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Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
Ready to start exploring your new Ancestor Discoveries? Here is your guide.
The day you get a New Ancestor Discovery is almost as exciting as the day you received your DNA
results. If you aren’t sure if you have one, after you log in to your Ancestry account, go to the DNA
tab and check your DNA homepage. If you have a New Ancestor Discovery, it will show up on your
results page below your DNA ethnicity and matching results but before your DNA Circles™. You may
even see a message saying whether we have found one for you or not. If you have taken the
AncestryDNA test you are automatically included in this new capability and will not need to retake
the test. The image below shows four New Ancestor Discoveries that appeared on my homepage.
See the names listed on each card? Depending on how familiar you are with your tree, these names
could be new to you, and they could go back as far as the 1700s. That is the power of this new
capability—giving you new leads to discover more of your story.
New Ancestor Discoveries are made through a unique combination of AncestryDNA results and the
millions of family trees shared by Ancestry members. First, living cousins of each AncestryDNA member
are found and organized into family networks called DNA Circles, which bring together groups of people
who are all related to the same ancestor. From there, New Ancestor Discoveries are generated when
you are a strong genetic match with members of a DNA Circle but you don’t already have that ancestor
in your tree. It’s an innovative new way we are combining DNA, family trees, and historical records to
help you make the next breakthrough in your story.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
When I looked at my New Ancestor Discoveries, two of them had the last name Guymon, which I didn’t
recognize. I hadn’t come across the Norman name in my research, either. But Sarah Gordon caught my
eye. I knew I didn’t have a Sarah Gordon in my tree, but I did have a Gordon, though I didn’t know much
about this line. It had always been a brick wall for me. Could Sarah Gordon be related to my Gordon
family? Clicking on the card for Sarah Gordon opens up two options: Learn About Sarah (this is where
you can go to see facts, pictures, and sources related to Sarah) and See how you are related (this is
where you can see the DNA connections that lead you to this network). As an Ancestry subscriber, you
can choose your path depending on what you want to explore.
I want to figure out how I am connected to the Sarah Gordon group genetically, so I choose See how
you are related and continue on to the DNA section. Here I find a DNA connection graph and a little bit
about Sarah. (This New Ancestor Discovery is actually for my dad; his test is on my account and his DNA
results are linked to my tree. But you don’t need a tree to benefit from this.)
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
My dad is related to 10 of the 38 members of the Sarah Gordon DNA Circle, and I can immediately see
who my dad shares DNA with. You can click on any of the DNA Circle members to see who and how they
are connected to others in the Circle. Orange lines indicate DNA connections between members of the
Circle my dad shares DNA with. The thicker the orange line, the more strongly connected those two
people are. You’ll get the hang of that as you start using this page. I actually recognize a few of these
matches; I have messaged some of them before, though we haven’t been able to figure out how we
might be related. This New Ancestor Discovery might be the connection.
You can click on any of the names in the group to see details for that person and their connection to
you. If you click on the relationship link that appears under each member’s name in the DNA Circle, you
can see the route of descendant between that DNA match and your possible common ancestor. As you
can see below, this particular match descends from Sarah Gordon on her mother’s line. This is a good
place to quickly check surnames for each person along the line of descent to see if any of them look
familiar or stand out.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
To explore who Sarah Gordon is and see a list of details from her life, I click the green button that says
More about Sarah Gordon on the right-hand side of the page under her short biography.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
This takes you to a new experience we are launching in beta that has a wealth of information about
Sarah that has been assembled from online family trees, including facts, records, and pictures. You can
see an example below. (Note that Ancestry does not include private tree information or information
about living people on this page.)
This page is currently only accessible through New Ancestor Discoveries or DNA Circles. Here is where I
recommend diving into the facts and records to start learning about this person and looking for a
possible connection. Here are a few ideas for getting started:
 Read over the life story page to get an overview of this person’s life, including where they lived
and moves they made. The maps page helps give you a visual.
 Look for similar surnames one generation up or one generation down.
 Compare birthdates and locations in and around the same timeframe to those on your own
family tree.
 Make sure you look at siblings, spouses, and children; they might provide another path that
could lead to someone you may recognize.
I like to open a new window with my tree in it and then toggle back and forth, looking at my tree and
other trees that have information about my New Ancestor Discovery. It’s hard for me to remember all of
my surnames, so I will search each surname from my New Ancestor Discovery around that same
timeframe and other descendants in my tree, looking for a connection.
Once I started to cross-compare surnames and locations, I found a connection. It turned up on a line
that dead-ended in North Carolina. Knowing there was a genetic connection, when surnames and places
started matching up, it gave me more confidence that this was my line. Sarah Gordon wasn’t my direct
ancestor, but this New Ancestor Discovery still had plenty to tell me.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
Sarah Gordon wasn’t in my tree, but I finally found my connection to her: she was a sister to someone in
my tree. Sarah’s page included her parents’ names, which I also added to my tree (after doing a little
research to confirm this information). And that’s when two new DNA Circles popped up: one for my 5th
great-grandfather John Gordon and one for my 5th great-grandmother Barzilla Martin. From there, I was
able to take the Gordon line back to Virginia and then Ireland. Wow. My dad’s genetic match to others
who had Sarah, John, or Barzilla in their trees opened a new path of discovery for me and gave me more
confidence in the results of my research.
