My AncestryDNA Circle Status and How Do They Know James is James?

For some time I was in 20 DNA circles at AncestryDNA. Today I am down to 18. I’m not certain which two I have been removed from. I’ve not changed my tree there in ages, but it is possible that someone else in the circle removed their online tree, made a change to it, or unconnected it from their DNA results. Those are the main reasons why your membership in a circle may change. Removal from a circle does not mean that you are kicked out of the family.

  • Hinrich Jansen Ufkes (1797-1873) and Trientje Eielts Post (1803-1878)
  • Christianna DeMoss Rampley (died after 1830)
  • Johann Luken Jurgens Goldenstein (1814-1891) and Tjode Anna Focken Tammen (1824-1882)
  • Hinrich Jacobs Fecht (1823-1912) and Maria Gerdes Wilken Bruns (born 1831)
  • James Rampley (1803-1884) and Elizabeth Chaney (1804-1883)
  • Behrend Dirks (1825-1913) and Heipke Mueller (1832-1924)
  • Hinrich Muller (1799-1880)
  • Johann Frederichs Hinrichs Ufkes (1838-1924)
  • Riley Rampley (1835-1893) and Nancy Jane Newman (1846-1923)
  • Trinke Souken (1775-1856)
  • Clark Sargent (born 1806)
  • Margaretha Wilken Gerdes (1787-1862)

In reviewing my list, I think that I have been removed from circles for two female ancestors:

  • Noentjelena (Grass) Ufkes
  • Melinda/Belinda (Sledd) Newman

As a reminder–circle membership happens because people in the circle:

  • have our trees tied to our  AncestryDNA results;
  • show that ancestor in our tree–and I’m assuming that vital details are compared in some way as well;
  • match other people who have this same ancestor in their tree.

I don’t know just what details are used to determine that two people are the same other than the “name’s the same.” In other words, I have James Rampley (1803-1884) as an ancestor. Someone else does. My James has dates and places of birth, marriage and death. The other person’s does not. If their James Rampley is on their tree in name only, and we are a DNA match, I don’t know if the algorithm decides to put us in the James Rampley circle or not. Cause heaven knows there was more than one James Rampley.

Share

One thought on “My AncestryDNA Circle Status and How Do They Know James is James?

  1. Kathryn Schultz says:

    What I haven’t been able to locate anything about is what an “emerging” membership in a DNA Circle means. I have at leadt 2 of them.

Leave a Reply to Kathryn Schultz Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.