Rabbit Holes With Randy - Genetic Affairs AutoClusters

 This week's rabbit hole was to run AutoClusters on Genetic Affairs (www.geneticaffairs.com) for my 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritageDNA match lists.  I do this about twice a year, and I probably need to do more investigation of the other features on Genetic Affairs.  In addition, I needed something to discuss in some detail in the Chula Vista Genealogical Society DNA Interest Group meeting on Wednesday, 21 September 2022.

1)  I focused on my 23andMe matches for the CVGS meeting because I have some mystery matches there and I knew that the AutoCluster analysis would help me narrow the In Common With of my high value matches on 23andMe.  I have "only" 1,523 DNA Matches on my 23andMe test, with a minimum value of about 30 cM  because I haven't paid extra to see more matches.

The results of my 23andMe AutoCluster analysis is:

I set the maximum cM value at 250 cM and the minimum value at 30 cM.  I had 146 matches that could be put in a Cluster, and 22 clusters of 2 matches or more.  So now I know that I have 8 matches in Cluster 1 and 3 in Cluster 2 and 2 in Cluster 3 and 10 in Cluster 4, and so on.  If I know how I'm related to one person in the Cluster, then that is a clue that the other matches in the Cluster are related to me through one of the ancestral surname of my known DNA Match in the cluster.

In addition, the AutoCluster spreadsheet provided shared cM values of my matches, and of each match in a cluster with other matches in the cluster.

In Cluster 1, I know how 5 of the 8 DNA Matches connect to me, and with each other (with some exceptions).  For Cluster 1, this is a Richmond related cluster.  I can use this information to narrow the search for how I am related to the other 3 matches in this cluster.

The shared match information in each Cluster may reveal relationships between each person in the Cluster.  For instance, in Cluster 3, which has only 2 matches, but they share 3517 cM, so this is a parent-child relationship.  This is really useful information, as is sibling relationships in the 2500 cM range, and aunt/uncle relationships with about 1800 cM.  

3)  I have matches with a known common ancestor for several clusters.  Cluster 1 (a Richman/Marshman 3rd great-grandparents line), Cluster 4 (Kemp/Sovereen 2nd great grandparents line), Cluster 5 (also a Kemp/Sovereen line, but a different descendant than Cluster 4), Cluster 18 (a Spangler 2nd great-grandparents line), Cluster 19 (a Carringer/Feather 2nd great-grandparents line), and Cluster 22 (a Cutter/Randolph 4th great-grandparents line).  I don't see a known descendant of my Seaver, Hildreth, Sawtell, Rich, White, Oatley, Smith, Vaux, Auble, or Knapp 2nd great-grandparents lines.  They may be hidden in the other clusters that I haven't identified yet. 

4)  The only drawback to the AutoCluster information is that it finds only those matches in the 30 to 250 cM with other matches in the Cluster.  It doesn't find DNA matches that are not in a Cluster of 2 or more.  Hence, it worked, in this case, for 146 matches out of 1,523.  But they are, in the main, high cM value matches, certainly cousins of mine.

5)  I also did the MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA AutoCluster analyses, and each of them has a different set of DNA Matches to work with.  There are some duplications of Match names on one or more of the four largest DNA test/analysis companies.

6)  We had about 30 attendees in our DNA Interest Group on Wednesday, and I  think only one of them have used the Genetic Affairs AutoClusters.  Only a few of them have done a 23andMe test.  There were very few questions about AutoClusters, so I'm afraid I info-glutted many of the attendees, but maybe my presentation will encourage others in the group to use it.

7)  I spent about 8 to 10 hours doing all of this in the past week.  I found out that I know very little about using this tool and it showed in my presentation.  

I need to find my carrots to build up some energy for working with the FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritageDNA clusters.

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Disclosure:  I paid for my 23andMe autosomal DNA test in about 2010.  I subscribe to Genetic Affairs for $5 a month so that I can do as many AutoCluster analyses as I want.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2022/09/rabbit-holes-with-randy-genetic-affairs.html

Copyright (c) 2022, Randall J. Seaver

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Genealogy Pot-Pourri - Week Ending 30 August 2021

 Here are the highlights of my family history and genealogy related activities over the past week.

1)  Hosted the Chula Vista Genealogical Society General Meeting on Wednesday with 58 in attendance.  The program speaker was Rick Hanson on "Writing and Publishing Your Family History."  

2)  Transcribed  a deed record in Amanuensis Monday -- 1796 Deed of Eleazer Perry Selling Land in Medfield, Massachusetts to Aaron Smith.

