This discussion about Ancestry is making me have second thoughts about ordering.  How much can be accomplished at Ancestry DNA without a tree?  My understanding is that the tree makes it easy to identify matches with common ancestry.  It is definitely not easy to identify matches with common ancestry at FTDNA or GEDMATCH. I admit I have always had a negative feeling about Ancestry because it has helped spread flawed genealogies and, like Facebook, it monetizes customer data. Lindsey  You can delete your own tree Sent from AOL Mobile Mail Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com On Friday, November 23, 2018, Joan Lince <joanklince@earthlink.net> wrote: Carol, you are so right, and you made your point even clearer with the example. I once put a tree on Ancestry and others edited in some wrong information. The tree is still there, with my family name in its title, but with the errors it not only gives wrong information but reflects badly on our carefully documented  research. I wish I could delete the whole tree

I admit that my approach is purely selfish, but I had my DNA tested on Ancestry without posting a tree, yet I'm finding a lot of connections based on other people's trees. A lot of my matches are people I already knew about so in those cases trees aren't needed but the DNA has the benefit of confirming the research. In other cases people unknown to me have posted trees that reveal ancestors a few generations back who I am also descended from. This has helped me especially when the paper trail is iffy, sometimes because of nonexistent records. I have contacted many matches I've been able to figure out, and offered to share information offline, by direct email or however. Joan -----Original Message----- From: Lindsey Britton via GENEALOGY-DNA [mailto:genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com] Sent: Friday, November 23, 2018 11:24 AM To: GENEALOGY-DNA@rootsweb.com Cc: Lindsey Britton Subject: [DNA] Re: Ancestry Trees This discussion about Ancestry is making me have second thoughts about ordering. How much can be accomplished at Ancestry DNA without a tree? My understanding is that the tree makes it easy to identify matches with common ancestry. It is definitely not easy to identify matches with common ancestry at FTDNA or GEDMATCH. I admit I have always had a negative feeling about Ancestry because it has helped spread flawed genealogies and, like Facebook, it monetizes customer data. Lindsey You can delete your own tree Sent from AOL Mobile Mail Get the new AOL app: mail.mobile.aol.com On Friday, November 23, 2018, Joan Lince <joanklince@earthlink.net> wrote: Carol, you are so right, and you made your point even clearer with the example. I once put a tree on Ancestry and others edited in some wrong information. The tree is still there, with my family name in its title, but with the errors it not only gives wrong information but reflects badly on our carefully documented research. I wish I could delete the whole tree _______________________________________________ Email preferences: http://bit.ly/rootswebpref Unsubscribe https://lists.rootsweb.com/postorius/lists/genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com Privacy Statement: https://ancstry.me/2JWBOdY Terms and Conditions: https://ancstry.me/2HDBym9 Rootsweb Blog: http://rootsweb.blog RootsWeb is funded and supported by Ancestry.com and our loyal RootsWeb community

You can accomplish a very lot at Ancestry using your DNA without a tree. You just have to have the extreme patience to root your way through other people's trees using their exceedingly, and intentionally, cumbersome system. Even if you have a tree there, you still have to do this if you want full benefit. Doug McDonald -----Original Message----- From: Lindsey Britton via GENEALOGY-DNA <genealogy-dna@rootsweb.com> This discussion about Ancestry is making me have second thoughts about ordering.  How much can be accomplished at Ancestry DNA without a tree?