DNA Cousin Email Template

I’ve been working on a new template to use when reaching out to my DNA matches, hoping to inspire some collaboration.  Here’s an example:

 Hello cousin -

AncestryDNA predicts that we are 2nd-3rd cousins, sharing 192cM (centimorgans) across 10 segments.

Because you also match my father, sharing 406cM (centimorgans), I know that our common ancestors must be on my paternal side.  Looking at the shared matches we have at Ancestry, many of them have ancestry in common with my Lemasters-Wehrly family lines.

Due to the absence of a  family tree at Ancestry, I have not found any commonality yet.  Are you aware of any anomalies in the family tree? 

Would like to work together with you to determine exactly where the relationship lies.  Could you provide a screenshot of your top matches at AncestryDNA or provide me access to your results?

I’ve built a family tree online that does not require membership at Ancestry, at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/LeMaster-580 .  This is a collaborative tree, and I would appreciate any corrections or additions you can provide.

If you’d prefer to share information outside of the Ancestry message system, my email is travis.lemaster@gmail.com 

I have also tested at other DNA sites - such as 23&Me, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and LivingDNA.

What are your thoughts?

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.

Working Through the 1880 Census

Moved on to the next phase of my census projects to update my database to the 1880 census.  Completed the 1940 census awhile back and have jumped back in time 60 years to the 1880 census.

I've set my search feature in my RootsMagic database to locate individuals that should be found in the 1880 census.  My criteria is to look for individuals born before 1860 and died after 1880.

As I go through the database and find people who match these criteria, I'm looking for those who do not have an entry for the 1880 census and those who have a spouse.  I'm selecting only those who were married by the time of the 1880 census, hoping I can find household information.

Understanding that these criteria will exclude individuals who do not have a death date, I plan to go back after I get through the alphabet and de-select the death date criteria.

So far, I've managed to get into the "C" in my database, finding and adding many new records and individuals.  My database has grown from just my family and in-laws to include DNA matches as well as one-name study members.  

I'm not concerned that some of these people added might not be blood relatives, as I will be using them as "cousin bait" when I update my family tree on the public sites, such as Ancestry.  Having a more robust family tree (or family bush) with all of the interconnected families will also be helpful in identifying where DNA matches tie into the family.

Why 1880?  Because the 1880 census is the first one that identifies every individual in relationship to the head of household.  Unlike the 1850-1870 census, you don't have to assume that people are married or that all the children are from the same set of parents.  Of course, I've come across a few interesting clues along the way and some mysteries that will need further research.

Of great interest are the clues generated when the enumerator captured the birthplace of the father and mother. These are merely clues, however, and are only as good as the person who gave the information.  I've seen many listed as "unknown" or just left blank.

I'm trying to stick to the schedule I previously set for myself, but i find that adding the census records are addictive.  Currently, I'm using the hints from RootsMagic into the FamilySearch database to add the records.

My Updated LivingDNA Ethnicity Results

Back at Rootstech in 2017, I purchased a LivingDNA test kit and awaited my results.  I was intrigued to see what they might say about the regions of the United Kingdom where some of my DNA would be from. For whatever reason, I have failed to write about the results before.  This week there was an ethnicity update.  The key to remember is that ethnicity estimates are just that, estimates, and they depend on the reference populations.

My original ethnicity estimates showed 96.7% Europe and 3.2% Near East, including some interesting mix of Turkish and Kurdish

The most recent update is a bit more in line with known ancestry, showing 100% European.  My previous 2.9% Scandinavian has been refined to 3.2% from Finland.  My Near East seems to have been collapsed into the South Italy at 11%

On their Facebook page, there are a lot of complaints about the update, something that happens to all companies when they issue an ethnicity update.  My results are more or less in line with what I know about my ancestry and doesn't affect my self-identity.

As for matching at LivingDNA, so far I only have one match - a US cousin who has uploaded her results.   The company has struggled to gain traction and get people to opt-in to matching.  Hopefully, I will eventually have matches from the UK and Europe that might lead to additional genealogical discoveries.  LivingDNA does accept uploads from other DNA testing sites, so I would recommend uploading just to make sure you are "fishing in all ponds" in looking for DNA matches.

