Ancestry Pro Tools Shared DNA

August 6, 2024October 11, 2024 ~ Patricia Coleman ~ 1 Comment

When I saw that ancestry was showing how many centimorgans, cM, your matches share with other shared matches like 23andMe and MyHeritage have been doing all along, I decided I needed to purchase the Pro Tools. One of the things I’ve been doing is to look at close shared matches and see how much they share with other shared matches. Then I built a matrix of these of these data. This allowed me to determine where additional cousins fit into my family tree. In one example, there was a cousin that I knew was one my mother’s paternal side, but he had a fake name and no tree, so I couldn’t tell exactly where he fit. Seeing how much he shared with other known cousins provided the answer.

Jim Antley has a program that copies the shared matches from the Pro Tools. After viewing the page of shared matches select “Save Page As” from the ‘file’ menu on Chrome. Do not change the filename and save the file. Make sure that the little circle at the top right of Chrome has completed before leaving the tab, as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. The little circle filling on the left, and after it has completed and the file is saved, on the right.

Next open “The Antley Method DNA Connections Display Tool” and choose the file that you just saved. Next ‘upload’ the file. When the page changed you can select various parameters if you want to limit the data. I have left all the defaults at this page. The resulting screen is displayed. There are two tables displayed. Figure 2 shows the beginning of the first chart that is at the top of the window. This is the list of shared matches for my cousin len and me. Len does not have a tree and I don’t know where he fits in my tree. Both cvr and Joseph are known cousins and in my tree. Being able to see how many centimorgans Len shares with them and the others in the table will allow me to place him in my tree.

Figure 2. Table at the top of the results from The Antley Method DNA Connections Display Tool.

The second table that is displayed in figure 3. This is the table that I use as I want to make a matrix with the matches relationship to each other as well as to me.

Figure 3. This table is shown below the one in figure 1. Scroll down the page to find it.

I ‘select all’ on the page, and then ‘copy’ it. Going to a new Excel file I ‘copy’ it. To avoid clicking on a link in error, while the data is all highlighted, I right click and select ‘Remove Hyperlinks’. Since I want the second table I scroll down the Excel file and either delete the top table or just work with the second table. The beginning of that Excel table is shown in figure 4.

I am interested in knowing about the trees and will add that data as a separate column, but I mainly want the cM values. To make it easy to get that information, I first turn off merge cells for columns B and C and then select columns A through C for the match name the shared cM for both myself and the other match, here that match would be Len. To turn off the merged cells I select columns B and C, then select ‘Format’ and ‘Cells’ and unclick ‘Merge’. Figure 5 shows the resulting file.

Figure 5. After turning off merged cells in columns B and C.

Now the match name and the cM that they share are on the same row. I select columns A through C for each match and then ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ to a new Excel file. Since I no longer need this Excel file I delete it. In the new Excel file I add a new row 1 and then copy the list of names in column A and paste them transposed in row 1 starting in column B. This gives me the beginning of the matrix. I add yellow color to the cells where each match would match themselves. Figure 6 shows the beginning to my matrix.

I know that cvn and Joseph are my second cousins, 2C, and that Jeffrey is cvn’s son. Andrew is second cousins twice removed, 2C2R, and G.P. is second cousin once removed, 2C1R to me. An important clue here already is that the amount of DNA G.P. shares with len would be that of a nephew. After adding all of the matches I look specifically at the amount of DNA I share with each match. For amounts less than 90 cM, I use the unweighted amounts of DNA and I add the number of segments. The unweighted DNA amounts agree with the amounts of shared DNA on other sites. The matrix now is shown in figure 7.

Figure 7. The completed matrix to determine how len fits in my family tree.

Adding all this information I can see that len fits in my tree, as shown in figure 8. This tree was generated using AutoLineage and included DNA matches from several different testing sites. The 65 cM is on the low side for a second cousin, but not impossible. Len is first cousin to Joseph and to cvr and uncle to G.P. He is second cousin to me. Even though we only share 65 cM with 4 segments. Both the Shared cM project and SegcM list it as possible.

Figure 8. My maternal paternal family tree.

Third or Fourth Great Grandmother?