3)  Published a genealogy biography of  7th great-grandmother #615 Mary (Ockington) Harrington (1669-1725) of Watertown, Massachusetts.

4)  AncestryDNA added 35 new DNA matches this past week, with two new ThruLines and  MyHeritage added 20 new DNA matches.   Reviewed the new DNA matches on  AncestryDNA, MyHeritageDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe.  Added Notes to 2 more AncestryDNA match with cM values, relationships and known shared ancestors, and added 2 ThruLines to RootsMagic.  Figured out the common ancestor on 23andMe for two DNA Matches.

5)  Ran a new AutoCluster with AutoKinship for my 23andMe matches on Genetic Affairs, and tried to sort through it all.  I still have a lot more sorting to do.

6)  There were several sessions working in the RootsMagic software program to match with and update FamilySearch Family Tree profiles for Seaver families and my ancestral families, with occasional additions to the RootsMagic profiles. I have matched 44,093 of my RootsMagic persons with FamilySearch Family Tree profiles (up 168).

7)  Used Web Hints and Record Matches from Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast and FamilySearch to add content and source citations to my RootsMagic profiles.  I now have 65,248  persons in my RootsMagic file (up 177), and 141,444 source citations (up 302).   I TreeShared with my Ancestry Member Tree two times the past week updating 302 profiles, and I resolved 912 Ancestry Hints.  I've fallen behind on the Ancestry Record Hints with 156,669 to be resolved, but I work on them almost daily. 

8)  Wrote 17 Genea-Musings blog posts the past week, of which one was a press release.  The most viewed post the past week was Finally, a Descendants Chart I Can Use!  Thank You, MyHeritage!  with over 432 views.   

9)  I am still fine here at the Genea-cave, hunkered down and not going out much after Week 76 of COVID-19 isolation.  Linda is at a memory care and skilled nursing facility in Chula Vista 7 miles from home and I visit her for an hour every day.  She stood up for the first time today in physical therapy. The Padres season continues, and the Padres are now 69-62 (1-4 the past week).  I went to the grocery store on Monday and Friday. Other than that, it was stay-at-home on the computer doing (mainly) genealogy, plus eating, sleeping, laundry, cleaning, cooking, watching TV news, and a little yard work.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2021/08/genealogy-pot-pourri-week-ending-30.html

Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Dear Randy: "What Is Your Autosomal DNA Testing Strategy?"

 Reader Arthur asked:  "Could you share your updated autosomal DNA testing strategy, inquiring minds want to know!? Or post the link to where you already posted it! Much appreciated, always want to know what people 2 levels above me are thinking."

I just summarized this for my Chula Vista Genealogical Society DNA Interest Group in the December meeting, so here it is:

The basic Autosomal DNA Testing Strategy is to “Fish in all Ponds” to Find Relatives in DNA Matches!  You will never know what you might find if you don't test everywhere!:

1)  Test at AncestryDNA:  They have the most testers, the most (and most "leafy") family trees, so therefore the best chance to find close DNA matches and the most common ancestors for distant matches using the ThruLines feature.  Ancestry also has the Shared Matches feature, but does not have a chromosome browser or access to a clustering program.

2)  Download your AncestryDNA test raw data so that you can upload them to other test sites.  

NOTE:  Ancestry does not accept uploading of raw DNA test data from other websites.  MyHeritage, FamilytreeDNA, 23andMe and LivingDNA permit uploading of raw data, but there may be fees involved.

3) Upload the raw data to MyHeritageDNA (free transfer, $29 to unlock analysis features*).  You will receive different DNA matches because MyHeritage has different customers.  They also have analysis features such as *Chromosome browser, *Autoclusters (clusters of DNA matches), *Theory of Family Relativity (if you have a MyHeritage tree).  You can download a .csv file of your DNA matches and the DNA segments that you share with your DNA matches.

4)  Upload the raw data to FamilyTreeDNA (free transfer, $19 to unlock analysis features).  You will receive different DNA matches, a Chromosome browser, and they offer trees for some of your DNA matches.  They do have a chromosome browser and you can download a .csv file with the DNA segments that you share with the DNA matches.  You can run Genetic Affairs autoclusters and obtain a .csv file of your DNA match clusters.  

5) Upload the raw data to GEDmatch (free to upload, $10/month to unlock Tier 1 analysis features). This is not a testing company - they encourage testers to upload raw data from all testing companies.  They have some free analysis tools, including a chromosome browser.  Other advanced analysis features are in Tier 1 and several of them are unique.  

