Will I Know If I’m Not in the Clique?

I’m in eight circles on AncestryDNA as of this writing:

  • Christianna (DeMoss) Rampley (born in the early 1770s probably in Harford County, Maryland.
  • Hinrich Janssen Ufkes (born 1797 Ostfriesland, Germany) and the circle for his wife Trientje Eilts (Post) Ufkes (born 1803 Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany)
  • Riley Rampley (born 1835 Coshocton County, Ohio) and the circle for his wife Nancy Jane (Newman) Rampley(born 1846 Rush County, Indiana)
  • Johann Friederichs Hinrichs Ufkes (born 1838 Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany)
  • Johann Luken Jurgens Ehmen Goldenstein (born 1814 Wrisse, Ostfriesland, Germany and his wife Tjade Anna Focken (Tammen) Goldenstein (born 1824 Buhren, Ostfriesland, Germany)

While the AncestryDNA circles are still in beta mode, I’m a little bit curious. 

I’m not in a circle for the husband Christianna (DeMoss) Rampley or the wife of Johann Friederichs Hinrichs Ufkes.

I am hoping this is because the results are in beta mode and that the circles for these people have not yet been compiled.

But will I be told if there’s a circle for Christianna’s husband or Johann’s wife and that I’m not in it?

Because I think to get in a circle at AncestryDNA, one has to be a DNA match for someone first and then their trees are compared to see if there’s a shared ancestor. It is a two-step process, beginning with the DNA match. I realize that once the ancestor is a significantly back in the lineage I may share no DNA with them and they may still be my ancestor. There is a difference between paper ancestors who appear in my tree and DNA ancestors with whom I share DNA–especially after one gets back beyond the third great-grandparents or so.

So if I’m not a DNA match for the “circle” of one of the ancestors on my tree will I get a notification?

And if I’m not in the circle how worried should I be?

It partially depends upon how far back the connection is. That’s the best answer I have at this point.


Note: I do match with known descendants of all my great-great-grandparents who have tested with AncestryDNA as follows:

  • Frederich and Trientje (Janssen) Ufkes (great-grandparents)–two children of my grandfather’s brother have also tested. We all share significant DNA and AncestryDNA predicted that each of them and I are between first and second cousins (which is correct).
  • Mimka and Tjode (Goldenstein) Habben (great-grandparents)–one child of two separate siblings of my grandmother have tested. We all share significant DNA and AncestryDNA predicted that each of them and I are between first and second cousins (which is correct).
  • George and Ida (Sargent) Trautvetter (great-grandparents)–the child of one of my grandmother’s siblings has tested. The grandchild of another of my grandmother’s siblings has tested. The relationships suggested AncestryDNA by are consistent with our known relationship.
  • Charlie and Fannie (Rampley) Neill (great-grandparents)–I am the only descendant who has tested. However four other known descendants of Charlie’s parents have tested–we match and the relationships are correct. Several other descendants of Fannie’s parents have tested and we share matches (that’s the circles of Riley and Nancy (Newman) Rampley as shown above.

 

 

 

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One thought on “Will I Know If I’m Not in the Clique?

  1. Suzanne Brayer says:

    I can’t even get into the Circle even though I have a public tree. No reasonable explanation has yet to come from Ancestry.

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