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:

• • • • 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)

…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?