6) Test at 23andMe (no upload of raw data is permitted) – you will receive different matches because they have a different customer base.  They have free analysis tools, including Relatives in Common, a chromosome browser, but no user-submitted trees.  You can download a .csv file with the DNA segments that you share with the DNA matches. They do have a Family Tree based on relationships with others and shared DNA, which is conjectural.  You can run the Genetic Affairs Autoclusters program and obtain a .csv file of your DNA match clusters.  

7)  Upload the raw data to Living DNA (free to upload, a fee to unlock ethnicity and analysis features) if you have British Isles ancestry.  This site provides DNA matches, but has no links to family trees or other analysis tools at present.

8) Run Genetic Affairs AutoClusters on FTDNA and 23andMe data. ($5/month after trial).

9) Run DNA Painter Chromosome Mapping (after identifying chromosome segments for particular ancestors on other sites).

Some comments:

*  This is what I did without knowing about a strategy.  I got in on the AncestryDNA beta test for free, won a FamilyTreeDNA test, paid for 23andMe, and uploaded to the others.

*  All of the testing sites run customer specials at certain times during the year and at large genealogy conferences. Plan ahead!

*  Each company has a website with a lot of information from scientific to how-to do things on their site.  Learn to use each website.

*  I am not an expert at all of this, but have some knowledge that may make me dangerous.  There are a number of  real experts who have websites, blogs, Facebook groups, and YouTube channels that explain things in much more detail - learn who Blaine Bettinger, CeCe Moore, Roberta Estes, Paul Woodbury, Diahan Southard, Michelle Leonard, Debbie Kennett, Michelle Patient, Dave Dowell, Emily Aulicino, Robin Wirthlin, Margaret O'Brien, Leah Larkin, (and I know I've left some out...sorry!) are and read their works.  

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2021/01/dear-randy-what-is-your-autosomal-dna.html

Copyright (c) 2021, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com

My Last AncestryDNA AutoCluster AutoTree Analysis From Genetic Affairs - Post 2

I wrote My Last AncestryDNA AutoCluster AutoTree Analysis From Genetic Affairs - Post 1 two weeks ago, and want to share what I learned and provide some conclusions.  See the Part 1 post for my AutoCluster chart of the clusters and my AutoTree chart of probably DNA match common ancestors.

1)  I did not show one of my own AutoTree charts in Part 1 one of my AutoCluster analysis.  They provide this for each person identified by Genetic Affairs as a Common Ancestor.  As noted before, they use my Ancestry tree and the trees of my DNA matches to generate these AutoTrees.  Here is an AutoTree for the ancestor with the most known DNA Matches in the Genetic Affairs analysis:

Ann Marshman (1784-1856) is my 3rd great-grandmother, who married John Richman.  There is a similar chart for John.  I am the box in light green.  There are 11 DNA matches on this chart, all descended from John and Ann (Marshman) Richman (I have minimized the identifying information).  Three of them are my 3rd cousins, 4 are my 3rd cousins 1x removed, and 4 are 3rd cousins 2x removed.  We all have my 2nd great-grandparents, James Richman and Hannah Rich, as our Common Ancestor.

2)  Genetic Affairs provides much more information to the user, and it takes time to understand what is provided and how it can be used.  The most useful information for me is the spreadsheet file that can be manipulated and evaluated.  Here is the top of my spreadsheet file for this AncestryDNA cluster analysis from 11 March 2020 (I have minimized the identifying columns):

For me, the most important Page of the spreadsheet is the "AutoClusters 1 -- 1" page, shown above.

On the spreadsheet, the DNA Match's name is in Column A, the total cM match is in Column C, the cluster number is in Column E, the Notes I have in AncestryDNA for matches are in column F, and the size of the match's tree is in Column G.  Column H and further out to the right show the Cluster Color and if each person in the cluster matches the other persons in the cluster.  I have highlighted the lines with known Common Ancestors (from ThruLines or my family knowledge) in yellow on these charts.

Cluster 1 has 26 members in it, but only 4 of them have a tree, and only two of them have a tree larger than 19 members.  I have reviewed those trees and do not see an ancestor that matches one of my ancestors.

I know who #1 on the match list is - my 1st cousin 2x removed, with my grandparents Frederick Seaver and Bessie Richmond as our common ancestors (the yellow line on the chart above).  It's probably safe to say that this cluster is on my father's side.  And there are 25 matches for whom I can't identify a common ancestor!

As you can see from the Notes in Column F, I have added information for many of the matches, mostly based on Shared Matches provided by AncestryDNA.

The next group of matches is for Clusters 2 through 5:

There are more trees for these clusters, but again none identify a common ancestor.  I keep wondering if my tree is wrong!  Have I made a mistake, or was a close ancestor misattributed?

