Exploring My 23andMe Historical DNA Matches

 

I thought it might be a fun exercise to look at my Historical Matches at 23andMe.  Historical DNA matches compare your genetic data with DNA recovered from ancient human remains or historical individuals discovered at archaeological sites.  I sorted my historical matches by amount of matches from each group and it looks like I match with more samples from the Viking Age era than any of the others.  

I pulled the match info into a table including all categories but only the top two of the Viking Age era

I gave this information along with the descriptive blurbs included for each of the matches to Gemini and asked it to give me a brief summary.  

Gemini's Summary:
Your historical DNA matches span roughly 3,000 years of human history (from ~1400 BCE to 1700 CE) across a broad geographic range, including Western Europe, Central Eurasia, Scandinavia, and South Asia.

Highest Shared DNA: Your strongest genetic connections among these profiles are to Viking Age Merchant VK479 (0.14% DNA / 9.86 cM across 2 segments) and Viking Age Individual VK368 (0.13% DNA / 9.11 cM across 2 segments). Because you share multiple segments and higher centiMorgan values with them, these represent your most relatively recent shared ancestry among the listed group.

Geographic Spread: While the majority of your matches are centered in Medieval Europe and Scandinavia (e.g., Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, Faroe Islands), you also share ancient genetic links with distant Eurasian populations from Kazakhstan (Late Bronze Age) and Pakistan (Swat Valley).

Relationship Context: All listed matches are classified as "Very distantly related." Rather than direct linear descent, these matches indicate that you and these historical individuals inherited small, preserved segments of DNA from common ancestors who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago.

I think that is a far assessment.  All of my ancestors(paternal & maternal) were living in the American Colonies by the time of the Revolutionary War.

My current ancestry composition at 23andMe as of their last update-- September 09, 2025.

More Pieces of the Puzzle: Cook and Harrison

While continuing to work on the paper trail to identify Elizabeth Harrison's Cook husband, I went ahead and connected her as Wm C. Cook's mother. I also attached the census data, the link to my blog post(s) with the reasoning, and a note in the Suffix field of her profile.  

I revisited the YDNA matches of my brother for the COOK(E) Project and went over my notes and corresponded with one of the project admins.  While we do match a group of Pattersons as close as we match Cooks, the Pattersons lived near the GA & NC Cooks that descend from the Shem Cooke and there seems to be a connection to his line.  If our connection is thru Wm Pope Cooke that married Betsy Harrison, then we would likely connect all the way back to Shem Cooke thru a line of men with the given name of William. Prior to the BigY testing the 37, 67, and 111 marker tests were all we had.  There is representation more so from Shem's son James thru his children  Roland(d. 1842 West TN) and Shem(d.1862 Carroll Co GA)  There is one tester who descends thru the elder Shem Cooke(d. 1796)'s son William but he only tested at 37 markers.  His result contains no differing mutations with my brother at that level so he is an exact match at 37 markers.  This is an older test so I'm unsure if an update is possible but I am trying to make contact with others from that line who might be interested to see if we can come up with a way to compare.  At the same time I'm working further on his paper trail to see if it crosses with ours.  When my brother's test came in, I worked the matches trees to figure out exactly how they all were the connected.  Many of them didn't have trees...so I had to do a lot of sleuthing to figure it out but for the most part I have a very good picture of how they connect.  

I have access to AncestryDNA match lists of several descendants of the Shem Cooke(Carroll Co GA) and I have been looking at their closer matches to see if I could find an intersection with our clusters of unknowns which are likely Cook/Harrison related.   I did find one where I started noticing surnames that were familiar among those matches and have now identified more Harrison matches.

After having Elizabeth Harrison Cook connected for 2 days I am now seeing matches that descend from her siblings.  The great thing is that those matches are not all thru Rebecca Harrison who would match with the Cook Putmans because of their connection to Hiram Putman(Elizabeth Putman Cook's brother).  There are descendants of Nancy Harrison Hight, Gideon V Harrison, Edward Cannon Harrison and Martha Harrison Smith.  I think too somewhere back in there is another HIGHT connection or a connection to the Nichols(wife of a Hight).  The relationships of those matches are mostly 5C & 5C1R and are all well in range for those relationships.  Checking the shared matches is helpful as well to make sure none of them matched her(they didn't.)  

