‘I ALWAYS FELT I DID NOT FIT INTO THE FAMILY’
Welcome to the DNA Workshop! In every issue DNA adviser Karen Evans will be sharing the latest DNA news, unpacking a reader case study, and giving you step-by-step tips for you to use in your DNA research at home. It’s time to unlock the story of your gen
DNA adviser Karen Evans helps a reader make sense of their past with the help of a DNA test and some essential family history know-how
DNA NEWS LI VINGDNA FAMILY NE TWORKS
Living DNA have been rolling out some new features over the last month or so. Beginning with their existing customers there will be new portal features such as enhanced regions to more accurately represent your ancestry and maps with opacity levels to show the strength of your ancestry in each region. Look out also for their simple click opt-in button within your portal that clearly shows you if you are part of Family Networks. Alongside this, you will now have much clearer visibility of your matches and status of results. livingdna.com
ANCES TRY E THNICI T Y UPDA TE
If you have tested with Ancestry you will no doubt have noticed some changes in your ethnicity. If, like me, you have predominantly UK and Irish ancestry then the most important part of this update is the expanded reference panel and algorithm. Ancestry are able to break larger regions so your England, Wales, & Northwestern
Europe region are now broken up into one or more of the following regions: England & Northwestern Europe, Wales, Ireland, or Scotland. This seems to have increased many people’s Scottish Ethnicity.
DNA CASE STUDY
Dear Karen I really appreciate you having a look at my DNA results. I was born in a Salvation Army Home for unmarried mothers and informally adopted by a family, though I didn’t know this at the time. I always felt I did not fit into the family and then I found my birth certificate in a jug with my real mother's name on it – Mary Fellows.
I tracked her down but found she had died many years ago. A relative told me Mary met my dad Norman Cole at a theatre or cinema where she worked as an usherette and he was the manager. When she became pregnant he denied he was the father and left her to fend for herself. I decided to take an Ancestry DNA test to find out about my father’s family but I am finding it really difficult to understand. There are hundreds of matches but none of them are called Fellows or Cole! Have I found the right parents? I’ve sent my highest matches messages but no one has replied. Best Wishes ‘Mick’
I think many people feel a little overwhelmed when they first receive their DNA results. The key to a DNA test is combining it with traditional genealogical research.
Step 1: Working out what you know & setting up a family tree
To this end I asked Mick to provide me with as much information as he could about Mary. Norman and their ancestors. He knew quite a lot about Mary, including her mother’s maiden name, Seville. Using this information Mick was able to create a tree for Mary which we could use to identify any DNA matches. He attached this to his DNA results, hoping for any common ancestor or Thrulines hints. As the tree wasn’t fully researched, we decided to make it private. This way others wouldn’t inadvertently copy incorrect information until it had been properly verified.
Step 2: Looking at the match list
Mick very kindly gave me collaborator rights to his DNA results. I quickly saw that he has an extremely high match of 915 cms named Lily. Even better Lily had a small, unlinked tree which showed her mother was Mary’s sister – hooray! I clicked on the shared matches and worked down the list, sure enough there were matches whose trees connected to the Fellows line but there were also matches showing the Seville connection. After twenty-fours Ancestry had generated hints based on Mick’s tree which indicated several other matches to the Fellows and Seville lines. Mick was able to verify the information from the matches’ trees and we felt confident enough to say Mary
Fellows was Mick’s biological mother.
Step 3: Grouping matches with coloured dots
This now meant we could start grouping some of Mick’s matches to his mother’s paternal and maternal lines. Mary’s paternal grandparents were John Fellows and Lucy Price. I created a pink dot group Fellows/ Price. The highest match in this group (indicated by a common ancestor hint) was Kate, sharing 388 cms with Mick so I added her to the group and all her shared matches. I then worked down Mick’s match list looking for other Fellows/price matches.
Mary’s maternal grandparents were William Seville and Ann Pursall so I made a red dot group Seville/pursall. Another of Mick’s higher matches ‘Pat’ had no tree but a very unusual surname. We built a ‘quick and dirty tree’ that showed Pat’s mother was William Seville’s sister – Pat was added to the Seville/pursall group and her shared matches were also given a red dot.
Remember the high match Lily? She belongs in both groups so was given a red AND pink dot. One of the matches is also Lily’s daughter so belongs to both groups too. However it is important to watch for lower matches who seem to belong in more than one group – this could mean the families had intermarried. In Mick’s case the two groups created stayed firmly separate.
