DNA testing results one year on

To see what DNA testing might show about our family history, in June last year my husband Greg and I submitted samples of our DNA to Ancestry.com for autosomal DNA analysis. Greg also took a Y-DNA test through the Family Tree DNA company.

What did I hope to learn?

I had no particular questions about my side of the tree that I thought DNA tests might answer, though I did hope that I might find some of my relatives on my mother’s side who, I had been told, had emigrated from Germany to the USA.

My mother was born in Berlin. After WWII when there wasn't enough to eat, food parcels addressed to her family began to arrive from the United States, sent---she was told---by her American cousins.  When I talked to her about my DNA testing she was a little sceptical but she thought it would be interesting to trace her American relations.

On Greg’s side of the tree there were some dead ends that I hoped DNA analysis might provide a way around. In May 2016 I blogged about these in a post [Poor little chap], with a hypothesis about the parents of Greg’s great grandfather Henry Sullivan (1862-1943).

When our test results came back I quickly found some meaningful matches on Greg’s tree. Some of his cousins had tested too, and we were able to make links between our pre-DNA trees and the DNA information.

I started a spreadsheet to record these matches and, to confirm the links I had found, I sent messages through AncestryDNA's system to people who appeared to have matching results.

My spreadsheet has these fields:

• Who took the test - me, my husband, a cousin
• Match name and/ or Nickname (for Ancestry, GEDmatch, My Heritage, 23andMe alternate names)
• Company or companies testing
• point of contact – sometimes the kit is managed by someone other than the person who provided the sample
• Email address for match or contact
• Received – when I receive a message or email to help me remember and track messages
• Notes – always a handy field
• Line, if known, or grouping of tests- family line, sometimes I know the line from shared matches or other clues, otherwise I can group tests which share matches
• MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) – I enter the 2 surnames of the couple I also use Ahnentafel numbers at the beginning of the field which are handy for sorting generations
• Cousin (cousinship) – eg: 3C or 4C-1R
• estimated relationship
• shared surnames
• linked tests (shared matches)
• Tree – copy in the URL of any tree or site for the match’s tree
• GEDmatch ID number of match
• Chromosome summary
• GedMatch Autosomal Comparison - copy and paste from the Gedmatch comparison (this can get a bit lengthy and detailed so I don't always include it)

A screenshot of the first 11 rows of my spreadsheet where I track matches. I sort the spreadsheet on most recent common ancestor and since the Ahnenetafel number is used to begin the field, the spreadsheet is sorted with more recent ancestors first. (click on image to enlarge)

I also used the 'Notes' field on AncestryDNA when I had contacted the match and added a star to matches so that I could see at a glance who I had contacted, when I contacted them, and the likely match.

A screenshot of an AncestryDNA match where our trees correspond and the most common recent ancestors are identified. There is a yellow star on the top left hand side of the screen which can be used to identify matches of interest. The notes field in the middle of the screen can be used to summarise contact, GedMatch numbers and likely shared ancestry.

A screenshot of a DNA match where our trees on ancestry do not intersect. In fact I have identified the most common recent ancestors through correspondence with another cousin and shared DNA. Although I messaged using the green "Send Message" button in the top right hand corner, the cousin did not reply. I also unsuccessfully used the brown "Contact" button on the top right of the screen for the Ancestry Profile - see screenshot below.

Initially my DNA matches meant nothing to me. There seemed to be little connection between my DNA matches and my document-based tree.

However, over the last year I have received replies from people we share DNA with, and have been able to compare our family trees and determine where they intersect. For many of these matches, I have been able to draw some conclusions as to our likely most recent common ancestors, particularly when several of us share the same DNA and have intersecting document-based trees. So far we have more than 30 matches where we can identify the most recent ancestors we share.

DNA has added to the evidence I have used to build and document my family tree. To date I have not found any DNA-based evidence which suggests my document-based tree is inaccurate. Unfortunately I have yet to find any cousins sharing DNA on my mother's side of the family.

