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  1. #1
    harleyallison
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    Smile DNA search for 1 person only

    I have just received my DNA test results back from A******* and am wondering is it possible to search for a specific person and if so how do I go about doing this.
    Please bear in mind that I am new to DNA testing.
    I am looking for grandparents x 3.

    Thank you

  2. #2
    hilarykellis
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    Hello,

    I don't think this is possible. You can search by surname and location, though. E.g. "Ellis" born in "Wrexham, Wales" can be input when you go to your DNA matches page and "Search Matches."

    I have had luck in that. For example, I have looked for everyone born in Ireland with surname "Minion," and found a lot of hints on who might be a relative that way.

    Let me know if you need more advice on using the DNA tool on that website!

  3. #3
    harleyallison
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    Thank you. I am trying to find my grandparents x 3.There is no paper trail before 1871 and searches for them in the places that they said that they were born in census reports have come up with nothing.
    I have posted in the brick wall section on here a good while ago.
    They can not be who they said they were.


    I would be glad of any advice that you could give me about DNA searching.
    Thank you

  4. #4
    harleyallison
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    I have entered just a surname in the place provided but there is also other surnames coming up in the area.
    Is this a good or bad thing ? How accurate are the surnames that come up. Does it mean that I share DNA with all these other people ?
    I have also just entered a place name but that was no good as my fathers mothers family are Irish and they seem to be everywhere.
    I am reading through Peter's fantastic advice on DNA in L*** C******.
    Thank you for your help as you can see from my post I do not have a clue how DNA works.

  5. #5
    Valued member of Brit-Gen barbara lee's Avatar
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    Crosby, Liverpool, UK
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    Hello
    When you get a match on your DNA, nobody in the world can know where that match came to you from. Nobody knows whether that bit of DNA is on your mother's side or your father's side, or which grandparent it came to you from and so on. It cannot be known simply from the DNA results.
    What Ancestry's software does is look at the tree you posted, and then it looks at the trees from everyone else who has a DNA match to you, (and who has posted a tree) and it looks for matching names at about the right distance apart - the first cousin level, for instance, or the fourth cousin level. Then it announces it has found a cousin match and shows you the trees side by side. In two or three of my cases it has the match exactly right - this was to people I already knew, and I knew who they were by the old-fashioned methods!
    In one case, however, it got the cousin match wildly, crazily, obviously wrong, with ages and generations completely haywire. It's just software that does matching - it has no common sense at all. It "knows" nuttin'!
    One way to get a bead on where the matches belong is to have a first cousin do a test as well. Then if you both match unknown person A, then person A must be related on that side, on the side you and your cousin share. And if you get a match but your first cousin doesn't, then the match is probably on the other side. That at least allows you to sort your match lists into two "piles" - mother's side and father's side.
    Typically you will get dozens of "fourth cousin" matches, and hundreds of "5th to 8th" cousin matches. Here's another way to try to extract meaning from all that data. Look at the fourth cousin (or less) matches, check each one for "shared matches", and you might see that they come in clusters, all related to each other. If you know that one of those people is descended from Joe Bloggs, then that whole set of shared matches are probably all descended from Joe Bloggs or his siblings.
    There is no easy way, and you can't do it quickly. You can contact someone through Ancestry, and they may not respond. Perhaps they only did it for the ethnicity, for a bit of fun, and, not being family historians, have no idea who even their grandparents were.
    Sorry not to be more encouraging. Some bits are easy, but if you are in the dark already, DNA doesn't provide a magic solution. Some people are very lucky with it, but it doesn't sound like you are one of them.
    Barbara

  6. #6
    harleyallison
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    Thank you so much for your explanation Barbara this makes sense to me. That was what I needed.
    I only had 4 exact matches who I knew already, 1 3rd cousin and 134 cousins and most of them are American as their Ancestors were Irish immigrants.
    I do not have a 1st cousin on my father father side to compare DNA to either.
    This pair have been driving me crazy for years. I wish I could have their bodies exhumed for DNA purposes.
    Thank you for helping me.

  7. #7
    Knowledgeable and helpful warncoort's Avatar
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    Previous thread.
    https://www.british-genealogy.com/th...ht=#post652866
    You may get assistance if you add more information to the earlier thread.

  8. #8
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by warncoort View Post
    Previous thread.
    https://www.british-genealogy.com/th...ht=#post652866
    You may get assistance if you add more information to the earlier thread.
    Or is it this thread? https://www.british-genealogy.com/th...izabeth-Harvey

    Whichever one it is if you want to revive it hilarykellis just reply to the thread with something like "I am still trying to go further back with these Thomas and Elizabeth."
    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

  9. #9
    harleyallison
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    Thank You. It is Thomas Chapman and Elizabeth Harvey born Middlesex. I am trying to find hilarykellis post but can not see it.
    Last edited by harleyallison; 16-01-2018 at 7:25 PM. Reason: spelling mistake

  10. #10
    Super Moderator christanel's Avatar
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    Hi
    you can go directly to the thread by clicking on the blue link I gave in my post #8.

    Another way to find all threads started by you or anyone else is to click on your/their user name and from the drop down menu click on View Forum Posts. That is how I found it.

    Oh, just reread your last post and you are looking for a post by hilarykellis not by you?
    Christina
    Sometimes paranoia is just having all the facts.
    William Burroughs

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