Ancestry match help please!

[wizbit93]

Any help would be very appreciated please!
I've had an ancestry dna test done. On my Dad's side it is picking up a lot of his maternal common ancestors. On his Dad's side it is picking up dna matches, but no common ancestors. Is this just because people I have in my tree do not have any descendants who have done tests, or does it mean there are queries in the parentage?
Hope that makes sense! Thanks.

Are you saying that there are people that you thought you were related to that have done an Ancestry test but that you can't see a match?

So I have people in my tree, who I've got there through general family knowledge and by buying birth certificates etc. It is picking up dna matches, so, there is shared dna with that side of the family, but is not picking up any individual common ancestors iyswim?

I'm not really sure what you mean either. There could be two things going on, both of which I have had in my own research.

Lack of testing - all of my matches are really distant, I have nothing better than second cousin once removed (and only one of those). My family is all Scottish, they lived in the same part of Scotland for generations and are clearly not that interested in DNA testing or genealogy. So with few people testing, it is possible that there is just not enough information to determine a common ancestor. I have lots of people who are matches, but who Ancestry can't suggest HOW they fit in.

If you are however matching with lots of people whose names you don't recognise, then it could be a dodgy parentage somewhere. We have this on DH's tree, turns out that his grandfather's father isn't who the records say he is.

I would advise looking for a Facebook group which specialises in DNA and genealogy to help you unpick what's going on.

Thanks. It was your first scenario I was trying to get across (badly!) but that's a good idea about other forums etc.

Mystery sorted! It's the ancestry app playing up. If I go into individual matches it's showing up common ancestors, just not if I use the filters! Weird.

I found out through Ancestry that my maternal cousin is related to me on both sides of my family. I'm not entirely sure I want to know how and it could be very distant and tenuous. However, my cousin has also discovered that her paternal grandad is not her biological grandad so there's some jiggery pokery quite recently regardless.

That's fascinating! I love all this stuff. I don't think ours is 'inter related' but I do have the same (common) surnames on both sides of the tree, and within the same generations so it can get very confusing at times!

I'm seeing confusing stuff in ancestry. There are a numer of people with whom I have a low % dna match. Ancestry says the match is paternal but when I look at shared matches with these people, the match as been picked up via someone I know is connected on the maternal side.
I am wondering if the algorithms are throwing a match based on surnames as there are some surnames which occur on both sides of the family but who are, as far as research has shown me, unrelated. Or, perhaps its a regional match? Again, some of my dna suggests links to certain areas - more predominantly on the maternal side, with a much lower percentage on the paternal side (and for which I have found no ancestors hailing from on that side).

Have you told Ancestry which side is which rather than relying on its algorithm as that normally helps.

Alternatively you may have pedigree collapse in your tree (where cousins married cousins) which was extremely common until relatively recently, especially in rural areas. This would account for what you are seeing.

Drop me a line if you need any more help.

I told them about the person this stemmed from and they didn't seem to know what to do!
As far as I can see, there was no cousin intermarriage anywhere, but I might drop you a line anyway (later in the week) if that's OK, just in case I'm missing something.

@Missedmytoe yes that's fine, good luck!