A Visual Representation of my Pedigree Using Puzzilla

I hadn't used Puzzilla in awhile and someone had mentioned it in a group I'm in so I thought I would check it out again.  The site works in conjunction with FamilySearch  and I used it to get a visual representation of where my tree needs work.  They offer premium services but I just use the free basic service. I did have to make some corrections as the FS One Tree did not have some lines and had others that were errors.  For this chart I focused on the 2nd & 3rd Greats in my tree and most of those have birth years between 1750 and early 1800s.  I did a screen capture and used editing software to identify the areas where I need more research.  I was aware of these areas but it is nice to see them represented in a single image file.   

Cook:  YDNA tested to the Y700 level Most closely match descendants of Shem Cook out of Granville Co NC who descend thru his son James.  We could also match the other sons I just have not seen tests from descendants of them and there is no easy way to find out if someone with a line of descent from them has tested unless they are using WikiTree and marking it there.

Pittman:  YDNA tested to the Y700 level Within the project we are Group B Pittmans which are sort into the East Coast USA and Essex Co, UK Group

Curvin:   I'm not sure if anyone has attempted much research on as it's a female line from SC prior to TN and some folks just find that scary.  I did see some among my atDNA matches at Ancestry so there might be some opportunities there.

Hale:  I really need to work on this line.  I think maybe one of my cousins who is a direct male has tested at 23&me and I might be able to do a little comparison with those in the Hale YDNA project.  There is much family lore on this side but this is the group that hid from the census taker during the reconstruction years.

Comparison of 4C Descendants of Jabel Putman

 

Last month I posted a chart which compared the amount of shared DNA between 3 of my siblings and myself to a set of 4 siblings which are 4th cousins to us.  They were all descendants of William Putman, son of Jabel Putman. My siblings and I descend thru Jabel's daughter Elizabeth Putman Cook.  I thought it might also be interesting to see a chart of the other 4th cousins who also descend thru Jabel Putman compared to my siblings and myself.  I didn't include one of my brothers in this comparison because he isn't tested at all the sites which I used to collect the matches. There is representation from all but 2 of Jabel's children who had children.  I wasn't able to include descendants of their branches because I couldn't find tested descendants thru them who were 4th Cousins to us.  It seems we have an abundance of 4C1R from Jabel.  As I did in my previous chart I also included a 3C1R's amount(shown in green) so there would be a point of reference for a generation closer to the Most Recent Common Ancestor(MRCA).

Nothing really conclusive to tell if Wm Putman's descendants are Double 4C with us.  It's believed that Wm Putman's wife was the sister of Elizabeth Putman Cook's husband, Wm C Cook but we have no definite proof as we have not located Wm & Anna's marriage nor do we have definite proof of the parents of Wm C Cook.  

Shared DNA Match Amounts between 2 Sibling Sets

The above chart is a visual representation of the Shared DNA between 2 sets of siblings that are known 4th cousins.  It is also believed that they may be Double 4th cousins but not yet proven.  They are kin to me and my siblings thru our Dad's side of the family.  I've also included my paternal aunt in the chart to show the DNA which they share with her.  While I'm not able to compare what my aunt shares with them to what Dad shared with them, I can see that my aunt shares almost double what any one my siblings or I share with JB.  I should also note that Bro-2 shares no DNA with JP or with JB.  That is not unusual once you get beyond the 2nd Cousin once removed level.

Jonny Perl's DNA Painter Website is very helpful for comparing match amounts thru the shared cM project and a number of other tools available there.  I am a subscriber, however the basic version of DNA Painter is free. If you intend to work with more than one chromosome map or tree, or take advantage of bulk import functionality, you will need to subscribe.  

An Illustration of Thomas D Cooke's Y line daughtering out

I think sometimes in the pursuit of ancestors we fail to examine our own families closer.  I'm talking about around the level of Great Grandparents or Grandparents.  For my family I'm looking at the level of Grandparents.  While I am in my early 50's, all of my grandparents were born in the 1800s so this works best for me.  If you are using DNA research as a tool to add to your research evidence you have no doubt explored and examined your closer family to find testers from your branch.  

The above chart is an illustration of how my Grandfather's branch of the Cooke line "daughtered out."  You can click on it to see a larger version.

Top Level:  Papaw & Granny

2nd Level:  Their 4 daughters & 3 sons

3rd Level:  Their Grandchildren

4th Level:  Their Great Grandchildren thru Bill(their only son to have children)

Who of these have taken DNA tests?

Tom & Pearl's youngest daughter has taken an autosomal and an mtFull DNA test.

Four of Bill's five children have taken autosomal DNA test.  Bill's youngest son also did the Y-111

My Mom(Bill's widow) also did autosomal testing which has been helpful in determining whether matches are from her side of the family or thru Bill's lines.

So while Tom's Y line has ended at the grandchild level we did "capture" it thru my youngest brother's Y111 test.  It also is still being passed in the lines of Tom's brothers--minus any mutations which might have happened at Tom's level(or Bill or Bill's son).

Visualizing DNA tested Descendants of an Ancestor Couple

If you are actively working to identify what relationship you share with your DNA matches, you have likely heard of the What Are The Odds tool, commonly referred to as WATO.   It is part of DNAPainter.com and you can learn more about all of the tools by visiting the website. While I use the tool mainly when I'm helping adoptees, lately I've been using it to get a visual of the assessment of people who have tested from specific ancestor couples.

One of my larger AncestryDNA Circles is that of Jabel Putman my 3rd Great Grandfather.  There are 106 members but I want to know if these testers represent someone from all of his children or just ones thru several branches. He is believed to have had 12 children.  Using the WATO tool I chart each line from Jabel to the tester.  I also look at the shared matches within the circle members to see if I can identify others who are descendants of Jabel who weren't included due to not having him in their tree.  I have added some that I've found at other sites as well.  Below is a closer look at two of the children of Jabel.  I didn't show the right side of the chart as it contains the names of living and testers but it gives you some idea of how it looks.

The chart is a work in progress.  I will be adding more testers as I identify them.
Of Jabel's 12 known children, it looks like all but 2 have descendants that have tested. There is a representation of the following among the Jabel Putman descendants:

2 of William's children
4 of Lavina's children
2 of Parry's children
3 of Hiram's children
4 of Noah's children
5 of Sarah/Sally's children
4 of Elizabeth's children
3 of Susan's children
3 of Janette's children
2 of Simpson's children

Please note that there are varying amounts of testers from each of those children's children who have tested.  Below is a zoomed out shot of the chart(just a small portion of it) which continues out to the testers on the right for each line.  This can be used to see the coverage or to identify testing opportunities.

Blaine T. Bettinger's Update to The Shared cMs Project

More improvements in helping to determine possible relationships given the amount of shared cMs between matches in Autosomal DNA testing.

Blaine T. Bettinger's Update to The Shared cMs Project

Great info for those using Autosomal DNA testing in genealogy research or to locate unknown/lost family lines.