Well, I am not as far ahead in learning about DNA as I thought I would be by now. For one thing, it is hard to assimilate and retain knowledge about the subject and, for another, I seem to find so many other things that are taking up my time. How does that happen?
I have made some progress. While the sales were on, I sprang for a test with Ancestry DNA to add to the ones I had already done. Ancestry is supposed to have the largest database of DNA test results to match with. Maybe I would find some UK matches.
When I got my Ancestry results back I eagerly looked for new matches. My main American colonial line of Tripps was well represented and many of the matches had family trees. That was good - up to a point. Some of the trees went back further than the Charles Tripp born in 1761 who was proven by documentation. Unfortunately, I think the trees showing Charles' parentage are planted on shaky ground but I don't have anything to refute them at this point. Probably best that I stay silent on that score.
On Ancestry as well as on FTDNA a really close cousin match showed up for my Gilchrists, a line which has been in North America since at least 1853. I sent emails and messages to the DNA owners for these matches but never got any replies. Lack of response, I think, is one of the most frustrating things about working with genetic DNA.
There is always hope that I will end up with more cooperative DNA matches when LivingDNA opens up their matching function this year. In the meantime, I have been learning more about the various DNA tests through the courses at DNA Central.
I live in hope that using genetic DNA will provide me with more clues to my family history.
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