It should be noted that Thrulines® is a Tool that works using our DNA match list along with the trees on Ancestry.  It's still up to us to document and prove our conclusions so that our research is solid.  

Comparing my DNA Ethnicity Chromosome Paintings at FTDNA, 23&me, and AncestryDNA

 

Ancestry Composition Chromosome Painting at 23andMe for my DNA Test

FamilyTreeDNA's Chromosome Painter for my test

Which was an Upload of my AncestryDNA taken in 2014

Chromosome Painted Ethnicity of my AncestryDNA test

Summary:  There isn't much which stands out in my DNA painting but I can see a few things.  Ancestry and 23andMe seem to agree that I have DNA most resembling folks from Finland at the tips of Chromosome 1 & 2.  Those are the Paternal Tips for both 1 & 2. My Mom has no Finland ethnicity showing at her Ancestry test so that did help me to assign the parent portions. FTDNA and 23andMe also seem to agree on a small snippet of African DNA on Chromosome 6 and since it's not showing up that way on Mom's test there it should be paternal.  

By consulting my DNA Match Painted Chromosomes at DNAPainter I can see that the Chrom 1 & 2 segments are from my paternal grandfather's King / Manire ancestry so that connection would be somewhere back along those.  The paternal Chrom 6 for me is almost all from my paternal grandmother and this looks to be in a section which would be either Morrow / Sutton or Frizzell / Manley.  I believe this is the same portion that FTDNA at one time was identifying as Sephardic Jewish Ethnicity.

I looked at my Mom's Ancestry DNA Chromosome Painted Ethnicity.  Hers is a lot more colorful than mine.  Where she has Norway, Denmark & Sweden, and Wales Ethnicity the ethnicity pretty much covers the entire chromosome side.  I've not been able to figure out which side of hers is which parent yet.  I hope that I can eventually.  

Comparing Shared DNA from paternal 2C1Rs

In one of my earlier blog post, I'd promised to do a comparison of paternal 2C1R(2nd Cousins once removed).    Below I am comparing segments that I and my siblings share with a paternal 2C1R.  This cousin is the 2nd Cousin of my Dad and our Most Recent Common Ancestor Couple is my Cook/Putman 2nd Great Grandparents.  The Cook/Putman couple are his Great Grandparents

Look at the difference in total that my sister and I share with our 2C1R as compared to what our brother shares.  If my brother had been the only one who tested we would have missed out on identifying over half of the DNA which was received via the Cook/Putman connection.  I should mention that this paternal 2C1R(who is kin to us thru his paternal lines) is also a maternal 4C1R(thru his Mom's McElroy/Shropshire lines )  He shares no matching DNA with my mother at the 5cMs/500SNPs threshold. 

Since our Dad passed on before we began testing we can't know what he would have had in common with this cousin other than looking at what all of his children have in common with this match.  Still, there may have been segments that my Dad did not pass on to any of us.  The next best thing we can do is test his sister and see what segments she shares.

By testing our Paternal Aunt who is a 2nd Cousin to this match we are able to identify 7 additional segments with this Cook/Putman cousin.  These are segments which neither I or my siblings received and are noted by the blue arrows in the above image.


This next set of 2C1R are children of a paternal 2nd Cousin.  They are half siblings to each other.  Our Most Recent Common Ancestor Couple is my Cook/King Great Grandparents.  The Cook/King couple is their 2nd Great Grandparents

There seems to be pretty good variation in the Chromosomes which I share and those which my two siblings share with each of these 2C1R  Thankfully I didn't stop at just testing myself as I seem to have less shared segments. Let's see how my Aunt compares.  She is their 1C2R.