I have no Common Ancestors identified in clusters 2 through 5, but I do have leads from AncestryDNA Shared Matches.  I have guessed that these Clusters are also on my father's side of my tree.  There is one known Common Ancestor in Cluster 5 - 5th great-grandparents (Nathaniel horton and Sarah Pray) from the White-Oatley segment of my tree.

The screen below shows Matches 55 to 83, and most of Cluster 6.  This is another large cluster (29 members), and 10 have trees, but no Common Ancestors have been found in the Match's trees or in Ancestry ThruLines.  I think these are all Seaver-Richmond side clusters.

On the spreadsheet for lines 78 to 103, is the 21 Matches in Cluster 7.  There are ThruLines for 15 of them!

Cluster 7 clearly has Common Ancestors of my great-grandparents Thomas Richmond and Julia White!

The next screen is for Matches 104 to 129, and include Clusters 8 to 13.  I have known Common Ancestors in Cluster 10 (3rd great-grandparents John Rich and Rebecca Hill) and in Cluster 13 (also third great-grandparents John Rich and Rebecca Hill - my  great-grandfather Thomas Richmond is a grandson of the Rich/Hill couple).

3)  I could go on and on here, but there is not much point to it and I have TreeSharing to do.  I hope my readers can see the capabilities of Genetic Affairs and how it can be used to identify clusters who probably have a Common Ancestor.  

4)  AncestryDNA ThruLines and MyHeritageDNA Theory of Family Relativity are the only providers who attempt to help the user find Common Ancestors using the available trees of the DNA Matches. 

It seems to me that Genetic Affairs affirms the Common Ancestors for those Matches with shared DNA of 20 cM or more.  I have over 400 AncestryDNA ThruLines, but only 75 share 20 cM or more with me.  Some of my ThruLines in this group depend on trees other than my tree and my match's trees (using the Big Ancestry Tree) so Genetic Affairs does not find all 75 of them.

5)  Some of my observations about my AncestryDNA matches:

*  With 1,490 matches over 20 cM shared DNA, I "know" the common ancestor for 75 of them (5.0%).  These are ALL my DNA Cousins!  I am related somehow to them.

*  The lack of genealogy research, reflected in the trees of these DNA matches, is the main reason.  We can't do much about the matches with private trees (although ThruLines does find some using the Big Tree) or those with no tree.  

*  This also applies to the Ancestry Big Tree - it does not contain every person born between, say, 1750 and 1950 linked to a set of parents.  Not even every American-born person!  And I've found errors in the Ancestry Big Tree for some of my brick-wall ancestors.  

*  For many with small trees (say more than 10 members), there is an opportunity to create quick and dirty trees starting with the known ancestors in the match's tree to try to find a common ancestor.  I have done some of these, but not many, using Ancestry "Potential Ancestors," and was able to figure out about 50% of the challenges, but it takes a lot of time.  

*  Genetic Affairs is hampered with AncestryDNA matches because it does not have the Ancestry Big Tree to help.  And Ancestry Member Trees, including mine, can be wrong.  I worry about my tree more than ever now!

6)  Genetic Affairs is probably most useful in grouping DNA Matches on FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe, GEDmatch, and potentially Living DNA, into Clusters.  There are fewer user trees on those sites, and clustering can help sort out who is related to which Common Ancestor if known family members are in the DNA Match list.

Since AncestryDNA has discontinued efforts by third-party programs like Genetic Affairs from accessing the data necessary to do the Clustering work, this may be the last AncestryDNA cluster analysis I share - unless AncestryDNA develops their own analysis, which may be in the works.  Or not...

7)  I would love to hear about your experiences with Cluster programs and how far you've gone using them and how much progress you've made with identifying Common Ancestors.

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Disclosure:  I have been a paid subscriber to Genetic Affairs for several months, and really appreciate Evert-Jan Blom's program capabilities and the overall services he provides.  Thank you, Evert-Jan!

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/07/my-last-ancestrydna-autocluster.html

Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Where Are the "Holes" In My Pedigree Chart? Can DNA Help? - Post 1

While wading through my Genetic Affairs AutoCluster results for AncestryDNA (see My Last AncestryDNA AutoCluster AutoTree Analysis From Genetic Affairs - Post 1), I noted that I have many DNA match clusters that don't have a known common ancestor, based on my Notes for each DNA Match.  For instance cluster #1 has 26 entries, but no known common ancestor.  I'm pretty sure that the common ancestor for that cluster is on my father's Seaver side of the family, but none of those matches has an Ancestry Member Tree that includes one of my Seaver line ancestors back up to the 5th great-grandparents.

