We have both tested at Ancestry.com, and mom has tested at FamilyTreeDNA.com. She is also waiting on results from 23andMe.com. (See Our Family’s DNA Links)
WHICH IS BETTER?
While I like the simple look and feel of Ancestry, mom likes the more detailed setup at Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). She is able to see all the complex numbers and “stuff” that shows how much you match a person. They also have a pretty good system of searching through your matches. Well, it just gives me a headache and I throw my hands up in the air lol. She really has done a lot of DNA research and learning. She even knows what a “snip” is?? Also, they do the Y male-only testing which is good for tracking your father’s line.
But, while she has made a few connections there at FTDNA, it’s not a very user-friendly site. I guess that is why I prefer Ancestry. Their UI is very simple, even if the results are still a bit confusing sometimes. To me, the difference in the 2 sites is like Windows (Ancestry) to DOS (FTDNA).
WHAT DID WE FIND?
Uncle Mike, mom’s brother, has done his testing at FTDNA to help her track down our McCollough line, trying to get over into Ireland. Oh wait, DNA says Scotland now lol. I think our family just made a pit stop in Ireland for a while before making it over to the US. He has upgraded to a higher level that gives him much more in depth, narrowed down results. And…. we located a couple of cousins living in Ireland! We connected on Facebook and are working with them to see if we can figure out what ancestor it is that connects us. They had no clue that any of their ancestors journeyed to the USA. So that is pretty neat.
Mom also connected to a cousin that turned out to be an unknown half-sister to another cousin of hers. We contacted him and he is super excited that he has a new sister! This was an Ancestry match, a whole different version of Match.com lol.
Now we are working on helping a newly discovered cousin (who was adopted) find his birth father’s family and hopefully make a connection there. ❤️
UPDATE : We finally were able to connect our cousin to his new siblings! Unfortunately, both his father and step-mother had passed, which he already had assumed. But he found that he has, at the LEAST, 5 half siblings, possibly many more from what they understand. So now we just wait and see if any of those other siblings out there decide to do a DNA test so we can connect them too! So happy for him as this has been a long a frustrating process for us all, due to an almost identical family in the same area.
Next Suggested Page: Our Family’s DNA Links