I can’t wait to get another New Ancestor Discovery. As more people take the test, more connections are
made, so you can get new ones at any time. So if you don’t have one yet, keep checking back.
Now that you know a little bit more about what a New Ancestor Discoveries is, how it works, and how to
explore, here’s a quick recap:
Start Exploring your New Ancestor Discoveries
1. On your DNA Homepage, click on the ancestor card you want to research.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
2. As an Ancestry subscriber, you have two possible routes from here. You can jump right into
learning all about this person by viewing all the records, photos, and facts Ancestry has
assembled, or you can see how you are genetically related to others who have Sarah Gordon
(the New Ancestor Discovery) in their tree and match your DNA.
3. For this example, we’ll look at the DNA connection first.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
4. You might recognize a few of your matches, especially if you have been trying for a while to
figure out how you are connected. One thing to point out here is that the more connections you
have to this DNA Circle, the more likely it is that you are a direct descendant of the New
Ancestor Discovery we are pointing to.
5. Once you have explored the DNA connection, click on the button that says More about Sarah
Gordon.
6. This will open up a page that gives you all the information Ancestry has found about Sarah. It’s a
really handy feature to be able to see all the information in one place.
(Tip: Not all of the
information here has
been documented; you
will want to verify the
details.)
7. The first page gives you
an overview of the
person’s life, family info,
and a map of their
personal migration
based of information
found in public Ancestry
online trees.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
8. The Facts page will allow you to see all this person’s information, including records that have
been saved. This is where I would recommend looking for other surnames or locations that may
be familiar. Look at the surnames of the spouses as well. You may be related through a collateral
line. (To learn about the different types of New Ancestor Discoveries, click here.) Click on any of
the names listed to see which trees have this information saved in them.
9. The Gallery is an awesome place where you can see pictures associated with this person and
find out more about who they were and where they lived.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
Tip: Go back to the DNA Circle graph page:
10. Now look through all your
DNA cousin matches. Click
on each of the names you
match with and find the
New Ancestor Discovery in
their tree. This will give
you an idea how they are
connected to this
ancestor.
Look to see if they have information that might give you a clue on how you connect with this
ancestor. Familiar surnames and locations that appear in your tree are good clues that could
help you discover another piece of your family’s story.
I was able to find my
connection to Sarah
Gordon, and in doing so I
found my 5th greatgrandparents. I entered
their information into my
tree, and a DNA Circle for
each of them popped up a
day later. I now have been
able to find out more about
them, who they were, and
where they lived.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
Quick FAQs
1. Why don’t I have any New Ancestor Discoveries? How can I get one?
a. Not all members will have a New Ancestor Discovery at launch. They are dependent on
who else is in the database and if there is a DNA Circle for a potential ancestor of yours.
b. Keep checking back. You could get a New Ancestor Discovery at any time.
c. To increase your chances of finding these new connections, get others in your family
tested since they may have inherited different pieces of DNA from your ancestor that
could lead you to a New Ancestor Discovery.
d. It’s all based on genetics (your DNA) and how your DNA compares to others. See how
DNA Circles are created to learn more.
e. If you have a private tree, consider making a version of it public since you might be
holding back a potential DNA Circle around an ancestor for you and others.
2. Do I need a public tree to get a New Ancestor Discovery?
a. No. But if you have a tree on Ancestry we highly recommend you link a public tree to
your DNA results.
3. What if my New Ancestor Discovery disappears?
a. This can happen. Since this new capability is an expansion of DNA Circles, if a DNA Circle
disappears, so will your New Ancestor Discovery since we don’t have a Circle or ancestor
to point you to. A DNA Circle can disappear if someone makes their family tree private.
4. Do I need a subscription to see my New Ancestor Discoveries?
a. You need a subscription to see the details about your New Ancestor Discovery and DNA
Circles. Any kind of subscription will give you access to view all the details of each New
Ancestor Discovery.
5. Why does a family member have a New Ancestor Discovery and I don’t?
a. It all depends on genetic inheritance. You get 50% of you DNA from each of your
parents, so you may not have inherited the same DNA that would match you up with
other cousins to make the connection. But having a sibling, parent, grandparent, or
aunt or uncle tested, or even a first cousin, will increase your chances. This is why it is
important to have multiple people in your family tested. You—or they—may receive a
New Ancestor Discovery that no one else has.
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
Getting the Most from Your New Ancestor Discoveries
Anna Swayne – AncestryDNA Educator
My DNA Notes:
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.