Ancestry DNA test activation

I was a bit perturbed to see in today's newsletter that Ancestry have just changed their procedures for activating a DNA test, so that all adult testers now have to set up their own account to activate a test. I was just about to activate a test for another family member on our account, having assured them when they agreed to do the test for me, that they did not need to have their own account and I could manage everything for them through our account.

I can't help feeling that this change may make it harder to persuade some relatives, perhaps particularly elderly or super-busy relatives, to agree to take a test.

 

I saw that and honestly thought that I was glad that I'd gotten my immediate family done - but I was considering asking my grandmother to attempt it, but at 94, she's not going to want to have to set up her own account - and she only uses a computer to type letters, which makes it almost pointless (in terms of Ancestry's new rules) to ask her - although not pointless in attempting to get her DNA in the first place.

 

That was always on my mind, and if I did manage to get her to test, then that is most likely what I would do with the new scenario, previously, I would have just added her test to the ones I already have on my account.

Well done! I only have my grandmother left to test, all my other grandparents died before I got near thinking about family history (all of them were gone by the time I was 12) and I don't have a mother-in-law at this point in time.

 

My relative's test is now activated, and once the free account was set up, it was pretty straightforward for me to become manager of the results by means of an invitation.

Having accepted the invitation, the test is now showing in my account just as if I'd activated it there, and I was able to link it to the relevant person in my tree.