Notating AncestryDNA Matches

Sunday morning is suppossed to be the day when I work on my DNA matches. 

Today it was my AncestryDNA matches who had the workout.  I began by filtering my match list by unviewed recent matches.

Today's matches were all in the predicted 4th-6th cousin range, with the highest cM totals being 27cM.

I went through each match by first opening up the match by clicking on the name.  Many had no public family trees or had trees that were not very complete.  I then selected the Shared Matches tab to see who we both shared DNA with.

Remember, AncestryDNA will only show you a match who shares 20cM of DNA with both you and the match.

Once I opened the shared matches between us, I scrolled down the match list to see what notes I may have already entered for the shared matches.  

If I notice a pattern of shared matches notes which might indicate descent from a particular line, I consider that a clue and add a note to the current match for further reference.  For example, if the shared matches indicate descent from the Crockett-Hedge lines, I would put a note in this new matches profile that indicates they have ICW (In Common With) matches on the Crockett-Hedge lines.

Until I do further research on this line, there's no guarantee that this match descends from my ancestral Crockett-Hedge line, but at least I have a clue where to start.

When AncestryDNA predicts a Common Ancestor between us, I indicate that by notating that we have a Predicted MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) and indicate the ancestral couple.  Later, I can work the match filters by Common Ancestors and verify the path of descent.  When I verify the descent, I indicate the Relationship (ie. 2C1R for 2nd Cousin Once Removed) and add each generation in the notes down to the match.

On those occassion where AncestryDNA is telling me that the match and I descend from a couple in my ThruLines that has not been verified yet, I simply note that match as "Hold for further review".  There are a few ThruLines predicted for me that are very speculative.

Today, I had a couple of matches that appeared with shared matches that I had no notes indicating any identified relationships.  Those I simply marked as "Hold for further review".

I've used this method to weed through the matches in a fairly quick fashion.

An Interesting Cluster of DNA Matches

For years, I've wanted to solve the mystery of who my great-grandmother June's father was - ever since my grandmother first told me the story of how her mother was an orphaned child.  This blog even has a section dedicated to the mystery of Ida Davis and her children's parentage. 

As the above graphic indicates, June's mother was Ida Davis (1874-1900).  By the time Ida passed at age 26, she had two daughters : Pansy and June.  June was my great-grandmother.  Both of these girls were raised by their grandmother, Mary Ellen (Swafford) Davis Gilliland (1854-193) and her 2nd husband, Robert F. Gilliland.  Both girls used the Gilliland surname.

While I continue to search for paper records to document clues as to June's father, when autosomal DNA testing came on the scene I had renewed hope that a nearly 120 year-old mystery might be able to be solved.  I've tested myself and my mother at all the major DNA databases, hoping to utilize the tools to find a connection.

Utilizing the Shared Matching tools at AncestryDNA, I was able to sort my mother's matches with her male cousin "L" on her mother's side.   Because mom and "L" share grandparents, all of their shared matches have to be on either through the genetic upline of either Clemon Lambertson or June Gilliland.  Because I have a rather robust tree, I was able to look at their shared matches and identify several right away and group them into clusters.

The shared matches that I couldn't identify became the ones that I looked more closely at.  One match in particular (M.W.) shared by my mom and Cousin L shares 168cm across 8 segments with mom.  AncestryDNA predicts her in the 3rd-4th cousin range.  Looking at the matches shared with mom and M.W. were many names that were unidentifable.

I began working on building out Quick & Dirty Trees for each of these matches, hoping to find commonality.  Many of these matches only had one or two names in their tree, others were a bit more detailed.  I have scoured them looking for clues in common places and names, hoping to tie them together.  Eventually I was able to tie a couple of them together with common ancestry.

In addition, mom has tested at 23andMe and I was able to find a couple of matches there who also tie into the family tree of the matches at Ancestry.  These matches are distant cousins to each other, but did not know of their connections.

At AncestryDNA, matches M.W., K.H., P.B, and A.S. appear to tie into common ancestry through James Wesley Harris (1862-1926) and Laura Alice Livingston (1860-1942) of Monroe County, Indiana.  Additionally, at 23andMe, matches T.F., K.S. & K.A. also have common ancestry to this couple.