I decided to try another problem that I’d not been able to solve for years. My second great grandmother was Mary Aide, born in County Kilkenny, Ireland. I have DNA matches to Dawn and several others on the Aide line whose third great grandmother was Mary Kilfoil. Is Mary Kilfoil my Mary’ Aide’s mother or perhaps grandmother? Using the Pro Tools I was able to see how several other matches were related to Dawn and her sister, Sheri. Perhaps knowing how more DNA matches were related to me and to them would help this problem. I used the same process as I described above. I started building out my matrix with known matches who descended from Mary Kilfoil and adding the amounts I shared with them and the amounts they shared with each other to try to build out a more complete tree for her family. There are several parent – child matches. My daughter Jenn, Dawn’s son Ryan, and Kath’s daughter Abby show up as matches to several of the others.

A couple days ago I saw a YouTube that Dana Leeds did on how she uses these Pro Tools. She has four steps when she reviews the shared matches; looking at trees, common ancestor hints, her notes and then looking at the highest match in the shared matches list. Dawn shared her tree with me years ago, and we’ve been trying to figure out the connection. Looking at common ancestors Dawn, Sheri, Kath, Ron, Dan, Matt, and Ryan all show Mary Kilfoil as common ancestor to me, and Through Lines show Mary Kilfoil as my third great grandmother. My notes all indicate that Mary Kilfoil is the common ancestor, and the highest match to Dawn is her sister Sheri.

If Mary Kilfoil is my third great grandmother Dawn, Sheri, Kath, Dan and Matt would be my fourth cousins (4C) and Abby and Ryan would be fourth cousins once removed (4C1R). Conversely is Mary Kilfoil is my fourth great grandmother they would be 5C and 5C1R. From either the Shared cM Project or SegcM it’s not obvious which is the case. Next I put the data into BanyanDNA, see figure 10, setting it up so that I was the hypotheses. Two my of second cousins who also descend from Mary Aide have done DNA tests but not at Ancestry. Jennie tested at FamilyTreeDNA and Fred at 23andMe.

Hypothesis 1 would have Mary Kilfoil as my third great grandmother and hypothesis 2 would say that she is my fourth great grandmother. The results are shown in figure 11.

Now that I know where Mary Kilfoil is in my family tree I added her to my tree on Genetic Affairs AutoLineage as well. Then I ran ‘Find Common Ancestors.’ Figure 12 shows my new reconstructed family tree which includes additional DNA matches of mine from other sites. Details of using AutoLineage can be found at my earlier blog post.

Figure 12. AutoLineage Reconstructed family tree for my Barry and Aide side.

Conclusion

I have a number of other matches where I’m not quite sure where the match fits in my family tree. From these two examples it appears that using the new Pro Tools to see shared DNA matches will be very helpful. Now on to more complicated matches and finding new cousins!

If you have questions about how to get the most from Ancestry Pro Tools or any of your DNA results contact me at: info@patriciacolemangenealogy.com

Preserve

May 10, 2024August 6, 2024 ~ Patricia Coleman ~ Leave a comment

This week of the 52 ancestors in 52 weeks the keyword is preserves. There could be lot of meanings to preserve. When I first read this I thought not of saving records, but of my mother making preserves with various fruits in the summer. She made peach and pear preserves every summer. When I was first married, I lived in California, and we could get bushels of fruit very easily. Since I had large quantities of fruit, I asked Mom for her preserves recipe. The next letter from her included the recipe. Now I don’t remember the exact details as to how much sugar to how much fruit. But it was some pounds of sugar to some other pounds of fruit. And the rest of the recipe said, “you know what to do.” Well, I guess I never looked that closely at how she made preserves. I knew to put the fruit in the pot and add the sugar on top. Not to stir it while it was heating so that the sugar didn’t get to the bottom of the pan and burn. Once the fruit was bubbling then it was safe to stir it. The missing piece was what to do next. It stayed pretty liquid, so, I kept heating it. It got to be bedtime, I turned off the stove and went to bed. The next day this stuff in the pan was a solid rock! I don’t remember if I tried to clean the pan or just threw it all out. That was went I discovered powdered pectin that was added to the fruit before starting to heat it. And I never went back to making preserves without pectin!