Step 4: Looking for papertrail clues
But what of Mick’s possible biological father? We only had sketchy information to go on. Norman Cole apparently was a cinema manager, a few years older than Mary and lived in the same town. Oh, and Norman’s father or brother might be called David! Luckily Mick was born in 1940 so there was a good chance Norman was on the 1939 Register. With fingers (and toes) crossed Mick and I searched through the register and were surprised and delighted to find a Norman Cole living only a few hundred yards from Mary whose father was called David. Clicking on the entry told us Norman’s
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occupation – theatre manager! We were now on the hunt. Armed with Norman’s birth date we were quickly able to find his birth registration and his mother’s maiden name, which was Horniblow.
Using traditional research Mick drew up a tree for his potential paternal side. David Cole (Norman’s father) was the son of Elijah Cole and Annie Holt; Sarah Horniblow (Norman’s mother) was the daughter of Arthur Horniblow and Florence Kerr. Would Mick’s DNA matches reflect these lines?
Mick’s sixth DNA match had the surname Horniblow which surely could not be a coincidence. We were doubly luckily as there was also a tree which led us straight back to Arthur Horniblow and Florence Kerr – this match was descended from their son, so a second cousin to Mick. The amount of shared DNA (130 cms) fitted nicely with the expected relationship. I made a dot group Horniblow/kerr and added the shared matches to it, some of these had trees which indicated Horniblow or Kerr family members.
Step 5: Keeping an eye out for shared places
All of Mick’s matches above 80 cms fitted into one of the three groups that we had created – where was the Cole/holt line? Mick’s highest unidentified match (in grouping terms) was ‘Bob’ who shared 79 cms of DNA. Bob had a detailed tree but there were no surnames which matched. He did however have a great-grandfather who came from the same town – a William Cooksey. I clicked the shared matches to see if I could find any common matches in this group. After looking at existing trees and creating quick and dirty trees for some of the others I was able to find five matches who were related to the same Cooksey line as Bob. I named this group ‘unknown Cooksey’ .As yet we don’t know how this group fits into Mick’s tree.
There is also a large group ranging from 46 cms-23 cms who all stem from the Caddy family in the same county as Mick and another large shared match group ranging from 40cms- 21cms who are also from the same county but with little else in common. The latter group may match Mick by IBS (Identical By State) rather than IBD (Identical By Descent) which basically means they do not share a common ancestor. You can find out more about this on the ISOGG Wiki https://isogg.org/ wiki/identical_by_descent.
Step 6: Considering all possible options
The rest of Mick’s ungrouped matches were 40 cms and below which could mean a shared ancestor many generations ago. There were no DNA matches related to the Cole or Holt family. This could be because no one from this line has yet tested or we haven’t identified them in the matches we do have. Mick added his possible paternal side to his DNA tree but received no Thrulines or common ancestor links on the Cole/ Holt lines. We do have matches to Sarah Horniblow so they may be a possibility that Mick’s father is Norman Cole but his father wasn’t David! Is this where the Cooksey group fit in? We need to consider all possible options.
IN SUMMARY
Mick has made a good start on his DNA journey but, as always, there are as many questions as answers. I think for the first three or four months (other than matches with shared ancestor hints or obvious tree links) I couldn’t work out how I matched with even the closest cousins. However, by building out my tree, looking for matches who came from my areas of interest
or who share a surname (but be careful!), trying to construct trees for my matches and messaging when I had clues I eventually began to make headway. It’s requires effort but the sense of exhilaration when you work out how you match is amazing!
Where next for Mick?
I would be looking at the clusters of matches which, as yet, don’t fit into Mick’s tree. He could continue building quick and dirty trees, looking for potential links which would help with further research. • Mick could take a Y-DNA test at Familytreedna which can be useful for men with no knowledge of their paternal line (e.g. Adoptees or those with an illegitimate brick wall) as it can give an indication of the male surname through their Y-DNA. Working out whether men with the same surname are related can be particularly helpful as you can connect with others who may have researched their line further back. Mick may find a group of matches who clearly indicate a particular surname - in this case Cole. However some testers find matches with a variety of surnames or few matches at all. I looked at Y-DNA testing in more detail in the July 2020 edition of the magazine if you would like to know more.
• If Mick is happy, after reading their terms and conditions, to upload his DNA to other sites he could certainly do so. Places like Myheritage, Familytreedna, Livingdna and Gedmatch allow uploads from other sites and have ever growing databases. More matches could increase his evidence towards a potential father or show he is on the wrong path and to think again.
Please note: Due to the sensitive nature of the search and also the possibility of living relatives the names in this article have been changed.