This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge from Randy Seaver has us checking results in our DNA databases.
Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along; cue the Mission: Impossible! music!):
(1) Have you done an autosomal DNA test? If so, at which testing company/ies?
(2) Of your top 10 DNA matches on any site, how many are known relatives, and are they in your family tree? No names, but give a known relationship if possible.
(3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post. Please leave a link in a comment to this post.
Okay, here we go!
1. I have done autosomal DNA tests at AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, and 23andMe. I have also uploaded results to MyHeritage. (And one of these days I really need to send in my already-paid-for test from LivingDNA.)
2. My top 10 matches at each site:
AncestryDNA: I don't see anything that says how many matches I have. Maybe someone can tell how to find that. My top 10 matches are:
• Sister
• Brother
• Half-sister
• Half-aunt
• 1st cousin 2x removed
• 2nd cousin
• 1st cousin 1x removed
• 1st cousin 2x removed
• 2nd cousin
• 2nd cousin
I know who all of these people are, and all but the last are in my family tree.
Family Tree DNA: I have 15,552 matches (very easy to find!). My top 10 matches are:
• Father
• Half-aunt
• Half-aunt
• 2nd cousin 1x removed
• Unknown
• Unknown
• Unknown
• Unknown
• Unknown
• Unknown
Those six "Unknown" relationships are listed as 2nd–4th cousins by FTDNA. They're all on my Jewish side and are likely further back than that, maybe about 4th–6th cousins. I will probably never know exactly how I am related to them. (One of them shows as a match to me in three different databases.) The first four on the list are in my family tree (and I know them), and none of the rest is.
23 and Me: I have 1,500 matches (also very easy to find!). My top 10 matches are:
• Half 1st cousin
• 1st cousin 1x removed
• Half 4th cousin
• 2nd cousin
• 2nd cousin
• Unknown
• Unknown
• 2nd cousin
• 1st cousin 2x removed
• 2nd cousin 1x removed
The two "Unknown" relatives in this database are both listed as 2nd cousins. One is on my paternal grandmother's side, which could mean I have him in the family tree, but he is listed without a surname on 23 and Me, so I can't pick him out. The other is on my mother's side and is almost definitely not in my tree. The eight identified relationships in the top 10 are all in the tree.
MyHeritage: I have 29,679 matches, almost twice as many as on FTDNA! My top 10 matches are:
• Father
• Father (with different stats!)
• Sister
• Brother
• Nephew
• Half-aunt
• Half-aunt
• Half-aunt (same as one just above, again with different stats)
• 1st cousin 1x removed
• Half 4th cousin
I know all of these individuals but the last one, and all are in my tree.
Although not one of the questions Randy posed at the beginning, what does this indicate?
• I appear to have tons more matches than Randy does. :)
• On Ancestry and MyHeritage, I know who my top matches are (although I don't know why two of them are duplicated on the latter).
• I know most of my top matches on 23 and Me.
• I have more matches unknown to me on FTDNA because of Jewish endogamy.
• I need to do more with my 23 and Me matches because of the cool tree they've etxrapolated based on matching segments. That could be helpful to my research.
New reader to your blog.
ReplyDeleteI’m only on Family Tree DNA. I’ve only had responses from three of my Top 10. None of them are known family members, and the three that did respond we weren’t able to find a connection, which was rather disappointing.
My wife and I are apparently are maybe 6th cousins, and maybe I’ll figure that out one day.
My brother did 23 and Me and our mother’s first cousin was in his Top 10.
Welcome, and thank you for finding me! I hope you enjoy my writing.
DeleteIf you are Ashkenazi Jewish, particularly if you are on both sides (I'm only half), endogamy makes DNA research extremely difficult, because we're all apparently related to each other. Having multiple ancestors in common on multiple lines in common amplifies the amount of DNA you share with someone and distorts the relationship. So instead of actually being 2nd-4th cousins, which might be findable, you're more likely 4th-6th cousins, which for most Ashkenazim means you're unlikely to ever find the relationship, due to other factors. It's great that your brother had an identifiable cousin in his top 10.
ALmost all of my top 10 matches are on my father's (non-Jewish) side. It was not surprising that I had a large number of matches unknown to me on FTDNA, because it marketed heavily to the Jewish community.
I wish you the best of luck with your research. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you are able to identify at least some of your top 10 matches.
At Ancestry, click on the "Shared DNA" dropdown and it will tell you how many matches you have.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! That turned into good and bad news. I found the number, and it's a ridiculous 66,242, more than twice as much as on MyHeritage. I suspect a lot more Jewish people have been testing at AncestryDNA.
DeleteWouldn't there be a lot more people with Jewish ancestry testing at MyHeritage since it is an Israeli company? You certainly know more of who your matches are than I do.
ReplyDeleteI think the fact that a lot of people with Jewish ancestry have tested at MyHeritage is why the number of matches is twice that at FTDNA. But Ancestry really hyped its marketing, even though it wasn't specifically targeted at the Jewish community, and I suspect that's why I have more than 66,000 matches now. I really don't think most of those are on my father's side, especially since what matches I do have on that side are focused almost entirely on my grandmother's line so far.
DeleteYou really jumped in, reviewing matches at each company. With my own matches, DNA is interesting, but I haven't had any real breakthroughs. Most of my matches are for common ancestors born in the 1700s or early 1800s.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds as though you already have a very good handle on your ancestor going back that far. On my mother's side I have found only one identifiable among all the thousands and thousands of matches. On my father's side the vast majority of the matches are on his mother's side. I am still looking for my grandfather's biological father and have very few matches there. So I have a greater need to look at those matches on a regular basis.
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