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Imminent Ancestry DNA Update?

S

Sue_3

LostCousins Member
Does anyone know what it is that Ancestry mean when they say that 'AncestryDNA® results will be updated with even more precision this September.' ?

Is this an upgrade to the information given about DNA matches or just another refinement of the ethnicity estimates?
 
I've been wondering about this too.

I've also noticed that no new DNA matches (all matches, not just close matches) have been added over the past week to any of the tests we manage, which is unprecedented.
 
Susan48 said:
And the number of close matches I have has gone down by 1.
Click to expand...
Oh, have they altered the definition of a close match, then? I haven't noticed that, but to be honest I'm more focused on my own understanding of who my close / closer matches are than on Ancestry's categorisation of them.
 
Sue_3 said:
Is this an upgrade to the information given about DNA matches or just another refinement of the ethnicity estimates?
Click to expand...
It's usually the latter, but I have no advance information, so am as much in the dark as anyone else.
 
Susan48 said:
And the number of close matches I have has gone down by 1.
Click to expand...
That may not necessarily be related to the expected update, as it can happen if someone decides to opt out of DNA matching or removes their test altogether. I've had it happen a couple of times - on one of those occasions a close match disappeared for a few weeks and then came back again.
 
Someone posted in the FMP Facebook forum quoting an Ancestry employee saying that it's an ethnicity update ... but obviously that's just a rumour!
 
Sue_3 said:
Someone posted in the FMP Facebook forum quoting an Ancestry employee saying that it's an ethnicity update ... but obviously that's just a rumour!
Click to expand...
Correction, it wasn't the FMP forum, it was the DNA Detectives Forum. It's been given as a response to queries about the lack of recent new matches, that many of us have noticed. They've paused the upload of new matches so that people with DNA tests new to the site don't get two totally different interpretations of their ethnicity within a few days of joining.
 
Sue_3 said:
They've paused the upload of new matches so that people with DNA tests new to the site don't get two totally different interpretations of their ethnicity within a few days of joining.
Click to expand...
That makes a lot of sense. I suspect too that it makes more server time available for the enormous task of recalculating ethnicities - we know from their White Paper that this is a key issue.
 
Sue_3 said:
They've paused the upload of new matches so that people with DNA tests new to the site don't get two totally different interpretations of their ethnicity within a few days of joining.
Click to expand...
It still seems a bit odd to me, though. I’m pretty sure they haven’t paused things like this for any previous ethnicity updates - not for long enough to be noticeable, anyway. It makes me think something more must be happening this time.
 
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The excitement mounts - not! I'm waiting for the next instalment of genealogy fiction. :rolleyes:

Currently, I have 27% Scotland and 2% Norway - the only link I know of is a medical condition commonly known as "Viking finger"! Otherwise, all known ancestor locations are within England/Wales and south of Bunny, Notts., which fits the rest of the regions - though the Leics/Notts element is not present.

Devon and Cornwall is close - my maternal side includes the Somerset/Devon border strip (Wellington registration district); though two matches given in support are paternal, both West Wiltshire based with a touch of NE Somerset for one.
 
I have 25% Scotland. All of my known ancestors are from England. Of course, I have one completely unknown branch; maybe they are all in Scotland, but I doubt it.
 
Ancestry says that my ethnicity results have been updated.

Scotland from 49% (2020) to 57% (2021, it can range from 29% - 57%)
England & Northwestern Europe 39% (2020) to 37% (2021, it can range from 33% - 59%)
Ireland 10% (2020) to 4%(2021, it can range from 0% - 20%)
Norway 2% (2020) and 2% (2021, it can range from 0% - 7%)

I have relatives mainly from north of England and Northern Ireland which are both included in the Scotland region.
Northern Ireland is also included in the Ireland region and North of England is also included in the England and NW Europe region.

Make of it what you will.
 
Just had a look and there’s no significant changes to my ethnicity, nor my cousin’s. More disappointingly, we still have no new matches, but if new tests are just now being uploaded I expect it will take a while for matches to be processed and reported.
 
I do not know if mine have just been updated; I took a look and it says updated July 2021. Since I rarely pay any attention to that part I cannot say if they have changed or not. I have had no new matches for quite a while as well.
 
Katie Bee said:
Ancestry says that my ethnicity results have been updated.
Click to expand...

I was particularly interested in the new additions - which included new information/groups for European Jews.

My results have changed quite significantly (note: my known ancestry is - English, Welsh, Scottish (+ Irish, though likely Ulster Scots), and European Jewish - mainly Eastern Europe).

So:
England & North Western Europe from 46% (July 2020) to 41% (with correct reference to the West Midlands)
Wales from 26% to 21%
Scotland from 19% to 25%
European Jewish has remained the same at 9%
And two additional ethnicities - France at 2% and Norway at 2%

I'm off to see if the rest of tests I manage have updates and what they are. I find the groups generally accurate, although not necessarily the minimal ethnicities suggested (I have no documentary evidence for either France or Norway.)
 
I just looked again and notice that I now have 2% Ireland, which was not there previously. Also 6% Norway and 6% Sweden and Denmark; no evidence of anyone from those places. I think England was 65; it is now 61%. But it still says July 2021.
 
Still shows Scottish ancestry which I don't have and omits Irish and German ancestry which I do have. But still right about East Anglia being a big chunk.
 
Getting better or worse - see image? The date in parentheses is when recorded not when "created"!

Based on documentation and gt-grandparents, Wales is about right, England a bit low for Glos/Wilts/Oxon and the the Devon/Somerset border strip near Wellington should be most of the rest. There is a possible Irish connection through a Shepton Mallet baptism in 1757 (during the Frome riots - the father "a Soldier in Wolf's Regiment"; the regiment was billeted at Dorchester before going to France).
 

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