I have about 400 AncestryDNA ThruLines that define Common Ancestors for me based on my tree, DNA match trees, and the Ancestry Big Tree.  These are very helpful, but are not always accurate (my estimate is that about 5% of my ThruLines are incorrect).  

There are more Common Ancestors identified with ThruLines than by Genetic Affairs because of the methodology used by each analysis (Genetic Affairs uses only my tree and a DNA Match's tree, not the Ancestry Big Tree).

How can I figure out who might be the Common Ancestor for more of my DNA Matches, especially in clusters?  The first step should be to define what I think I know and what I don't know about my ancestry.  Here is a 7-generation chart from the FamilySearch Family Tree (out to 4th great-grandparents).  I wish I could make an 8-generation chart to get to 5th great-grandparents!

My unknown ancestors on this chart are:

*  4th great-grandparents, parents of John Richman (1789-1867).

*  4th great-grandparents, parents of Ann Marshman (1784-1856).  The chart shows parents that I think are incorrect.

*  4th great-grandparents, parents of John Rich (1790-1868).  The chart shows parents that I think are incorrect.

*  4th great-grandmother, mother of Sarah Feather and wife of Cornelius Feather.  The chart above calls her Mrs. Cornelius Feather.

*  3rd great-grandparent, a parent of Devier J. Lamphier Smith (1839-1894).  Devier was adopted as an infant, and I'm pretty sure one set of his grandparents are Isaac and Rosanna (Laun) Lanfear (based on DNA matches), but the other parent (male? female?) is a mystery.

*  4th great-grandparents, parents of William Knapp (1775-1856).  Ancestry offers potential ancestors that I am sure are incorrect.

*  4th great-grandparents, parents of Sarah Fletcher (1802-1850).  

I have other "holes" in the 5th great-grandparents not shown on the chart above that may be the Common Ancestors of some of the Genetic Affairs clusters.  

My next step in this analysis process is to identify my AncestryDNA Common Ancestors on the fan chart to see which of my known ancestors don't have any matches, and which clusters might account for one or more of my "holes" in my fan chart.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/07/where-are-holes-in-my-pedigree-chart.html

Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

My Last AncestryDNA AutoCluster AutoTree Analysis From Genetic Affairs - Post 1

I ran my last AutoClusters for AncestryDNA on Genetic Affairs on 11 March 2020, and I'm glad I did - see News From Genetic Affairs: Ancestry Demands They Stop Collecting DNA Match Data.  I finally  got around to looking at the results and doing more analysis last week.

1)  For AncestryDNA, Genetic Affairs "clusters," or "groups," my DNA matches according to Shared Matches (who do I share a match with, and who do my DNA matches share a match with?).  They then try to identify Common Ancestors by comparing my tree with the Ancestry Member Trees of my DNA matches in the analysis.

The Genetic Affairs AutoCluster results come in zipped files, including:

*  an HTML file with the Autocluster chart and explanations 
*  a CSV spreadsheet with the cluster information by match name
*  a file folder for the Ancestry generation charts
*  a file folder for Tree charts for each cluster

2)  I ran the AutoCluster with a range of 25 cM to 250 cM, and it covered 565 DNA matches with a minimum of 2 matches in a cluster.  Here is the top of the AutoCluster chart:

Each small colored box on the is a cluster of my DNA matches that probably share a Common Ancestor.  The names of the matches are down the left side of the chart and across the top of the chart.  The cluster number and number of members in each cluster are on the right side of the chart.  For instance, Cluster 1 has 26 members.  A member of a cluster shares a common ancestor with all or some of the other members of the cluster and with me.

Further down the chart page is a sample tree that the Genetic Affairs program provides:

The sample Tree chart above is typical of what is in the Trees file folder for most of the clusters.

The bottom of the screen above shows the list of common ancestors and common locations (within 100 meters and 5 kilometers) for some of the clusters.  These might be helpful to identify where the ancestors of my DNA matches come from.

3)  Still further down the AutoCluster chart page is the AutoTree - I chose 7 generations - and there are seven screens to this chart:

This chart is also in the Ancestors file folder along with the other x-generation charts.

As you can see from the big pedigree chart above, I have very few ancestors with Genetic Affairs Matches in the Seaver portion (my father's father) of my pedigree chart (the top one fourth of the chart).  I have many more on the Richmond portion (my father's mother) of my chart, some on the Carringer portion (my mother's father) of my chart, and some on the Auble portion (my mother's mother) of my chart.

