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...
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...
Thaddeus and Katharina (Kern) Koechle were my 3x great grandparents who immigrated to America in 1851. They had 6 children who lived to adulthood and had children: Anna, Theresia, Reinhard (my direct ancestor), Gertrude, Louise, and Lena. ThruLines Ignoring a few close family matches, my uncle’s ThruLines suggests DNA matches for 16 descendants of this couple. Adding the shared matches for these 16 matches makes a total of 46 possible DNA match descendants from this couple. AutoCluster clustered 44 of these matches into 10 clusters. Identifying Matches with Traditional Genealogy Using traditional genealogy, I traced half of these matches back...
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...
Who is in a cluster? And how are they related to you? I recently wrote about “Who Is in a Cluster?” and introduced the concept of Mountains and Valleys. I think a better term is the Venn Diagram Effect. This post continues to explain and illustrate that concept. As I mentioned in my last post, when we cluster our DNA matches using either the Leeds Method or an automated adaptation, we usually expect all of the matches in a cluster to be descended from one couple or individual and we expect all of the matches to be related to each other....
We often think that everyone in a cluster is related to each through a common ancestor. Our expectation is something like this: And, we do often see results like this. In this case, the three matches are 2nd cousins (and a 2nd cousin once removed) of the test taker. Mountains and Valleys But, what if your cluster includes both 2nd and 3rd cousins? And, what if there were 3rd cousins from your great grandparents’ paternal and maternal sides? You would have a situation similar to this: In this case, your 2nd cousin would be the “key person” who started the cluster...
The Collins Leeds Method is a commonly used tool for clustering your DNA matches based on the Leeds Method. To get started, you need to do the following: install the DNAGedcom Client gather your data use the Collins Leeds Method (CLM) tool Below are detailed steps for each part of this process. The result is a CLM chart. Installing the DNAGedcom Client Go to https://www.dnagedcom.com Create an account & log in. Click on the “?” in the upper right corner. Go to “Getting Started” under “DNAGedcom Client” and choose the installer for Windows or Mac. Click on the “Installer” for...
AutoCluster is a commonly used tool for clustering your DNA matches based on the Leeds Method. To get started, follow these steps: Creating an Account and Adding a Website Go to www.geneticaffairs.com, create an account, and log in to your account Under the “Websites & Profile” tab, click on “Add Website” Choose your testing company – for example, Ancestry – and click on “Add AncestryDNA Account” Use your login and password information for THAT company and then click “add new website” and confirm with “Yes, add website” (Note: If the website repeatedly fails to accept a password, try using another...
An announcement today explains that Ancestry DNA has added UK county-level ethnicity results to their DNA story. If you’ve tested at Ancestry DNA, just go to your “DNA Story” and you might see some of these new communities! New Communities on My Mom’s Side On my mom’s side, my uncle has a new region called “Scottish Lowlands, Northern England & Northern Ireland.” I have yet to trace any of my mom’s ancestors to England or Ireland, but from other members of this community, it looks like it’s on my mom’s mom’s side. New Communities on My Dad’s Side My dad’s...
Yesterday I watched a YouTube video by Larry Jones of DNA Family Trees called “How to Cluster Your DNA Matches With Ancestry’s New DNA Matches Beta.” It reminded me of my failed attempt to do the Leeds Method on Ancestry.com using Blaine Bettinger’s Chrome extension. The main issue, though, was that we could only use one colored dot per person. Ancestry has recently solved that issue by offering us the capability of adding up to 24 colored dots per person! So, I’ve been working with Ancestry.com’s “colored dots” today using basically the same steps as the Leeds Method. If you...
