FTDNA family trees - WikiTree ID?

Question

I have to admit that after spending 30 years building a paper-based family tree and then another 20 years computer based, and getting it on Ancestry and now WikiTree, I am balking at doing it all over again on FTDNA.  I feel like just putting my mother's WikiTree ID in that spot, and my father's WikiTree ID in his spot, and leaving it at that.  Any reason i should not do that, or not settle for that?

Best wishes, all!

Shirlea

Answer 1

You can upload a gedcom to FTDNA. You do not need to build your tree from scratch. Easiest would be to produce a gedcom with you as home person if it is your DNA that is on there.

Comments

Thank you!  I would have to learn how to split my 30,000 name Ancestry tree up a bit, i guess.  And i would have to do it for my mother and my brother as well.  Is it worth it?  What is the advantage over sending curious minds to WikiTree?

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Why don't you start by just putting your direct lines on FTDNA if you want to add a tree there. Adding 30000 people would be a waste of time even if they do take trees that large. Their tree functionality is next to useless so nobody would ever be able to find anything in your 30000 folks. The advantage is that without a tree and some DNA results attached to people in the tree their split into paternal/maternal will not function. However, you do not need thousands in your tree to get the basics of that to work.

Answer 2

As Lynda suggests, you can upload a GEDCOM to FTDNA. If I understood correctly, you have already entered your ancestors into WikiTree. If so, I believe that you can download a GEDCOM from WikiTree specifying the starting individual for a particular tree which you could then upload to FTDNA. You could do that for yourself and/or each of your parents rather than trying to split your ancestry tree.

Comments

That sounds practical.  

Do i have to upload over again for myself and then for my mom and then for my brother?  Isn't there some way to link them on FTDNA?  I find that tree awkward to use.

I haven't always put all the sibs of my ancestors on WikiTree, even though i know them and many of their lines down to my DNA matches.  Would i be able to 'update' the GEDcom upload at FTDNA later as i fill in those lines or get the cousins to take on their own lines? Or would i have to delete and re-upload?

So grateful for all the expertise shared by all of you!

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I agree the FTDNA tree capability is awkward. But as Lynda also mentioned, you'll have better luck with matches/contacts if you add your tree info to your DNA test kit there. I don't believe that there is a way to link a single tree on FTDNA to multiple DNA test kits. For a particular kit/tree combination there, I believe that you can associate confirmed FTDNA matches to the kit's tree. But even if you've associated a particular match to your kit's tree there, I don't believe their tree would be modified by that association.

I believe that you would be able to re-upload a new GEDCOM replacing an existing tree at FTDNA. You can also manually add individuals to an existing FTDNA tree.

Not sure if it's still problematic there, but I've encountered problems in the past trying to enter double cousins on an FTDNA tree since at the time there was no capability to connect 2 existing individuals in the FTDNA tree.

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This is very helpful!  

On a related note, what do you think about including the GEDmatch kit number in the details on FTDNA?

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I personally have not done that *yet* (though I have recently linked my GEDmatch ID to my WikiTree profile), but I have seen some people putting an image of their GEDmatch ID as their image on FTDNA. If you do that, you might also consider including your WikiTree profile ID as well, even though it won't be a direct link to your WikiTree profile.

Answer 3

One of the benefits of having at least a basic pedigree on FTDNA is the ability to connect your closer matches to your tree where they "fit" and FTDNA works its magic phasing matches to paternal/maternal.

https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/user-guide/family-finder-myftdna/family-matching-tool/

It is only worth linking in the closer cousins though, up to 2nd definitely, but some 3rd cousins will share enough DNA to fulfil the criteria to be used in the phasing algorithm used. 

PS yes I put GEDmatch ID and a link to the WikiTree compact pedigree in the profile on FTDNA