Our family tree showing points on the tree where we have common ancestors with  cousins who  share DNA. (You can click to enlarge, but the tree has been reduced in size and individual forebears are not legible)

Related posts

• Poor little chap - considering what we might learn from testing our DNA
• DNA analysis: slow progress
• DNA analysis: taking the tree back two generations
• DNA analysis: matching the DNA results to the"paper tree"

The Legal Genealogist observes in her post of July 2 2017 That YDNA lament "you can't be matched to somebody who hasn't tested" and that there are good reasons for the lack of German DNA matches to date.

lifespans of 2nd great grandparents

This week genealogy blogger Randy Seaver has invited followers to look at the lifespans of their second great grandparents.

The mission:

1)  We each have 16 great-great grandparents.  How did their birth and death years vary?  How long were their lifespans?  

2)  For this week, please list your 16 great-great grandparents, their birth year, their death year, and their lifespan in years.  

I maintain an ancestor table spreadsheet using the Ahnentafel numbering system of my own and my husband's forebears.  Sometimes it is very easy to get distracted by the breadth of the family tree. It is useful to look back at the main trunk.

Mine and my husband's great great grandparents are the 3*great grandparents of my children.  They are numbered 32 to 63 on the table

Name	Ahnentafel number	age at death	lived
George Edward Young	32	64	1826-1890
Caroline Clarke	33	44	1835-1879
John Way	34	76	1835-1911
Sarah Daw	35	58	1837-1895
James Cross	36	54	1828-1882
Ellen Murray	37	64	1837-1901
John Plowright	38	79	1831-1910
Margaret Smyth	39	63	1834-1897
Sullivan	40	I do not know anything about the parents of Henry Sullivan
?	41
John Morley	42	65	1823-1888
Eliza Sinden	43	85	1823-1908
Isaac Dawson	44	42	1831-1872
Eliza Skerrit	45	65	1834-1899
Francis Gilbart Edwards	46	65	1848-1913
Caroline Ralph	47	46	1850-1896
Philip Champion de Crespigny	48	77	1850-1927
Annie Frances Chauncy	49	25	1857-1883
Edward Walter Hughes	50	68	1854-1922
Jeanie Hawkins	51	79	1862-1941
James Francis Cudmore	52	75	1837-1912
Margaret Budge	53	67	1845-1912
Wentworth Cavenagh	54	72	1822-1895
Ellen Jane Mainwaring	55	75	1845-1920
August Bolz	56	76	1840-1916
Wilhelmine Bamberg	57	82	1844-1926
Karl Bertz	58	78	1854-1932
Henrietta Ritter	59	80	1862-1942
Mathias Manogg	60	74	1851-1925
Agathe Maria Lang	61	74	1852-1926
Gustav [Alfons] Waldemar Karl Peters	62	44	1860-1904
Agnes Helene Louise Stern	63	57	1861-1918

The average lifespan is 65.8. The median, middle of the range,  is 67 to 68. The average lifespan for men was 67.3 (median 68)  and for women was 64.3 (median 64).

My great great grandmother Annie Frances Champion de Crespigny née Chauncy (1857-1883) died at the age of 25 of pelvic cellulitis after a 3week illness.

Greg's great great grandmother Eliza Morley née Sinden (1823-1908) was 85 when she died of asthenia (weakness) and cancer of the pharynx after an illness of 10 week.

This generation was born between 1822 and 1862. The most recent death of this generation of our family was 1942: my great great grandmother Henrietta Bertz née  Ritter (1862-1942).

My mother with her great grandmother Henrietta Bertz née  Ritter Easter 1941

X, her mark

In 2012 at http://www.lonetester.com/2012/10/family-history-through-the-alphabet-challenge-x-is-for-signatures/ Alona Tester blogged about 'X is for signatures'. She included examples of certificates where 'X his mark' showed that someone could not sign his name.

I looked though my collection of birth, death and marriage certificates for examples of people who could not sign their name.

