Update on Genetic Communities

Source: Ancestry. Genetic Community result 29 Mar 2017.

Yesterday Ancestry introduced its new Genetic Communities tool within AncestryDNA. I wrote about this and included some screen shots from my results and the family results I administer. When I checked my results at launch, it showed I matched for two genetic communities: Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia, and Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South. I was initially disappointed not to see Mexicans from Sonora and Arizona in my results, but I did find them for my sister, my Mom and her sisters. When I checked the results again, they had changed and I am now showing as a match for three genetic communities: 1) Mexicans in Northwest Mexico & the Southern California Coast, 2) Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia, and 3) Settlers of Upper Middle Tennessee.

It is also nice to see Ancestry has 95% confidence I belong to the genetic community Mexicans in Northwest Mexico & the Southern California Coast. I certainly have extensive roots there based on my research and have a strong personal connection to Southern California. I think of Los Angeles as home.

Source: Ancestry. Connection result 29 Mar 2017.

On the result for Settlers of Upper Middle Tennessee, this does match with the Flatt, Gaw, Matthews lines from my Mom's side of the tree. My sister remains a match to Mexicans in Sonora & Southern Arizona, although Ancestry lists their confidence for the result as 40%. Our Mom and her two sisters received a 95% confidence for a connection to the same genetic community. Aunt Patty also matched for Early Settlers of Tennessee & the Deep South and Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest and Virginia, while Aunt Linda matched for Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest and Virginia. Our Dad's results showed 95% confidence for Early Settlers of the Ohio River Valley, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.

I am curious to see how Ancestry refines their results over time. With more people testing across a wider range of countries, they should be able to improve the targeting. It might also help if more people linked a family tree to their AncestryDNA results. I still see too many matches with no trees attached.