Blog 2022 03 20 2022 Are we related?

There are several mobile phone apps and websites which tell you if others who are logged in or have created accounts are related to you and just how they are related.  Have you seen them?

Here is the problem with them.

It is a guess.  In the military, we had an acronym or two that related to this situation.  It was WAG or SWAG.  The S, indicated subjective or scientific, but the rest meant Wild A?? Guess.  The websites and apps may be subjective, but they are still a guess.  In all the years that the most popular one has been out, I have found only 1 who I can truly say I am definitely related to.

Why?  Because I have validated all the generations which appeared on my side of the tree and she had proven all of her ancestral lines to the same point I had.  Since I do not have a complete tree then it is taking information from my tree, merging with the preponderance of other trees or their one-world type tree, and coming up with answers.

However, who to say it is correct?  How far back have you personally taken each line?  Remember, for the typical family, we have 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 2nd great, and so forth.  So by the 5th generation, we are up to 64 lines.  Have you personally proved those 64 lines to that point?

Many of the “relatives” showing up are in the 9-12th cousin range.  That means you have personally traced and confirmed up to 16,384 lines.  I would ask, “really?”  Maybe if it is a direct paternal or maternal line, but all of the others?

My advice.  Treat it as fun and interesting and possibly a new line to trace or finish tracing.  But do not treat the findings there as fact unless you both have confirmed those lines back to the common ancestor shown.