If you have had your DNA done on AncestryDNA and linked your DNA to your tree that is at least 3 to 4 generations deep, then you will see Thrulines as an option to explore when you first login to your DNA.
AncestryDNA Thrulines show you how your DNA cousins, based on their trees how they fit into your tree, where they show you exactly the relative you have in common. Add to the mix Ancestry compares trees from the entire data base of Ancestry trees in the system.
To put all this perspective, Thrulines will match your DNA cousins’ trees, your tree and will also compare trees in the entire system of Ancestry.com to give you a “Potential Ancestor”.
A Potential Ancestor is a relative that AncestryDNA Thrulines suggests could fit into your tree. Because there are so many inaccurate trees in the Ancestry system, it could be a big problem for you if you do not thoroughly check out each Potential Ancestor.
In this post, I will explain what I mean about the Potential Ancestor problem and why it is so important for your tree to be accurate.
Accuracy:
As in my first post: “Genealogy: Next Steps After DNA“, I discussed how I changed from DNA being a fun thing to do to using DNA as a tool in my genealogy tree and how you can do the same. The more relatives you add, the more you can discover provided that what you are adding to your genealogy tree is accurate.
It is really important that you understand accuracy, as in my other post, “Focus on Details, You Won’t Regret It!”, my cousin found out that because a lot of people were copying the wrong information, including my cousin, it made his AncestryDNA Thrulines inaccurate and now won’t be fixed until all his DNA cousins fix the mistake.
I discovered his error and helped him correct his tree. His mistake was more a clerical mistake as it was a birth year. Just think, one small mistake can cause things to be wrong in your Thrulines. In his tree, instead of being full Aunts or Uncles they are half related. So, Accuracy is very important and should be your number one priority for your tree.
Accuracy again shows up in this new case when Thrulines is giving you a Potential Ancestor to evaluate based on what is on other DNA cousin trees or Ancestry trees.
Potential Ancestor:
Let’s take a closer look at what I call the Case of the Potential 4th Great-grandmother, Margaretha Seiders. With Potential Ancestor, it is our job to look at our tree, documents, records, etc. to prove or disapprove this potential ancestor. In this case, I will show you what happens when the potential ancestor is wrong and if I can do anything about it in my Thrulines.
Below are images of what a Potential Ancestor will look like in Thrulines.
From the images we notice about the Potential Ancestor:
- Margaretha Seiders is a potential 4th great-grandmother.
- All the DNA cousins descend from Elmer.
- Lydia is Elmer’s mother.
- The main question we ask is: is Margaretha Seiders Lydia’s mother?
Is Margaretha Seiders Lydia's Mother?
So, in order to prove Margaretha Seiders is Lydia’s mother, we have to look at the facts and do our own research. A good place to start is by clicking on the rectangle of Margaretha Seiders.
Next, it brings up a list of trees that have Margaretha Seiders in them. It is important to note that none of my DNA cousins have added Margaretha Seiders to their tree.
To investigate this further, I clicked on the trees and looked at their information. On further inspection, I can see the problem. It turned out that people have copied some of my information from my tree and added the wrong information to their tree. My Lydia who married a John D. who was born 1836 and died 1883. However, the other Lydia married a John W. born 1836 died 1911. Both John’s had the same last name. So, I had to take their people and prove that this was wrong.
This meant I had to create a small, detailed tree using their people, which I spent several hours of time gathering information to prove my case.
Now that I know the answer, I went back to the list of trees and clicked “Next” to see what I can do. I really want this false person off my Thrulines as it is:
- Not Accurate AND
- I Do not want to look at it every time I am looking at my Thrulines.
I can’t believe it! With all that work of proving Margaretha Seiders is not my ancestor, the only thing Ancestry is allowing me to do is Add her to my tree.
They give me no other options and now I will have to look at Margaretha Seiders forever in my Thrulines or wait until all the trees fix it, which that could be a long, long, time.
Ancestry Needs to Add The Same "Ignore" Option as in Hints
Several weeks ago, I was chatting with a volunteer consultant about wrong Potential Ancestors and he knew exactly what I was talking about. We both agreed that we wish Ancestry would have added this feature this last time they did their updates.
With all the recent updates Ancestry has done, you would think they would have added the “Ignore” button like they have with “Hints”. Just like with Hints, (see below image) we should have the same option with potential ancestors. We should be able to “ignore” the wrong potential ancestor and, like with Hints. there should be a record of how many are ignored where if you click on it, you can revisit any of the ignore records again. These same options should also be available for “Potential Ancestor”.
For now though, there is no choice but to simply be careful not to add the incorrect potential ancestors.
My Proposed Change to Ancestry Thrulines “Potential Ancestor”:
In the square for Margaretha Seiders, I propose that they add a “Review and Ignore” buttons (See image below). This way, we would have more control like with Hints. Potential Ancestors are essentially the same as Hints and should be treated the same way
Wrap-up: Tree Accuracy and Thrulines Potential Ancestor
As seen with the case of Margaretha Seiders, we again learned that accuracy is the key focus for trees. If the 12 suggested trees would have done their tree accurately, we wouldn’t need the Review and Ignore buttons on Potential Ancestors.
No tree is perfect including mine and based on this information, it would be in the best interest of all concerned that hopefully the next time Ancestry updates their website, they add the Review and Ignore button on our suggested Potential Ancestor.
I encourage all my readers to contact Ancestry and let them know about this flaw and suggest they fix this problem with their Thrulines Potential Ancestor.
Itís difficult to find well-informed people about this topic, however, you sound like you know what youíre talking about! Thanks
Very helpful Information!! It should be based on JUST DNA results?? Why compile data based on other people’s trees? I have seen where the wrong information is in a tree and when you mention it to the person it can remain incorrect for as long as that person does not fix the issue…. Which is what I’m currently dealing with….