As mentioned in ‘Sowing more seeds’ I have been undertaking a course on DNA. I also decided, after resisting for a long time, to upgrade my ‘DNA only’ version of Ancestry. I purchased the UK version. The list of matches that Ancestry produces can be overwhelming. Correction: it is overwhelming. At the time of writing…
All posts by Keith Stanley
Sowing more seeds
I have been doing a course in the last few weeks. The subject is Genetic Genealogy. It has helped to clarify a few points. One of the suggestions made by the course tutors has paid immediate dividends. I had my DNA analysed by Ancestry. But, as some broadcasters are fond of pointing out, in the…
MRCA 4
The last connection that I want to explore, at least for the present, is that of the Lally family. (See MRCA 2 and MRCA 3 for further investigations along these lines.) A number of Lally family members have had their DNA results uploaded onto Gedmatch. Estimates of the number of generations back to the Most…
MRCA 3
The second best MRCA score comes in at 3.97. (See ‘MRCA 2’ for information on the best score.) I have known about this connection for some time. It does not feature very highly on my list of matches through Ancestry. Gedmatch provides more information. There is a 22.5 cM match on Chromosome 3, as well…
MRCA 2
As explained in the previous blog (MRCA), for the top matches with a score of just under 4, the common ancestor should be a great, great grandparent. The top match (MRCA=3.81) has a comprehensive tree containing a lot of information. There are a number of ancestors with roots in Ireland. Much of this information comes…
MRCA
When I first started work, MRCA stood for Multi Role Combat Aircraft. (I am showing my age!) It was subsequently called Tornado. In the world of genealogy, MRCA stands for Most Recent Common Ancestor. And that is the meaning that applies here. Gedmatch produces an estimate of how far back I must look to find…
Bridging the gap
The conventional starting point for genealogists is with the immediate family. We then work backwards. Step by step. Generation by generation. At some point, maybe two or three generations back, we tend to hit a metaphorical ‘brick wall’. There are many possible reasons for this. Not all records can be found. Records may no longer…
Perceptions
One of the (many) things that I find difficult is attempting to see events from the perspective of my ancestors. Historians have the benefit of hindsight. We have access to an internet full of information. We know what is going to happen. We know which natural disasters affected which location on a particular date. We…
We have a problem
“Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The words of Jim Lovell, Mission Commander on Apollo 13 in April 1970. A masterful understatement! Similar words are used frequently in documentaries in an effort to introduce tension into the narrative. On an almost trivial level, I too have a problem. For some years, I have been struggling to…
More digging in the graveyard (3)
As recorded in ‘More digging in the graveyard (1)’, John J McHugh married Anna (or Annie) Devereaux in November 1878. Mrs Rose Devereaux and her daughter Beatrice are listed as attending Susan (Kelly) Cronin’s funeral. What is the connection? The American custom of showing a wife’s maiden name on burial records is extremely helpful. Among…