Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DNA. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Ancestry DNA 2-step Verification

For those who have done a DNA test with Ancestry, you may have already noticed that to access your DNA matches you are now required to set up 2 step verification.

To set up this added layer of security, you are first required to choose between having your code sent to a mobile phone or an email address.  Then you input the number or address you wish to choose and confirm using your current Ancestry password.  A code is then sent to you via your chosen method for you to input before you are able to access your DNA matches.

Once you have accessed your DNA matches, you have several ways of sorting them.  At the top level, you can view matches by :

  • Parent - view matches on your maternal or paternal line
  • Ancestor - choose any ancestor in your Ancestry tree
  • Location - zoom in on a world map to see where you matches are dispersed

You can also filter by 

  • Unviewed matches - highlighting those DNA matches you have not yet evaluated.  
  • Common Ancestors - viewing only matches whose Ancestry tree intersects your own
  • Trees - sort by Private Linked Trees, Public Linked Trees or Unlinked Trees
  • Shared DNA - sort by Close Matches, Distant Matches or by Custom Centimorgan Range
  • Group - create you own custom group such as new matches

So if you have done an Ancestry DNA test and haven't checked back in a while, go set up your 2 step verification and check out the latest updates.

Monday, October 2, 2023

Ancestry DNA Update 2023

Recently, Ancestry again updated their DNA Ethnicity Estimates, so I have again been studying my new, updated results.  I have commented before that with every ethnicity estimate, my results seem to move further from my family tree as I know it.  This time actually moved a little back towards what my existing tree leads me to expect.

The table below shows my ethnicity estimates over the years since I first tested.  It is worth noting that in 2018 and 2019 the Irish ethnicity represented Ireland and Scotland combined.  According to my researched Family Tree, my father's family is 100% English back to the early 1700s and further and is primarily from the Essex/Suffolk area. My father's parents married in England before they came out to Australia.  My mother's family is at mostly English with some Irish (a Great-Grandmother), German (Great-Great-Grandfather) and Scottish (Great-Great-Grandmother) mixed in.  Most of her lines arrived in Australia in the 1840s and 1850s, and the various nationalities intermarried out here.  This is not reflected in my ethnicity estimate. 

 

Sep 18

Sep 19

Sep 21

Apr 22

Sep 22

Sep 23

England

65

78

54

45

33

43

Ireland

22

10

2

2

1

0

Scotland

0

0

33

32

38

32

Germanic Europe

8

3

0

0

4

5

Ivory Coast/Ghana

2

1

1

2

2

2

Sweden/Denmark

2

5

0

2

19

15

Norway

1

2

9

14

0

0

Mali

 

1

1

0

0

0

Wales

 

 

 

3

3

3

The breakdown of my maternal DNA and paternal DNA also shows some unexpected results.  All the Sweden/Denmark DNA comes from my father’s side, as does a small amount from Scotland and Germany.  My Irish ancestry has disappeared completely from my mother’s ethnicity.  And I have never known where that 2% Ivory Coast/Ghana comes from.

Maternal

Paternal

Total

England 14%

England 29%

England 43%

Scotland 28%

Scotland 4%

Scotland 32%

Germanic Europe 3%

Germanic Europe 2%

Germanic Europe 5%

Ivory Coast/Ghana 2%

Ivory Coast/Ghana 0%

Ivory Coast/Ghana 2%

Sweden/Denmark 0%

Sweden/Denmark 15%

Sweden/Denmark 15%

Wales 3%

Wales 0%

Wales 3%

Ultimately, we need to remember that these numbers are estimates only and can still be quite inaccurate.  More important to most who are actively researching are their cousin matches, people whom the DNA tests show are being related. I have cousin matches on all the major branches of my tree intersecting at various grandparents, great grandparents and further back, so for several generations back I am reasonably confident my tree is accurate - or as accurate as it can be.