It looks like our Aunt has most of the same segments in common with these two who are her 1C2R.  We were still able to identify a chromosome segment that my siblings nor myself had gotten which came from the Cook/King couple(noted by the dark blue arrow)  Also we were able to pick up more cMs on about 5 other segments which are marked with the lighter blue arrow.


There is a good deal of randomness in the heritance of DNA once you are back past your parents.  Test 2nd Cousins, Aunts/Uncles, and siblings. 2nd Cousins are gold mines.  They will really help you sort out the information you need in order to identify your matches.  Too, if you expect to be able to identify 3rd and 4th cousins you need to have a well-researched tree and know the descendants of your 2nd and 3rd Great Grandparents. 

A DNA match who shares 3 different kinship paths

Comparing Grandparent--Mom--Child
I have a new match from Ancestry who has uploaded to GEDmatch.  She has been on my Ancestry match list for a while.  She is kin on my Mom's side thru 3 different lines.
The closest is thru my Maternal Grandfather's Luna & Pittman line.
The other 2 lines are my Maternal Grandmother's Hale/Elzie & Hitchcock/Fleming lines.
While we have the Hale Hitchcock connection in one union the match has separate lines that go back to our common ancestors.  This means we have the potential for sharing segments from both my MGF and my MGM.  Fortunately, I have a sister and a brother who have both taken autosomal tests and I hope visual phasing will help to identify the ancestors responsible for these segments.

Let's look at how they were passed down from my Mom to me and from me to my daughter.

[image edited ch 13 info was inadvertenly placed in the ch 18 row in the Daughter table in my initial post and I've corrected the image so that it is now showing in the correct row.]

Comparing Matching segments passed to 3 children
We can also add my siblings to the mix and observe how Mom passed the segments to
3 of her children.  I have 2 brothers who haven't tested and neither of them has children so whatever they have inherited will not be passed.

Looking at the Amount of shared DNA for each of the 3 siblings and the match
Looking at amounts she is my 2C1R, 4C & 4C1R.
It's not as easy as adding up the avg amounts for all of those relationships and getting a guesstimate on what she should share because 10% of cousins do not match once you get to the 3rd Cousin range.  When you get to 4th cousin level it is about 50%.  Let's see how they compare 2C1R, 4C & 4C1R average amounts added together are 123+35+28 = 186 cMs.  With me and my siblings, she matches highest with my brother at 161.5 cMs...with me at 150.1 cMs and my sister at 91.7 cMs.  There probably won't be many if any Hitchcock/Fleming segments and only a little more likely are the Hale/Elzie segments.  The majority of the segments are likely Luna/Pittman segments.  I feel that since 2 of the relationships were a 4th cousin and beyond, that the multiple relationships really didn't play that big of a part in inflating the amount of shared DNA.

Looking at these comparisons it's easy to see how over a few generations the segments from those ancestors can dwindle away.   I see something odd on Chromosome 18 where my brother's segment is 36.8 cMs which is considerably more than my Mom's 21.8 cMs.  Maybe an identical by chance portion.

Ancestry doesn't include the X in any of its results.  You can, however, download your raw data and upload to GEDmatch.  Let's take a look at how my Mom, siblings, daughter and myself compare to this match on the X chromosome.  Remember the inheritance pattern of the X Chromosome.(<---see additional="" at="" bettinger="" blaine="" blog="" info="" p="" s="">This inheritance pattern only applies to segment matches on the X and not on the other 22 chromosomes which can come from ANY of the ancestors who you have in common.

Notice the 3.07 cM segment that my sister shares on the X that Mom doesn't share with this match.   Also, there is a 5.57 cM segment that my sister and I both share.which isn't shared with Mom.  Likely false positive segments.

Eventually, maybe I will be able to "assign" the segments to specific ancestors or ancestor couples at least.  I have a feeling this is going to take a good while.

If you are looking for tools to use for DNA analysis, I have a listing of my favorite tools, blogs and educational sites on my DNA Tools and Reference page.

My Genes For Good DNA results are in

In mid-August of 2017,  I took the Genes For Good DNA test.  I received notification that my results were in today.  If you are interested in participating you can find out more information on it HERE.  It doesn't cost anything but the time you spend taking the studies.  Click on any of the images below if you need a closer look.