Updating Burial Location Information in My RootsMagic Database

It has been awhile since I've updated on how the family history work is going.  While work has kept me busy, I have managed to begin updating and adding to my RootsMagic database by utilizing the WebHints to add burial locations for individuals.  Many have been found where I had a death location, but hadn't added a burial record.

Utilizing sites such as FindAGrave or Billongraves, I've managed to find additional clues for research about families and have added them to my working file for later research.

In RootsMagic, I began this by setting my search criteria to show me individuals with a a Death date that was after 2000 and whose Burial fact was false.  Working through the large database in this manner gave me some of the more recent generations to update.

Of course, not all of the individuals had WebHints that provided details about their burial location.  Some had hints at FindAGrave, but actually weren't buried, but were cremated.  This seems to have become a more popular option in recent years.  In those instances I've added the cremation information, if given.

Once I worked through the database for all deaths after 2000, then I moved back twenty years and began working individuals who had deaths after 1980.  Many of these individuals at FindAGrave had details linked to them regarding siblings and parents.  For those who were direct lines, I added the additional children's information.

By working backwards in this manner, I hope to be able to catch additional information on the recent generations, which in turn will help me better identify some of my DNA matches.

In my database, when a couple marries, I try to add the parents information for the spouses if known.  In so many cases, there are families that are intermarried and later I find out they were distant cousins.  This is particularly true in areas where my lines have stayed in the same geographical location for generations.  Additional children who are listed are entered if the line is one that I am researching as well.

As I work backwards in successive increments, I will catch family members I've missed on the first pass and increase the size of my database.  Mainly I'm been able to work on this early in the morning each day before I head out to work.

One thing to be aware of is that FindAGrave and Billiongraves provide information that is user submitted and often has errors with date transcriptions and birth/death information.  There have been some 'hints' that I've caught that are incorrect guesswork.  Like anything, it has to be examined.

Waiting on the Y-DNA Results

I took advantage of the Father's Day sales at FamilyTreeDNA to order the Y-37 marker test to explore my deep paternal ancestry.

I don't have enough time in the day to work on the autosomal results from the various testing companies, but I have been thinking about having a Y DNA test done for several years.

I'm not expecting any surprises, but I would be interested in seeing if I match with others in the Lemaster study to confirm the line of descent.  I had previously written about my paternal haplogroup here, from my test results at 23andMe.

With my paper-trail genealogy not being able to complete to my satisfaction the descent from Abraham Lemaster of St. Mary's County, Maryland.  The proposed line was described here initially, but given in more detail in this Surname Saturday post.  As always, I'm looking for additional information to tie the branches together.

Perhaps this Y-DNA test will help me determine whether or not my ancestor dropped out of the sky in 1804 Mason County, Virginia.

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.

Tracking and Tracing DNA Matches

During the cold, wintry days between Christmas and New Year's Day, I spent my genealogy time contacting and tracking the DNA matches of my maternal great-aunt using Genome Mate Pro.

This post is by no means a full review of the program - for that would take more experience than I have with it, but so far I'm really impressed with this tool.

The sheer volume of DNA matches in the 4th cousin level, for example, makes a tracking tool such as Genome Mate Pro so valuable.  Being able to track who you've emailed, what family lines they have, where the chromosomes match, etc. make this a wonderful tool.  There is a steep learning curve, and I'd recommend you watch all the You Tube videos and join the Facebook group.

My great-aunt is only tested at FTDNA, and I've know reached out via email to all of her matches greater than 20 cMs.  Now the fun part begins of finding the connections and marking where we match on each chromosome.

Since my maternal side has an unsolved mystery - the identity of my 2nd-great  grandfather, it is hoped that some of my great-aunt's matches will set me on the right path.  So far, there are a number of matches she has that do not match me, so I'm glad I was able to have her test.

Here's to a successful search in 2018!

MyHeritageDNA Matches

While at RootsTech last week, I was reminded that MyHeritageDNA was allowing people who had tested at other sites to upload their raw DNA data into their database for free.  I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to fish in another pond before that offer went away.  Yesterday, I received an email letting me know that the first of my DNA matches were in.


