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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: IgorStrav on Wednesday 03 July 19 21:17 BST (UK)
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Hi all
As I plough through my Ancestry (and 23andme) DNA matches, sorting them, plugging in the scale of match to the DNA painter, and filling in my tree with remote cousins, I just wondered what was the largest size match you couldn't find the link for.
On 23andme, I have a match of 100cM (which for me is right at the top of my list - third largest match behind two of 100cM plus and I know where they fit).
I've been in touch with this person's son, and got his parents' names and built a tree to follow his family through right to the early years of the 19th century with (I believe) some degree of accuracy, and sources.
I've made a list of the potential degrees of relationship I might have with him, and done an Excel table to try and pin down which relatives we are likely to share, and looked at each of them individually.
However, as yet I cannot see a link at all. It's infuriating as it might shed light on my otherwise really difficult East London maternal tree - perhaps our link is where the blanks are that I've not been able to fill in (though I can't theorise exactly where, yet).
So - my question is, do many of us here have relatively recent brick walls which would make a 100cM relative difficult to match?
Or is it just me.
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Do you mean highest cM match that you can't place specifically in a line, or not in a line at all?
I have a 100cM match who I share with enough other people to know which line they're in, but they don't have a tree and haven't replied to a message so don't know exactly where they fit. Ditto for another one at 65cM. Then there are two at 49cM who match each other as well as me, one with an extensive tree, the other with a small tree, but no idea who they are or which line they fit in ???
It would help if more matches would give you a clue when you ask them... :-\ At least yours speak to you :'(
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Do you mean highest cM match that you can't place specifically in a line, or not in a line at all?
I have a 100cM match who I share with enough other people to know which line they're in, but they don't have a tree and haven't replied to a message so don't know exactly where they fit. Ditto for another one at 65cM. Then there are two at 49cM who match each other as well as me, one with an extensive tree, the other with a small tree, but no idea who they are or which line they fit in ???
It would help if more matches would give you a clue when you ask them... :-\ At least yours speak to you :'(
This is me. I (now) have a fair idea of where they fit .
At 113cm I thought this would be simple. I emailed them and gave a list of names and they couldnt match/recognise any.
Doing some twiglet research listing GGrandparents children to families I think I can place them. Current privacy laws mean I cant confirm (through BDM records) the link
Or alternatively I could be wrong and they are part of an NPE that I havent found
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Well, because it's a 23andme match, rather than an Ancestry one, I can't recognise the shared matches with the person, as no trees are shown, and there are no recognisable names.
So no, I can't associate this 100cM match with a line.
Yes, I've got lots of smaller cM matches on Ancestry where I can link them to known lines (although I don't know where they fit).
And lots where I can't.
But this seems to be a large match relatively speaking, I've done their tree for them, but still can't see where we match.
And yes - lots of people don't reply to me either! :(
David - it's so frustrating isn't it! It should jump out at you, you'd think. No names they recognise?
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96 cM on AncestryDNA. I know which line it is on and who the individual is, but am still working on how it actually relates to my brick wall great grandfather.
179 cM on 23andme, but I have not spent much time on looking at that one yet. All I know is that is behind the same brick wall as the one above and is not responding to contact.
66.8 cM on MyHeritage. A new match. I know it is on my maternal side and am exploring a common surname.
99 cM on FTDNA. Another recent match. Not even sure yet which side it belongs to as there are matches in common with both sides.
43.28 cM on LivingDNA. The only match I have on there that is not a kit I have uploaded. I have not bothered with this one yet. Will probably make contact soon as they have recently opened up for messaging.
126 cM on gedmatch. I very rarely spend any time on direct analysis of gedmatch matches so have not even looked at this on yet.
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Well, you're keeping quite calm, Cracklyn - well done!
Let's hope that 179cM one helps with the brick wall - it should do!
I can see I'm not alone.......
onwards and upwards
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It is an interesting and challenging brick wall Igor. My great grandfather Robert Webb, who we were told was from Cornwall, seems to have landed on the planet as a pitman in Northumberland in his mid 40s, claiming to be from Oldham. Over 3 census records and two marriage records he does not have a consistent birth year. The range covers 12 years from 1849 to 1861. I strongly suspect there has been a name change in the move from Lancashire to Northumberland. Gradually circling in on him and have several matches that are converging on the surname Fitton in the Oldham area. Difficult to tie the matches together though as nearly every one I tackle fizzles out with an illegitimate child born to a lass working in the cotton mills and Fitton is fairly common in that area.
