DNA WORKSHOP
Welcome to the DNA Workshop! In every issue DNA adviser Karen Evans will be unpacking a reader case study, and giving step-by-step tips for you to use in your DNA research at home. It’s time to unlock the story of your genes…
Unidentified fathers, cousins you don’t DNA match with, and a curiosity about your erstwhile Irish origins: DNA adviser Karen Evans is here to help you unpick the story of your genes
CAN DNA RESEARCH REVEAL WHO MY FATHER WAS?
PAT: This will be the first time that I have ever divulged my birth to anyone outside my family, husband excluded of course.
Reader Pat got in touch with DNA adviser Karen Evans to ask about the possible steps for finding out who her father was
Facts:
• I was illegitimate.
• I never knew who my father was.
• My mother never breathed a word.
• My aunts told me one or two things but as they were small children at the time, their memories are unreliable.
I have taken an Ancestry DNA test and frankly haven’t a clue how to decipher it. I have no idea where to go from here, even after reading your very interesting articles! My tree on Ancestry is my mother’s family as I clearly have no idea about the other side. Incidentally, in case you are wondering, my mother is no longer alive, I never felt comfortable about asking about my father as I felt that I should respect her silence and equally she married a wonderful man who became my father (but not adopted by him) although I took on his surname legally.
I would appreciate your ‘silence’ on these details, i.e. that any names are changed to protect those living but I really do wonder if you can shed any light on my DNA and equally on those names of whom none appear in a fairly extensive maternal tree please.
KAREN:
I spent some time emailing Pat and she made it clear that, although she wanted to see what the DNA test would reveal, she had no intention of contacting anyone on her paternal side. She was open to sharing her test results with me and, as Myheritage were offering free access to tools with any upload during this time, Pat decided to upload her DNA there also. Pat gave me access to her Ancestry results and shared information about her higher matches on Myheritage.
Pat’s aunts thought her father could be a Samuel Pilsbury and they’d shared some basic information about where he was from and how they believed he and Pat’s mother met. There was no evidence to prove or disprove this theory that Pat knew of. Pat’s aunts are now also deceased.
Would there be any clues that pointed to her paternal side and, in particular, to Samuel Pilsbury?
DNA MATCH YOUR FIRST STEPS
Whether you have a ‘missing’ ancestor, a fully grown tree or have no idea
about your family, the first thing to do with DNA matches is to cluster them together in groups by looking at shared matches. The idea being that each group will represent a part of your tree, you just need to find the ancestors they all share – though I should say ‘just need’ makes it sound very easy! This is where all the traditional research methods come into play, creating quick and dirty trees from the information you can glean from each match. It can be difficult and will be time-consuming, but the sense of achievement when you identify the common ancestor makes it all worthwhile.
WHERE TO START CLUSTERING
WHETHER YOU HAVE A FULLY GROWN TREE OR NO IDEA ABOUT YOUR FAMILY, THE FIRST THING TO DO WITH DNA MATCHES IS TO CLUSTER THEM TOGETHER IN GROUPS BY LOOKING AT SHARED MATCHES
We usually start clustering by choosing the highest match of about 400cms or below. Why not higher matches? Higher matches are most likely to be related to you through more than one branch of your tree. A cousin, for example with share two grandparents with you so any shared matches could come from either side. Once you have your DNA match you click on ‘shared matches’ (on Ancestry, Livingdna and Myheritage), ‘In common with’ (on Familytreedna), or ‘relatives in common’ (on 23andme) to find the cluster. Where the company show how much DNA you each share with a particular match then it’s important to look at the DNA amount. By way of example, in the screenshot (above) you can see I share 38.1cms with match A but Molly only shares 11.1cms. This could be a very distant match between Molly and match A, it could even be false.
Getting to grips with clustering is the key to using your DNA. An excellent video by Donna Rutherford titled ‘DNA Research Methodology’ explains how to get started http:// familytr.ee/methodology
SO, WHAT DID PAT’S GROUPS TELL US?
Pat’s top two matches, Daphne and Nigel, were clearly mother and son, looking at the limited tree that was attached to both. They share 402cms and 281cms with Pat but the names in the tree meant nothing to her. We built a quick and dirty tree, noting Daphne’s father was illegitimate.
Pat and Daphne shared nearly 20 matches, many with trees. The top five (all over 90cms) had well-researched trees and it was therefore nice and easy to spot a shared ancestor – in this case, Edward Walton and his wife Lucy Holland both born c.1820 in Therfield, Hertfordshire. We looked at other matches in this clustered group and were able to find several more connected to this couple via five of their children and Lucy’s siblings.
