The Anti-Mirror Tree

Since Ancestry.com started messing up my DNA readings every time I switched it to a new mirror tree, I have been forced to come up with a new solution.

DNAGedcom is the answer.  DNAGedcom is free to join, but if you want their ever-so-handy Ancestry Download Tool, you have to subscribe for $5 a month.  A price that I believe is worth every penny for someone who uses those files for their DNAGedcom and for Genome Mate.

I still copy trees, but instead of waiting for matches to show up, I look to see if they are going to produce results.

For example, this is a cousin match tree:

As you can see, I have marked a (0) in front of every name. At a glance I can see that I will get no cousin matches from these.  I know this because I looked up the names in my collection of matched trees at using the GWorks system at DNAGedcom. There are a lot more tools at DNAGedcom for discovering lost relatives, but for now, I will just focus on this because it has been my go-to weapon in fighting broken DNA links at Ancestry.

Not only does it check against my matches trees on Ancestry.com, it also checks against any trees that are on FTDNA.  This is time saving, even if going through the trees, one person at a time, seems tedious.  If it isn't a tree that is already matched up on my database I can copy the tree,  upload the Gedcom file to DNAGedcom, then compare it to see where the matches are.  Once it is in the system, it will remain for any new queries I make.

Even though I am not moving my DNA, I get to know my who and where my matches are.  I don't have to lock my tree from those who match my Maternal side on my main tree to do my research. Ancestry doesn't break my DNA results because I am swapping trees daily.  If I see a name I think I recognize, I can look it up right away.  There is no "letting it cook" over night. Most of all, it cross references both DNA sites I participate in.  Those are some nice advantages.

I am currently working on a predicted 3rd cousin match (92cM across 3 segments) that has 20 other cousins in common on Ancestry and an unknown amount on FTDNA.  Since Ancestry only gives a limited amount of people in common, there may even be more.  This could be the key to cracking this case, if I can find the links to the others.  She matches my Shannon County Missouri relatives, even though the majority of her family comes from Iowa.  She has not logged in since Aug 2015, and her DNA is not attached to a tree, but by using her unattached tree and the public trees I have been able to fill out what she left behind and pursue my matches on my own.

What I wouldn't give for a new 2nd cousin match or closer.