u/Ancestry

It’s that time of year again! The 2026 AncestryDNA Origins Update is dropping on October 8th, so I am hosting an AMA on October 12th. I will be joining you live to explain the science, help our users discover what it means for them, and answer any questions about the update and Ancestry in general.

Just a heads up: if your results change, that’s a good thing! That’s our algorithms, science, and technology doing their job and making sure your results get more and more precise over time. We want to hone in as close as we can to where your family story began. This latest update is our biggest ever. We will be doubling our number of ancestral regions from 146 to 302 and will be implementing a new algorithm to help provide more detailed regions for your AncestryDNA results. That means we now have over 4,800 places around the world we can connect you to through your DNA.

You can ask me anything. Whether it’s about the science behind the updates, how regions are named, why your results might look different from a sibling’s, or even the broader role genetics plays in understanding family history. If you’re curious, skeptical, or just excited to dive into the details, I’m here for it all. Make sure to check back on October 8th to see your updated results.   

Drop a comment below to let me know if you’re interested in joining and chatting all things AncestryDNA!

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Hi Reddit, I’m Simon Pearce, Military Genealogist at Ancestry.

With Pressure bringing the crucial 72 hours leading up to D-Day to the big screen, it’s a powerful reminder of the individual stories behind some of history’s biggest moments, and raises the question of what we might still discover about the people in our own families who lived through WWII.

Maybe you only know your relative’s name. Perhaps you have an old photograph or medal. Or maybe you’ve started researching but can’t find their service record or don’t know what the records you’ve found actually mean.

That’s where I can help.

Ask me anything about getting started with WWII family-history research, finding and understanding military service records, identifying a regiment or service number, or working out what to do when a record isn’t available.

I’ll be here live on 8 September from 15:00 - 16:30 BST to answer your questions. Please do start submitting them below now.

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I’m a professional genealogist with more than three decades of experience in the field and have been a Corporate Genealogist at Ancestry since 2004. It’s my job to help navigate the quirks of historical record-keeping so our community can confidently climb their family trees. 

I’m here today to teach you all about U.S. census records, one of the most important record collections you have to help learn more about your family history, but also one of the most misunderstood. If you've ever looked at an old census sheet and felt completely baffled by the messy cursive, the random tick marks, or the fact that your great-grandfather’s age mysteriously changed by ten years between two decades, you are definitely not alone. I want to show you how to look past the modern expectation of perfect data so you can see these old handwritten pages for what they really are: an incredible, decade-by-decade snapshot of your ancestors' actual lives.

You can ask me any questions you like! Whether you are struggling to decipher an old occupation, trying to track down a family before the 1850 census when only the head of household was named, or just trying to figure out how to break through a tough genealogical brick wall, I’d love to hear from you.

See you in the thread!