4)  My ancestors with Genetic Affairs matches (meaning they have identified a common ancestor for a DNA Match based on the trees of my DNA Matches) are colored in pink to red (depending on how many matches there are).  There are also Cluster numbers (in Orange) and number of Matches (in Green) on the common ancestors with matches, as shown below:

Note that some ancestors are in more than one Auto Cluster.

5)  In the next post, I will delve into several of the Clusters and accompanying AutoTree charts to see how accurate they are and if they help me to determine the Common Ancestors of my DNA Matches on the AutoCluster chart.

6)  Although Genetic Affairs can no longer create these AutoCluster charts for AncestryDNA, it can still be used for the other major DNA providers, including MyHeritageDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, 23andMe and GEDmatch.  In the future, they may be precluded from providing that information for privacy reasons, so do the Genetic Affairs analysis while it's still available.  Note that MyHeritageDNA has the option for AutoClusters in its' Options.

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Disclosure:  I have been a paid subscriber to Genetic Affairs for several months, and really appreciate Evert-Jan Blom's program capabilities and the overall services he provides.  Thank you, Evert-Jan!

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/06/my-last-ancestrydna-autocluster.html

Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

News From Genetic Affairs: Ancestry Demands They Stop Collecting DNA Match Data

Genetic Affairs is a third-party autosomal DNA analysis website that uses your DNA match data to group your DNA matches into clusters who share common ancestors.

I have been using it for about 18 months now, and it has really helped me determine how many of my AncestryDNA and MyHeritage DNA matches are related to me.

I received this email from Jan-Evert Blom, the creator of Genetic Affairs, today and wanted to share it with my readers (originally sent 28 May on the Genetic Affairs Facebook group):

====================================================

I am mailing you this with respect to some recent developments regarding analyses with Ancestry. As some of you may have already heard, last Friday (just before I was packing for a family outing) I obtained a cease and desist letter from ZwillGen, the legal representatives from Ancestry. I was able to quickly post a public announcement on several groups on Facebook (for instance Genetic Genealogy Tips and techniques and our own Genetic Affairs - User Group ).

In short, Ancestry wants me to stop offering the AutoCluster analyses that employ Ancestry data.

For sake of completeness I am pasting my announcement from last Friday:

"Hi all,

"I am afraid I will have to inform you that our, sometimes rocky, journey with Ancestry has come to a sudden end. I just obtained a cease and desist letter from ZwillGen, the legal representatives from Ancestry.

"When I started Genetic Affairs in 2018 and released AutoCluster I couldn't have imagined the impact it would have on the genetic genealogy and its amazing userbase. Partly this success can be attributed to the unprecedented DNA database of Ancestry. I also realized that to keep a sustainable relationship with them I should implement rate-limiting measures to minimize the computational impact on Ancestry's servers.

"For this reason, I implemented a queue system that only allowed for a limited number of parallel analyses. Moreover, instead of downloading all (shared) matches Genetic Affairs only focuses on the top fraction of matches, which have the highest probability of generating relevant hypotheses. We also motivate our user base to employ our targeted clustering approaches, thereby focusing only on a subset of matches.

"Despite our best efforts to be a good neighbor, Ancestry requested that we stop providing our services to you, their customers, to cluster your matches.

"It is therefore with great sadness and disappointment that I must withdraw support for Ancestry from our site at this moment. Please remember that it is still possible to utilize the AutoCluster analysis if you transfer your DNA results to MyHeritage and FTDNA.

"I would like to thank our Ancestry users for their continued support and wish you all good luck with the remainder of your genetic genealogy journey.

"Evert-Jan Blom - Genetic Affairs - info@geneticaffairs.com https://www.geneticaffairs.com/ "

"If you want to try to start an AutoCluster analysis I would strongly recommend trying this as soon as possible. I will remove the Ancestry option around 11PM CET. .

"Yesterday, I have reached out to the legal representatives from Ancestry and asked for a line of communication. In the upcoming days/weeks I will try to resolve the issue with Ancestry and try to come up with a workable solution. Please subscribe to our Facebook user-group to obtain the latest developments regarding this matter.

"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I can assure you I am doing my utmost best to resolve the issue. Yet, we will have to prepare for the worst, i.e., the removal of clustering support for Ancestry from our website.

"Best regards,
Evert-Jan Blom"

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NOTES:  You can read more information on the Genetic Affairs Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/GeneticAffairs.  A letter from Ancestry to users was posted at https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=2327159604245017&set=gm.621304038472682.

The link to Ancestry apparently will end at 11 p.m. CET, which I think is 5 p.m. EDT and 2 p.m. PDT today, Monday, 1 June.

I sent another Genetic Affairs analysis for Ancestry request this morning - I don't know if it will be fulfilled or not.  