Additional matches at Ancestry further up the line from Harris-Livingston connection include the Vint and Stine families, all of whom have Monroe County, Indiana connections - right in the hotbed of where June's family was living.  I have identified additional matches of mom from these lines on both the Stine and the Vint families.  In the Q&D tree of James Wesley Harris, his mother, Martha Ellen Vint (1840-1918) was the daughter of Wiliam Henry Vint & Sarah Stine.

Recently I was able to have additional cousins test who descend from Clemon and June at AncestryDNA.  They also share common DNA with this cluster of matches.  Cousin A and Cousin B are both my 2nd cousins.

If my Q&D trees are correct, M.W. and K.H. are sisters and P.B. is their 1st cousin. A.S. is the nephew of P.B.  From 23andMe, T.F. is a 2nd cousin to M.W., K.H. & P.B.  K.S. is the son of T.F, and K.A. would be 1st cousin twice removed.

I have worked this tree out using the WATO tool at DNA Painter, trying to figure out a hypothesis.  I need more data, and will be reaching out to other descendants, including those who descend from June's sister, Pansy, to see if we can make the connections work.

While I don't have access to mom's Cousin L's matches to these individuals, I am encouraged by the amount of DNA shared and continue to work the Q&D Tree for more clues to tie in additional matches.  Eventually I will solve the mystery of June's ancestry.

Sifting Through the DNA Matches

I continue to sift through mom's AncestryDNA matches, making identifications and grouping them into family groups using the shared matches feature.  I've been pleasantly surprised at how accurate and helpful this feature has been.

For each match that I can identify how they are connected with mom, I am looking at the shared matches and marking each of the shared matches with a note of my hypothesis of how they are connected.

For example, mom's maternal first cousin has tested at AncestryDNA, and their MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) couple would be Lambertson-Gilliland.  I am then theorizing that any of these shared matches between mom and her first cousin would also share ancestry somewhere along the upline of this couple.  In essence, this should give me places to expect to find the connection.

By taking a look at each of these 'shared matches' and seeing if they have a tree where I can make a connection, I can bolster my theory.  For those who do not have a complete tree, I can create a 'Quick & Dirty' tree at Ancestry to see if I can get the automated system to generate a tree back far enough to make a connection.

Depending on how far back the identified match goes, I could move shared matches 'up-the-line' as far the hypothesis goes for which branch they should be on. 

I have currently worked my way through all of my mom's DNA matches down to the 20 cM level.  I'm using that as my cut off for now.

Categorizing Mother's AncestryDNA Matches

After the Indiana Genealogical Society's annual conference, where I heard some powerful lectures from Blaine Bettinger, I've been spending more time at AncestryDNA looking over my DNA matches.  In particular, I've been focusing on my maternal side matches, as that is where I hope the 120-year old mystery of June Gilliland's father might be solved.

Using some of the tools at AncestryDNA, I've been marking the matches that I can identify in a couple of ways. 

If I know the relationship, I am using the Note feature to add a note to the match that spells out the exact relationship.  This has come in handy when I've had to try to remember exactly how a match ties into a family.

These notes are edited when I click into the matches, but will also display the first couple of lines when I am at the main screen looking at all of mom's matches.

Another feature I've been using is the ability to color-code groups of matches.  Ancestry gives you a color palete and allows you to create groups of matches that you can use in any way you would like.  I've chosen to create groups based on ancestral couples, so I can tell in an instant what branches of ancestors the match shares with mom.

I use these groups to indicate the MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) of the match.  For example, if the match shares, Charles Lambertson and Pearl Beals, then I group them in the Lambertson-Beals group, even though they might also fall into the more recent Lambertson-Gilliland group.

Using these features, I've been able to identify and catergorize several matches without having to reach out to them and ask them how we might be related - I'm able to figure out our common connections and can decide who to reach out to for more information at a later date.

Meeting Cousin Judy

Back in April, I had the opportunity to hear Blaine Bettinger speak at the Indiana Genealogical Society annual conference in Fort Wayne.  The talks on DNA and utilizing AncestryDNA to the fullest has inspired me to take an additional look at the matches on my mom's side in an attempt to solve the mystery of my maternal great-great grandfather.  

