My DNA dilemma a 364cM match, researching for 3 years

[Biggles50]

PART 1 of 4 - My DNA dilemma!

I have commented on many posts by using my own DNA dilemma as an example and its probably time to explain it in detail, sorry in advance as I do ramble on a bit.

I am sharing my own methodology so that others may benefit or that someone can offer guidance to me in a problem I have been staring at for three years.  Hope all that I have written makes some sort of logical sense to you.  Its split up over multiple posts to bypass the size limit per post as I could not include all the info in one post.

A 364 cM match on my Ancestry DNA website raised concerns about a possible close relation that neither I, my late Brother nor any First Cousin knows about (1 maternal and 12 paternal).

So started what is now a three year hunt for answers.

First, a standalone Pedigree tree was built going back 200 years with the 364cM match as the home person but no apparent connection could be found.  I then expanded the tree sideways generation by generation as far as I could.

Then I started looking looking at the shared matches and built about 12 of them into the tree, but still no joy in finding a link to myself.

Entering 364 into the DNA Painter shared matches gives these results regarding the probabilities.

[Biggles50]

PART 2 of 4

Next I uploaded a Gedcom file to the WATO Tool, what you see is what you get.  I entered the cM value for each DNA Match in the WATO tool and got these probabilities.

[Biggles50]

PART 3 of 4

None of the probabilities in the WATO tool seem viable as my existing DNA Matches that are linked into my own Family Tree contradict the results.

You can see from the image just where the DNA matches fit at various generational levels with our mutual xGGP(s).

In Column F you see DNA between my Maternal Great Grandparents & this is where DNA Matches are already linked into my Family Tree
In Column H a DNA match fits to either one GGGP or to both.
In Column J a DNA match fits at the GGGGP level or beyond.

There can and are multiple linked DNA matches where DNA is shown and over 100 are already linked to and included in my Family Tree.

So you can also see from the image that there are gaping holes in me having DNA matches at or beyond both of my Paternal Great Grandfathers.

[Biggles50]

PART 4 of 4

As my Grandparents were from geographically diverse regions of England and Wales and hence endogomy is unlikely to be a factor.

My Maternal Grandfather emigrated in 1903 and at first I thought that he left behind a known or unknown offspring, but this was soon discounted.  The fact that the 364cM match to myself is not a one off but there are at least 35 other DNA match’s who are Shared with my 364cM then the family common to all these Shared match’s has to have donated their DNA into my Family and Grandfather could not have been the culprit.

I have also created a colour coded chart and then used it by following the Leeds Method to try and determine where the Family Trees link together.  Sadly nothing conclusive can be drawn from the results at the current state of research.

My Raw DNA Data has also been uploaded to Gedmatch, My Heritage, my Living DNA and others and both My Heritage and My Living DNA have yielded other DNA matches who are as close as First Cousins to my 364cM match. 

Hence by now I know who they are are, who they married, where they live, who their children are and who their grandchildren are, its almost like I am stalking them (in the nicest possible way of course).  I tied contacting them without a useful response being received, just a, yes they are my parent.

Based on research to date my current hypothesis is that one of my Paternal Great Grandfathers is not who the paper trail shows him to be.  DNA test results from a Paternal First Cousin are awaited and I expect him to also be a DNA match to my 364cM match which incidentally Ancestry’s Sideview predicts that the 364cM is a Paternal match.

So there you are my own Families DNA dilemma!

Time to go and bang my head against the wall yet again to see if inspiration can be gathered.

Image in next post ie Post 5 as for some reason it would not attach in this post.

[Biggles50]

Part 5

[lisalisa]

Not an answer, but possibly a similar situation, my mom has a match at 380cMs (296cMs to me), who we can't place.
The long list of shared indicate quite clearly the side of the family the match is on and who the shared ancestors are.
Although the person has a 'name', it's not a name that enables us to build a tree.

With the numbers, I'm thinking that the match is either a child of a (known) cousin of my mother so this may suggest an adoption or illegitimacy somewhere (given that families of cousins are  known), or it may even be that there is an unknown cousin.

Every now and again I have another look at it all to see if anything else sheds any light.

Good luck with finding the answer,
Lisa

[brigidmac]

Thanks for sharing this Biggles
I admire your technology skills

As you probably  know I'm more haphazard but have a lot of experience and data for matches across generations and thru single mothers or adoptees

I work on ancestry so don't know if my techniques will be useful

Think I may have given example of solving my cousin's highest match
I added  a hypothetical parent to his grandfather called Yorkshire man
Then looked at shared matches with highest match for common ancestors. Looked at there tree and for extra details they only had one English grandparent which made things easier .they were born to a single mother in Yorkshire so I added Yorkshire man with parents ..." Possibly   + 2 surnames that were in their shared matches next highest being 67cm

Eventually. Came across correct person my going an extra generation back to look at matches to siblings and spouses

My mum had a 365cm match that was her half cousin thru a grandma whose married name we didn't know ..they didn't have a tree but did answer message ..

[Petros]

I was a bit luckier in constructing a rationale for my 339 cM match who on paper is no match to me.

My next closest match was his niece, at 167 cM, which clarified the match's age as being close to mine, and they were both shared matches with my maternal 2C1R (145 cM).  The close match is also shared with a 3C and a 4C from my maternal grandfather's line.

Clearly match 1's father was closely related to my maternal grandfather, which given the ages of the respective individuals, pointed to my grandfather having fathered an illegitimate child. This would be consistent with what was known of my grandfather's character.

When I identified the birth record for the match's father I found that he was illegitimate, and with the birth registered late. This person only being registered with the surname of his mother's husband some 30 years later! By the time this individual was born both my grandfather's brothers had emigrated ruling out a number of possibilities.

Thus I concluded that my 339cM match was my half-1C.

[whoamitoday]

You've been very thorough!
Although you haven't as yet found out how they are connected to you, have you managed to find out how your match is connected to (some of) the 35 shared matches? If you have found their common ancestor(s) it might at least give you a positive line to investigate?
If you are of a similar age then I'd start with the hypothesis that they are a half first cousin or H1C1R and use the shared matches to identify which of their grandparent's or great grandparent's lines that the link is on.
Are your paternal grandparents also from different areas? Maybe there'll be a locational clue as to which might have a NPE?