On the birth certificate of Alice Young, born in 1859, the informant, her mother Caroline née Clark, could not sign her name and made an X. On the birth certificate of Caroline Young in 1867, the informant was her father George Young. He signed his name. In 1878 the birth of James Ernest Young was registered and the informant was Caroline. This time she appears to have signed her name. The informant's name is in a different handwriting to the details on the rest of the certificate. Perhaps Caroline had learned how to sign her name in the twenty years between the births of Alice and James.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of Alice Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 4807 of 1859. Caroline was also the informant on John Young's birth in 1856. She signed with her mark on that certificate too.

Informant's details from the birth certificate of James Ernest Young. Birth registered in Victoria number 20382 of 1878. Other details from the certificate and from the preceding certificate have been left to show the difference in handwriting, which suggests that this might be the signature of Caroline.

Sarah Way née Daw was the informant on the 1868 birth certificate of her daughter Emily Way. She could not sign her name and made a mark. However, in 1896 Sarah's husband John Way signed his name as the informant for the registration of the death of his son John.

When she registered the birth in 1864 of Henry Dawson at Corby, Lincolnshire, Eliza Dawson née Skerritt, his mother, could not sign her name. Her husband Isaac was able to sign his name when they married in 1855. She signed the marriage register with her mark.

These are the only examples I could find in my family documents of people who could not write their own name. All three women were great great great grandmothers of my husband. Eleven of his other great great great grandparents could sign their name.

These women were all born in the first half of the nineteenth century. All their husbands could sign their own names. In the next generation, their children, both girls and boys, could write their own name.

Some demographers have argued that illiteracy is linked to the size of families, in particular that education diminishes fertility. For example, a study of demographic changes in Britain from the 1850s to the early twentieth century found that "the extension of basic literacy is related to increases in female labour market participation, which is in turn related to fertility reduction". (Newell and Gazeley) The data from my family does not support this hypothesis. None of the women in the table below were ever in paid employment. I cannot see any link between the literacy of my own and my husband's great great great grandparents and the size of their families.

Age at marriage, children and dates of birth for our great great great grandmothers

Name	Ahnentafel number	literacy	number of children	age at marriage	age when first child born	age when last child born	age at death	lived	Notes
Caroline Clarke	33	no	13	18	18	43	44	1835-1879	Includes one set of twins.
Sarah Daw	35	no	10	17	18	37	58	1837-1895
Ellen Murray	37	passenger list stated she could read and write	11	19	20	41	64	1837-1901
Margaret Smyth	39	passenger list stated she could read and write	7	21	19	38	63	1834-1897	had a child before she married
Eliza Sinden	43	signature appears on birth and death certificates	8	25	26	41	85	1823-1908
Eliza Skerrit	45	no	10	21	24	38	65	1834-1899	Includes one set of triplets. This is the only English family. The last child was born at the time Eliza's husband, Isaac Dawson, died.
Caroline Ralph	47	signature appears on marriage certificate	10	20	21	43	46	1850-1896
Annie Frances Chauncy	49	yes	2	20	21	24	25	1857-1883	died young
Jeanie Hawkins	51	yes	4	21	22	31	79	1862-1941
Margaret Budge	53	yes	13	21	22	44	67	1845-1912
Ellen Jane Mainwaring	55	yes	10	20	20	37	75	1845-1920

The women in this table were Australian, with the exception of that of Eliza Skerrit, wife of Isaac Dawson, who was from Lincolnshire, England. I have not included my German great great great grandparents as I do not have the relevant data.

A graphical representation of the above data for our great great great grandmothers

click to enlarge

Reference:

• Newell, A. and Gazeley, I. (2012) The declines in infant mortality and fertility: Evidence from British cities in demographic transition, Economics Department Working Paper Series, University of Sussex, No. 48-2012 retrieved from http://ftp.iza.org/dp6855.pdf 27 April 2014

Australia Day: Climbing our family's gum tree

CLIMBING OUR FAMILY’S GUM TREE, a blogging challenge from Pauline Cass for Australia Day 2014

My children have fifty-one direct ancestors who were immigrants to Australia. It has been quite a job to gather and arrange this information about them.

