DNA Segment Sources

Something to think about when you are trying to identify the source of matching DNA segments.

The connection shown in the tree above is that of the DNA match and how he is related to me.  His connection from his tree would show that it is thru his Paternal Grandmother's lines.  There is still a good chance that back beyond his 2nd Greats on his Paternal Grandfather's lines there might also be shared ancestry as well as in the other side of his PGM's family. His Mom is 2st generation American which makes a connection thru her unlikely but not impossible.  It's really necessary to evaluate each of the segments on their own.

The breakdown of what my Paternal Aunt, myself, and my siblings(full) share in common with the DNA match referenced in the above chart. 

DNA: Searching for Patterns--Comparing using AncestryDNA Helper and Shared Match Tab

What You Will Need

• Your DNA Matches in Triangulated Groups (Spreadsheet or Genome Mate Pro)
• Chrome Browser
• AncestryDNA Helper for Chrome (AncestryDNA Helper How-To PDF file)
• A Triangulation group spaning a large segment with a yet to be discovered connection
• Two or more AncestryDNA testers from that Triangulation Group(TG)
• Share links from any AncestryDNA testers who match on that segment.

Gather as many of the Share Links from persons in the TG as you can.  Compare each of the members to each other(see image a) noting patterns of Surnames and Locations.  This is similar to using the Share Tab Tool however you aren't limited to 4th or closer cousins(see image b).  If you have a full sibling or full siblings which have also tested at Ancestry, obtain a share link from them if you do not already have one.  Run a comparison of their test against the members of the TG and repeat the same process with their Trees looking at patterns in Surnames or Locations.

(image a)

(image b)

It's easier than ever to utilize the Share DNA Matches View now that both the Owner AND/OR the Guest Viewer have the ability to turn off the SHARE view.

Your results may vary but this method has worked for me each of the 3 times I have used it.  The segment sizes in the group ranged from 19-48 cMs.   You can do something similar to this using Match-O-Matic in DNAGEDCOM although you may have to use an older version of DNAGEDCOM to do that.  I don't think it was in the last release.  I run both versions on my computer.  Hope this will be useful to others who are trying to map their chromosomes to the contributing ancestor or ancestor couple.

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)

Apparently it's Large Colonial Segment Week

I had a large 54 centiMorgans DNA segment(or chunk)  in Mom's matches that showed up just under a week ago.  Upon examining others who matched Mom and each other along the same segment I was able to determine it was likely from the Luna/Looney lines. All those that matched Mom along that segment have Robert Looney and Elizabeth Llewellyn as their most recent common ancestors.  This is my Mom's 5th Gr Grandparents and back a good ways.  That put Mom matching 6th cousins and several 6th cousins once removed at an amount (54cMs) that typically is indicative of 3rd cousins.   I am thinking that this has something to do with this couple  being from the Isle of Man or colonial.

Last night I found that I had a new match that AncestryDNA estimated matched me at 50 cMs shared on one segment.  The match is going to be on my Paternal side as he didn't match my Mom's test.  Upon checking this match with my sister's test I found that he matched her even better.  I think they probably share the same 50 cMs segment but they also share 4 other segments which I didn't get and match at 101 cMs over 5 segments.  It is entirely possible that they share 5 different segments which doesn't include the 50 cM segment that he and I share.  Shared matches appear to be somewhere along our PGM's Jakes/Morrow/Harger/Frizzell  lines--all colonial.  I can't wait to hear back from this match and hope to get them to upload to GEDmatch so I can identify the segments in my sister's file and make note that I got segments from our  PGF along the 4 which I don't have in common with my sister.

PGF= Paternal Grandfather
PGM=Paternal Grandmother

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.

