AncestrySupport (2024)

FAQs

How to ignore an accepted hint in Ancestry? ›

You can't hide or remove all Ancestry Hints at once, but you can ignore or dismiss them individually by clicking “Undecided,” “Ignore,” “Reject,” or “No.”

Neighboring populations often share DNA

As previously distinct populations mix together, they get harder to tell apart using genetics. If your family comes from a population with a history of admixture, your percentages for some ethnicity regions may be different than you expect.

Accuracy is very high when it comes to reading each of the hundreds of thousands of positions (or markers) in your DNA. With current technology, AncestryDNA ^® has, on average, an accuracy rate of over 99 percent for each marker tested.

AncestryDNA currently looks at over 700,000 locations in a person's DNA. And they report an accuracy rate of >99% for each location tested. So if we combine those numbers together, AncestryDNA would make a correct call at about 693,000 locations. Or to flip it around, it might make a mistake at up to 7,000 locations.

It is important to understand that the Hints Ancestry suggests are just that, suggestions. There is no guarantee that a record that is presented as a possible match does, in fact, coincide with your person of interest. And, very often, they do not.

When you receive new hints, a red dot appears on the leaf icon. in the navigation bar at the top of the page. You can choose which of your trees you get these new hint notifications for.

The chart below shows probable (but not necessarily actual) percentages of genes you may have inherited from ancestors going back four generations. At seven generations back, less than 1% of your DNA is likely to have come from any given ancestor.

The range of inheritance for your grandparents is about 20 to 30 percent. As we go down even further back in time, we see that that range extends quite a bit. As shown in the video, the ranges began to overlap. For instance, an inheritance between 3 and 7% could represent your 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th great-grandparents.

But if all your other DNA is of one type and the 15% represents something unusual, then we would expect that it comes from your great grandparent. Your great grandparent is estimated to have been the same age that you are now approximately one hundred years ago.

Someone in this category is likely a brother or sister who shares both biological parents with you. In the rare situation that you have a half sibling who is also your first cousin, they may appear in this category too.

Why does Ancestry say my uncle is my cousin? ›

DNA matches who are a first cousin share a match with one of your grandparents. Besides first cousins, the matches in this category can be aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles, great-nieces and great-nephews, and so forth. These AncestryDNA cousin matches are more distant relatives.

Ancestry has a bigger DNA database, but 23andMe has a more user-friendly layout. They are two of the best options you can get.

If you want Ancestry to store your sample, choose I give consent. If not, choose I do not give consent. Your choice won't affect your DNA results. Read the Informed Consent, select I have read the Informed Consent, and then choose I give consent or I do not give consent.

One Person Hint may combine details from multiple family trees that Ancestry.com thinks match your relative. The hint is only as good as the information the other member has put in his tree. The hint will show you how many sources, records or photos are attached to the individual.

This usually happens when a hint came from another member's public family tree and their tree is deleted or made private, or the record or photo for the hint is deleted. When something is deleted or made private, any hints based on it will still appear as hints, but their contents can no longer be accessed.