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Igor, have you both uploaded your raw data to a third party such as My Heritage? You might find some different common matches which may help you.
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My mother's DNA results garnered a 3-4th cousin with 107cM across 6 segments. It was amazingly frustrating to me, as neither myself nor her daughter could figure out where the link was. She had one illegitimate in a common geographical area which was my main focus of interest but as the shared matches kept rolling in, not only were they all on my side of the tree but all descended from the same couple. It eventually turned out that there was one person on her tree who was descended from this couple... her grandmother's brother-in-law ...
I do have one with 108 on 5 segments who only has 9 people in his tree. I believe I know which branch he comes from, as his mother has a name from my tree and he has shared matches, but his response to me enquiring about his ancestry was simply "yes, my mother was an Uglow".
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Could there be double cousins involved? I have a 90cM match that wouldn't fit until I went further back by a few generations and found their 4x great grandfather was the brother of my 4x great gran, and their 4x great gran was the sister of my 4x great grandfather. Sounds simple in retrospect but it took a bit of work to get there.
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David - it's so frustrating isn't it! It should jump out at you, you'd think. No names they recognise?
Yeah , I had thought I had given them enough. I usually email my 16s
8 paternal and 8 maternal
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Not as much as 100cM, but I have one match where we both have our DNA test on Ancestry, MyHeritage and Gedmatch. On Ancestry we share 58cM across 5 segments, estimated 4th to 6th cousins. On MyHeritage we share 79.6cM, largest segment 42.1cM. On Gedmatch we share 82.4cM, largest segment 42.8cM.
We both have quite big, well-researched trees, and he has given me guest access to his tree, and we think we know roughly where the connection could be, but over a year later have not been able to pin down the common ancestors, and I wondered if we are looking in the wrong place. The odd thing is that he only shares about 22cM on Ancestry with my uncle, who I share the typical amount expected for an uncle match. He barely shares anything with my cousins, who are children of a different uncle.
Another person shares a tiny bit of DNA with him on some of the sites, she is also on Ancestry, MyHeritage and Gedmatch, and I share a bigger amount of DNA with her which is picked up by all three sites. She too has a well-researched tree, and we think we know the connection. But the amount of DNA she shares with the other person is so tiny it is difficult to find and nowhere near the top of her lists.
It is one match that sticks in my memory as something I would like to solve one day. I did as much research as I could on that area of my tree in an attempt to solve it, even working down descendancy research to see if we got any other common matches. I seem to have picked up more DNA in common with him than others who share the same ancestors.
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I have 149 cM across 10 segments. The person only has 3 in their tree so quite difficult to work out.
Frustrating because I have a large brick wall and DNA is really the only way I can work through this.
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One of my matches on Ancestry shares 291cM with me over 10 segments. I also have a number of other matches who match with her and with each other, who all go back to a marriage in the mid 19th century between two people I've never heard of.
I really don't know where to start with this and to make it even more annoying, these people are my best matches!
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Anstey, I doubt that I am the only one who would love to hear more details of this.
Martin
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Martin
It's so frustrating. I have enough matches overall to fill the King Power Stadium, but all but four are distant.
I have one second cousin, who I know, then another second cousin and two third cousins who are all connected to each other, but completely unknown to me. I then have distant matches with each of them and that list is substantially the same.
It's been suggested that they should be descendants of a grandparent's sibling, but the dates don't fit. I'll be honest. I don't know where to start.
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Ansteynomad, If you have identified the common ancestral couple for these matches then you are making good process to finding the solution. Start building trees for this couple. Work downwards, sideways and back in time. More and more matches will fit into place and you should eventually be able to see how this branch links to your tree.
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226 cM across 12 segments on Ancestry.
My 4th highest match. She turned up last week, haven't a clue who it is and so far no reply to message.
Nothing to give a clue, I'll wait a few weeks and try a second message, from shared matches she's on my father's side.
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I have a 288cM over 11 segments second cousin and we don't know the connection :o. He's French and thought all his recent pedigree was French and no British married into his pedigree. We share gt grandparents and I can eliminate a few of my gt grandparents as he doesn't match other links I have.