Week 8 is Heirlooms

February 17, 2024 ~ Patricia Coleman ~ Leave a comment

I have several of them from my ancestors. My paternal grandmother’s ring, and my maternal grandmother’s dessert plates. I also have several from my great grandmother. Her ‘Rebecca at the Well’ tea pot, and her cookie cutters. But the one that I use the most is her Springerle board. I do not know if she brought it with her from Marburg when she immigrated in 1867 or if it was hand-carved for her after she arrived in Richmond, Virginia.
For years my mother would make Springerle at Christmas time and share them with family members. Now I’m the one making them and mailing them off to cousins and my daughter. I’d always followed the recipe religiously since it was my grandmother’s. That is until my mother told me how her mother never wrote any recipe down and make them all from memory. Mom was the one who wrote down what she thought her mother had used. So now I make them, and the other Christmas cookies based on what looks and feels right. How does an egg today compare to what my grandmother or even my mother had? I have no idea. So, if the dough feels right without all the flour, or it needs more flour I no longer force it to be what that recipe says. Of course, my mother would never have admitted it, but I’ve been told my cookies are better

A tray of cookies ready to go out in the cold.

The dough is refrigerated for a day or so and then cut into cookies. The dough is rolled out and then placed on the Springerle board and pounded to get the prints. Mom used a cloth filled with flour and tied. I just use my fingers to push the dough into the floured board. Then the cookies are cut and placed on a cookie sheet to go out in the cold. Mom would put them in boxes on her back porch in Richmond, Virginia. We put them in the garage inside a car or our Airstream. Because I live in Northern Minnesota if the temperature is below freezing, I must let them warm up inside and thaw out a bit before baking, or they lose their prints. Some years the prints turn out better than others. But they always taste good!

A few of the cooked cookies showing off their prints.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

February 8, 2024 ~ Patricia Coleman ~ Leave a comment

Week 6 – Earning a Living

My grandfather, Tony Sauerwald, was an artist. Born Franz Georg Emil August Anton Sauerwald on 2 February 1873 in Wetzlar, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse, Germany, he was the oldest child of Emil and Eva Sauerwald. In the summer of 1883, his father left for the United States and found work in a mine in Crimora, Virginia. In October 1886 Tony, his younger sister, Margaret, and their mother Eva arrived in the United States. They had been here less than a year when his father died in a mining accident in the summer of 1887. Tony was 14 and Margaret was only 9. Live must have been very difficult for the family.

The family moved to Richmond, Virginia by 1893. Tony was listed as a fresco painter in the city directory that year. In 1895 he married Louisa Christina Wolff. Tony was also known as an excellent soloist. In November 1906 the Catholic Cathedral in Richmond was dedicated, and Tony was the soloist at the ceremony. My mother had the invitation that her mother, Louisa, was send so she could attend the ceremony. Mom donated that to the Cathedral’s archives before she died.

Several of the frescoes that Tony painted no longer exist. When the Jeffersonian Hotel in Richmond was remodeled many years ago, they were covered. He also painted frescoes at the Benedictine Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. I have copies of the letters about his commission to do them. They no longer exist, and the current abbot has no record of them. However, some have survived. In 2015 we were able to visit a home in Richmond where the ceilings of what would have been the front and back parlor still have them! The fresco is around the chandelier and along the ceiling near the walls. They both have flowers and branches. In the one near the corners the pink flowers are more pronounced. Around the chandelier they might not appear so bright because of the lighting.

Tony also did landscapes. We have three of his paintings. One that I always liked was stored in my grandmother’s basement and had a large L-shaped rip in it. We had it repaired and cleaned and now it hangs in my daughter’s dining room. Tony did landscapes and not portraits. Any people in this painting were usually walking away or at a distance.

Landscape by Tony Sauerwald, date unknown.

Tony died in 1916, when my mother was only two years old. We’ve always speculated that his death was caused by close contact and exposure to the lead-based paints that were used at the time.

It appeared that the talent of an artist had been lost in the family, however my granddaughter is quite the artist, but she mainly does portraits, which is different than her second great grandfather Tony. But perhaps the artistic talent has not been lost!