Needless to say, I am very disappointed that Ancestry has done this to the genetic genealogy community.  Ancestry has provided some DNA matching tools, but they have resisted chromosome browsers and now this clustering tool.  Of course, it is possible that Ancestry has or will develop their own clustering tool.  Time will tell.

Genetic Affairs partnered with MyHeritage to provide this clustering tool to MyHeritageDNA users.  It can also be used on Genetic Affairs to define clusters for FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe autosomal DNA matches.

Disclosure:  I have been a paid subscriber to Genetic Affairs for several months, and really appreciate Jan-Evert's program capabilities and the overall service he provides.  Thank you, Jan-Evert.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/06/news-from-genetic-affairs-ancestry.html

Copyright (c) 2020, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Received my MyHeritage AutoCluster Analysis

MyHeritage announced yesterday that they have released Automatic clustering (from Genetic Affairs) for MyHeritageDNA matches.  See  Introducing AutoClusters for DNA Matches.

The blog post says:  "AutoClustering technology organizes a person’s list of DNA Matches into clusters of people who are likely to have the same common ancestor, because they are all mostly related to each other. Clusters are color-coded for convenience and are presented in a powerful visual chart, as well as in list format."

I immediately requested my AutoCluster report, and received the email with the results late last night.  This morning, I opened the file and reviewed the AutoCluster graphic and the .csv (spreadsheet) file for my matches.

For reference purposes, I have over 6,000 DNA Matches with 8 centiMorgans or more, and over 50 matches with 34 cM or more.  

The AutoCluster analysis I received was for 80 DNA matches with shared DNA between 10 and 350 cM.  Here is my Autocluster graphic (with the DNA Match names grayed out for privacy reasons - in two screen shots) which has 15 clusters with between 3 and 14 members:

This chart is sorted by Clusters.  The other options, in the dropdown menu at the top, are by Name, by # of Shared Matches, and by Shared cMs with the tester.

Below the graphic above, there is a list, by cluster, of the 80 DNA matches in the 15 clusters.  Information included is the name, the total cM, the largest segment cM, the number of segments, the number "in common with", the cluster number, and the size of the tree.  If I have included a Note for the DNA match, it is also provided.  Here is the top of my AutoClusters Information list:

At this time, I know the common ancestors of only about 5 of the 80 DNA Matches on the chart.  I need to review the spreadsheet and sort the information, and add known common ancestors, and other things to the spreadsheet in order to determine the ancestral line that each cluster represents..

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Disclosure:  I have a complementary subscription to MyHeritage, and have received material considerations from MyHeritage over the past ten years.

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2019/03/received-my-myheritage-autocluster.html

Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Using GeneticAffairs.com to Create DNA Match AutoClusters - Part 3: Using the Cluster Information

I wrote Using GeneticAffairs.com to Create DNA Match AutoClusters - Part I: Getting the Clusters four weeks ago, describing the login process and getting to the point of creating the Autoclusters for my AncestryDNA matches.  In Part 2: The Cluster Graphic last week, I discussed the mechanics of obtaining and analyzing the graphic, and discussed problems I found with the graphic (partially shown below):

The graphic contains information of persons that match me and each other in a cluster.  I had 52 clusters - the biggest one had 37 matches (shown above in orange), and the smallest had 2 matches.  I didn't show the bottom portion of the .html cluster image - it lists the names, cMs, number of segments, tree size, predicted relationships, and AncestryDNA Notes for each person in each cluster.  That is useful information and overcomes the issue with the unreadable names on the left and top.

How can the AutoCluster graphic be used to identify the common ancestor(s) of each cluster and each DNA match?  That is really the ultimate reason to use this cluster approach.  

Here is what I did:

1)  The AutoCluster results includes a .csv file called   AutoCluster_Ancestry_your_name_date_time.csv.zip.  This file can be downloaded, saved to a file folder, and unzipped.  From the unzipped .csv file, a spreadsheet can be created with only the AncestryDNA matches that were estimated to be in a cluster of matches - with two or more persons in a cluster.  This file gave me only 398 persons with over 25 cM, in 52 clusters.