This is pretty much what I expected as it is a study that deals more with health.  I had already tested at AncestryDNA about 3 years ago and had uploaded those results to FTDNA, MyHeritage, DNALand,  and GEDmatch.

The above section shows how I compared to others who tested.  I am the blue dot. 

The above image shows their Estimated Genetic Ancestry of Chromosomal Regions.  Not as detailed as the Chromosome Paintings in the Admixture section at GEDmatch but I think it will interesting to compare the Non-European portions to those I get when I run my AncestryDNA results I uploaded to GEDmatch thru some of the admixtures utilities available there.

They do allow you to download your results, however, you are required to answer a survey and enter an access code before doing so.  I was able to run my results thru Promethease.   I didn't expect them to mirror the results of my AncestryDNA analysis at Promethease but it was pretty close.  I have Retinitis Pigmentosa which  Promethease identified this as Age-related Macular Degeneration when I ran my AncestryDNA results. The analysis of the Genes for Good kit was no different, down to identifying the same chromosome.  

I have tried to upload to the Genesis portion of GEDmatch but haven't been successful yet.  I hope this article provides insight into what information is available when you test with Genes For Good.  

A mtDNA full sequence, upgrade to Y67 and atDNA test for my only remaining paternal aunt

Family Tree DNA has their Holiday sale on with a variety of test packages and upgrades available.  I took advantage of the sale over the Black Friday Weekend.  I purchased an upgrade of my brother's YDNA-37 test to 67 markers, a Family Finder(FTDNA's autosomal test) for my Dad's only living sibling and a mtDNA Full sequence for my daughter. For the tests that I manage,  I have more Promo codes than I can possibly use so I am posting the ones from this week here if anyone needs them feel free to see if they are still active.

FTDNA Coupon Codes Expires Dec. 3, 2017

R29G306PJY3Y $30 off Y-DNA67 ($229 before coupon)

R292SNRLTF2F $30 off Y-DNA67

R24NNLLESIQJ $30 off Y-DNA67

R24NPHFTQ29P $20 off Y-DNA111($299 before coupon)

R29I62CN9KJ4 $30 off Y-DNA111

R24MV668ZWLC $25 off Big Y

R243MEFJ3C4O $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111($129--$229--$299 before coupon)

R29IQPH8SF6E $10 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **

R290PL8LF5XQ $20 off Y37, Y67, or Y111  **

R29OVXD7IEE5 $30 off mtFull Sequence($169 before coupon)

R29RF52ROJOC $30 off mtFull Sequence

R298XY65U1OO $20 off any purchase of $150 or more

R29FEFEP6LGM $20 off any purchase of $150 or more

I will post the ones for this next week as soon as I get them.  I'm already really excited about seeing the results of the tests I purchased as well as seeing a bunch of new matches show up from all the sales at FTDNA and AncestryDNA.

If these coupons do not work they have probably been used by another one of my readers.  I offer them on a first come first serve basis.  

** Some people have reported that they were able to use the Y 37/67/111 coupons on upgrades.

AncestryDNA results--a 3 generation comparison of DNA Match

I have an example of  a DNA match across 3 generations and also a very good illustration of why the ability to compare in a chromosome browser is the only way to know with more certainty how we match someone.  Below you see the match, Joy compared to my Mom,Beatrice.  They share 10.1 cM across 1 DNA segment

Next let's look at my sister, Rebecca compared to Joy.(You can only do the comparison with tests for which you have admin or editor rights.)  Looks like she didn't get that segment from Mom.

Compared with Joy she and I share 25.3 cMs across 2 segments.  Wait--Mom only had 10.1 cM.  Where did I pick up the other 15.2 cMs?  Was it a no-call on Mom's test and actually from her side?  Did I get it from my Dad?  Dad passed before he could test but I have a phased kit of the DNA which I got from him.  I could compare my paternal phased DNA  if Joy were at GEDmatch.   Hopefully she will upload her results there.

