Genetic Communities: Is there a time line till out of beta?

[chelle]

Questions...


1) Is there a timeline for when it will come out of beta?

2) Is there a cap on how many communities people will be given?

3) How many communities have you been given so far?

4) Do you think they will increase the communities given to people once it is out of beta?

What communities have you been given? I got Early Settlers of Tennessee and the Deep South and Jews of Central Europe. I was hoping to also get something to definitively tie me to a region in Ireland, Scotland or England. I really thought I would get something Ulster. Oh well, fingers crossed that they add more communities to individuals later if they apply.

[kostoffj]

All good questions, I would imagine that the answer for #2 is "however many they can sort you into." The key question IMO is #4. I was assigned one community, Germans in the Midwest, which was very accurate since that is the majority of my ancestry (~50%), and I thought it was interesting that the GC tests identified not only an ethnicity but the part of it that migrated in large numbers in a specific window of time to the American Midwest, which is a lot more interesting and useful result than the ethnicity estimators. But I also have significant Irish ancestry (~30%), who migrated here from Cork and Waterford in the 1860s - why didn't I get assigned an Irish genetic community? And will I? I would think I should, it's a pretty high percentage so I wonder why I didn't trip the threshold. Maybe I don't match enough people in the Ancestry database on the Irish side to register?

I also wonder if anyone's been assigned more than one community. I haven't seen anyone with more than one, but that's just my personal experience.

It would be nice to see some feedback from the company on where they are going with all this and address questions like mine and yours.

PS - your ancestry is very similar to my wife's. She's like 85% Appalachian hillbillies and 15% Ashkenazi Jews from Russia. She had no idea about her Jewish ancestry until she had her DNA tested, then we started doing research into her family tree and eventually found the ancestor.

[MacUalraig]

All good questions, I would imagine that the answer for #2 is "however many they can sort you into." The key question IMO is #4. I was assigned one community, Germans in the Midwest, which was very accurate since that is the majority of my ancestry (~50%), and I thought it was interesting that the GC tests identified not only an ethnicity but the part of it that migrated in large numbers in a specific window of time to the American Midwest, which is a lot more interesting and useful result than the ethnicity estimators. But I also have significant Irish ancestry (~30%), who migrated here from Cork and Waterford in the 1860s - why didn't I get assigned an Irish genetic community? And will I? I would think I should, it's a pretty high percentage so I wonder why I didn't trip the threshold. Maybe I don't match enough people in the Ancestry database on the Irish side to register?

I also wonder if anyone's been assigned more than one community. I haven't seen anyone with more than one, but that's just my personal experience.

It would be nice to see some feedback from the company on where they are going with all this and address questions like mine and yours.

PS - your ancestry is very similar to my wife's. She's like 85% Appalachian hillbillies and 15% Ashkenazi Jews from Russia. She had no idea about her Jewish ancestry until she had her DNA tested, then we started doing research into her family tree and eventually found the ancestor.

Not sure what the record is, I am in two and pretty sure I've seen people in 3-4. I am tracking the GC membership and match counts and they are growing nicely since it was first rolled out.

[greerpalmer]

I've been asking the same. I only got the Ulster Irish/ North Midlands community which only represents two or three people in my family tree. Almost all of my matches with overlapping individuals are German or colonial Maryland/Massachusetts/Virginia/Pennsylvania as are my 4 circles. I'm hoping it will just be one or two more matches and it'll recognize me as part of those communities.

[Amerijoe]

Communities list: 1.) 95%- Scots, subgroup (60%-Scots in Central Scotland & Ulster, Ireland), 2.) 20%- Early Settlers of the Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Illinois & Iowa, 3.) 20%-Ulster Irish. 1&3, indicate the most probable fits. #2, haven't found any connection to date.

[MacUalraig]

Communities list: 1.) 95%- Scots, subgroup (60%-Scots in Central Scotland & Ulster, Ireland), 2.) 20%- Early Settlers of the Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Illinois & Iowa, 3.) 20%-Ulster Irish. 1&3, indicate indicate the most probable fits. #2, haven't found any connection to date.

Intriguing to be in an immigrant group that predates your own emigration. But I don't have a single American in my family tree so in the same situation I would struggle to link everything up I think.

[Nqp15hhu]

All good questions, I would imagine that the answer for #2 is "however many they can sort you into." The key question IMO is #4. I was assigned one community, Germans in the Midwest, which was very accurate since that is the majority of my ancestry (~50%), and I thought it was interesting that the GC tests identified not only an ethnicity but the part of it that migrated in large numbers in a specific window of time to the American Midwest, which is a lot more interesting and useful result than the ethnicity estimators. But I also have significant Irish ancestry (~30%), who migrated here from Cork and Waterford in the 1860s - why didn't I get assigned an Irish genetic community? And will I? I would think I should, it's a pretty high percentage so I wonder why I didn't trip the threshold. Maybe I don't match enough people in the Ancestry database on the Irish side to register?

I also wonder if anyone's been assigned more than one community. I haven't seen anyone with more than one, but that's just my personal experience.

It would be nice to see some feedback from the company on where they are going with all this and address questions like mine and yours.

PS - your ancestry is very similar to my wife's. She's like 85% Appalachian hillbillies and 15% Ashkenazi Jews from Russia. She had no idea about her Jewish ancestry until she had her DNA tested, then we started doing research into her family tree and eventually found the ancestor.

I'm Northern Irish and I was assigned Scots and Ulster Irish. Although, oddly I have no Great Britain ancestry, based on AncestryDNA.

I would think there would be improvements in the product with time.

[sktibo]

3)
two, Scots in Central and NE Scotland, and a French Settlers umbrella GC.
4)
I really hope so, I think they're playing it pretty safe with the GC's so far but it would be interesting to see a "Speculative" view or something where it takes a bit more risk in assigning us - noted of course that it's uncertain.

[mwauthy]

I think it all has to do with Ancestry's database. My dad is 100% Wallonian Belgium to 1650 yet he got zero genetic communities due to the fact that probably only a handful of people have tested from that area. I'm only 50% French Canadian yet I received that genetic community because over 50,000 French Canadians have tested with Ancestry.

[Nqp15hhu]

What does 20% really mean? Does that mean you have a chance of having ancestry?