100+ AncestryDNA Matches in My Tree

So I did it! Two weeks ago I set a goal for myself; to get 100 of my AncestryDNA matches linked into my family tree. I did it! 

I have a lot of DNA matches. At present I have 693 people who matches me as 4th cousins or closer and that number is ever increasing as more and more people invest in these genetic testing kits. Of course those 693 people are matches to people who have taken a DNA test through Ancestry - no other company and, no, the system is not just guessing based on some fancy algorithm if I could be related to those people. I am related to those people. Our DNA matches.  I have an ancestor in common with each and every one of them. Which ancestor? Well, that's the puzzle. 

In some instances I knew right away who the common ancestor was given the fact that my father, my sister, several of my first cousins, many of my known first cousins once removed, and their kids (my second cousins) have all taken DNA test through AncestryDNA. 

A good 50% of the 100 matches I could reach out to right now via phone, text. email, or FaceBook Messenger. No problem! 

I recognize that for other connecting 50 DNA matches to their family tree could be a big challenge but I come from a very big family. Some branches are incredibly close. Most of my very best friends are my own second cousins. Many people do not even know their second cousins or even really know what that term means. (Your second cousins are those people with whom you share great grandparents. In other words your parent's first cousins' kids.)

Another factor that contributed to being able to link so many matches into my family tree is the fact that I have been at this family history research thing for over 30 years now. I've gone to several family reunions in my time and have been able to collect names and birth dates of many, many living family members. Looking over some old paper written list of reunions put about another 20% of my found matches into my tree. These were living people who took DNA tests and that I knew of. That is to say I probably met one of their parents at a family reunion. Their names were not in my family tree on Ancestry until I gave myself this challenge of linking living AncestryDNA matches into my tree. I might have had their parent or grandparent in my tree but not them. They are in there now.

For the other 30% of my now linked matches, they were the real puzzles. The success of linking them to my tree took a combination of reaching out to them or those that manage their DNA kits through my Ancestry membership's email feature. Typically you don't hear back through Ancestry's email. People typically use Ancestry for a brief time and then check-out. Maybe they used the free 2 week trial of Ancestry or they just took a DNA test to see their ethnicity profile. they are not active users. But I got lucky with a few contacts. I had a wonderful exchange with my paternal grandmother's second cousin. I was able to fit her and her sons into my tree. She shared with me recollections of my grandmother and her siblings. Uncle Bobby Henry was a talented musician and my grandma and grandpa Earle attended this cousin's wedding.

In other cases I could put those other 30% in my tree by looking at their trees. This requires that both of us had to have pretty fleshy trees. To match a 4th cousin you have a 3rd great grandparent in common. Now fortunately I have been able to connect my research to all 32 of my 3rd great grandparents. They were all born between 1782 and 1855. 

Having researched all of my 3rd great grandparents I was able to recognize common surnames right away. For example, when I saw the surname Goodyear in one person's username I knew right away that cousin was probably connected to my 3rd great grandmother; Sophia Goodyear-Earle (1808-1877). 

Opening that cousin's public tree concealed his living father's name but showed his Goodyear line back to Sophia's brother. I had never research Sophia's brother. I didn't have any of her siblings listed in my tree - - but now I do. I combed through enough records to confirm this Goodyear cousin and I have my 4th great grandparents in common; James Goodyear (1787 - unknown) & Susanna French-Goodyear (1797 - 1829) of Twillingate, Newfoundland by way of Harbour Grace, Newfoundland.

Did I learn anything new?

Well, no. Not really. I added over 1,000 names to my tree working on this project during the last 2 weeks but I didn't really learn anything new or alarming in some way. 

I met a few nice relatives.

There are a few people that I have pretty significant matches with that I can't fit in my tree. In many cases that is because they don't have a family tree on Ancestry. Again, maybe they just checked-in for their ethnicity profile but in some cases I do suspect an adoptions or misattributed fathers are in their trees.