I believe it's WW1 time and one of my gt uncles is responsible. We may never know which one but hopefully in the future I'll find which gt grandparents we share. ;)
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Using those coloured dots on ancestry to group them and using auto clustering helps with some and doing mini trees. Its even harder when women put their dna under their married name.
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Wow!!!
Only just been able to get back to this thread and I see that my 100cM of match that I can't identify is but a minnow compared with some :o
I'm frustrated enough with this one, so what I'd be like with a very much larger match - with a well researched tree - where we STILL can't see the connection, I boggle to think, medpat and sinann and ansteynomad.
Like many others I thought DNA matches would be simple, and found different quite quickly.
But in some strange way, it is comforting to know for sure we are all working with the same problems.
I will just get on with researching and adding relatives to all the siblings I can find and hopefully - one day - at least some things may become clearer......
;) :) :)
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I think every one must have a set of these, for me I have 7 ancestry matches between about 100 cM's and 140 cM, that, mostly, I might know which side of my family they are on, because I got my Dad to do a test, so the matches are either, Fathers Side, or not. But apart from that I am just guessing for some and I know the brances for others, but I cant trace them on paper at all, and mostly they dont reply to being contacted.
For me it is very difficult, as I am 100% Irish by origin, but living in Scotland for up to 5 -6 generations. Problem is brothers and sisters of the original emigrants went directly to the other ends of the earth, USA/Canada/Australia/New Zealand etc. These cousins never have any knowledge of their tree before emigration to say USA, and dont know where they came from in Ireland. Additionally after spending 1 or 2 or 3 generations in Scotland, many of my ancestors then emigrated, and again thet didnt know much about their families in Scotland, or where they came from in Ireland, before that. PS - I know we dont have the info about Ireland either!
We dont have cheap access to foreign records, of bmd's so it is harder to find the paper record, you need assistance from the matches, and as we all know they dont normallt reply!!
Well that was Ancestry, on My Heritage i know my top 4 matches, but on Family Tree DNA my top 4 matches are completely onknown to me - I have no clue, at about 80- 100 cM's. On Gedmatch, my top match, (until i uploaded my Dad) was and is a mystery, he's on my Mum's side ( and I use He's generically, not specifically), because he is not a match to my Dad, and he's not on My Heritage or FTDNA, so I have worked out he was probably uploaded from 23 & Me. Any way, we have 135 cM in common, and I have no real idea at all. His email address is not indicitive of a persons name, and I have only 1 other match in common that I know, which puts him on my mother's paternal side, but there is nothing else to go by - no tree - have they disappeared from Gedmatch, since it went Genesis?? And gyess what, no reply to my gentle email!
Yep it is very frustrating!
Jane
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I have a 229cm across 11 segments on Ancestry, who hasn't responded to any messages and has no tree :-( Based on shared matches, and using the shared cm Projects site, I am 90% convinced she is going to be an illegitimate daughter from my great uncle who was a bit of a ladies man (5 wifes so far, and 5 known daughters by 2 of the wifes), but its not something I want to ask him or his daughters about for understandable reasons :-)
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261 cM over 17 segments on ancestrydna - they predict a second cousin on my mother's side, but even contacting known relatives has yielded nothing. Also shows up as a second cousin for my mother with 335/22.
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Well I had no idea that this question would produce such amazing results from people here who - after all - have been researching generally for some time and have some well-researched trees. Such high levels of DNA match, with no real idea where the connection might be.
I guess it goes to show that we are as yet just at the beginning of DNA researches amplifying what we know on family research.
It's reassuring, really, that I'm not alone when I see a match, think it should be close enough to easily recognise where it comes from. I have quite a few of these - and some which aren't so easy. But none as high a cM match of some of the people here!
Good luck to everyone with their investigations! ;D
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I'm impressed by how high other people's DNA matches are!! Of the 100s of matches I have on Ancestry, barely a dozen are over 50 cM, and only three are over 100 cM!! That being said, my highest non-identified (to within a branch) is 56 cM across 3 segments.
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I helped someone who was adopted and they have the non-biological tree attached to their DNA results and no indication that it is not their genetic family. This would make it impossible to understand, though experienced researchers would question the shared matches against the tree.