Now let's take a look at my daughter, Brittany compared to Joy. Looks like she got both segments and would have the potential for passing these segments on to any children she may have.

Thoughts:  We can't know for sure that the 15.2 cM segment that I have and that I passed on is from my Dad without comparison of the tests results in a Chromosome Browser. Then we can draw some conclusions.  Think about it though--Rebecca's two children will not have these segments because she did not have them to pass on to them.  That is how sometimes we have different matches than our siblings  DNA Randomness. It's no wonder that on average we only match about half of our 4th cousins.

Care to guess the AncestryDNA estimated shared amount of cMs?

The DNA match(at AncestryDNA) that is related to me 5 different ways(all on my Dad's side) responded after a 2 year wait.  Never lose hope.  People get busy and have other priorities outside of genealogy---shocking--isn't it?

Here are all 4 connections paths with the Frizzell / Deason line being double for me so in essence 5 ways. Want to hazard a guess at the Ancestry predicted shared amount of cMs? Hopefully I will be able to see the amounts at GEDmatch soon and see what, if any, segments were excluded from that Ancestry estimate.  Also even with the intermarriage between these families I think I may be able to identify the difference in the segments. There are several testers who have the Frizzell/Deason lines exclusively, two with Morrow/Frizzell.

5C1R(2x)------Nathan Frizzell & Margaret Deason(my 4Gr his 5Gr) (*)
4C---------------James Morrow & Margaret Sutton(both 3rd Grs)
4C---------------James Jakes & Nancy Harger(both 3rd Grs)
4C1R-----------James Jakes & Nancy Harger(my 3rd Gr= his 4th Gr)

* my 4th Greats thru two lines.

Post your guess in the comments.  I'll post the answer along with the closest guess on Monday, April 17th. (There is no prize other than being correct or as close as possible)


Helpful Links:

Cousin Chart

Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM Project post
(link to the PDF file with range of shared cM amounts for given relationships is at the bottom of the post)

International Society of Genetic Genealogy Wiki  --autosomal DNA stats

Attempt at comparing MyHeritage test amounts onsite to MyHeritage test Uploads at GEDmatch

I have been curious to compare how my matches at MyHeritage show up(amount-wise) when they are uploaded to GEDmatch.  Today I noticed that I had  three new matches from MyHeritage at GEDmatch in addition to one that I'd had for about a week.  Uploaded MyHeritage kit are those identified by a prefix of the letter H.  That gave me a total of 4 matches to compare the reported amounts from MyHeritage to the matching amount at GEDmatch.  Sadly, I was only able to positively identify one of the matches.  I could not find the other 3 matches among my 89 matches at MyHeritage.  I did a scan of all nine pages and when that didn't result in me finding any of the 3 matches  I did a search for the full names and email user names.  Still nothing.  So then I looked up to the amount shown at GEDmatch + 10cMs nothing that looked like a match despite the fact that most of the users appeared to have used their full name.

Below are the amounts from GEDmatch and the comparison with the one match I was able to identify.  

Below is a screenshot of the last two matches on my My Heritage DNA matches.  They were sorted from Greatest Total Amount to smallest.  Why are matches 2, 3 and 4 not listed?  Is the Total Matching Theshold to make the list 15 cMs?  Smallest amount to be considered a segment match 5 cMs?

More questions than answers.  I did check the DNA Match quality info button, as well as the DNA help files to see if I could find the answer to the above questions but did not see anything listing what the cutoff amounts were to be listed, nor the minimum amount of cMs to be considered a matching segment.  I'll post an update if I figure out the answers. Comments are always welcome.

Visuals of DNA randomness

Segments Mapped to the Grandparents

Looking at a Segment map where 3 of the 4 Grandparents have tested and there is a phased kit with the DNA of the untested Grandparent.  It is easy to see that while we can be genealogically kin to someone the lines get whittled down at random.  

There are several instances more so on the Paternal side where the entire chromosome copy is from one grandparent.   4(PGF) 3(PGM) 0(MGF) 2(MGM)  

Granted there are still DNA segments which passed thru each of the grandparents, when entire chromosomes are passed, especially the larger chromosomes, the other lines which didn't "make the cut"  are no longer represented on that particular chromosome.