While at the conference, I was able to connect with my cousin and fellow researcher, Judy Hill.  Judy and I have been corresponding since around 1983 about the family history, and it was nice to finally meet in person.  She and I share a common ancestor in Mary Ellen Swafford (1854-1932).  Judy is my 2nd cousin twice removed, her grandmother was the half-sister to my great-grandmother.  Judy has done genealogy and DNA research for several years, recently helping as a search angel for solving DNA mysteries.  Hopefully, we can work together and she can give me some pointers on solving my mystery ancestor.

Cousin Judy Hill and me, IGS Conference, 2019

Excuse the sunburn in the photo, I had just returned the night before from a week in Florida.  Made the mistake of getting too much sun the first day at the beach. Somehow this year has seemed to just fly by, it's hard to believe it's Memorial Day weekend already. 

At the conference, I learned some valuable tips for researching my DNA matches - and a door prize - 6 months of Ancestry World subscription.  I never win door prizes, maybe this was a good sign.

Reaching out to close matches

Reached out this weekend to all of my close matches at AncestryDNA and encouraged them to share or link their results to a family tree.  So many people have tested there and haven't bothered to even enter rudimentary information about their family tree.  A couple of my matches had a family tree, but didn't link their trees to their DNA results.

I encouraged each one of those matches to upload their results to GEDMatch so we could compare chromosomes.

In addition, I reached out to matches that I shared in common with my cousin Jeffrey - so I know those matches should either match me on the upline from the LeMaster/Wehrly line.

So far, the only response I've received one response.  Danny, a man who is predicted to be a 4th-6th cousin, who doesn't know his father.  He has uploaded to GEDMatch, so I will try to help see where we have a match.

Baby Steps : LeMaster and Wehrly DNA

Made contact with Jeffrey, an AncestryDNA match who was predicted to be a 3rd cousin to see if we could compare information and chart our common DNA.  Jeff and I are actually 2nd cousins once removed - our common ancestors were Luman Cooper LeMasters and Barbara Isabel Wehrly.

According to AncestryDNA, we shared 189 cM over 10 DNA segments.  Unfortunately, AncestryDNA doesn't give you a chromosome browser to show you exactly which chromosomes we match on.  It's knowing where we match that can help segregate which DNA comes from the LeMaster side.  

I was able to have Jeffrey to upload his AncestryDNA results to the 3rd party site GEDMatch.  Here are the results of the comparison of our DNA:

GEDMatch shows us matching on 8 segments and 192.4 cM.  The differences between AncestryDNA and GEDMatch are due to the cutoff minimum in GEDMatch to be counted as a matching segment.

As you can see, Jeffrey and I match on chromosomes 4,5,6,8,15,18 & 21.  We have a break in chromosome 6 with two long stretches of shared DNA.  

Next, I compared Jeffrey's results with that of my first cousin Debbie to see where they matched each other.

They only match on 4 segments for 62.5 cM.  The matching chromosomes are on 2,8,15 & 16.

I also compared Jeffrey to my dad, to see what DNA they share together.

Jeffrey and my dad share 11 matching segments and 344.5 cM of DNA, much more than he shares with Debbie or myself.  The chromosomes they match on are 3,4,5,6,7,8,10,15,18 & 21 - including two sections on chromosome 6, just like he shared with me.

The common ancestry of all of us testing above are the LeMaster and Wehrly lines, so the DNA we share has to come from these branches or upline from them.  Right now chromosome 6 seems to be behaving very interestingly.

I'm beginning to collect data on matches that I share from the three testing sites to chart out an mark which DNA is coming from which side of the family. This will come in handy for helping those distant matches that triangulate with us in finding the common ancestors.

DNA: More Testing in a Different Pond

Activated three AncestryDNA kits this weekend - one for my wife and one for each of my parents.  This will be the second test for them, as they have already tested at 23andMe. Hoping that by fishing for relatives in another pond, we will discover more clues and relatives.

I was able to show mom & dad this weekend the different number of matches that I had received through AncestryDNA, including many on my paternal side.  I've already reached out to some 2nd and 3rd cousins and have encouraged them to upload their results to GEDMatch so we can compare on a chromosome browser.

I've not done much recently with my DNA results, but hope to get back into it now that my new job situation has settled down a bit.