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I helped someone who was adopted and they have the non-biological tree attached to their DNA results and no indication that it is not their genetic family. This would make it impossible to understand, though experienced researchers would question the shared matches against the tree.
Quite understandable they'd add their 'family' but 'wrong' tree to the DNA results.
As you say, confusing for inexperienced matches.
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I helped someone who was adopted and they have the non-biological tree attached to their DNA results and no indication that it is not their genetic family. This would make it impossible to understand, though experienced researchers would question the shared matches against the tree.
This is a good lesson in why you should not just appropriate a bunch of names because Ancestry says you are related, and should always contact (or try to contact) the creators of those genealogies first.
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I have a 200cm match, a 182cm match and a 166cm none of whom I can place.
They either have no trees, trees with only a few ancestors - whose names I can't trace, or an unlinked tree and when contacted, say "Oh yes. I have that name in my tree too" but give no other details and don't share their tree. Any matches with very high amounts of Cms are close family who have taken my tree and done no research of their own.
I have 4 x 2nd gt grandparents that are either anonymous, fictitious or have no clear information to follow to allow a definite identification.
I find it enormously frustrating knowing that someone who shares some of my DNA might have the answer to my brick walls :(
Certain surnames not in my tree do crop up on some of my lower match - Wheeler, being one of them, but as yet I can't find where, or even if, that name has any relevance to my family.
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My husband’s dna came up with a probable first cousin at 801 cm/ 40 segments plus SEVEN 1st-3rd cousins sharing between 254 and 498 cm! They are all shared matches with each other. There are several around 180 cm as well, all shared. They seem to share the same grandfather/ great grandfather ( depending on generation). One of the profile pictures looks startlingly like my brother in law. There are no shared ancestors although some do share our home town. Two of these cousins are actively looking for the link. Someone seems to have played away but I can’t figure out who. There are no illegitimate births that I can see. The only match to my husband’s surname is 7 cm which I gather could be “noise”. It’s not a very common surname so I don’t know if it just means none of his paternal relatives have tested. There are some very distant matches with some of the names of his paternal great and g g grandmothers so I’m a bit stumped.
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My husband’s dna came up with a probable first cousin at 801 cm/ 40 segments plus SEVEN 1st-3rd cousins sharing between 254 and 498 cm! They are all shared matches with each other. There are several around 180 cm as well, all shared. They seem to share the same grandfather/ great grandfather ( depending on generation). One of the profile pictures looks startlingly like my brother in law. There are no shared ancestors although some do share our home town. Two of these cousins are actively looking for the link. Someone seems to have played away but I can’t figure out who. There are no illegitimate births that I can see. The only match to my husband’s surname is 7 cm which I gather could be “noise”. It’s not a very common surname so I don’t know if it just means none of his paternal relatives have tested. There are some very distant matches with some of the names of his paternal great and g g grandmothers so I’m a bit stumped.
Good grief.
Well if none of the names match it certainly seems as if there is what I understand is called a NPE. Or 'playing away' as you say.
At least some of these matches are trying to find out where the event happened, rather than just letting it remain a mystery.
I would be very spooked to find a family likeness with someone I'd no idea how I was connected to!
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I can completely relate to the frustrations here.
My top match (121cM) and 3rd highest match (97cM) both live in the USA and were born there, as were their parents. Having done some auto-clusters, I now have a private/unsearchable tree for them which includes these two plus three other matches. I know how these five are all related to each other, just not how they relate to me.
With the help of one of these matches I’ve built out their tree to their first emigrant ancestor, who arrived in the USA in 1869 but previously lived in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Now, my Dad’s paternal line all come from ... Huddersfield. What’s more, my great-grandfather was illegitimate. Coincidentally - or perhaps not - he was born in late 1869.
My working theory is that JT got my 2GGM pregnant and then skipped the country. She had been estranged from her husband for some time (or he may have died, although I’ve yet to find a suitable death record). This relationship is within the bounds of possibilities in terms of shared cM, but I need more testers on my side I think ...
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I can completely relate to the frustrations here.
My top match (121cM) and 3rd highest match (97cM) both live in the USA and were born there, as were their parents. Having done some auto-clusters, I now have a private/unsearchable tree for them which includes these two plus three other matches. I know how these five are all related to each other, just not how they relate to me.
