Find Ancestors

I changed all my unknowns to unknown surname or similar, so they dont come up in hot matches any more.

I also put an x in front of all my common names, so I could progress. This has helped as I dont get all the Halls!!

This may help you, but please dont put x's in front!

Also dont give up hope, I got a reply after 2 years last month, I wondered what they were on about!!

edit ......Just seen how old this message was I answered!!

I got loads of Mary Jones' mine is quite clearly stated as being born Shropshire so why do they insist on giving me the ones born Wales. I wouldn't mind so much if there was only one or two but do you know how many Mary Jones' were born in Wales!!!

I only have 2. Fi x

hi everyone, i havent had any hot matches since 11 of last month, then when i do get them they are just of one name, one name isnt any good to me, karen

Hot Matches .......more like hot .......PANTS .......lJust how many William Browns are there .....that i can be matched to ..... all over the country ??? i just wanted Leicester !!!

Hi all Can I add my two penneth I have contacted hot matches only to find I had previously contacted that person. They get upset because they have had previous contact. But in hot matches GR forget to show your previous contacts and only give you the tree owners first name ie Ann or George or Bill. Replying to married ladies causes confusion as well because you write to the maiden name and get a reply from the married name. It is mind boggling at times but a great site in so many other respects. I also received one today from a cousin thinking he had found someone new with lots of his relatives in their tree. I bet he is quite disappointed to find he already has access to my information. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest Keith

there are a lot of William Andersons out there this month!!! What happened to all the SMITH? At least 1000 of them join every day so why are none of them hot matches? gloria

I'll just see if I can dig out GR's answer to my query about when they are going to get the Hot Matches working properly... Thanks for your email. Hot matches looks at each individual in your tree, then it goes through the database and brings back to first 100 matches with these people. This page will refresh every 14 days bringing you the next 100 matches. . As you have a large tree then it is more than likely that the first 100 matches will only equal the first letter of the alphabet. We set the limit to 100 matches as any more can be quite overwhelming. I hope this helps. Regards Erica So as far as they are concerned, it doesn't need fixing!!! I don't think mine will ever get past all the William Browns. I have considered changing a few people's names in my tree or deleting them for a while or even setting up a tree on a different account leaving out the Browns, just to get genuine hot matches, but it seems a bit drastic! Kate.

Just had another batch of 'hot matches' all 4 pages for either the surname Bennett or Bailey. I do have these in my tree as offshoot branches along with 200 other surnames, when will Genes get around to them. Is anyone else still getting the same problem?

well one of my hot matches replied THIS IS NOT MY RELATIVE I hate that and think it is so rude, If its not their relative how come its in their tree?? Gloria

I've had the same thing happen as Lunar with my grandmother (b 1920's), but I found that the hotmatches exactly matched the forenames, surname and year of birth but the locations were so different it was unbeleivable. for example Cardiff, Wales keeps being matched with London, England or Wellington, New Zealand.

I have hot matches with names with many initial letters, both ends of alphabet but can't really see the point of matching my names from Wales and Herefordshire-born people with those born in Australia and other far off places. If you have surnames such as DAVIES, JONES and WOOD you are very likely to find a namesake somewhere. That's not what I call a match.

I had 3 pages of hotmatches to my grandfather that weren't my grandfather. All had his name and year of birth but born in a diferent country. Grandfather was born in Wales and all the hotmatches were from England. ended up screaming every time I saw the name coming up again. aaahh!

The Hot Matches seem to pay more attention to year of birth than area of birth; so if your relatives have one of your ancestors on GR with a birth year just a year out from you, they may not turn up as a Hot Match - just my thoughts. I have given my information to relatives only to see them interpret it differently (usually incorrectly)! So our mutual ancestors might not even be classed as Hot Matches - get my drift? Cheers, Lynn

I still haven't had mind =(

I have only got matches for surnames beginning with A and B, frustrating when the surnames I'm trying to trace most begin with G, N and P. It's a great idea if only it would work properly. Cathy

Hi I know someone who has my 3xgt/grand father in their tree, I am hoping for a reply and praying that they still use the site and have not change their email address. Doreen.

I have had 2 hot matches that I have contacted.just hope they reply. But GR have missed a few of my hot matches for a certain surname but luckily I have been contacted a while ago by someone in Canada but GR still have missed this surname. Sue

Ness, perhaps we are hotmatched then!

Jill Your not on you own i have Carter and Edwards both with no years or places.