[Genealogy] DNA Test Results, Shoes, and Beer, Sifting, Research Trips and More

Michael John Neill mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Sun Jun 21 10:20:49 CDT 2026 

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21 June 2026


** DNA Test Results, Shoes, and Beer
** Join Us in Salt Lake--still room
** Midwest Genealogy Center Trip
** Sifting the Murphys from the Neills
** Getting Updates
** Brick Wall Busters

-------------------------
DNA Test Results, Shoes, and Beer
-------------------------

It’s advertising. Plain and simple.

   - The ethnicity estimates are a way for *AncestryDNA* to market their
   tests.  It’s marketing. It’s also how shoes and beer are sold. If you think
   it is a stretch to make beer “sexy,” try doing that for ethnicity results.
   - The ethnicity estimates are not for your “immediate” ancestors, but
   for dozens of generations (at the very least) before the present day. They
   don’t tell you where great-grandpa emigrated from no matter what the
   advertising says. Those shoes don’t really make you sexy either.
   - You may locate new first cousins, half-siblings, or uncles/aunts that
   were the result of a “short-term” relationship.  So maybe that marketing
   for the beer and shoes did actually work at some point in time.

Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes the ethnicity estimates are accurate (they do
have some limited uses) and sometimes “new” relatives are welcomed with
open arms. But sometimes they are not.

Remember that all the “DNA ads” are to get people to make a purchase–just
like ads for anything else.

The upside of the ads is that more people test–and that may help you solve
genealogical problems even if those testers don’t have trees and don’t
respond to your inquiries. Non-responsive test takers with no trees
frustrate me as well, but at least they are another test to sort through.



-------------------------
Still Room in our Salt Lake Trip
-------------------------
We still have spaces in our trip to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake
City this August. Details on our site.
<https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/2022-family-history-library-salt-lake-city-trip/>


5-8 October 2026
4 days of genealogy research

in Independence, Missouri
*save your spot today!*

We are excited to announce an October trip to the Midwest Genealogy Center
in Independence, Missouri.

We will have time for genealogy lectures, consultation, and research. Our
approach is laid-back, conversational, and geared to help you with your
research.

Details are at:

https://genealogytipoftheday.com/index.php/mid-continent-genealogy-library-october-2025-research-trip/

Spaces are limited.
--------------------------
Sifting the Murphys from the Neills
--------------------------

I’ve written about the Neills and Murphys before, but we will revisit them
in the context of my DNA results and analysis. Very early in my research, I
knew that my Irish immigrant Samuel Neill had one brother, Joseph. Born in
the 1830s, the men settled in St. Albans Township, Hancock County,
Illinois. Joseph and his wife had several children, but had no
grandchildren. Samuel and his wife, Annie Murphy, left a number of
descendants. Tracing Samuel and Annie’s Irish origins was one of the
reasons I had a DNA test performed.

Several known descendants of Samuel and Annie tested on AncestryDNA. That
was helpful in analyzing my results. That analysis is complicated because
three of Samuel and Annie’s children (including their son who is my direct
ancestor) married grandchildren of the same couple, James and Elizabeth
(Chaney) Rampley. This couple died in Walker Township (adjacent to St.
Albans where the Neills lived) in the 1880s. The Rampley connection is
close enough that it impacts the shared matches I share with many Neill
descendants. Fortunately a handful of the other descendants of the Neills
who have tested are not Rampley descendants.

Consequently, I’m focusing on analyzing shared DNA matches I have with
those known descendants of Samuel and Annie Neill who are not Rampley
descendants. Some of these shared matches have trees–most do not. Most of
the trees are extremely short. One tree was detailed enough that it allowed
me to document (combined with digital records and DNA results) an
additional sibling for Samuel and Joseph: Alexander. He stayed in Ireland
(remaining in the NewtownLimavady are) and died in Ireland, but had
descendants who immigrated to the United States around the turn of the
twentieth century.

When I discovered Alexander (who also died in the early 20th century), I
worked on documenting as many of his descendants as I could. I even stopped
looking at my DNA results while I did this. Locating Alexander’s
descendants as completely as possible would help me to analyze those “Neill
matches” who had short trees and were not communicative. I suspected that
some of them were descendants of Alexander, based upon the large number of
grandchildren he had. It took time, but when I returned to the shared
matches after working on Alexander’s descendants, I was able to put some of
those “short-treed” matches in the “descendant of Alexander Neill” category.

Samuel is my great-great-grandfather. That helps me to measure the
potential relationship with shared DNA matches.

As I was able to put matches in the “known descendant of Alexander Neill”
category, I was able to look at the matches I shared with those individuals
and see if they were on my list of shared matches with known descendants of
Samuel and Annie (Murphy) Neill.  I could then focus on shared matches with
Samuel and Annie who were not matches with “known descendants of Samuel’s
brother Alexander.”

Those individuals–particularly the ones whose shared DNA suggested our
connection was probably more distant than shared second
great-grandparents–are potentially connected to me through Annie Murphy.
There’s no guarantee that these DNA matches to Samuel/Annie Neill’s
descendants who are *not *matches to his brother’s descendants are Annie’s
biological matches and not Neill descendants.

   - it could be that they simply didn’t get the same DNA “chunk” that
   Alexander’s other descendants got
   - it could be that the segment of Annie DNA I have is so small that it’s
   not significant

But those people are a start.

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------------------------------------------------------------------
Brick Wall Busters 2026 is here!!
--------------------------------------------

*Brick Wall Busters 2026*

*Need to jump-start your research?*

This hour-long presentation is geared towards advanced beginning or
intermediate genealogists. Our focus will be on problems in the United
States between roughly 1700 and 1900. Brick wall ideas will be pulled from
consultations with clients and personal research experience. Approaches
will be practical and down-to-earth.

Handout included. Presentation made by Michael John Neill.

Michael has forty years of research experience in families throughout the
United States. Presentation is based on his personal experience and
consultations he has made to clients on research trips and via virtual
consultations.


Presentation and handout available now for immediate download--for $26.
<https://michael-john-neill.dpdcart.com/cart/add?product_id=249781&method_id=272792>
Download
link sent immediately
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------------------------------------
Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17, Henderson, IL 61439
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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