AncestrySupport (2024)

FAQs

Why don't people reply on Ancestry? ›

There are loads of reasons why people might not answer emails - they lose interest in genealogy, change their email address, only ever did the test for the ethnicity estimate, etc etc etc. If you click on the person's name it will show their account profile and how long it is since they last logged into Ancestry.

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Ancestry / Customer service

Who is parent 1, and who is parent 2? If at least one parent has taken an AncestryDNA test, you'll see: Maternal for your biological Mother's side. Paternal for your biological Father's side.

What to do when a hint doesn't load. When a hint doesn't load, there are two possible causes: When the source of a hint is deleted or made private. 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.

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.

If your subscription did not begin with a free trial, during the first 14 days of your first subscription term you may either (1) cancel immediately for a full refund and immediate loss of access, or (2) cancel at the end of your current subscription, with no refund.

You'll continue to have access to your trees and AncestryDNA® results including your ancestral regions, journeys, matches, and some traits (if you've taken an AncestryDNA test and have matches turned on).

For further questions, please contact us at 800-828-2362 or support@ancestry.com.

Another version of this explanation is that one side of the family doesn't have many living descendants who might test. Think about families who (especially over multiple generations) perhaps only had one or two children who reproduced.

Why does AncestryDNA say my sister is my cousin? ›

Summarizing what we've learned. It's common for people to have half-siblings since not all children share the same two parents. When you take the Ancestry DNA test, since half-siblings only share 25% of their DNA, they may be categorized as your first cousin.

You can't inherit more than half of an ancestor's DNA

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.

How do I hide or remove all Ancestry Hints? 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.”

A green dot for “identified ancestor,” yellow for either “probably identified” or darker yellow for “speculative,” and red for “I'm working on this but it's tough.” In other words, red means not yet identified. No colored dot means I haven't worked on that match.

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.

Missing matches

A few things could be going on: They haven't taken an AncestryDNA® test. One of you tested with a different company. Check each of your tests; for you to match with each other on Ancestry, you both need to have taken AncestryDNA® tests.

In most cases, you can expect your results within 6 weeks of the date we receive your sample. In order for the laboratory to process your sample, you must register your kit. Registering your kit means connecting your DNA sample to your Ancestry account.

If someone you don't know contacts you, they might be related to you through your DNA. If they are a DNA match, clicking on the conversation with them will give you the option to View the match on Ancestry, and in the panel on the right, you may see details like the estimated relationship to them.

There are several reasons why you might not have any DNA matches yet. Some of the most common reasons are: Not enough people from your area or background have taken AncestryDNA tests, or the few who have tested aren't close enough genetic relatives to match.