relatives tested, I would have got nothing from my Family Finder test. I have tested not only known close relatives but researched down collateral lines to find more distant cousins. Finding and testing a 4th cousin on my Irish line broke through a longstanding brick wall. Message: 6 Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2015 11:46:17 -0500 From: Karla Huebner<calypsospots@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [DNA] My First NPE To: Lindsey Britton<lplantagenet@aol.com> Cc:"genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com" <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> Message-ID: <CA+FJH4NwZg0+WeCEwE4ozFvHqB4ccYYhKR4d5XSpJXs2n1Q14A@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Testing cousins is vital. I'm always delighted when one of them is willing to pay, but I figure I can't expect them to finance my hobby (even if they're also into family history). Karla

Dear Linda, These are excellent points. If you test relatives it makes a lot of sense to put them on your own account so that you have control over the raw data files and over the match lists. I have recently been focusing on testing 3rd and 4th cousins since I have for the most part exhausted my list of first and 2nd cousins to test. Testing people at Ancestry.com or with Family Finder and then uploading to GEDmatch has been my most cost effective strategy recently. Sincerely, Tim Janzen -----Original Message----- From: genealogy-dna-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:genealogy-dna-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Linda Reid via Sent: Friday, January 1, 2016 6:18 AM To: GENEALOGY-DNA@rootsweb.com Subject: [DNA] Testing Cousins I agree completely with what Karla said about it being vital to test cousins and that we should not expect our relatives to finance our hobby. Like her, I've been pleasantly surprised when some have offered to pay themselves and thrilled when they share their kit numbers and passwords with me. In a couple of instances where non-keen genealogists have paid for their own kits and not given me access or loaded to GEDmatch, I am very frustrated and wish that I had paid for the test myself. We pay for subscription databases, conference/workshop attendance, research trips-- DNA tests are just another way of spending the money we are prepared to devote to genealogical pursuits. I can't think of anything more productive than testing the oldest generation still alive. If you don't have known relatives in your match list to compare to, you are just spinning your wheels guessing how matches might be related. If Americans are frustrated by discovering matches who don't know much about their family trees, think about how much more frustrating it is to non-Americans. I am a Canadian and my grandparents were all the immigrants: two from England, one from Ireland and one from Scotland. I wish that there was a marker on matches indicating "interested in US only". It would save me so much time! If I had not been pro-active at getting relatives tested, I would have got nothing from my Family Finder test. I have tested not only known close relatives but researched down collateral lines to find more distant cousins. Finding and testing a 4th cousin on my Irish line broke through a longstanding brick wall. the body of the message

Linda, it is astonishing that any American genealogist would be interested only in American DNA matches--and especially not to be interested in Canadian matches! So many people have gone back and forth between the two areas (both before and after American independence), and so many immigrant families had some members settle in one country, some in the other. I'm an American with 7 of 8 great-grandparents being immigrants, and the 8th the son of immigrants. I have loads of Canadian relatives! At least one Norwegian great-aunt went north (so did one of her brothers, but he doesn't seem to have reproduced), lots of more distant Scottish relatives settled in Canada, and I'm sure some of the Germans did too. However, some of the DNA matches with all-colonial ancestry appear skeptical that ours is a useful match. If I were them, I'd be pleased to learn that the segment in common was Scottish (which is usually what it is). Karla On Fri, Jan 1, 2016 at 9:18 AM, Linda Reid via <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I agree completely with what Karla said about it being vital to test > cousins and that we should not expect our relatives to finance our hobby. > Like her, I've been pleasantly surprised when some have offered to pay > themselves and thrilled when they share their kit numbers and passwords > with me. In a couple of instances where non-keen genealogists have paid for > their own kits and not given me access or loaded to GEDmatch, I am very > frustrated and wish that I had paid for the test myself. We pay for > subscription databases, conference/workshop attendance, research trips-- > DNA tests are just another way of spending the money we are prepared to > devote to genealogical pursuits. I can't think of anything more productive > than testing the oldest generation still alive. If you don't have known > relatives in your match list to compare to, you are just spinning your > wheels guessing how matches might be related. > > If Americans are frustrated by discovering matches who don't know much > about their family trees, think about how much more frustrating it is to > non-Americans. I am a Canadian and my grandparents were all the immigrants: > two from England, one from Ireland and one from Scotland. I wish that there > was a marker on matches indicating "interested in US only". It would save > me so much time! If I had not been pro-active at getting relatives tested, > I would have got nothing from my Family Finder test. > > I have tested not only known close relatives but researched down > collateral lines to find more distant cousins. Finding and testing a 4th > cousin on my Irish line broke through a longstanding brick wall. > > > Message: 6 > Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2015 11:46:17 -0500 > From: Karla Huebner<calypsospots@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [DNA] My First NPE > To: Lindsey Britton<lplantagenet@aol.com> > Cc:"genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com" <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: > < > CA+FJH4NwZg0+WeCEwE4ozFvHqB4ccYYhKR4d5XSpJXs2n1Q14A@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Testing cousins is vital. I'm always delighted when one of them is willing > to pay, but I figure I can't expect them to finance my hobby (even if > they're also into family history). > > Karla > > -- Karla Huebner calypsospots AT gmail.com