DNA : First Cousin Match at AncestryDNA

I haven't written about my AncestryDNA matches, other than a quick post about my ethnicity results.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had a predicted first cousin match, as I knew of no one who was interested in DNA research.

Right away, I recognized which cousin this was because of who the administrator was.  This match is my paternal first cousin on the LeMaster side.

Unfortunately, AncestryDNA doesn't offer a chromosome browser to show me exactly where we match and use that to compare against other matches.

My cousin's husband and I have been corresponding, they did they DNA test for the ethnicity results, and have a tree at the site.  My cousin's results were updated to GEDMATCH, and below are the results.

GEDMatch predicts the estimated number of generations to a MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) to be 2 generations - which is correct, we share common grandparents.

We share DNA on 24 matching segments as detailed in the chart.  I will use this data to begin mapping other matches against me and my cousin.  I can check my other known paternal line matches and see where we all match and segment out the various lines to determine if the additional matches are through the LeMaster side or the Haley side.

Now I have DNA results from my paternal side at AncestryDNA and my maternal side at FamilyTreeDNA and both are uploaded to GEDMatch.

Eileen's DNA : GEDMATCH match with Slovenian or Austrian roots?

A match at GEDMATCH for Eileen reached out to see if we could establish a connection and asked if she had any ancestry from Slovenia or Austria.  Do not know of any, but the match was predicted to be about 5 generations back.

Wrote back to the match and shared the link to the pedigree chart I've prepared.  The match did not match Eileen's mother, so the match is on her father's side.

Will be interested to see what comes back from this.  The match is at AncestryDNA, which Eileen hasn't submitted a test kit yet.

Impatience with AncestryDNA

Perhaps I was a little too impatient with AncestryDNA, but after I received my results, I noticed that the search feature was not working on the search by surnames.  Received the following response from Ancestry :

Hello Travis,

Thank you for contacting Ancestry in regard to your AncestryDNA test results using surnames and locations.

 Please allow up to two weeks for surname searches and hints to be displayed properly for a DNA test after the results are completed. It had only been 6 days that the test was completed and posted to the account. It can take up to two weeks because the AncestryDNA test and the tree need to be compared to our very large database which takes sometime to complete.

Good to know that it was just me being impatient and not something broken over there.  I guess I was too eager to search my matches by surname.

Adding updates to LeMaster & Allied Families tree

Because of my recent AncestryDNA test, I've been adding to my family tree at Ancestry, LeMaster & Allied Families, in hopes of seeing exactly where more of my matches connect.  I have always kept this tree as a "bare-bones" tree, leaving my full tree online at myrootsmagic.com/tjlgenes .

However, knowing that many of the matches would be connecting through my 5-great grandparents and earlier, I've been working on updating those lines by working forward from my 5-great grandparents, including everything I have on the descendants in each generation.  I am utilizing the Vertical Pedigree charts that I have stored at on Dropbox as a guide.

Another side benefit of doing this work is that I can let the Ancestry algorithms do their thing and suggest hints for additional records at the site, which will in turn expand my tree.  Keeping my original work on my Rootsmagic database, I should be able to add many more cousins over the next few weeks and keep myself more than busy with blog post fodder.

In one sense, I'm doing extra work by re-typing the family tree into the Ancestry, but I've also caught a few errors and questionable dates this way.

AncestryDNA Results Came In : Ethnicity Estimates

My AncestryDNA results came in last week, and above are the graphics for the ethnicity estimates.  Although I know that these should be taken with a grain of salt, and are only as good as the database they are comparing me to, I find it interested to compare the differences from my results at 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA.

AncestryDNA picked up traces of Native American and West Asian, for example, that 23andMe didn't show.   I've had my results run at GEDMATCH in the various ethnicity calculators and have found similar results.  So way back in time there is a bit of a mystery to solve.

These regions are hard to pinpoint and are very vague such as Europe West or Scandinavia - but again based on the paper trail I'm not too surprised by the results.  

The trace regions in West Asia - the Caucasus region of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, etc. is interesting.  But then again, I have quite a bit of ancestry that remains unknown due to my mystery maternal 2nd great-grandfather.

I've posted on these various topics before under my DNA Genealogy tab.