Saturday, March 08, 2014

DNA Relatives : Closest Matches


23andMe's DNA Relatives finder has identified 3 individuals as being between 3rd and 4th cousins.  I've reached out and sent introductions to all of them, so far I'm sharing genomes with two of them.

The first relative, Ed, shares the most DNA with me 1.02% and we connect on two segments.  The locations of his ancestry (Fort Wayne, IN and Jay County, IN) led me to believe I would find a connection to my paternal lines.

Comparison Chromosome Start point  End point Genetic Distance # SNPs
Ed vs Travis LeMaster 1 3000000 42000000 63.8 7637
Ed vs Travis LeMaster 5 1000000 5000000 11.9 1244

The second relative, Bill, shares DNA with me of .70% but we connect on five segments.  Again, the locations listed for his ancestry (Geneva, IN and Ft. Recovery, OH) led me to believe the connection would be on the paternal side.

Comparison Chromosome Start point End point Genetic Distance # SNPs
Bill vs Travis LeMaster 1 201000000 215000000 20.4 3098
Bill vs Travis LeMaster 3 174000000 180000000 7.9 1216
Bill vs Travis LeMaster 13 74000000 85000000 9.1 2047
Bill vs Travis LeMaster 14 43000000 51000000 6 1414
Bill vs Travis LeMaster 19 55000000 59000000 9 844


The third relative has not responded to my request to share genomes, yet.  We share DNA of .58% on four segments.

By comparing Ed's family tree he provided, I quickly discovered a paternal line connection through the Moulton and Finel families. Selah Moulton (b. 1790 Rutland Co., VT d. 1848 Licking Co., OH) and Lydia Finel (b.1796 Rutland Co., VT d. 1869 Licking Co., OH) were my paternal fourth great-grandparents.  Ed and I are fourth cousins once removed.

Looking at Bill's surnames, I recognized a common surname and discovered that we have a paternal line connection through the LeMasters and Chew families.  Luman Walker LeMasters (b. 1842 Shelby Co., OH d. 1931 Jay Co., IN) and Mary Keziah Chew (b. 1847 Burlington Co., NJ d. 1927 Jay Co., IN) were my paternal second great-grandparents.  Bill and I are third cousins. 

This is exciting - I've found a couple of fairly close cousins and have reached out to several more.  In fact, my inbox has been flooded with responses to my invites to share genomes.  Now I have to go through them and see if we can start finding the connections.

This DNA testing has re-energized me and inspired me to dig deeper, share more online with my family trees (Ancestry, WorldConnect, etc) and get more family members tested.

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