With the help of one of these matches I’ve built out their tree to their first emigrant ancestor, who arrived in the USA in 1869 but previously lived in Huddersfield in Yorkshire. Now, my Dad’s paternal line all come from ... Huddersfield. What’s more, my great-grandfather was illegitimate. Coincidentally - or perhaps not - he was born in late 1869.
My working theory is that JT got my 2GGM pregnant and then skipped the country. She had been estranged from her husband for some time (or he may have died, although I’ve yet to find a suitable death record). This relationship is within the bounds of possibilities in terms of shared cM, but I need more testers on my side I think ...
Fantastic detective work......and a tantalising possibility.
Whilst at times frustrating, it's true that DNA now gives us the opportunity to solve the problems which otherwise would have remained a mystery forever.
I can't be the only one to have family history mysteries that I can't believe I'll never solve - though in all likelihood mostly I never will.
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Even more tantalising is the prospect of being able to extract viable DNA samples from objects such as stamps and envelopes. I have a letter sent from my GGF to my GF in the early 1930s. A positive result from this would prove or disprove my theory, I’m sure.
I’ve read somewhere that the first commercially available tests of this type could be available within a year!
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Testing of artefacts is already commercially available, but is currently expensive.
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I have just read JaneyH_104 reply and did not know that DNA samples from objects such as stamps and envelopes was commercially available. I did a search on the internet out of interest and found a company in Australia that had this service available. Their charges were just over $300 Australian dollars.
I do not know the parents of my grandmother and have a number of matches that I am not able to work out how I am connected to them. I have used a colour code to identify those that I know are linked to me and also looking at their shared matches. One person who I think may be connected to my grandmother has replied to a message but this was very vague and I was simply given the names of 4 families that were her area of interest. Building a tree using her 4 families could be a way to find something out but will take time and maybe even some certificates purchased.
I do have a cousin in England who may be willing to complete a DNA through Ancestry. An Aunt in England I think is still living, aged in her 90s, but I am sure she would not agree to a DNA. Initially when I was trying to find out about her grandparents and my great grandparents she was quite reluctant to tell me anything and just said I wish people would not try and find things out, just leave things as they are. I do have letters that she wrote to me and using these for DNA may be the way to go. I also have letters that were my mothers. Thinking about the cost of around $300, I don't think is too much when over the years I have paid researchers in England over $2,000 with no results. The researcher completed a thorough investigation and in the end simply said that some people like to keep their past hidden and do not want anyone to know about this and your grandmother might have been one of these people.
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You can read about Blaine Bettinger's experiences with this type of testing on his blog: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2018/11/19/testing-artifacts-obtain-dna-evidence-genealogical-research/?fbclid=IwAR2jjDHglDVXSxnyYc1sB5kgc--gVfqHhgC8LdgNZdNZYz4TqW9ONqNF89k (https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/2018/11/19/testing-artifacts-obtain-dna-evidence-genealogical-research/?fbclid=IwAR2jjDHglDVXSxnyYc1sB5kgc--gVfqHhgC8LdgNZdNZYz4TqW9ONqNF89k)
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I certainly wouldn't advise using DNA from a living person without their knowledge or consent, especially if you know consent would not be given. Frankly, even after she's gone, if her children were to discover it they might well be very angry, I know I would. I can't imagine that it would be legal to obtain and test someone else's DNA behind their back without being a member of the police investigating a crime. Someone who has been dead for 100 years would be a bit different.
The sad part of doing that with envelopes is that it would get destroyed. The letter itself is obviously the important part but still...
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I've just looked at the website of one company that does artefact DNA testing and it states in its FAQs: "we do not accept anonymous letters for DNA extraction or artefacts from living persons".
In my case, the letter in question was sent by my great-grandfather to my grandfather. The former died in 1936 and the latter in 1985.
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I've a match with 999cM I can't identify.
My father was adopted and through the DNA match and the few adoption papers we have I've put together his maternal line but I've nothing on his father.
Frustratingly the match hasn't been on Ancestry in over a year, has no tree and hasn't responded to a message.
Not sure where I go next...
Chris
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Frustratingly the match hasn't been on Ancestry in over a year, has no tree and hasn't responded to a message.