DNA Logic Puzzles

My Dad always loved the Logic puzzles in the Dell Puzzles Magazines. As I'm working on DNA matches today I can't help thinking about him.  Not just because I am working on my paternal matches but that he would like the logic I am using.  While I have had my DNA results and those of my Mom for over a year, my sister's results came in not long ago and we now have her kit at GEDmatch. She is a full sibling but there seems to be a good variation in the people which we match due to the randomness in the 50% which you get from each of your parents..  What does that mean for me? I can take her kit....run it with Mom's to phase out Mom's matches and create a kit of Sis' DNA she got from Dad...which I can then compare to my DNA which I got from Dad.  If I know that one of us matches Dad's Mom along one segment..and it's a segment that we don't match along....I then know that the other one of us matches Dad's Dad along that segment which we don't have in common.  After all...Dad only had two to offer...so you got one or the other.

An Example:
Chromosome 4 on my Paternal side(which I can see by using the phased kit) I have a section from about 4-40 which I know I can attribute to my Paternal Grandmother's  Morrow/Sutton lines. My Sister has NONE of these same matches along that same segment of her Paternal side(I can again distinguish her Paternal from her Maternal matches by using the phased kit of her DNA she got from Dad mentioned earlier).  By this I can conclude that the matches along that segment for her are from my Paternal Grandfather's side and somewhere back along the Cook/Putman or King/Manire lines.


While this won't solve all of my unknowns, it is a big help in knowing where to look for the connection for these matches. So many times I wish that the matches had some idea of which side I match them along.This is one of the greatest things about having a parent and a full sibling that have also tested.

Visual representation of Chromosome mapping

This is my daughter Brittany's Chromosome map. She and I both have done the autosomal test as have her maternal grandmother and paternal grandmother.

In addition to her grandmothers testing she has a maternal aunt and a paternal uncle who have also tested as well as several Paternal Great Aunts & a Great Uncle.  This will help to sort thru her matches.

MGF--Cooke/King  & Jakes/Frizzell
MGM- Acuff/Hale & Luna/Pittman
PGF- Beckman/Folley & Harper/Mattox
PGM-Mosley/Hogland & Demonia/Brantley

This segment map is a screenshot from the GenomeMate Pro program which I use to help track my matches for kits I manage.

Paternal Segments Representation

Paternal Segments Representation

To date I have identified segments from my paternal side on the following chromosomes in my DNA (in no particular order)

Chr   Couple

2:  Putman/Tyler, King/Upshaw
3:  Frizzell/Manley
4:  Morrow/Sutton, Putman/Prince
5:  Deason
6:  Manley/Frizzell, King/Upshaw
7:  King/Manire, Putman/Tyler
10:  Frizzell/Manley
11:  Manley/Wilson, Deason
12:  Manire/Jackson, Putman/Tyler
14:  Frizzell/Manley, Upshaw/Bradley
15:  King/Manire
17:  Frizzell/Manley
21:  Manire/Jackson
X:  Knox/Craig, Deason


Chr=Chromosome
Couple= Most Recent Common ancestor with others who match that segment

Don't Discount the Double Check

Today I was reminded of why you should always double check things.  I have been working with several other researchers on a Chromosome 20 puzzle .  We have 5 people who match along a given segment(with slight variations in the length) and who all match each other.    I had been waiting on my mother's results so that I could at least narrow down the lines over which I needed to search.  Those results came in Friday afternoon and late Saturday I ran a check on three of them against my Mom's results and neither matched.  This told me that the segment match was along my father's lines.  I noted this without writing it down and planned to email the researchers Sunday morning to let them know that we could narrow it down to Dad's lines.  Sunday morning came and I sat down to write the email and always one to double check...I checked again.  I input the numbers of the only kit that I hadn't run a one to one on with my Mom's kit....The only reason I had not ran this kit against hers was that this tester was a known closer cousin of one of the others and I thought that running just one was enough.  Was I ever puzzled when they had a match....Not on Chromosome 20...but on Chromosome 21.   It was a smaller match than the ones we were working on.  So I checked my notes and ran each of the remaining test against my Mom's.  None of them matched her accept this kit. I ran a One to One on mine and his and I had a match with him on Chromosome 21 also but it was smaller than the segment that he and Mom shared and that was why it was not showing in my Genome Mate.  So now, in addition to my Chromosome 20 puzzle...I have a Chromosome 21 puzzle.  One puzzle at a time....