How to take a MyHeritage DNA test from MyHeritage on Vimeo.

MyHeritage was out in force at RootsTech and they have a big following, so I will be interested to see how their database develops as I obtain more matches.  Right now their test kits are on sale at a competitive price as well.

My top three matches were for ones who I already matched with at other sites, but the rest of the matches did not look familiar at all.  So I have a new set of relatives to reach out to.

It does seem as if more of these matches have the family trees than those found at 23andMe or Ancestry.

Reaching out to Ruby's matches at FamilyTreeDNA

Have spent some time this week reaching out to my maternal great-aunt Ruby's DNA matches at FamilyTreeDNA.  It has been awhile since I've worked on this line.  There have been quite a few new matches show up recently, and this week I've made sure that I've reached out to as many as possible.  So far, I'm up to the top 90 matches there.

I've been including links to my tree at Ancestry as well as providing a ten generation box chart that RootsMagic generated for Ruby's ancestors.  I have a GEDCOM attached to Ruby's profile at FamilyTreeDNA so folks can search the tree there as well.

I have had some success in making connections through Ruby's Quaker ancestry which stretches back pretty far into colonial America.

Ruby's maternal grandfather is unknown and has been the main reason that I wanted to DNA test in the first place - hoping that it could provide clues to solving that mystery.

Ruby's results are also uploaded to GEDMatch, and her kit number is T166359.

While watching the Super Bowl I will probably be continuing my slog of working through the matches to send out more emails.

Contacted by the match of a match

Was contacted by April, who is helping work out the ancestry for Danny, the man who reached out to me but didn't know his paternal ancestry.  April's husband is also a DNA match for Danny.

In looking at his GEDMatch number, her husband didn't match me, my dad or my 2nd cousin, so this leads me to believe that we are both related to Danny on different lines.

Danny's connection to me is estimated to be at 4.4 generations to the most recent common ancestor at GEDMatch, we match at chromosome 6.

Hopefully, some of the other matches at chromosome 6 will overlap with Danny and provide some clues as to who the common ancestor might be.

I know that it is possible, as I have read about these cases being solved on various DNA discussion groups.  We just need more to test.

Charting the atDNA matches

I sent out a massive spreadsheet with charts of those who matched myself, my father and cousin Jeffrey hoping to spur further research and collaboration.  I tentatively called the spreadsheet "LeMaster atDNA", even though many of these matches will turn out to be cousins that share other uplines.  At the least, since the common ancestry of dad, Jeffrey and myself is Luman Cooper LeMasters and Barbara Isabel Wehrly we know that these matches are cousins somewhere in the upline.

My sheets had a page where all of the matches were listed, then a table showing how I had compared each match to each other and how many segments and centimorgans were shared.  Still another chart had the total amounts of shared DNA mapped out with the chromosome and the start and end point.  Each chromosome had its own separate sheet of data where I graphed out the overlapping segments.

At first glance, chromosomes 7 and 15 seem to have a lot of overlap amongst the group of people I've been able to compare.  I'm so thankful for sites like GEDMatch - i just wish more people would upload their results.

Only one email address from GEDMatch was a bounce, and I've already had a reply from someone who is helping, Danny, the gentleman who reached out to me earlier.  Danny's paternal ancestry is a unknown to him at this point, and that is where we match, so this will be an interesting journey.

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.

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.

FTDNA Cousin Results

My two maternal first cousins recently tested at FamilyTreeDNA, and the above chart show the amount of DNA they share with me.

Cousin Kellie shares more DNA with me than her brother.  At 1204.82 cm, she is actually a little above the normal expected range for a first cousin.  Cousin James shares 1046.75 cm with me.

By comparison, great aunt Ruby shares 998.10 cm of shared DNA with me.

I am currently working on extracting the In Common With matches that Kellie and James have with me.  Any of these matches should match on either the Wright or the Lambertson side.

Likewise, by comparing their matches with myself and Ruby's matches, we can also narrow down those that match on the Lambertson or Davis side.  I'm hoping that their DNA is one more step towards solving the parentage of June Davis Gilliland Lambertson.

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.

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.