Send Those Message Requests

This past week two people I worked with on their family history finally heard back from a message they or I sent to a DNA match from ancestry.com and/or as a contributor under latest changes at familysearch.org. Neither of them are genealogy matches to me.

One was for a man that I first met in 2019 and he thinks he is a Teed/Tidd match but not directly to me. He saw a post I made to my blog at gophergenealogy.blogspot.com and requested my help.

When he came to a local family history conference held by the public library we did not get to visit much. I was able to hand off to him a pedigree chart and some family group records. While working on his Ancestry DNA matches I did find a very close match and sent a message to them. I was shocked to receive a reply almost over a year later. The person did not feel that they were a match, but because the man had done his genealogy we were able to determine how they match and I encouraged him to respond. This is not the Teed/Tidd match he is looking for, but still a great match.

The second situation is a little different. This time I was working with a dear friend who I was helping to organize her very well researched family history. As I did I turned to familysearch.org and looked at people who had contributed or made changes to a person under latest changes and clicked on view all. For my own name there is myself who contributed my name and then many from familysearch. The ones from familysearch are from my church membership records and are usually computer generated. Look for individuals who have contributed often and there is a link to message them.

My friend has a contributor that seems to know a lot about a line that she was working on. She sent a message to him over a year ago and waited, and waited.... We even contacted the local genealogy society, but still have not had a reply. That may be because of the current lock down situation. Then after over a year he messaged her back. He is as excited to learn about her as she is about him. He is a genealogy researcher who knows a lot about her extended family. A line she has wanted information on for a very long time. He plans to visit the local society.

The lessons learned here is to look for close matches from DNA testing results or show all under latest changes through familysearch where you may find names of fellow contributors. Then look back for responses over time in your messages or provide your personal email as some may be more willing to share privately.

Here's to hoping that one of your presents this year will include finding others who you share ancestors with. Send those messages and patiently await a reply. Even if they think they do not match you it is quite likely they do. Do your genealogy and be prepared to answer questions!