Genetic Genealogy & Me: Part Two

So. It's been about a month now since I received my DNA results from 23andme.  I've updated my profile to include a personal note and  as many surnames as possible, and  I now add my profile when I send out the alloted five email contacts from their Relative Finder page every day. Considering I have 339 possible contacts on Relative Finder as of today, reaching out to all these people will take some time!!


So far, I've sent out a total of about 72 contact emails through the website, and have been accepted by 18 individuals.  Four others I have contacted on my own after doing searches on the 23andme website.


But making contact is only the beginning.  The range of response in those 22 individuals is staggering.  Some have online family trees that they can share with me, so that I can make a comparison, and some do not. Some individuals think I should be able to find a matching ancestor if they give me just the surnames of their grandparents or great grandparents.  And some know almost nothing about their family tree.


In most cases, it's a lot  like looking for a needle in a haystack.  But with a little judicious digging, I have been able to find some very interesting information.


So far, this is what I have found:


4-- from Relative Finder have verified shared ancestors with me, most from the lineage of my maternal grandfather R B "Rolla" MARTINE (although none from the actual MARTINE family). 

1--that I invited on my own after searching for my grandmother's maiden name BRUTON has verified shared ancestors with me; turns out he was on the Relative Finder page further down the list and I wouldn't have sent out a notice to him for quite some time;

7-- have possible shared ancestors with significant circumstantial evidence, such as both of our ancestral families living in same location at same time period -or- evidence of intermarriage between my ancestral families and the contact's ancestral families (thus making it more likely that there was an ancestor-in-common somewhere along the line). 

5-- appear to have no connection to me, (or neither of us have enough information to find the shared ancestor--one lady was a recent immigrant from Germany, and while I do have German ancestors, I have little information on them). 


2--are very new to the list and I haven't had the time to do research on their families--or they haven't sent me information yet, so that I could do so. 

I have also invited 3 individuals outside of Relative Finder who definitely share ancestors with me, but apparently do not share DNA.


 Some might consider this less than a raging success, but it has had some amazing consequences. More on this tomorrow!


Have a great day!


Betty


© Betty Tartas  2010