Thank you! This helped me wrap my head around what is happening in my tree. I do have my relationships set correctly, but I think I just need to not worry about those little icons and use ThruLines as it is meant to be used....clues for further research. I do enjoy all the suggestions it gives and how it is a great starting point. In fact, I'm pretty sure it is helping me with one of my brick walls. It is a great feature overall.

Trees for my father's side were on Ancestry unknown to me because they did not appear to have DNA, but I found 2 DNA 3rd cousin matched relatives on MyHeritage where I needed build out their trees to find they were related through my paternal grandmother. When I entered my findings into Ancestry in my tree a few matches helped me fill in more of my father's side with copies of birth records received proving correctness. ThruLines came along then I could follow many more suggestions on my father's side; unfortunately my mother's side still has a couple of brick walls at 4th or 5th grandparent level, though. This would typical that ThruLines is not the solution to every brick wall.

I have this issue. My thrulines have my grandfather's 2nd wife's family as my family. Thank goodness I knew this and with your help I will try to fix the relationships to get Ancestry to show the correct lines.

I've never trusted the accuracy of ThruLines. I have watched all of your vids abt ThruLines, and now I feel tht I'm equipped with the skill set I need to successfully evaluate them. Thank you.

I had this issue as well. I had to create an entirely new tree for my adoptee husband. ThruLines was instrumental in helping us uncovering his family, but it was by confirming the tree connection with the fourth, third, second cousins.

I found this and your other video I watched extremely helpful and it was very well presented, too. I have step families and adoptions and although I thought I had set them to biological or adoptive, I had not done it properly. I have trouble using Ancestry and I hope to find more of your videos on Ancestry basics so I can avoid going round in circles all the time. I find the app useless, so I hope I find something on that too.

I'm really interested in your family now because I have Longs in my tree as well, and potentially one of our Longs was adopted. Our Longs are in TN though.

Thank you!

Thank you for this video

Great Platform. Through lines has been great for me in confirming my ancestral research. All of my through lines report the number and location of the centimorgans shared with my living genetic cousins who have tested. My question is: If there is not a biological match would the through lines platform then not report “0” shared centimorgans? It seems this would indicate a false paternal event including adoptions etc. Thankyou for excellent educational videos. I have learned a great deal on your platform. R. Gardner

How do you make your tree public if you are adopted and dont exactly know who you are related to?

Thank you, Devon !Ironically (perhaps) this has given me some confidence that a desperate gamble has indeed paid off! The only records that exist for Newfoundland pre 1891 are church records, which were "called in" by the province in 1945. I had no idea which "Patience " my 2nd gt grfather William Clarke had married, or when (though my ancestor seemed to have been their 1st born). I used a (usually very reliable- & annotated!) site which enabled me to scroll through a decade of church records looking- especially at witnesses - for candidates. Found- a Patience Parsons (more Parsons in my matches supported this possibility. ) But who was she? A witness was Henry P, & he & extended family show up in my matches . (He had a Patience, born sufficiently later.) I hadn't discarded other Patience born about "right " time - I tracked them to see who they married. It seemed my WmC had been born in 1826- 21 at time of marriage. I combed baptism records- they were Methodist- for a wide area of the colony, focusing on 1823 to 1830, then included the 1830s: a William born in 1833 to George P & "Diana " - then in 1837, a Patience- also to G & Diana - "age - about 12" G wasn't a problem: 1C to Henry (the witness). But who was Diana? Back to baptisms. Most likely- baptized 1813 (no age or birth date) - to George S & Susannah M - both family names well represented in my matches. Problem: most people who had put this Diana in their tree said she died 1825. I needed her alive. (No marriage yet found for DS & GP). I decided to put it to Ancestry. I put DS, GP, and their parents in my tree. Her parents gave me 132 new matches. (Appropriate numbers of cMs) I think my gamble paid off- or someone else out there shares her name & ancestry. My next challenge: I suspect that the parents I put in for my other grandmother were actually her grandparents. If my cousin 's DNA test supports this, I'll be continuing my search- now for 2 nameless males - whose DNA has left 2 separate & distinct trails. (I'm quite sure Gram's father was one of 8 sons -probably now reduced to 4 - but it's frustrating that my strongest matches are with 2 of their sisters . ) Thanks again!

I'm working on my friend's tree in Ancestry. She's got an odd situation going on with her grandfather's parentage. Her great-grandfather, Eduard (the father of her grandfather, Rudolph) married a widow, Augusta, with a 16-year-old daughter, Bertha, from that previous marriage. After a time, while still married to Augusta, he started also having children with the step-daughter. So on a census, Bertha will show up as Step-daughter, and her children show up as his sons and daughters. When I try to attach the census record to the family members, it assumes the wife is the mother of the children. I went through a convoluted process to try to get them assigned to the proper biological mother/father, and put the aunt/step-mother in as an alternate parent. Any thoughts on how to handle this crazy situation? (Especially when trying to attach records to the family members.)

