Ancestry.com please do NOT Delete Small DNA Matches!

Comments

#202

I have paid for Ancestry subscription for over a decade and DNA tests for me and several family members. I have family who are Black African-American and Caribbean. I am Asian-Polynesian-American.

DeeAnne Lau (Colorado Springs, 2020-07-24)

#204

I would like to have all my DNA matches as this was the whole idea of getting ones DNA with Ancestrry.com,not just part of ones DNA matches. This why I am signing this petition.

Pat Rodgers (Parkfield, 2020-07-24)

#207

This action (if done by Ancestry.com) WILL KILL African American deep ancestral research as we know it. I am "speaking to" distant Nigerian & Senegalese cousins right now because of these "small cM segments", which Ancestry.com plans to delete. Why set-up a vehicle to explore our past / re-connect with OUR ROOTS to only later "sink the boat" in the middle of the Atlantic after we have gotten on-board. We are BETTER THAN THIS! Ancestry.com, find another way to help your "bottom line" WITHOUT sending US to the bottom!

Jerome Spears (Ellicott City, 2020-07-24)

#208

This was useful my spouse and I in discovering we are 3rd cousins. We needed to know as we plan a family what the dangers are.

Kimberly McLeod-Washington (UPPER MARLBORO, 2020-07-24)

#209

Ancestry.com's proposed action will purge valuable data and burn a bridge many frequently cross. A platform change that prevents our access to DNA matches with lower cMs must not happen.

Renee Emanuel (Hagerstown, 2020-07-24)

#210

I think it’s very important to have as many matches as possible. Is 23 and me doing the same thing?

Sandy Redford (STL, 2020-07-24)

#213

We need the dna information to find all of our ancestors and relatives. I am also a customer! This will negatively impact People of color. Wrong move Ancestry

Jeanne Pirtle (Lexington Park, Maryland, 2020-07-24)

#214

Because I have found a number of these matches in my tree and want the chance to investigate the rest. They help with finding ancestors from further back.

Dawn Haston (Hereford, 2020-07-24)

#215

I have Ancestry DNA.

Michael McVay (Bristow, 2020-07-24)

#218

Because one side of family I from European my 2 great grandfather ?

Holly Respler (Duluth, 2020-07-24)

#219

I have learnt more from some 8cm,7cm &6cm than those closer. Ancetsry has even found at least 10 common ancestors on all the DNA kits I manage. These under the new rules I would never know about.

Laraine Dear (Great Tey. Colchester, 2020-07-24)

#220

There is no existing justification for this action.

Arthur Cage (GWYNN OAK, 2020-07-24)

#221

I support the need of various groups who depend on small matches to find family, such as African-Americans with slave ancestors.

Andrew Hochreiter (Laurel, 2020-07-24)

#224

SmLler SNPs can be very useful to blacks who have limited resources

Evelyn Naranjo (Silver Spring, MD, 2020-07-24)

#226

I want to keep 6 cm and lower on my list

Kerry Tripp (Altadena, 2020-07-24)

#228

I agree that our smaller matches should be retained, as they're our matches, our DNA and we've paid for this service...

Orlaith Daffy (Ennis, 2020-07-24)

#230

EVERY MATCH is important to me. My family didn't leave super detailed tree, but I know it and need to find the decendents of my ancestors siblings. ALL matches matter.

Brandy Yntema (Grandville, 2020-07-24)

#234

I don't want to lose these matches!

Teresa Christopher (Niles, 2020-07-24)

#235

I'm signing because I'd like to see my small DNA matches. Maybe Ancestry can just have a "toggle off" button for people who don't want to see small DNA matches, but I want them. I want to find relatives, and I like Ancestry's platform.

Lori Kelman (Gaithersburg, 2020-07-24)

#237

I’m signing because I am currently working to try to break down my brick wall at my 3rd ggf. I have recently found clues through DNA and some of the matches supporting a possible break through are at the 6-7 cM level. Through this process, I have also found a number of DNA matches at those low levels that are probable matches —-many who you have connected to MRCA.

Also, this comes just after I read an article on ‘sticky segments’, small segments too small to divide and they are either passed on or not.

Let us decide which of these are meaningful and which are not.

Kathy Korin (Severna Park, MD, 2020-07-24)

#238

I've found so many small matches that have helped grow my tree.

Sharon Hulton (Silver Spring, 2020-07-24)

#239

Small matches are some of the MOST important matches in identifying distant ancestors!

