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.