I have two dna matches who I know for a fact exactly how we are related. The first is someone who is illegitimate and the second is not but neither show up on my thrulines. I have both individuals in my tree correctly.

how do i add my biological parents if i have no idea who they are?

Hello, I want to create a Thruline for my great grandmother, but I have no idea who her biological parents are. Any suggestions?

Q? When grouping my DNA matches I ran into an 'island' of about eight '4th' cousins who we all share a match but unable to find a single one of those people with a thru-line or tree match. Or a flagged match with anyone else.

I just ran across an issue and came across this video in a search. (We watch your videos all the time, and they are a wonderful resource!) My issue is I have a child who was raised by his grandparents as their own child. However, I cannot not add his mother as the biological mother She is an existing person in my tree and daughter of the child's grandparents-she is not listed as an option, perhaps because she is in the same family? I've made the grandparents step, foster, related, adopted - but his (step-) sister cannot be added as his biological mother. Is there a trick to do this in Ancestry? This is not an uncommon situation.

I'm adopted and made a tree for my bio paternal side, and in the beginning, barely had any info other than some possible names. Yet, when I looked on thrulines on that side, it was showing potential ancestors (this is when I had only living pple on my tree and didn't know my birth grandparents names). I don't think there was any mistake in this, (even if I don't look anyone from that side) but it's just something I find really strange. This happen to anyone else?

My problem is a large portion of my genetic origin recently changed completely to an area that no one believes we originated from.

Do you suggest creating a tree for biological matches in the case of DNA and one with adoptive info or one tree with any and all extra relationships where some one has two mothers or other relation one adoptive and one genetic? I currently have two trees one with all info and one with biological info. I am waiting on DNA results but I know my dad was adopted so his side is a blank slate,

I always knew My fathers Namesake wasn’t Biological, That he told me, but what I don’t kno is who his biological father was, since my dad had his last name legally changed when he turned 18. With my Half brother also having a DNA test done, the matches for the Bio DNA line show but only dwn to the First cousin, I can’t find the connection, and the last name he gave me don’t match anything of the names to that line of families, so I’ve hid the proverbial brick wall. 😢

what if you have someone who you think is your Grandfather but you cant prove my father was listed as illegitimate on the birth certificate when my Grandmother registered him. 3 years later she married the man who I think is my Grandfather. But my Father was not brought up with the family. This man is the father of my fathers half brothers and sister. but in Thru lines I have a match with a 5/6 cousin who is related to this person. And Thru lines as my family attached to one brother and the 5/6 cousin is related to the other brother and when you follow the lines it brings you to this man. Could it be that I have found my Grandfather. I am worried that I dont have a closer match.

My mother was adopted so for my mothers trees I chose to not even bother with the adopted families ancestry. I have only added the biological parents lines to my mother. While i have done the adopted parents family trees, they are NOT ATTACHED to my mothers profile at all. I do not wish to have any of that association.

Will this help fine your real father. I never new who he was. My mom told me that I was one guys daughter but wasn't true so I took a DNA test and no body on that men side showed up. But there was one woman that showed up as a first cousin but she claims her brother is my father but we can't test him or his two sons because they all have passed away . I found all this out age 61 now I am 63 and still don't know for sure. I would love some help I just don't know where to turn. Thank you and God bless

My tree appears to have more than one "non-parental event," only one of which I knew going in. I was adopted, and have built a tree based on my biological parents. (I have a separate tree for my adoptive family, because it was getting too confusing.). I have been trying to research and fill out my biological tree, but I have one branch that has no DNA matches that I have been able to place beyond my half-siblings. I also have a number of DNA matches that appear to have some relation to each other, or at least can be traced back to the same small village in Europe, but that I cannot link to my tree. (This would also account for about 10% of my ethnicity that is identified as coming from this country and region.). I'm trying to figure out how to determine where the likely break is between the genealogical paper trail, and the genetic reality.

As far as I can gather, Thru Lines relies on Ancestry Members Trees which are notoriously inaccurate, and copied as such onto other members family trees. As usual, you have to do your own research. I am lucky, in that the False Paternity Event (lovely polite term) on my Dad's side of the family was on his paternal line. So the combination of Ancestry DNA, with checkable trees/Thru Lines; and Family Tree DNA Y chromosome testing has given me a lot to work on. At least the Y DNA plus surname has had no 'oopsies' in the line I am researching!

Do you happen to know HOW Ancestry ThruLInes chooses our matches?

And Laura is ???

Totally confusing.

No that made no sense

Don't think the term illegitimate is supposed to be used anymore.

Please don’t refer to people as illegitimate. It’s offensive.

ThruLines is total crap.