I have used autosomal tests to break through the backside of may brick walls. But if you take the test at AncestryDNA and do nothing else with it, you won't get much value. for it to be valuable you have to do chromosome mapping and identify specific segments you match others on, and triangulate - same segment from three not to closely related cousins goes to a common ancestor. What I now recommend is to test at AncestryDNA and then port the data for free to GedMatch.com. For a bonus, spend another $40 and port the data to ftDNA where you can do chromosome mapping/matching against their database. MyHeritage has a new offering to import DNA data which I haven't explored yet. I am hoping they they will also offer chromosome mapping and tree matching (best of all worlds). If you do AncestryDNA and nothing else you will get confirmation of your tree, and where you don't find matches especially in the 4th-6th cousin areas, it may mean your tree is wrong for various reasons. They do provide a list of people you may be related to that are not in your tree. I have found they are mostly cousins, uncles and aunts and their spouses. However, one of those hints helped lead me to the right branch of Lovel***s to research for my father-in-law Tom Cates. Here is a set of blog posts with good info about using GEDMatch: http://blog.kittycooper.com/tag/gedmatch/ On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 12:25 PM, Bruce Reeves via <lovelace@rootsweb.com> wrote: > i have had zero success with the autosomal test - it proved people i > already knew - but in all other cases - it shows relationships many > generations closer than they actually could possibly be... perhaps i am > unique - in multiple branches of my family there are multiple cross > connections creating double and triple and quadruple duplicate > relationships for a given pair of individuals - i believe this is causing > the dna to "be confused". so i'm sure i'm related to these people, but the > knkowledge that they exist at this point is not getting either of us past > our brick walls to get to each other ... perhaps someday it may help. > > On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Andrew Lovelace via < > lovelace@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > General question to the group... what is your thoughts about having the > > autosomal test. It appears to help with only the immediate unknown > family > > members and maybe the first 5, or so, generations, right? My current > > test > > is Y-DNA67 Thomas Lovelace, Kit 7553. > > > > Just looking for some overall opinions... > > > > Thanks, > > > > Andy > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > LOVELACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LOVELACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

I'll second all of Lenny's tips. I've done exactly that method for the three autosomal kits that I've had done, purchased at ancestry and transferred to FTDNA & gedmatch. I've broke down few brickwalls through triangulation. I'm much closer on the Loveless line, and on others I'm missing a few generations between my known ancestor and their progenitor that I've confirmed from dna triangulation. If nothing else, it gives you a great lead on where to start chasing the paper trail. On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 3:23 PM, Lenny Darnell via <lovelace@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I have used autosomal tests to break through the backside of may brick > walls. But if you take the test at AncestryDNA and do nothing else with > it, you won't get much value. > > for it to be valuable you have to do chromosome mapping and identify > specific segments you match others on, and triangulate - same segment from > three not to closely related cousins goes to a common ancestor. > > What I now recommend is to test at AncestryDNA and then port the data for > free to GedMatch.com. For a bonus, spend another $40 and port the data > to ftDNA where you can do chromosome mapping/matching against their > database. > > MyHeritage has a new offering to import DNA data which I haven't explored > yet. I am hoping they they will also offer chromosome mapping and tree > matching (best of all worlds). > > If you do AncestryDNA and nothing else you will get confirmation of your > tree, and where you don't find matches especially in the 4th-6th cousin > areas, it may mean your tree is wrong for various reasons. They do > provide a list of people you may be related to that are not in your tree. > I have found they are mostly cousins, uncles and aunts and their spouses. > > However, one of those hints helped lead me to the right branch of Lovel***s > to research for my father-in-law Tom Cates. > > Here is a set of blog posts with good info about using GEDMatch: > http://blog.kittycooper.com/tag/gedmatch/ > > > > On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 12:25 PM, Bruce Reeves via <lovelace@rootsweb.com> > wrote: > > > i have had zero success with the autosomal test - it proved people i > > already knew - but in all other cases - it shows relationships many > > generations closer than they actually could possibly be... perhaps i am > > unique - in multiple branches of my family there are multiple cross > > connections creating double and triple and quadruple duplicate > > relationships for a given pair of individuals - i believe this is causing > > the dna to "be confused". so i'm sure i'm related to these people, but > the > > knkowledge that they exist at this point is not getting either of us past > > our brick walls to get to each other ... perhaps someday it may help. > > > > On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 1:18 PM, Andrew Lovelace via < > > lovelace@rootsweb.com> > > wrote: > > > > > General question to the group... what is your thoughts about having the > > > autosomal test. It appears to help with only the immediate unknown > > family > > > members and maybe the first 5, or so, generations, right? My current > > > test > > > is Y-DNA67 Thomas Lovelace, Kit 7553. > > > > > > Just looking for some overall opinions... > > > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > Andy > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > > LOVELACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > > LOVELACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > LOVELACE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >