Thrulines

[Anstey Nomad]

Just looking to compare notes really.

My DNA results still look a bit odd.

I have three second to third cousins cousins and three third to fourth cousins.
Only one of these people is accounted for. The other five, I have no idea who they are and no common ancestors are suggested.

Looking at Thrulines just now, I can see that there are no common ancestors suggested until we get to 3 x great grandparents at the end of the eighteenth century and most of the information about them is not drawn from my tree or research.

How does this chime with others' experience?

[Phoenix]

I would check whether those five are related to each other, or who they are related to.

Do they have trees? Do they come from an area where everyone is closely related to each other?

On just about all the DNA I am researching, there's a mystery group that I cannot get to grips with, but if these are very closely related to you, it suggests A FAMILY SECRET.

[kiterunner]

Ignoring all the entries which say common ancestor with my Dad, I have none coming up with my grandparents, although I do have a DNA match with a 1st cousin - they have not built much of a tree, so they aren't getting ThruLines. I have one "common ancestor match" showing with a great-grandparent, then half a dozen with 2xg-grandparents, then quite a few with 3xg-grandparents. When I get to 4xg's, there are some "potential ancestors" added in the gaps.

If you have a DNA match who has no tree, or a tiny one, or a private unsearchable one, the software will not come up with common ancestors. Also if the relevant branch of your tree or theirs has an ancestor who wasn't your / their actual biological ancestor.

So for instance, when I had Walter Horner Brown in my tree as 2xg-grandfather I didn't get hits on Thrulines, but when I realised that my g-grandmother's bio father was actually Edward Hunter Atkins and I put him in, I got DNA matches showing against him on ThruLines, and I think it showed "potential ancestors" further back on his line, though I can't check that now because I have added them to my tree by now.

[Anstey Nomad]

Phoenix, the five all match with each other, and with a substantial number of more distant matches. I can see their connection, which goes back to North Lincolnshire, not my area at all.

[Phoenix]

Do you have a surname for which you have no matches? Have any cousins or more distant known relations been tested and show these matches? The obvious answer may be a family skeleton.

[Anstey Nomad]

I loads of matches for a couple of surnames that don’t appear in my tree.

It’s difficult to figure out where the skeleton might be given the geography and the way to generations fall.

[Phoenix]

Have you made contact with any of these matches? It may need to be delicately worded.

I have a line with absolutely no matches and so has Best Mate, but I really can't tell whether it is a reflection of illegitimacy/adultery or lack of test results.

[kiterunner]

I sent you a PM last night, AN, not sure whether you have seen it?

[Anstey Nomad]

I have now :-)

That sounds like a plan, once I've got things in order.

Phoenix, I have been in touch with one of the five very early on when neither of us had the faintest idea what we were doing. There was no issue, because at that point she was the only one and we both thought the connection was possibly because her father was adopted.

I need to put this in a format that people understand. I think that would be the first step, because it looks ever so complicated to me.

[Mary from Italy]

If you can see how the five are related, it might be worth doing a search of your matches for other people with the common surname/s, in case any smaller matches have trees that help.

[Kit]

Do you have someone who disappears on your tree or for who you have no marriage?

The father who was adopted might belong to a female of yours who later married.

[marquette]

I have a whole bunch of distant cousins from my Morrin-Laurie-Kerr ancestors, who all share matches (some have trees and show up in ThruLines).

A whole lot of the ancestors and rellies migrated to all over the place (US, Canada, Australia, NZ, India and England) from Scotland.

I have been extending my tree down those lines to see if I can, at least, add to my tree the ancestors who migrated. This may help link up those who have only small trees or those who only have ancestors born in the US (very few of my matches have trees that go back far enough to ancestors born outside the USA).

If this works, ThruLines should eventually pick up the links, I think. Its a lot of work, as they all had many children, but I am stuck at home and I may as well do some family research as look at facebook (we are not on lock down, but we are all just staying home anyway).

Sometimes I think its just a matter of looking far enough back in time - by my calculations, the furthest back I should be able to make a match is 5-g grandparents (about 5-8cM) but I am sure some of my matches have elevated shared amounts of DNA because of the number of marriages between the same families - first cousins, second cousins once removed, brother of cousin's husband.