Miranda Downs (Grants Pass, 2020-07-24)

#240

I have been able to discover new ancestor surnames from DNA matches as low as 5 cM. I want to see these lower matches with future DNA testers.

Deborah Massie (MO, 2020-07-24)

#243

Please don't delete the shared 5th to 8 th cousins. These matches help me with my research. I'm trying to find my great great grandparents. These small cm are helping me find them

Delann Cason (GEORGIANA ALABAMA, 2020-07-24)

#248

I do not pass on unverified small matches, but they have shown to be essential in my research for those lines which go back hundreds of years.

Amy Maurer (columbus, 2020-07-24)

#253

I’m signing because - I don’t want to lose the chance to find my ancestors cut-off by slavery.

Janice Ziegler (Rancho Cucamonga, 2020-07-24)

#256

It is so important that those of us with African ancestry be able to trace our roots. Don't kill any opportunity to make this happen after we are starting to get connected.

sybil bolivar (Decatur, 2020-07-24)

#258

I make extensive use of these low matches for finding my missing Scottish and Irish ancestors.

Margaret Allison (Invercargill, 2020-07-24)

#260

The small cm’s may lead me to finding relatives that I would not be able to find as an African American

Jonathan Kennedy (Lithonia, 2020-07-24)

#262

Because I come from a same are for hundreds of years and I wasnt looking for common ancestors in my tree with these ppl

Sean D Burgess (Gore, 2020-07-24)

#264

I would like for the small matches to continue.

Diane MacCormack (ELLICOTT CITY, 2020-07-25)

#266

I may be losing 40.000 matches and trees.

Barbara Wren (Columbia, 2020-07-25)

#267

It's important to keep those small connection it has lead many of use to new discoveries.

Efrain Ramirez (MORENO VALLEY, 2020-07-25)

#269

Please don't do away with what you believe to be insequential. It is important to me.

Joni Curtis (Indianapolis, 2020-07-25)

#270

It is vital for research on my German ancestors. Also, for my biracial son.

Ginger Adams (Conyers, 2020-07-25)

#275

Please don't take below 8cm matches I am still trying to connect family trees with dna and I have a lot of low matches with whom I am working to complete.we pay good money for our membership and don't expect to have important information lost.please reconsider

Joann Sheridan (Brisbane, 2020-07-25)

#276

These small matches are what help those of us who are looking far back and often a long way away confirm our links with our large trees to make comparisons.

When multiple kits, especially closely related ones, have multiple small matches, the links are potentially very valid and whilst the "experts" want to say that the low cM results have a 50% error rate, that means a 50% strike rate as well.

Reduce your server loads by ditching the heavy handed and useless interface that loads slowly and badly, fix the same terrible slow loading problems with the new message system, provide adequate appropriate and very much overdue management tools for us to delete multiple records that are incorrect to encourage us to keep our trees lighter on space and server load during searches and leave US, the people who paid for the test to decide whether we want to use the results WE PAID YOU TO GET!

Sort your own failing infrastructure issues out at your expense, not ours.

Tish Adams (BOP, 2020-07-25)

#277

I think that this is the right thing to do!!!

George Coffin (Columbia, 2020-07-25)

#278

there's enough brick walls for black people finding family. this deleterious action would be ancestry's version of another unnecessary brick wall for many (especially black people). interestingly, many of my white cousins (@ 6 cM) are the ones who provided key family history to me. they're the ones with 5000 names on their family tree, compared to my 80. they have family bibles with my african ancestors stories and vital statistics. they have the names. they have the dates. they have the intimate details, regarding my african and early european ancestors. the info these white family members provided, was instrumental in my search to find lost family. i'd like to be able to go back 12 generations (10th great grandparents). for the record, 6 cM is family to me. please don't drop the 6 cM threshold. if you make 8cM the new lower limit, you'd be hurting those of us, trying to find "home," & you'd be reinforcing our brick walls... our ancestors are calling for us. please do not hang up on them. we should be able to opt in to 6 cM or higher. i think the lower limit should be 5 cM but i'll take 6 cM. respectfully,

judith

Judith Smith (Los Angeles, 2020-07-25)

#282

I can connect to many many 6 cm matches especially if they have a tree !! Plus I manage other kits and pay a subscription !!

Lisa Bartlett (Burnie, 2020-07-25)

#283

I'm signing because this is the only way I can connect to my African ancestors. While this may be irrelevant to some people, it is extremely important to those of us whose ancestors were brought to this country more than 300 years ago and stripped of their identity, names, culture, heredity, etc. Please do not repeat that atrocity by removing this information from our profile.

