Are you getting "Potential Descendant" matches in Ancestry?

Question

These are linked to circles and seem to have appeared in the last 24 hours.  They take existing circles, the fact that you match people in them genetically and suggest the ancestor.

Does anyone else have these yet?

"New_Ancestor_Discovery"

Comments

I have 18 new discoveries

It says "Introducing DNA Circles! DNA Circles are the latest way for you to discover who you're related to. Circles are created around a particular ancestor and everyone in a circle has DNA evidence that links them to you or someone else in the group. It's a great way to discover cousins you never knew you had."

So as most of these people are not in my tree as they are related to my ancestors, I don't have them listed in my tree. But because my ancestors are linked to other people as for instance a 5th or 8th cousin etc we are now linked through DNA. 

Mighty strange being linked to people that are of the same last name but I have no connection actually. So one of my connections has 4 names in connection with my tree. But all four are the same last name but not the same person as in my tree. My tree is actually pretty extensive but I do not list all children and their spouses and their children and spouses etc..on and on so maybe somewhere within this long line there is a connection

 

Who knows I like knowing where I am from and connecting here on WiKi is more understanding with connections and GEDmatch is the other way to go, Ancestry matching possibles is way to confusing without the proof showing in front of my eyes

Answer 1

I have 5 but that number has varied over the past year. My brother has about 7 and one of my nieces has 13.

There is also a Category for Circles and NADs-

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:AncestryDNA_Circles

 

One of the NADs my brother has is for a Mary D Roberts.  Our research has a brick wall in the name of Phillip Spivey Parrish.  Years have gone by without a clue as to his parents.  Philip is one of my Circles and was exploring some of the 500+ trees that created his compiled profile.  One, and only one, had a father.  Further exploration, led to several wills that named Phillip as son or grandson.  His mother is Mary Roberts and her niece is Mary D Roberts.

 

Answer 2

I've noticed about 11 'New Ancestor Discoveries'.  I don't recognize any of the names in my paper trail or documentation.  I"m not quite sure what to do with that information or how reliable it is.

Answer 3

I've delved into the 18 Potential Descendants over the weekend that showed up right after the two - ACCURATE - DNA Circles.  

It appears they are trying to set up triangulation of some sort for us on their back end.  While I may not recognize most of the proposed ancestors, I *DO* recognize at least half of the user names that administer the kits from FTDNA Family Finder or 23andme.  They aren't necessarily a 1:1 match on the name, but if I pay attention I can figure out who it is.  That, at least, tells me they have the match right.  

My question for the moment is whether they changed an algorithm or if my adding to my tree because I broke a brick wall and added a fairly significant line that was missing (all my grandmother had ever said was "they were important in Maryland) triggered the extra info.

ET

Comments

Elizabeth, I would say it leans more toward the brick wall that you punched through.  In my example above about Mary D Roberts, I said I had 5 NADs. After adding the Roberts to my tree, Ancestry gave me 11 new tree + dna matches.  The day after that Ancestry gave me 16 NADs.  None of the names are familiar however, as I was reviewing the index of William Roberts' will I noticed the surname Ricks which is one of the NADs.  Punching through my own brick wall with the parents of Phillip Spivey Parrish, increased my 'discoveries' by 3x.

kh

Answer 4

I've been seeing these for quite awhile.  In researching them, they are never for direct ancestors of mine.  I have been able to figure out the connection, though (one of the positives of having information on my ancestors' siblings & their spouses & children going back several generations), and it's always been someone that a sibling of one of my ancestors married.  So I'm not directly related to the person named as the 'potential new ancestor'.  I do have a connection to the people that descend from that person, but it's further up the line.  So.... bottom line, in my case, is that these aren't potential new ancestors, only potential cousins several times removed by marriage.

Comments

Darlene,

They are getting more accurate.  One appeared last night for me - http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Briggs-3765 - as you may have guessed I know this one is right.  I anticipate they will add a 4th person on the  circle soon ~ I have already reached out to the person on the ancestry side to see if they are in GEDMatch.

Elizabeth