Not sure where I go next...
What you need to do next is look at other matches that you have in common with this one. Analyse their trees to figure out which are their common ancestors then start to build the tree down again from there until you come to people at the right level. Keep working on it until you come to a person on the right timeframe and location to be the grandfather that you are looking for.
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Not sure where I go next...
Chris
Have you uploaded your DNA to MyHeritage? Its database is smaller than Ancestry’s but it does show you not just the cMs you share with matches, but also the cMs the matches share with each other. It can help pinpoint where you might sit in a family group. If you’re lucky, the 999cM may also be on there, or you may find similarly strong matches who do have a tree.
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Thanks for the quick responses.
I've been holding off paying for an ancestry sub but might have to bite the bullet, only seeing a couple of generations on the shared match page isn't getting me anywhere.
I'll give MyHeritage a shot too.
Chris
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Thanks for the quick responses.
I've been holding off paying for an ancestry sub but might have to bite the bullet, only seeing a couple of generations on the shared match page isn't getting me anywhere.
I'll give MyHeritage a shot too.
Chris
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=816573.0
Have a look at this topic too, Chris, especially re MyHeritage. I strongly recommend looking at the video Martin recommends, which I've done and it's illuminated a few things for me re DNA match research.
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I've been holding off paying for an ancestry sub but might have to bite the bullet, only seeing a couple of generations on the shared match page isn't getting me anywhere.
Have you had a 14 day free trial with them yet? It's sometimes enough to get the results you want, or at least a start on them.
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Ha,
Keep thinking about trial but want to save it for when my diary isn't so busy to maximise its worth.
Chris
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I've recently tested with Living DNA and then uploaded the results to GEDmatch.
My closest match is a 50.7cM match and I'm working with the other person to find the link. We suspect a few, however we have so many ancestors from the same areas on both sides. We've tried to Triangulate but the other parties aren't very responsive according to the other match. The match has seen my tree and can't see anything/anyone familiar to him.
I have an unknown recent ancestor that I've been desperate to find for years, my 2x great-grandfather. His child was illegitimate and the father is down as "unknown". No BMDs tell me anything.
I've recently ordered a test with Ancestry, just for it's large database and how good it is for finding missing links. So fingers crossed I'll find this man and his line through GEDmatch with what I have already or Ancestry.
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I have 1,941 cM across 66 segments showing 'Close Family–1st Cousin' match but receive no reply from message sent, so cannot identify the link.
I can only assume the match is from my mother's older sister who had to have her 5 children adopted when she discovered her husband was a bigamist with another wife. This happened in 1939 depression years when my aunt had no means with which to support her children after her husband left.
My second match is 938 cM across 51 segments '1st–2nd Cousin' , 893 cM across 37 segments '1st–2nd Cousin ' & from on from there are 336 more 2nd–3rd Cousin or 4th - 5th.
A couple down the line I can see the connections and have enjoyed growing my family and joining the dots.
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I have 1,941 cM across 66 segments showing 'Close Family–1st Cousin' match but receive no reply from message sent, so cannot identify the link.
I can only assume the match is from my mother's older sister who had to have her 5 children adopted when she discovered her husband was a bigamist with another wife. This happened in 1939 depression years when my aunt had no means with which to support her children after her husband left.
My second match is 938 cM across 51 segments '1st–2nd Cousin' , 893 cM across 37 segments '1st–2nd Cousin ' & from on from there are 336 more 2nd–3rd Cousin or 4th - 5th.
A couple down the line I can see the connections and have enjoyed growing my family and joining the dots.
Hello Deb, Welcome to Rootschat. 1941 cM is too high to be the child of your mother’s sister. You should consider other potential relationships. To see what might be possible plug the number of cM into the Shared cM tool at DNA Painter. https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4 (https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4)
The 938 cM match and 893 cM matches are at a level that could be your cousin from your mother’s sister. If you need more advice on how to analyse these, start a post of your own. There are lots of Rootschatters who check in regularly on the «Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing» board who would be able to offer you some pointers.
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I have 1,941 cM across 66 segments showing 'Close Family–1st Cousin' match but receive no reply from message sent, so cannot identify the link.
