RootsTech 2019, the ER, and AncestryDNA’s ThruLines
Greetings from Salt Lake City – which isn’t quite going as expected. I got yestereday around noon and quickly realized I’d lost my reading glasses. So, it was off to the shopping center instead of the library as planned.
EMERGENCY ROOM
Also, I’d been hurting in my upper back and down along my arm all day. This morning, I woke up even worse… and ended up going to the ER. I figured it was a pinched nerve and, after four hours, they sent me home with that diagnosis, an ice pack, and some meds.
PRESENTATIONS
After quickly getting ready, I headed about a block down the street – in the cold sprinkles – to grab a free boxed lunch and watch a couple of presentations. (I’ll summarize those this evening.)
THRULINES
But, as I hung out with other DNA researches/developers/presenters, I quickly learned the big topic of the day was AncestryDNA’s ThruLines which was released just a few hours earlier.
If you haven’t had them before, I believe most everyone got ThruLines today. And it’s really exciting! It shows you potential ancestral lines AND all of the cousins they think they can match to that unlike. Surprisingly, though, they even share matches where WE cannot see any match on the tree! I was shown one “match” to a great, great grandfather who only had the testtaker and parents on his tree. But, they were able to match to him!
Here’s a few exciting thinkers I’ve noticed in just the few minutes I’ve worked with it:
1. The ancestors are listed in order – and this is what mine shows:
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- 2 parents
- 4 grandparents
- 8 great grandparents
- 16 great, great grandparents
- 32 3x great grandparents (out of 32)
- 57 4x great grandparents (out of 64)
- 84 5x great grandparents (out of 112)
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…and then it stops (So, they are trying to find all 112 of our 5x great grandparents!)
2. They have listed “potential ancestors” I don’t have.
This is an exciting tool I cannot wait to play with more! But, for now, RootsTech continues.
I hope to write again tonight! If you’re not at RootsTech, I hope you’re enjoying the live streaming!
YOUR THOUGHTS
Have you tried ThruLine yet? What are you finding? How are you liking it?
My first encounter yielded a mystery. My paternal grandmother and her entire line are missing. I’m sure that I have DNA matches (as well as family tree matches) through those lines, so I went back and made sure that she was documented correctly as my father’s mother. Since her husband was (clearly, according to DNA) not the father of my father, I double-checked all of the associated relationships in my tree. (My father, his biological father, my paternal grandmother, etc.) I can’t figure it out! I’m hoping it’s just a bug which will soon be fixed
Hi, Robert. Let’s see if we can figure it out – and we can. If I’m understanding correctly, you aren’t seeing any DNA matches to your dad’s mom’s side of the family, right? Then you said, “since her husband was not the father of my father…” But, it sounds like you were first questioning matches about the mother of your father. Can you tell me which part of your dad’s family are you seeing matches: mom’s? dad’s?
A few more questions… where did you take the test, AncestryDNA? or at another company?
Is this your DNA you tested? Do you have any close family – aunts, uncles, 1st cousins – who have tested on your dad’s side of the family? Are they showing up?
Doing a Leeds chart will help us see if you have all 4 lines there or not. And, that “missing” side might be down in the 4th cousins. So, we will just have to do some work.
I’m happy to help you more if you’d like, or you can take it from here if you’d rather.
I wish you all the best! I know DNA can be tricky/scary/disturbing/fascinating/exciting… but, it really does work and we can figure this out.
Dana