(Image below is a segment map generated from my database using Genomate Pro.)

PGF(Paternal Grandfather) PGM(Paternal Grandmother)

MGF(Maternal Grandfather) MGM(Maternal Grandmother)

Paternal Phased Kit Comparisons

Running a One to One comparison of the Paternal Phased kit of my sister(full sibling) against my Paternal Phased kit 

Ignore the lower part of the line(Blue & Gray) as this is Phased kit comparisons and only contains Paternal DNA  

Green=Match

Red=No Match

I did not include the X in the comparison because as full siblings and females we have an identical Paternal X chromosome. (Image below from comparison tools at GEDmatch.com)

Dear Cousins: If you have taken an atDNA test, please consider uploading to GEDmatch

Downloading Your Raw DNA Data

AncestryDNA ---- FTDNA ---- MyHeritage ---- 23andMe

If you have taken an Autosomal DNA test PLEASE consider uploading to GEDmatch. Even if your only reason for taking the test was to find out your ethnicity.  When you test, your matches are restricted to those who have also tested at that same site.  By uploading to GEDmatch you are able to compare with others who have taken an autosomal DNA test at any of the other companies and uploaded to GEDmatch.  Below are instructions for downloading from AncestryDNA, FTDNA, MyHeritage and 23&me. Follow the instructions for the download and then scroll further down the page where you will find the instructions for uploading to GEDmatch.

If you tested at AncestryDNA
From your DNA Insights page click on Settings in the upper right just below your DNA Page header.

On the settings page you will see the option to Download Raw Data.  Click on that and follow the instructions.  Also while you are at the page consider linking your DNA to  your Tree.





After you have downloaded your file from AncestryDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section.

If you tested at FTDNA
From your myFTDNA Dashboard:

Or from the myFTDNA Menu on the Left

After clicking the Download Raw Data link you should see a screen like this.  You can download Builf 36 if you are uploading to regular GEDmatch and build 37 if you are uploading to GEDmatch Genesis.
;Save the file somewhere you can  Browse to and DO NOT open the file.  You will upload the zipped file to GEDmatch.

After you have downloaded your file from FTDNA you will want to upload to GEDmatch.  Use the file you downloaded and follow the instructions under the Uploading to GEDmatch.com section


If you tested at 23&me

The transfer of the raw data from 23&me to GEDmatch is easier than ever. You can now transfer straight from 23&me to GEDmatch see image below.  No need to deal with the upload section of this page if you are able to transfer a copy straight to GEDmatch.

****Please note if you received your results after Aug 9th you may not be able to upload to GEDmatch but should be able to upload under the GEDmatch Genesis section located at the bottom of the column on the right. ****

I've retained the old instructions for anyone who would rather download their data and then upload the file to GEDmatch.
From your 23&me page. Log in.  It should give you a warning that DNA can contain sensitive info.

Select the Tools Tab from your top and then you should see the Browse or Download tabs. Choose Download and scroll down the page. Click on the button to submit your request. You will be prompted to select what DNA you want to download.choose the autosomal test1-22 and X and follow their instructions.

If you tested at MyHeritage

Uploading to GEDmatch.com

Once you have downloaded your Raw Data.....it's time to upload to GEDmatch.  If you have not registered you will need to do so in order that you may access the site.

After registration, you should be able to log in with your email and password which you chose.

Upload your Raw Data and fill out the info for your kit.  Your kit is usually ready shortly after uploading for One To One comparison but it will normally take at least 24 hours for the batch it is in is completely processed so that you can run the  One To Many for your kit and begin trying to figure out how you match to all those folks.

A listing of the DNA kits you have uploaded will show in the "Your DNA Resources" section located in the left panel of your GEDmatch dashboard page.  You may have to scroll to see it.  See the example below.

While you are waiting for the batch process...you might consider uploading a GEDCOM and linking it to your test results.

Hope you have found this helpful.