AncestryDNA’s new BETA

None of my tree is showing those ThruLine markers that I’ve seen...

 

I found the link for those markers quite by accident the other day. Now I cannot remember how.

 

You need to click on the DNA symbol which appears on the left side of the screen when viewing your DNA-linked tree (either in pedigree or family view). Then, in the 'DNA Discoveries' panel which appears (on the right side of the screen), there is a toggle switch to turn ThruLines Icons on or off. When turned on, the blue icons then mark every direct ancestor within scope of ThruLines (i.e. up to 5x great-grandparents), whether or not DNA matches are linked through these ancestors. You can click on the icon to go straight to the ThruLines for that ancestor.

EDIT: This is another thing that doesn't seem to work (for me anyway) if I enable MyTreeTags, as in that case the 'DNA Discoveries' panel doesn't appear so no toggle switch available. The ThrulLines then stay on or off depending on what was previously chosen. I keep MyTreeTags disabled as for me it causes more problems than it's worth!

 

Nicely explained Helen, as always.

 

Cheers - it also gives me the option to whose DNA results I want the ThruLines mapped to, which is interesting.

I have yet to see the issue with TreeTags, which I have been using fairly extensively, but I will keep my eye out.

 

In checking the ThruLines/TreeTags anomaly, which does seem to exist for me, I found a different anomaly.

For my 5xgt-gp, William Bennet=Mary Glover, if I select William I get 3 ThruLines matches whereas for Mary I get 4 (a cousin of 1 of the 3 matches added) If I move down a generation and select their daughter, Elizabeth, then ThruLines adds a 5th match - the daughter of one of the previous matches.

It also seems that Ancestry are catering for small screens (mobiles? My display has the same pixel count - 1920x1080 - as my mobile ) as they appear to limit the the width to display 4 columns (3 matches plus self), so the column "drop downs" move to appropriate locations.

 

ThruLines has a lot of fun little issues - I've discussed some of mine before, but it can have problems with pedigree collapse (i.e. one of my 6x great grandmothers will appear as "6th great aunt" if you're viewing her sister's ThruLines, and then mislabel all the children.) and occasionally I have seen ThruLines for a wife, but not a husband - which when you're descended from both, doesn't make sense! - viewing my 6x great grandparents in ThruLines is possible because I have had both my father and grandmother (their descendants) tested, and I use theirs!

If you come down to the ThruLines of my 2x great grandfather - he married twice, but Ancestry will show DNA relatives from his second wife as full cousins as opposed to half - which is strange, as it used to show them appropriately. Although, that particular great-grandfather pops up in a lot of trees with a LOT of errors, and he and his second wife "reused/regifted (?)" names that had originally blessed on children of his first wife who died young, so some people have the wrong children attached to the wrong wife...

 

I agree, but I do wonder why ThruLines often uses spouses from other people's trees in preference to spouses in my tree (with correct maiden name) when showing relationships, thus coming to wrong conclusions about half- and full cousins.

 

Absolutely, and after reading so many posts lamenting the idiosyncrasies of ThruLines, wonder why this point has not been raised before. I have -almost from the start -accepted ThruLine information has having been garnered -in the main - from other people's trees (as Peter rightly alludes). With that in mind ThruLines (which I remind is Beta anyway) has to be taken with a grain of salt. Discard anything you know to be wrong; check carefully anything you believe to be wrong, and then just profit from what may well be correct and previously unknown to you. Such does exist, you just need to eliminate the negative ... it is after all Ancestry!

 

My understanding is that Ancestry are no longer replacing our own ancestors in ThruLines with someone from another person’s tree. The only potential ancestors in my ThruLines now are where I have a gap in my tree. Some of these are of the ‘maybe, maybe not’ variety that I haven’t entered in my tree because I’m not sure about them, while others are of the ‘highly improbable’ variety. I haven’t as yet seen any option to reject improbable potential ancestors.

And while it is very true that we all need to be open minded about having errors in our tree, there are some ancestors at least we will be certain of.

 

I agree, ThruLines has improved a lot recently, and I also no longer have any replaced ancestors, just potential ancestors filling gaps (highlighted in bright green so they are easier to spot!). I think even the different spouses problem has largely disappeared. The potential ancestors generally appear very improbable, but I agree it's good to keep an open mind and the alternatives do make us 'think outside the box' as Tim said.

 

When I click on DNA on Ancestry, it says I am not connected to Thrulines yet. I have quite a few generations on my tree, details of myself, parents and grandparents etc, but still not connected. I have also clicked on 'extras' to check that I have enabled everything, which I have, but not connected. Please can anyone suggest why not? Many thanks.

 

I assume you have linked your tree to your DNA results and named yourself as home person? If not, I believe ThruLines won't work.

 

I think I did, though cannot remember how now, but someone contacted me once my results came through. Just I case, please can you remind me how? Thanks.

 

From the DNA summary page, click on 'Settings' and it will show which tree you have linked to your DNA results. You can then check the home person on that tree from the 'Manage tree' option in the Trees menu.

 

No, I did all this a few months ago