Carolyn Rowe (FT WASHINGTON, 2020-07-25)

#288

The small cM's are important. I have matched several small cM's with cousins already in my paper trail tree.

Sue Hunter (Radcliffe, 2020-07-25)

#289

I agree.....

Toni Holt (Pinehurst, 2020-07-25)

#293

In my research I've learn how to connect the dots...especially the small ones. For everyone, especially those of African heritage or African Ancestorized, the small /smaller amounts of 8cMs can be the connecting link for finding and connecting family. Family that was uprooted not only from the African continent, but uprooted after getting to Europe and the shores of the Caribbean and the Americas. Enslavement, the whims of "owners" to make money or set examples to break up families, uprooted to escape, changing names, uprooted to flee harsh laws even when "free" created disconnects that only DNA , even small segments ,can see its way , can be the way to
explore, research and match family. Ancestry's planned deletion , this purge, cripples so many across so many lines..even your scientists have no idea how many will be impacted.

Patricia Gittens (Brooklyn, 2020-07-25)

#294

These small matches have proven valuable in ID'ing my ancestors and their descendants. But I'm not finished. Also, as an All Access member, I pay you a boatload of money each year. And for that you throw my matches away?

Beverly Lacy (Woodbury, 2020-07-25)

#300

I just matched about 8 cousins who were all at the 6cm-7cm level. Had it not been for these matches I would not have known about my Caribbean ancestry.

Nicole Long (New York, 2020-07-25)

#302

Of African Caribbean ancestry and this will remove a valuable tool for researching ancestors.

Ros Reid (Reading, 2020-07-25)

#306

I feel every match counts.

Vallery Dietrich (NEW BUFFALO, 2020-07-25)

#308

Many times, small matches are easier to contact, get clues with--lead to bigger and better clues. It wasn't broke--so-don't try to "fix" it.

SheilaFirehair Spencer-Stover (Bunn, 2020-07-25)

#309

I have NA, some further than 4 generations out. Not, to mention, African mix. If you delete below, 8cM, I will lose these connections. It is difficult enough to piece these lines but, missing important connections, I could not otherwise, piece together, will leave a huge gap, in my family story!

Katherine Marshall (San Antonio, 2020-07-25)

#311

The low centimorgan matches are used by me to confirm relationships among DNA tested members. While others who are more advanced or professional genealogist may not value these matches as much or may know other ways to confirm relationships, I do not. Please retain these low centimorgan matches or provide an option to download all matches to an Excel spreadsheet so that this information is not lost.

Angela James (Detroit, 2020-07-25)

#312

Needed to find family links

Steven Spaur (Farmington, 2020-07-25)

#313

If African American lives truly matter in this quest for racial justice, then preserve one of the vital tools we use to triangulate matches and piece together our family’s story beyond the 1870 wall. It is very helpful. The majority of my maternal matches at 6cM for example, triangulate with other matches whose general lineage is known. I have also triangulated a 6cM African relative who matches both me and my dad. Please consider providing an update option - those who wish to continue to receive updates below the 8 cM threshold can continue to do so while others can opt out and opt in whenever they would like.

Karen Ross (Lake Ridge, 2020-07-25)

#314

It connected me to unknown family members from my paternal grandmother. They held a 100th reunion this past year!

Beverly Pochatko (Erie, 2020-07-25)

#317

These small matches have been proven to be very important in my research!!!!

Simone Simiot (Heidelberg, 2020-07-25)

#326

I think Ancestry is deleting valuable information.

Kathleen Olakunle (Edin, 2020-07-25)

#327

I am researching my 5th to 8th great grandparents and their siblings and children. I need these dna connections to this time period and access to their public trees in aiding my research.

Mary Cervantes (Carson, 2020-07-25)

#328

I was able to breakthrough a wall in my tree that would not have been possible without this very relevant DNA. Please keep it in place!

Lynn Nehemiah (Silver Spring, 2020-07-25)

#331

I believe these small matches can make all the difference!

Jennifer Frohnauer (Saint Charles, 2020-07-25)

#332

I need to know all of my potential relatives,I have paid for this service.

Jacqueline Wilkinson (Stuttgart, 2020-07-25)

#333

I’m sining because I have a lot of Relatives that I manage their tree and DNA for and I need to be able to see all the matches so i can figure out who belongs to which parent. I pay for the world and i expect for all the money i pay out to get the full dna matches no matter how large or small the cM’s are.

margaret neville (carroll county, 2020-07-25)

#335

You need to expand so that we as consumers do not lose our ancestors!