I can only assume the match is from my mother's older sister who had to have her 5 children adopted when she discovered her husband was a bigamist with another wife. This happened in 1939 depression years when my aunt had no means with which to support her children after her husband left.
My second match is 938 cM across 51 segments '1st–2nd Cousin' , 893 cM across 37 segments '1st–2nd Cousin ' & from on from there are 336 more 2nd–3rd Cousin or 4th - 5th.
A couple down the line I can see the connections and have enjoyed growing my family and joining the dots.
Yes. Welcome to Rootschat from me too, Deb.
Craclyn has given you some good advice here with the DNA painter site.
Having checked myself what your 1941 cM match might indicate in terms of relationship, you will probably have some thinking to do.
I would strongly recommend you do post a separate query of your own if you need advice, some very very helpful people here who will be able to give you guidance.
Good luck with your researches! :)
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Mine is 180 cM across 9 segments. I can tell who our common ancestors probably are based on shared matches but I think this one has to be a NPE in his tree that we don't know about.
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Welcome to Rootschat Deb.
I have sent you a Private Message. My husband recently went through a situation very similar to yours.
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I can give example that was a 196 cm across 9 sectors match to me
And 366 cm match across 9 sectors to my mother.
We did know that it was likely to be a half cousin of hers because her mother was born out of wedlock. But the man in question had no idea that his grandmother had had a child before his father. Relationship indicated as 2nd cousin to my mother because they only had 1 grandparent in common.
If you expect to find great grandparents in common
think about looking at 1 of the
Your grandparents having pre marital or extra marital child.
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My biggest mystery person is a 340cm match across 18 segments to my aunt and 180cm match to me across 11 segments
Because of our other shared matches
I'm assuming it is a cousin once removed of my aunt's (+ my father)but it's frustrating that they don't have a tree or answer messages because I've identified who most of her cousins were and where they ended up except for the children of eldest MacDermid uncle ...our surname on this branch is dying out..and we would like to know if any living descendants carried it on .But it could also be a Greatgrandchild of her own father...she.d still like to know.
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My Largest unknown person is a 354 cMs across 20 segments.
She replied to me saying that she was adopted and through her DNA had made contact with her delighted father.
However she wished to remain her mother's little secret. I know which grand parent branch she belongs to, but no more.
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My Largest unknown person is a 354 cMs across 20 segments.
She replied to me saying that she was adopted and through her DNA had made contact with her delighted father.
However she wished to remain her mother's little secret. I know which grand parent branch she belongs to, but no more.
I feel sorry for you, what a cliffhanger :(
Just curious what her relationship is to you i.e. why she won't tell as I thought this was part of why many adoptees do the DNA route?
I'm still learning about cMs etc.
Annie
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I have read the comments posted and can understand their frustation. When l did my DNA l was so excited the possibility of finding distant relatives and a very long shot of finding my brother.
When l had a match of 1st cousin twice removed 189.3 cM
With 10 shared segments l contacted via e-mail twice in the first week no reply, thinking this person maybe on holiday. Now three weeks no reply - such a shame 😢
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I have read the comments posted and can understand their frustation. When l did my DNA l was so excited the possibility of finding distant relatives and a very long shot of finding my brother.
When l had a match of 1st cousin twice removed 189.3 cM
With 10 shared segments l contacted via e-mail twice in the first week no reply, thinking this person maybe on holiday. Now three weeks no reply - such a shame 😢
Hopefully its not being ignored - but maybe its going to the spam folder. What is the heading of the email?
Can you change it to a more specific non-company header? ie instead of ''I found a MyHeritage match'' etc it could be '' DNA link to xxxx ''
Just a thought
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Sadly (for us family history researchers anyway) there are many people who have their DNA analysed to find out whether they are English, German, Scandinavian, Indian etc - as encouraged by the companies offering the service.
Little do they seem to appreciate how questionable this particular 'where you're from' sort of analysis is.
And then, when they've not really understood the full implications of spitting in a tube, in terms of where the data goes, they get an unexpected email from someone
Some are not interested in finding any more family, they've got enough of them already
Some are concerned at out-of-the-blue messages, and are just waiting for you to ask for their bank account details
Some are too busy, can't think right now, and will put aside for a reply - at which point they forget and then when they remember they feel it's too late to respond.
And some, when faced up with finding potential NPE with relatives just don't want to deal with it.