So what did I get out of this other than a much bigger tree and a few nice conversations?

Well, I feel very well prepared now to help others sort out their DNA matches; others who might be adoptees or those who have discover that they do not genetically match their father. If you need help sorting your DNA matches don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Uncle Allen Gives a Spit

I bought my Uncle Allen an Ancestry.com DNA kit for his birthday in mid-December. It took exactly a month for his results to come in. Yesterday I had the opportunity to look at the results with him.

Yet again I was dismayed to see how different his ethnic profile was from that of my father's. We know that siblings are not identical twins, that their DNA differs from one another yet when these profiles come back everyone is shocked that their profile isn't exactly the same as their siblings'.

My dad's results say 42% of his DNA is rooted in Great Britain. Uncle Allen's DNA is 54% Great Britain. That's a big difference. How can that be?

Well, it is the recombinant nature of DNA. Yes they each got exactly 50% from each of their parents but they didn't get the same 50%. DNA mixes itself all up each time it forms a sex cell. And that is the only answer to it.

This also means that my uncle had some different matches than my dad. But because they come from the same set of parents, all the matches that my dad has and all the matches that my uncle has are my relatives too. It doesn't matter that my dad didn't match to the same person as my uncle. My uncle could have only gotten that match from one of his parents, who are the same parents of my father, and my grandparents. All of Uncle Allen's matches are my relatives. By taking the test he has widened my research circle.

And widening the circle he has. Ancestry.com DNA has this new feature called DNA circles and as soon as I linked my uncle to my family tree, two of these circles popped up - one for James Goodyear and one for Suzanna French-Goodyear; a set of my 4th great grandparents.

What these circles do is group together people who genetically match to the same identified family tree members. Each group currently contain 6 people, 4 of which I administered the test to; me, dad, my sister, and my uncle. One of the other 2 people in the circles is a woman who genetically matches my dad, uncle and sister. The second person is a woman who genetically only matches my uncle. But all of us have this couple, James and Suzanna Goodyear, as direct ancestors.

I reached out to the woman my uncle matches to. I wrote her and said, "Hi, you have a DNA match with my uncle which has put us in the same DNA Circle for James Goodyear and Suzanna French. That makes us 3rd cousins even though we don't genetically match to each other" And she wrote back, "I don't understand how we are third cousins, but don't genetically match."

Again, recombinant nature of DNA. .

James and Suzanna Goodyear lived in Newfoundland. Their daughter, Sophia Goodyear married Elias Earle in 1828. They had a son, Abraham Earle, who is my great-great grandfather. For a while I wasn't sure if Abraham was the son of Elias. I couldn't find any documentation about Abraham's parents. All I had was a handwritten scrap of paper from Abraham's daughter, nothing official.

Without official documentation, I was leery and hesitant about putting Elias in my tree as the father of Abraham but this past summer when I went to Newfoundland I saw that Elias and Abraham's headstones were in the same cemetery.

Cenotaph for Abraham Earle. He died at sea but his wife and some children are buried here.

Headstone for Elias Earle and his wife Sophia Goodyear-Earle. She was the daughter of James Goodyear and Suzanna French-Goodyear.

And not only are Abraham and Elias' families buried in the same small cemetery but they are only 6 feet away from each other.

 

These images were taken at Hart's Cove Cemetery in Twillingate, Newfoundland; the town where my great grandfather, Abram Earle was born. You can see many Earles are buried there including Elias and Sophia. Sophia being the daughter of  James and Suzanna Goodyear.

Stronger than juxtaposition of grave sites though is genetic matches to other known descendants. As more and more genetic matches appear, the more confident one can be regardless of official documentation.

If Elias were here to spit into a tube we'd know without question that I am a direct descendant but since he is not we can only depend on genetic matches to the living who have put the same people in their family tree. So thank you, Uncle Allen, for giving a spit.