NPE help needed...

[dicko99]

In my Mother's DNA matches I have found six matches with a common surname but no connection with our family names. Building a tree for them seems to show that their earliest common ancestor is William E born 1793 in Essex.

So I'm thinking that either his father wasn't an E or his father fathered my ancestor around the same time but I was wondering if there is any way I can work out which way round it was?

TIA,
Richard

[lisalisa]

this might be one way, if you look at your ancestor and who you have as the father, then do a wider tree for the father's family and see if you have any matches to any of those lines, then that should show if he's in the picture, I think.

Not having any matches, doesn't prove he isn't the father, as there just might be a lack of descendants tested, but if you found a match (or several), then surely it will confirm the right line.

Probably other ways to do it too.
hth

ps. with the situation you describe, might it be the case that you need to go back a generation or two further to find the link, the two possible candidates for father might be cousins or 2C.

[Garry Edgar2]

In my Mother's DNA matches I have found six matches with a common surname but no connection with our family names. Building a tree for them seems to show that their earliest common ancestor is William E born 1793 in Essex.

So I'm thinking that either his father wasn't an E or his father fathered my ancestor around the same time but I was wondering if there is any way I can work out which way round it was?

TIA,
Richard

If you’ve got 6 matches that have a common ancestor and therefore you likely share that same ancestor, then your ancestor has to be the problem.

Do you have any other common DNA matches to your ancestor who is probably out of the picture?

As an example, my wife has a common DNA match from her Duncan ancestors, whose tree suggest she should have a mcginnity at that position. That person shares no DNA matches through her Mcginnity family from her tree. Clearly grandma mcginnity(née something else) has had a relationship with grandpa Duncan