Blog – Page 3 – Dana Leeds

13 Jan

Leeds Method: Lack of 2nd Cousins Can Cause Lot of Clusters

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 51 Comments

I recently discussed how and why you might need to consolidate your clusters when doing the Leeds Method. I also shared an example and went through the process step by step. But even after consolidating your clusters, some of you will still have more than 4 clusters. In fact, some of you will still have quite a few clusters. But, why? Well, for many of you it’s because you don’t have any—or don’t have enough—2nd cousins. Why Second Cousins? The Leeds Method attempts to use 2nd and 3rd cousins to sort your DNA matches into groups of people who are […]

01 Jan

Leeds Method: Consolidating Clusters, An Example

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 46 Comments

I posted earlier this week about how and why you might need to consolidate (or combine) your color clusters on your Leeds Method chart. Today, I’d like to share an example from a reader named Bruce. Original 9 Clusters When Bruce sent me his chart, he had sorted 50 people into 9 clusters: With a lot of clusters and a lot of overlap, Bruce’s chart would be more helpful if we consolidated some of his clusters. Although not always possible, we are hoping to be able to create 4 clusters based on his 4 grandparent lines. Rearranging the Clusters To consolidate clusters, […]

29 Dec

Leeds Method: Why Do I Have More Than 4 Clusters? Or, Time to Consolidate!

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 50 Comments

The Question Today I want to discuss one of the most frequent questions I get: Why did I get more than 4 color clusters on my Leeds Method chart? (I’ll address the issue of getting less than 4 clusters in a future post.) The Simple Answer There are basically two answers to this question. You don’t have enough second cousins. (We will also discuss this in a future post.) You need to do another step which is consolidating (or combining) some of your clusters. Key Concepts As we discuss this, let’s keep a few key concepts in mind: The goal […]

28 Aug

Can the Leeds Method Help Me Work with My DNA Matches?

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 14 Comments

The Leeds Method sorts your DNA matches into clusters. The members of each cluster are likely descended from a common ancestor or ancestral couple. Finding the common ancestor(s) for a cluster helps us to understand how these matches are related to each other and to us. And this method can help us to verify our ancestors or to break through brick walls. While the Leeds Method is a powerful tool, unfortunately it cannot help everyone. Can the Leeds Method help you? Works Well The Leeds Method works well in the following situations: If you have “quite a few” 2nd and […]

26 Jun

MyHeritage AutoClusters: Update

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 12 Comments

Earlier this week, MyHeritage raised the upper threshold for AutoClusters to 400 cM. Excitingly, this allows us to see some of our closer matches in our clusters! (By the way, this is the number I recommend when starting the Leeds Method.) What Are AutoClusters? According to MyHeritage, AutoClusters is an “automatic tool that organizes your DNA matches into clusters that likely descend from common ancestors.” This tool, which was developed in collaboration with Evert-Jan Blom, is based on the Leeds Method. The chart creates clusters for approximately 100 of your DNA matches, though it does not use your closest matches. […]

16 Jun

Clustering Without Downloading Data Using Shared Clustering

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 10 Comments

Shared Clustering is an automated tool created by Jonathan Brecher that clusters your DNA matches. Like the Leeds Method and other automated tools, it creates clusters showing how your DNA matches are related to each other. These clusters help you visualize genetic relationships. Best of all, this is a free tool that can be used with any testing site! Jonathan just released an update that allows you to create clustering without downloading your data. Instead, you manually enter the information into a spreadsheet. It’s more time consuming, but it works well! Before you get started, you’ll need to download the Shared […]

12 Jan

Understanding Cluster Matrices

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 26 Comments

When using an automated clustering tool such as Genetic Affairs’ AutoCluster or DNAGedcom’s Collins Leeds Method, the output is in the form of a matrix. Here are some screenshots to help you better understand these clusters in this matrix format. The Names In the matrix, the names are listed in the same order from left to right (along the top) as they are from top to bottom (along the left side). Each cell represents the intersection of two people. The Color Clusters Like the Leeds Method, color clusters are created showing the people who have a close connection to each […]

11 Nov

Visualizing Clusters with 2nd and 3rd Cousins

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 10 Comments

When creating a Leeds Method color cluster chart with a spreadsheet or a related, automated tool, I suggest starting with your 2nd and 3rd cousins. For many of us, we can safely use matches 400 and 90 cM. But, why 2nd and 3rd cousins? If we sort our matches based on our 1st cousins, they would sort into two groups: maternal and paternal. But, if we sort our matches based on our 2nd cousins, they could sort into four groups. To fill in some of the gaps, we also include 3rd cousins. In doing these sorts, we often create 4 […]

28 Oct

How to Use AutoCluster with Ancestry.com’s Custom Groups

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 16 Comments

Most of you are probably familiar with AncestryDNA’s relatively new tool, Custom Groups, which allows you to add a colored dot next to your DNA matches. These colored dots can be used for whatever you decide including indicating clusters, your eight great grandparent lines, or a specific group you are working on. A new tool at Genetic Affairs allows us to use the custom groups to create clusters. We can also use the “extend” option to grow these clusters even larger. The extend option gathers the shared matches of the DNA matches in whatever group you’ve selected. A few days […]

08 Oct

Who Is in a SuperCluster?

Posted by Dana Automated Clustering 9 Comments

Recently, I diagrammed some clusters created by the Leeds Method and/or an automated method like AutoCluster. Surprisingly, the people in a cluster are not always related to all of the other people in a cluster. And, the people in a cluster are not always descended from a single common ancestor or ancestral couple. Sometimes, the people in a cluster are descended from two generational levels as shown in the diagram below: What Is a SuperCluster? A SuperCluster is a group of clusters that are closely related to each other. You can see a SuperCluster by looking for grey squares between […]