It's very disappointing, and certainly when I contact people I try and say something very unthreatening, offer to share information and do some joint research, and then say - "but if you're not interested in family history research, no problem, it's great to be in touch with you anyway".
Have I got any better results in obtaining replies - don't think so >:( :( - but at least I feel I've done my very best to appreciate where the DNA match might be coming from
Good luck to everyone - family history research is always so frustrating when there are mysteries which you can't believe you'll never be able to solve. But they probably are insoluble, and we just have to get over it.
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My Largest unknown person is a 354 cMs across 20 segments.
She replied to me saying that she was adopted and through her DNA had made contact with her delighted father.
However she wished to remain her mother's little secret. I know which grand parent branch she belongs to, but no more.
I feel sorry for you, what a cliffhanger :(
Just curious what her relationship is to you i.e. why she won't tell as I thought this was part of why many adoptees do the DNA route?
I'm still learning about cMs etc.
Annie
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4
Annie, if you use the website above, you can type in the box at the top the number of cMs shared, and that will tell you the likelihood (in percentage terms) of the various relationships the match indicates.
354 cM indicates the following results:
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Re the adopted match
It sou.ds like she knew who her mother is but doesn't want to reveal to you incase the family secret spreads to that side of family.she has discovered her father thru the testing which is great .
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Just rejoining this briefly for a short rant and sigh....
New MyHeritage match, of 91.9cM. Chap in the US with a very small tree, but enough detail for me (after messaging him earlier this evening) to construct his family. No missing relatives, so all good to look up.
Now for 91.9cM, I've looked up DNA Painter, and I think that our relationship should be strong enough for me to see where our connection is. Can't be too far back, surely.
I'm now back to the early 1800s with all his family except one line coming from the US (mostly, and a couple from Canada.).
The other line came from Wick in Scotland, and after investing in some Scotland's people credits I've tracked them down and so far as I know I have no Scottish connections at all, and the family seems to originate there.
The two Canadian lines came from a) King Edward Island and previously Scotland again and the other, way back in the 1820's, came from Nova Scotia and MAY have been a mariner from the UK.
His name is John Smith. ::)
Thank you for listening.
It just seems bizarre, doesn't it, that you can have such a relatively large match and just not be able to see WHERE the link is. Before you ask, the shared matches don't help much....and as I've built his tree, I've looked where there are people on other trees and none of them are DNA matches to me (or of course haven't taken the test).
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I had something similar with a Jones match we traced our great grandfathers back to Wales but couldn't see any mutualnames until he remembered that his great grandfather had married a woman with maidenname of Jones ...she was my great grandfather s sister !
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I have a 200cm match
I have now managed to identify the link between this person and myself. They are in fact my 2nd cousin once removed so Ancestry's estimate of 2nd to 3rd cousin was surprisingly accurate.
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I do not know who my grandmother's parents are and am hoping that through DNA I am able to gather some possible leads. I have sent emails to my top matches and have not received replies. One I am particularly interested in is a Jon Spong with 149cM. We have a number of shared matches and I am not able to work out connections with any of them.
I am a little bit annoyed as my husband who does not really share my interest in family history was recently asked to do a DNA test through Ancestry. He agreed and as a result discovered a half-brother. His half-brother (Rob) had been trying to find out for 40+ years who his father was. He was given a DNA kit and eventually sent this away. A second cousin of my husband was also given a kit as a birthday present and when his results came through he was a match for Rob. He contacted Rob as he did not know how they were related and after discovering that Rob did not know who his father was he agreed to help him. This eventually led to Rob contacting my husband and asking him to complete a DNA test. cMs came back as 1,754. My husband received further emails from a person who had a DNA test several years ago and was hoping to find out who her great great grandfather was. She had managed to find out who her great great grandmother was through DNA but was waiting for someone like my husband to pop up and she would be able to work out who her gggrandfather was through shared matches and his family background and movements. Her gggrandfather was a brother to my husband's gggrandmother. They both came to South Australia in the 1860's from Germany. My husband's gggrandmother stayed in SA but her brother moved to Queensland where he had a relationship and fathered a child.
I am hoping that down the track I have some luck. I have recently asked a cousin in the UK if she would be willing to send away a DNA sample so I can used shared matches to further my research.