I agree that uploading at gedmatch is very useful. However, I disagree that transferring to FTDNA is not especially helpful. I have made my most valuable discoveries at FTDNA. I find that people who test there are generally more serious about using DNA in their research (as opposed to 23andme, where a large percentage of testers are interested in health data). I think many people who test at Ancestry are just as interested in doing so but are not aware of the importance of having segment data. FTDNA has an excellent set of tools for analyzing your data. You will find a percentage of people from both Ancestry and FTDNA who have uploaded their kits to gedmatch, but in general it’s going to be a fraction of each database’s total. Barton From: Joan Young [mailto:jyoung6180@aol.com] Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2016 9:05 PM To: bartonlewis@optonline.net; mscheffler@verizon.net; Roots-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ROOTS-L] Interpreting DNA results You can do the same thing by uploading your raw AncestryDNA data to GEDMatch for free. I have my DNA data on all of the sites and find GEDMatch more helpful in finding matches than I do FTDNA family finder. FTDNA only has about 250K tested while Ancestry has just passed the 2 million mark. Between Ancestry and GEDMatch you can reach a very wide audience and have the tools you need to verify (or disprove) matches and triangulation. --------------------------------------- Dear Margaret, The problem with testing at Ancestry is that they don't give you your segment data: what chromosome and on what part of the chromosome (the segment start and stop points) where you share DNA. This is critical to mapping your DNA to your ancestors. Three people could be a match to each other, but two of them could match through one common set of ancestors and the other two could match through a different set of common ancestors. The 3 of you could share yet a 3rd set of common ancestors. But unless you see all three matching on the same segment, you won't know for sure that they are sharing DNA through the same common ancestor. Such scenarios may sound far-fetched, but in fact people who have lots of early colonial American ancestry have complex and duplicated relationships in their trees. You can transfer your kit from Ancestry to FTDNA for only $39. There you will see your matches and precisely where they match you on your chromosomes. You will have the benefit of having your DNA at both companies, with their separate databases which don't always (or even mostly) overlap. -- Joan Young jyoung6180@aol.com <mailto:jyoung6180@aol.com>

You won't get any argument from me about any of that in that I'm fishing in all of those ponds and each resource has advantages and disadvantages. I've been fortunate with getting a response from matches at all of the sites including 23andme. I think anyone who is REALLY serious about getting the most out of DNA testing will test or upload data to all of the sites. I just haven't found FTDNA quite as helpful as the other sites because of the smaller database. I do lover their tools. Joan Young jyoung6180@aol.com -----Original Message----- From: Barton Lewis <bartonlewis@optonline.net> To: 'Joan Young' <jyoung6180@aol.com>; mscheffler <mscheffler@verizon.net>; Roots-L <Roots-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sat, Jun 25, 2016 9:14 pm Subject: RE: [ROOTS-L] Interpreting DNA results I agree that uploading at gedmatch is very useful. However, I disagree that transferring to FTDNA is not especially helpful. I have made my most valuable discoveries at FTDNA. I find that people who test there are generally more serious about using DNA in their research (as opposed to 23andme, where a large percentage of testers are interested in health data). I think many people who test at Ancestry are just as interested in doing so but are not aware of the importance of having segment data. FTDNA has an excellent set of tools for analyzing your data. You will find a percentage of people from both Ancestry and FTDNA who have uploaded their kits to gedmatch, but in general it’s going to be a fraction of each database’s total. Barton From: Joan Young [mailto:jyoung6180@aol.com] Sent: Saturday, June 25, 2016 9:05 PM To: bartonlewis@optonline.net; mscheffler@verizon.net; Roots-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [ROOTS-L] Interpreting DNA results You can do the same thing by uploading your raw AncestryDNA data to GEDMatch for free. I have my DNA data on all of the sites and find GEDMatch more helpful in finding matches than I do FTDNA family finder. FTDNA only has about 250K tested while Ancestry has just passed the 2 million mark. Between Ancestry and GEDMatch you can reach a very wide audience and have the tools you need to verify (or disprove) matches and triangulation. --------------------------------------- Dear Margaret, The problem with testing at Ancestry is that they don't give you your segment data: what chromosome and on what part of the chromosome (the segment start and stop points) where you share DNA. This is critical to mapping your DNA to your ancestors. Three people could be a match to each other, but two of them could match through one common set of ancestors and the other two could match through a different set of common ancestors. The 3 of you could share yet a 3rd set of common ancestors. But unless you see all three matching on the same segment, you won't know for sure that they are sharing DNA through the same common ancestor. Such scenarios may sound far-fetched, but in fact people who have lots of early colonial American ancestry have complex and duplicated relationships in their trees. You can transfer your kit from Ancestry to FTDNA for only $39. There you will see your matches and precisely where they match you on your chromosomes. You will have the benefit of having your DNA at both companies, with their separate databases which don't always (or even mostly) overlap. -- Joan Young jyoung6180@aol.com