i had the name relative race in one of my dna matches

For example, since Dorrie, Lonnie, and Matt all have public trees, I can look through their trees to find ancestry that they share in common. If so, then I can proceed with the hypothesis that those individuals are related to Test-Taker and/or 1C1R through the known relative.Īnother way to mine the clusters is to look through their trees to find shared ancestry, working with the hypothesis that their shared ancestry is how they might be related to Test-Taker and/or 1C1R.

For example, the simplest way to proceed is to see whether any of the clusters have a known relative in them. Now, I can mine the clusters for shared ancestry, understanding that I must proceed carefully. I can format the shared matches clusters a little differently, eliminating repetition of names: As example, “Jimmy” in the graphic above shares matches with the Test-Taker on the opposite side of the family (i.e., the 1C1R is on the paternal side of the family, and Jimmy looks to be related on the maternal side of the family). I am risking, for example, bringing in shared matches that are actually shared on different lines. Now, I can take these shared matches and cluster them into groups, while understanding that this is very, very risky. For example, Phil and the 1C1R also share Ann in common: Repeating this on the right side are the matches shared in common with a Shared Match and the 1C1R. Pam and Stu are shared matches with Ken and the Test-Taker. For example, in the following graphic, Ann is shared in common with Phil and the Test-Taker. BUT! It is entirely possible that Test-Taker and Phil share an ancestor while 1C1R and Phil share an entirely different ancestor.Įach of the Shared Matches may, in turn, share matches with the Test-Taker and/or the 1C1R. This suggests that Test-Taker, Phil, and 1C1R share a common ancestor. So, Phil is a match shared by both the Test-Taker and the 1C1R. The shared matches with public trees are in bold: These are the shared matches between the Test-Taker and her 1C1R (all names changed, of course). There, I click on Shared Matches, and I get a list of just nine matches (that is, just nine of Test-Taker’s fourth cousins or closer are also shared with the 1C1R). Notably, this list is on the small side. I log into the Test-Taker’s DNA results, and then I click on the profile for her 1C1R. I focus on these individuals, for example, because I’m particularly interested in their shared ancestry, some of which I know and some of which I don’t know: There are MANY limitations to the tool, be sure to understand those limitations completely (see “ AncestryDNA Announces New IN COMMON WITH Tool“).įor this exercise, we’ll look at the shared matches between a Test-Taker and her 1C1R, who share 547 cM in common: Second, the Shared Matches tool only shows your fourth cousins or closer shared with a match. First, it is common that 20-30% of matches are not shared by either parent (which is either a false positive for you or a false negative for your parents). Now, you might say that together my mother and father should share ALL of my matches in common, but that would be incorrect for several reasons. For example, I’ve tested both my parents, and I get three (3) pages of shared matches with each of my parents. If you’ve tested close relatives, you might see them in your Shared Matches list. It’s not uncommon to have many shared matches, no shared matches, or any number of matches in between 0 and many. The Shared Matches Tool can be found by clicking on a genetic matches’ profile, and then clicking on the SHARED MATCHES tab. I’m posting this because I found it useful, and I would like to get feedback on what others are doing in this area, particularly with regard to automation of this process. I know I say this a thousand times in the post and the caveats at the end, but please use caution with this. This works better if you have a well-researched tree and several tested relatives on multiple different sides/branches of the family. Once you have a list of genetic cousins at AncestryDNA, you can mine the Shared Matches with each of those cousins, looking for patterns of shared ancestry among the shared matches. Given the lack of a chromosome browser, the Shared Matches tool at AncestryDNA is one of the most powerful tools available to genealogists.

I had the name relative race in one of my dna matches