Thanks for your detailed response.
Since I am getting those tools that 23and me offers at FTDNA and GEDmatch, I just don't know if
another site would help me all that much in that regard. I did get my basic MTDNA done at FTDNA
and my brother tested for YDNA there.
What made me think about it is that if I am going to get anywhere , I'm going to have to jump
over to Europe into non English records. I'm going to have to connect with Europeans.
On a message board for my area I've noticed a few Europeans with my same history
have tested with 23and Me.
My Grandparents were immigrants . And many of the records I need were destroyed in WWI
So connecting with other people who know something is going to be essential.
And most Americans don't know anymore than I do and many know less and have less knowledge
in how to work our area.
On several of my matches on Ancestry, I've been able to provide them with names for another generation. That is those that did respond to my e-mail.
It seems to me the least knowledgeable people are on ancestry. Gedmatch and FTDNA people
seem to be more heavy duty researchers.
I've had the best response from GEDmatch. Everyone that I've contacted there has responded.
The problem is that most of my matches start at 4th generation and I haven't gotten back that far
except for one line
Speaking of private trees.
I had my tree open and in a little temper tantrum I closed it. Childish I know :):)
I seem to have more than my share of private trees in my matches and when I've contacted them
most have not responded. But then when I go to my hints, I see that they were more than happy to
take my information which took me 5 years of European research and a few hundred dollars to get.
So I thought perhaps I'd set up a barter system by making it private.
Are there any people out there who have all four, ancestry/FTDNA/ GEDmatch /23andme .
And do they feel that they have gotten something from 23and me that they weren't getting
from the other 3. I'm finding that there is an overlap of matches on GEDmatch and 23and Me.