My first ancestor to arrive in Australia was my fifth great grandfather George Taylor (1758 - 1828). He came to Tasmania in 1822 with wife Mary née  Low (1765 -1850) and his family. His descendants still run Valleyfield near Longford, the property he and his sons farmed.

"Valleyfield" Epping Tas. The "Taylors" have lived here for over 100 years. , about 1914 - about 1941 Photograph in the collection of the State Library of Victoria. Accession number H22546. A.C. Dreier postcard collection. Retrieved from
https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab47005

Were there any convicts? There are no convicts on my side. On my husband Greg's side we know that Caroline Clarke, his great great grandmother who married George Young, was born in New South Wales about 1835. We haven't been able to trace her parents, so perhaps they were convicts.

Where did our ancestors come from? Twenty-six from England, seven from Scotland, two from Wales, eight from Ireland, and four from Germany.  One of our English forebears was born in India. There are at least four immigrants in the list of fifty-one that I know nothing about.

Did any of our ancestors arrive under their own financial steam? Many paid their own passage, and there were some assisted immigrants.  Only one seems to have worked his way to Australia. This was John Plowright, who stated when admitted to Maryborough Hospital in 1873 that he had arrived in the colony on the Speculation from London about 1853 and his occupation was mariner.  He wasn't listed as a deserter but perhaps he signed off to go to the goldfields.

How many ancestors came as singles? couples? families? Thirty-two of the fifty-one immigrants, or sixty percent, came as families. Thirteen came as single immigrants and there was only one couple without children: John and Sarah Way.

Did one person lead the way and others follow? There are quite a few instances of this. 

• The de Crespignys probably came because Charlotte's brothers had been given jobs by Governor Latrobe. 
• The Edwards probably came because Mary's sister Sarah and her husband Francis Tuckfield were already in Australia. 
• Philip Chauncy followed his sisters, who had arrived in Adelaide two years previously. 
• The Plaisteds followed Ann's sister and brother, who had arrived twelve years earlier in Adelaide. 
• Isabella Hutcheson née Taylor followed her parents and brothers to Tasmania in about 1833 after the death of her husband.  She came with five young children.
• My grandfather came first after the war and his wife and daughter joined him ten months later. My grandfather was the only immigrant to arrive by air.

Which state(s)/colony did our ancestors arrive? Eight arrived in Tasmania, eighteen in Victoria, fifteen in South Australia, two in Western Australia and four migrated to the Australian Capital Territory.

Forty-two, or ninety percent, of our forty-seven immigrant ancestors arrived before 1855, one arrived in 1888, and the remaining four arrived in the middle of the twentieth century after World War 2.

Number of arrivals by year of arrival:

1822	1833	1835	1836	1838	1839	1840	1849	1850	1852	1853	1854	1888	1949	1950	1960
2	2	3	1	2	2	3	6	3	3	6	9	1	1	2	1

Did they settle and remain in one state/colony? No, for example

• the Ways moved from South Australia to Victoria and then to New South Wales
• the Ralphs moved from Victoria to South Australia
• the Plaisteds and the Hughes moved from South Australia to Victoria
• the Cudmores and Nihills moved from Tasmania to South Australia
• the Hutchesons moved from Tasmania to Victoria
• Philip Chauncy moved from South Australia to Western Australia to Victoria

Did any of our ancestors leave Australia and go “home”? William Snell Chauncy visited his children in South Australia for only twelve months before returning to England. Gordon Mainwaring and his wife Mary née Hickey both died in England as did their son-in-law, Wentworth Cavenagh-Mainwaring. My grandparents and mother visited Germany.

generated by https://www.tagxedo.com inspired by the image by Sharon at https://shazlex.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/australia-day-challenge-2014.html who also responded to the challenge