Inspired by fellow blogger Russ Worthington at A Worthington Weblog, I decided to create a spreadsheet and begin tracking the matches I’ve received since downloading Ancestry.com‘s new app, We’re Related.
Here’s a list of the matches I’ve received so far, grouped by the categories provided by Ancestry:
ACTORS & ACTRESSES (4)
Robin Williams
Keanu Reeves
Richard Gere
Elizabeth Montgomery
AUTHORS & WRITERS (6)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stephen King
Edgar Allan Poe
e e cummings
Jane Austen
Julia Child
BUSINESS MAGNATES (2)
Warren Buffett
Steve Jobs
CRIMINALS AND THE INFAMOUS (1)
Billy the Kid
ENTERTAINERS (1)
Ring Lardner
MUSICIANS & COMPOSERS (1)
Meghan Trainor
PHILANTHROPISTS (1)
Johns Hopkins
POLITICIANS (2)
Mitch McConnell
Benjamin Franklin
SOCIAL REFORMERS (1)
Helen Keller
U.S. PRESIDENTS & FIRST LADIES (8)
Abraham Lincoln
Harry S. Truman
George H. W. Bush
George W. Bush
Abigail Powers Fillmore
Thomas Jefferson
John Adams
Calvin Coolidge
Here are a few things I’ve noticed after preparing a simple tracking sheet.
- All but one of the 27 matches are on my mother’s side of the family, which is interesting because that particular branch is the deepest branch I have in the United States – going back to the mid 1600s.
- The COMMON ANCESTOR as stated by the app is present in my Ancestry tree in only 11 of the 27 matches. In other words, the app has added the COMMON ANCESTOR in 16 cases out of 27. In the screenshot below, you can see the COMMON ANCESTOR is listed as “Edith White”. This is an example of an instance of where Ancestry added the COMMON ANCESTOR – possibly based on another tree that closely matches my own?
- In 9 out of the 11 matches where the COMMON ANCESTOR is in my tree, all the ancestors died in Essex County, Massachusetts. One of the other two died in Connecticut and the other died in England.
- Based on a quick review, I have determined that 6 of the 27 matches are “likely” matches. They are: Meaghan Trainor, Helen Keller, both Presidents Bush, Mitch McConnell and Richard Gere. I will need to do additional research to confirm but so far they look good.
My next step will be to create a WE’RE RELATED tree at Ancestry, also inspired by Russ Worthington. I like his idea of using the tree to bring the hints to me so that I can then analyze the validity of each one. It occurs to me this will be a lot of work but worth it if I’m able to make some break-throughs.
Thanks, Russ!
If you’re interested in the app, you’ll find more information here.
This series continued here.