Jill McDonald (Northfield, 2020-07-25)

#336

These are actually useful

Anne Maree Forsyth (Auckland, 2020-07-25)

#338

I work with these lower cM distant cousins. Many have DNA share Matches with me in at least 20 cM or more.

MaryJ Walker (Greer, SC, 2020-07-25)

#339

Ancestry cost way to much to take more away they should give us even have it made better to find dna matches that will take us back to 1600 time period. then all the dailey error or down for maintences when i need the time on there the most.

Kimberley Fay (Roseville, 2020-07-25)

#341

I paid for this information and now you are removing it. I Want a refund!

Barb Larson (Ft Lauderdale, 2020-07-25)

#342

I’m signing because I can’t get anywhere with my lines and cling to the slightest hint!

Colleen M OLeary (Chicago, 2020-07-25)

#343

Because as an ally, I support Black genealogists who need this info to find their roots!

Gail Helgeson (Port Townsend, 2020-07-25)

#349

It’s difficult enough finding Black ancestors and many of my matches 8 and below are matching higher matches. Please please reconsider.

Edna Sanders-Mensah (Indianapolis, 2020-07-26)

#357

I manage a lot of kits. I have a well developed tree, but I am always looking to extend it back more generations. I also have some brick walls that I would like to resolve. Along with disproportionately impacting African American researchers, for those of us that are trying to find those distant ancestor matches, that extra data is needed to find a pattern of surname matches to research. I spend all of my time looking for that needle in the haystack. Many of those 6-7cM matches are valid. How about Ancestry find a different criteria to trim the database for efficiency? My suggestion would to eliminate matches less than (off the cuff guess) 20 cM with absolutely no tree? If that kit ever links a tree, then the match is added back as a match? Most of us won't get much use out of matches that don't have a tree.

Debra Christensen (Nederland, Colorado, 2020-07-26)

#360

I do NOT WANT MY SMALL MATCHES TO BE DELETED OFF MY FILE OR THE WEB SITE. THEY ARE AS IMPORTANT AS ANY OTHER MATCH. SINCE ANCESTRY GAVE US THESE RESULTS AT THE OUTSET OF THE PROCESS. WE ALL PAID FOR THIS INFORMATION.

Patricia Fischer (Long Beach, 2020-07-26)

#368

I don’t want to lose my matches

Monica Mercy (Red Oak, 2020-07-26)

#370

I am a genealogist and all DNA matches are valuable.

James Sanders (Indianapolis, 2020-07-26)

#372

I have made more connections from small matches than my high matches

Anita Johnson (Ontario, 2020-07-26)

#373

I want all my Ancestry matches and don't have time rush and match them all. Please leave the matches alone.

Toni Nelson (Clinton, 2020-07-26)

#379

I have used segments under 8cM. Deleting these matches demo current users and preventing these matches for future users could negatively affect Researching certain populations including but not limited to African Americans.

Jennifer Shoer (Portsmouth, 2020-07-26)

#380

It is important this information.

Maritza Grajales (San Juan, 2020-07-26)

#381

I have a lot of, 6/7 cm matches and just got my DNA results this year I think in March

joanne harakalperrine (Sharon, 2020-07-26)

#384

I’m not at all happy about this for myself but I’m more deeply disturbed about how this hurts the research of African American genealogists as they work extra hard to reassemble trees destroyed by slavery.

Jane Atchison-Nevel (Miami, 2020-07-26)

#386

I need all the help I can get in finding my ancestors!!!

Frances Craft (Bloomington, 2020-07-26)

#387

I' m signing because don't want to lose any of my matches, no matter what generation of how related.

Sherrie Banks Ware-Lopez (Leonard, 2020-07-26)

#389

I have spent a lot of money for ancestry over the years. I feel I have paid for this information to work with at my leisure. This is like pulling the rug out from under me. There are a lot of reasons not to do this. WHY SHOULD I LOOSE ALL MY 6-7 CM. COUSIN I PAID FOR THEM.

Patricia Sgarlata (Hopewell Junction, 2020-07-26)

#394

I have found family members through these low cms. I am in the process of finding others.

Elizabeth Shannon (Silver Spring, Maryland, 2020-07-26)

#395

I have an Ancestry dna account and looking for all my family and need to know more about where I came from since my mom was adopted at Birth.

Brenda Roberts (Lake Worth, 2020-07-26)

#400

I'm so disappointed about losing these matches. Combined with research to support the small matches I broke through brick walls and found ancestors.

Pamela Willis (Brookhaven, 2020-07-26)