DNA News of the Week: Ancestry Test Results

I like the icons added showing common matches between my Mom and I

My Mom's AncestryDNA test results came in on Monday July 28; exactly 3 weeks after I mailed the kit in. I wasn't confident she would pass the test on the first try. It took half an hour to collect the sample from her, and I wasn't sure if there was enough saliva. I guess all was good because she passed.

It's taken a few days for the surname and place search to be fully functional. My mom and I share 2658 common matches out of around 7000 matches a piece.

I called Ancestry when I couldn't get the search to work the day after the results came in. They came to the same conclusion I did that the search takes time to make all of the connections. I was told that better sharing tools would be coming out soon.

I'm very happy with the results. Her ethnic breakdown looks plausible. Her range for Spanish/Iberian was between 0-24%. I believe it is around 24%. The only thing left out were her German DNA roots. When I looked at the heat map Great Britain does overlap on to the continent.

My primary objectives in testing her with Ancestry were met. I had some things I wanted to clarify by testing her. I had noticed one of the Owens descendant match's was possibly related to me through my father and mother's side. I assumed that this person shared DNA on my father's side. As it turns out they match on my Mom's side. So this person being a low confidence match probably shares only Callahan line DNA and not Owens. I have already confirmed my Callahan line with DNA testing. I need more DNA support on my Owens line. I had one more Owens match which held up after testing my Mom. She didn't match this particular person; supporting paternal origins for this match.

Another line I wanted more DNA support for was Urmey/Brower. I had a Brower match on the correct paper trail line. My Mom was also a moderate match with the same person. She also had Urmey matches which provides additional support. I have always been troubled by the fact that my Eve Urmey was not named in her father's will. This could have been a recording error?

I am always looking any DNA matches supporting our Forgey circumstantial case. My mother got some Forgey matches I didn't have. My Mom also had a  Duer match which might connect with Margaret Reynolds-Forgey? Her mother was said to be Ellen Duer. Right now I'm looking for firm matches on the Fisher and Reynolds lines. We already know that all the Tennessee Forgeys are related, so matching strictly on that line doesn't mean as much. If I could collect Forgey segments it would more useful.

I'm still waiting for my Aunt's DNA test results. Her sample was received a week before I mailed my Mom's to AncestryDNA. She is testing with FamilyTree DNA. I regret not having her tested with AncestryDNA now. I'm hesitant to ask family members to do a saliva test. Also the saliva tests sometimes have to be repeated. AncestryDNA has a better database to compare with. I wish they had a swab test.  In the future, as long as GEDmatch is around, I think I'll use Ancestry instead of Family Tree for autosomal tests.