Summary of Matches After a Month

It has been a busy month.  A whole month where I have scarcely had time to open my family tree, let alone complete any research.  Even now, I’m snatching the moment.

So, I thought, a quick glance at FtDNA, then Gedmatch, then update dnagedcom and GenomeMate.  This is a DNA stat related post.

I began with my mother.  In the past month, she has received 35 new matches bringing her total to 660.  Most are distant matches but in there are four new 3rd-5th matches and two new 2nd-4th matches.  None have provided trees unfortunately, and only a few ancestral surnames are shown.

There are no new autosomal matches at all showing at Gedmatch for my mother’s kit.  There are two new X matches at Gedmatch with predicted generation distance of 7.7.  Neither meet the requirements for a regular autosomal match.

Looking at the ADSA report on dnagedcom, I can see where most of the new distant matches fit in.  Her monstrous chromosome 9 has become even more monstrous.  They all have that common segment from Colonial America.  My mother did not receive that segment via the United States so she connects to the common ancestor elseways, I’d be guessing via the Irish Plantations since a lot of them headed for Virginia, or at least sent their siblings to Virginia.  I can only make a note of my guesses and move on.

One of the new 3rd-5th cousins is a match with my mother’s half sister.  We know he comes from my paternal grandfather’s line.

That’s it for my mother at a quick glance.

On to my father’s kit.

He has 26 new matches, all but one of them predicted as distant cousins.  That one is a 3rd-5th cousin.  Everyone who has provided details has ancestry in Ireland and the surnames Murphy and Wood are in a few.  Most have ancestors from Cork which my father doesn’t, as far as I know, but Limerick is so close to Cork, it makes sense.  As is Tipperary where his other side comes from.  Murphy is the most common surname for his living matches too, I wonder if that is relevant at all?  Something else to be noted for later.

On to Gedmatch – the only new autosomal match has predicted comman ancestor at a 6.1 generations. Not a single new X match.

The ADSA report next – That 3rd-5th cousin has the surname Murphy in his tree and triangulates with a living match surnamed Murphy – interesting but a female living match so maybe a married surname?   Hmm, a further much smaller triangulation with a male match surnamed Murphy, who seems to be no connection to Miss/Mrs Murphy aforementioned. This one shows the Murphy ancestor coming from Limerick.  This is much more interesting!

His female Murphy match states earliest known paternal ancestor to be Michael Murphy born 1800 in Conna, Cork. Hmm, it’s a long way from Athea but the roads were pretty good by 1800, the regiments marched them all the time.

I think we might be onto something.  I’m definitely noting this, and have now sent emails to see what the matches think.

No more to be noted here.

Now for my father in law.

He has 30 new matches. All are distant except for one, a 3rd-5th cousin named ‘Anonymous Guest’.  No ancestral details, an email is provided so I might send a general friendly email to encourage them to look at my tree and get back to me with ideas.

One of the new matches has listed ancestral surname Montgomery.  He now has ten matches listing ancestral surname Montgomery.  I can’t connect to any one of them yet, but the rest of us don’t have that surname so it improves the likelihood of William O’Keefe’s father being a son of Stephen Creed rather than Stephen himself.

One new match on gedmatch, predicted 4.1 generations to common ancestor.  She does not triangulate with anyone. There are no new X matches for him.

ADSA report – most of the new ones are Garner segment matches and have no trees.  I’ll leave them to our intrepid Garner researcher.  Of the others, nothing jumps out at me.

That’s it for my father in law.

Next, my mother in law.

She now has 421 matches, so up by 22. Most are distant, but 4th-remote rather than 5th-remote.  There are two predicted 3rd-5th cousins. No family trees or surnames have been provided.

There are several distant new matches on Gedmatch, the closest two have a predicted common ancestor at 4.8 generations.  There are two new X Matches, one with a block of 26cM and the other with two blocks of 8cM and 14cM. Neither share autosomal DNA and no estimate to nearest ancestor is given, so nothing I can work with there.

The ADSA report – not much there.  As usual, she has several chromosomes on which the only matches are her two tested grandchildren.  The majority of matches are on chromosomes 2,4 and 10, where 10 is by far the biggest but nothing like my own mother’s monster chromosome 11 match list.   My mother in law’s family has either not tested, not reproduced much or she inherited a unique strain of the DNA.

Mother in law checked.

On to my mother’s half-sister.

30 new matches here too, bringing her to a total match count of 881.  She also matches one of my mother’s new 2nd-4th cousin matches, so that lady is on their father’s side.  Since that lady has an X-Match with them both, albeit only 9cM, she may be a connection on their father’s mother’s side.  Beyond that it will take some investigating to learn more.  I have now emailed her.

Nothing new on Gedmatch, autosomal or X.  On to the ADSA report – absolutely mammoth.  My mother has a monster match list for chromosome 9, my aunt has an ultra-mega-unbelievably massive-monster match list for this chromosome.  It scrolls and scrolls and scrolls.

My aunt has regular monster lists for chromosomes 15 and 22, I think 22 might be Ashkenazi Jewish Diaspora, since she has 8% of this from her mother’s side.  I’m going by the surnames of the matches here, which is no true guide of course.

Well, the final summary is:

My father – probably Murphy connection emerging

My mother – nothing new

My father in law – Montgomery looking more and more likely

My mother in law – nothing new

My aunt – nothing new

That’s pretty good really.  It’s a wrap.  Time to reunite myself with my family tree!