Based on the information she’d garnered from her aunts, Pat began to build a tree for her putative father Samuel Pilsbury and quickly saw his mother’s maiden name had been Walton – were we on the right track?
WERE WE ON THE RIGHT TRACK?
It seemed we were, Lucy and Edward Walton were Samuel’s greatgrandparents. We were now able to compare the matches’ trees with the one Pat had created and could see three of the matches were descended from half uncles of Samuel – the amount of DNA they shared with Pat fell nicely within that range. Daphne’s quick and dirty tree showed no link to the Walton family: for such a close match I would expect Pat and Daphne to share further back than 2xs greatgrandparents but there was no sign on the maternal side. It could be that this side is incorrect or the Walton link lies via the missing father.
We had DNA links to Samuel
Pilsbury’s mother. What about his father? Pat noticed that one of her highest matches on Myheritage (at 231cms) had the surname Pilsbury and there was a small tree attached. Looking at the tree Pat had created soon showed that Samuel and the Myheritage match were first cousins once removed: their common ancestors were James Pilsbury and his wife Margaret. Pat and the Myheritage match would be second cousins if the trees were correct. We used the shared cm Project at DNA painter to check and found this certainly fitted with our thoughts.
A WORD OF WARNING ON HINTS…
Back to Ancestry and this is where things became a little more complicated and shows how you need to do your own research and not assume the hints are correct. Pat’s highest match was Paul, who shared 272cms, had a small tree and (oh goody) a green leaf indicating a common ancestor hint. As Pat hasn’t added the Pilsbury side to her tree it was safe to assume that Paul was going to be from the maternal side.
However, clicking on the match showed Ancestry believed they were 6th cousins, their common ancestor was a 5x great-grandfather Thomas Primett. This simply couldn’t be correct, sixth cousins would not share so much DNA, in fact the likelihood was that Pat and Paul wouldn’t share any DNA at all from a common ancestor so far distant.
Paul was a much nearer relation than that! I decided to create a quick and dirty tree based on the information Paul shared. There were three grandparents mentioned on his tree… the fourth? She was a Pilsbury and her grandparents were James and Margaret Pilsbury! Paul was part of cluster which we labelled Pilsbury. Others within that group showed
clear links with the Pilsbury line Pat had researched. Interestingly, another match (Deb) within this cluster also showed the same Thrulines hint as Paul. Pat, Paul and Deb all have trees which indicate their link to Thomas Primett but the amount of DNA tells us a different story. In this case it was obvious that they must be more closely linked than by a mutual 5x great-grandfather – it always pays to check whether Thrulines is correct.
COULD PAT BE SURE SAMUEL IS HER FATHER?
Pat is showing clear DNA links with both Samuel’s maternal and paternal sides. The matches we have identified suggest Pat is in the ‘right’ place on the tree for both Samuel’s parents, which could only be possible if she is a descendant of a Pilsbury/walton liaison and I could only find this from Samuel’s parents. Records also suggest that Samuel was an only son of the couple and neither he, nor his only sibling, would have been old enough to have had a child who could be a father to Pat.
WHAT NEXT?
Although Pat’s DNA matches are showing clear evidence that Samuel was her father, she could always use the What Are The Odds (WATO) tool on DNA Painter to confirm her hypothesis. This allows you to create a tree, using your match’s DNA amounts and then put the person in question (in this case, Pat) within the tree in various places. WATO then tells you how likely the person in question is in the right place. Find out more at dnapainter.com or look back at my ‘Task of the Month’ from February 2021 issue: http://familytr.ee/wato.
If she wishes, Pat could add her paternal line to her tree and see if there were any common ancestor hints generated to explore. She might want to make her tree private so that other matches don’t see how she is related to this line. I know Pat is concerned that she doesn’t share her birth information and I explained that she only needed to do what was comfortable for her.
Pat’s Ancestry test threw up a rather interesting and unexpected result. When creating the clusters and looking how they fitted into Pat’s known tree, I couldn’t find matches for her mother’s paternal line. In the short time we have had together I’ve not had the chance to look further but it could be something Pat might want to investigate. If she is happy, after reading their terms and conditions, to upload her DNA to other sites she might want to consider that. Pat has already uploaded to Myheritage but sites such as Familytreedna, Myheritage and Gedmatch also allow uploads from other sites and have ever growing databases. A larger ‘pool’ of matches would increase her chances of higher matches for all her lines. Pat could test at other companies that do not allows uploads from Ancestry, such as 23andme which has the second biggest database which may hold otherwise unknown matches. Due to the sensitive nature of the search and also the possibility of living relatives, the names in this article have
been changed.
[DNA Workshop coverage continued on page 50]