2)  When I opened the .csv file into a spreadsheet (I use OpenOffice Calc on Windows), I immediately saved it as a spreadsheet file (.ods in OpenOffice).  I also named the spreadsheet sheet (using Insert > Sheet)  as "Test Data."  Here is the top of my "Test Data" sheet with the columns that identify names, and some other columns, reduced in width:

The columns on the screen above are:

A:  Identifier (reduced in width for privacy reasons)
B.  Name (reduced in width for privacy reasons)
C:  Total Shared CM
D:  Matches with own profile
E.  Cluster No.
F to OM(reduced in width for space reasons):  Person names that match with the DNA Match names (the rows).  Column F on the sheet is the first DNA Match (also in row 2 of the spreadsheet), and the numbers in column F indicate that that first DNA match also matches those persons in later rows.  From Column F, I can see that the DNA Match matches DNA Matches 1 to 15 (rows 2 to 16), Match 17, Match 21, Matches 23-24, etc.  That Column F match is my first cousin, who has all of my Seaver and Richmond ancestry from our grandparents.

3)  I then created another spreadsheet (Insert > Sheet) sheet and called it "Cluster list." I used Edit > Select All on the "Test Data" sheet, and then clicked on "Edit > Copy" on the "Test Data" sheet and clicked on the "Cluster list" sheet, and clicked "Edit  > Paste" to f ill in the sheet.  At this point, the "Cluster list" sheet is identical to the "Test Data" sheet.

a)  The magic of Spreadsheets is that the user can Sort the information by columns.  I selected all of the columns (Edit > Select All) on the "Cluster list" sheet, then clicked on Data > Sort and selected Column E and ascending (for Cluster No.) and Column C and descending (for Total Shared cM) to sort the data in the "Cluster list" sheet.

b)  I reorganized the columns to put "Cluster No." in Column A, Shared cM in Column B, Name in Column C.  

c)  I added columns (Insert > Column) for Column D = Match No., Column E for Known Rel[ationship], and Column F for Common Ancestors.  

d)  I added the "Match No." by hand - there is probably a way to do this before I moved the columns, but I didn't do that this first time around.  I haven't added the numbers for some Clusters.  The "Match number" helps me find the match in my AncestryDNA match results (until the match list changes!).

e)  I probably should have added an Ancestry Member Tree size column also.

f) The other columns moved to the right on the sheet.  

g)  Here is the resulting "Cluster list" sheet near the top of the sorted list:

As you can see, all of the clusters are ordered from 1 to 52 in Column A. and all of the persons in a cluster are listed by decreasing shared cM in Column B.

4)  I then went to my AncestryDNA Match list (on Ancestry.com) and added the "Known Relationship" information (from the Shared Ancestor list on Ancestry or from my own research) and added the known "Common Ancestor" person(s) information.

As you can see on the screen above for Cluster 7, the known common ancestors are from the Richmond/Richman or Rich families.  Even though some of the common ancestors may be White or Oatley, this cluster must be Richman or Rich because there are several matches in the cluster who only have Richman or Rich and don't have White or Oatley.  White and/or Oatley matches are probably in other Clusters (and those who have a White or Oatley common ancestor on the list above will match most persons in those clusters also).

Cluster 7 above has the most "Known Relationship" and "Common Ancestor" entries of my 52 clusters.  

5)  The Known Relationships and Known Common Ancestors for each AutoCluster for my AncestryDNA cluster list indicate that:

*  Cluster 1 (37 members) has 2 known common ancestor matches - this is probably a Carringer, Spangler, Feather, or Houx cluster.
*  Cluster 2 (27 members) has 1 known common ancestor match - this is probably a Rich or Hill cluster.
*  Cluster 3 (21 members) has no known common ancestors matches.
*  Cluster 4 (20 members) has no known common ancestors matches.
*  Cluster 5 (20 members) has no known common ancestors matches.
*  Cluster 6 (19 members) has 2 known common ancestor matches - this is probably a Seaver or Hildreth cluster.
*  Cluster 7 (19 members) has 16 known common ancestors - this is probably a Richmond or Rich cluster.
*  Cluster 8 (17 members) has no known common ancestors matches.
*  Cluster 9 (15 members) has no known common ancestors matches.
*  Cluster 10 (13 members) has 2 known common ancestors - this is probably an Oatley or Champlin cluster.

and so forth.  There are several smaller clusters that have 5 or 6 known common ancestors.

6)  Some clusters have only one or two known relationships and Common Ancestors, and many don't have any, based on the AncestryDNA Shared Ancestors and my own research.  I will focus on the largest of these clusters to try to figure out common ancestors by using Quick and Dirty Trees.

7)  While reviewing the Cluster list and the AncestryDNA Match list, I noticed that I have several significant DNA matches with over 40 cM that are not included in the Cluster list.  To me, that means that those DNA matches don't share DNA with the other matches on the Cluster list (which included matches between 25 cM and 900 cM).  Perhaps a Cluster list with a lower minimum cM would add those omitted DNA Matches.

8)  I will probably run the AncestryDNA AutoCluster in several months time so as to keep the Cluster analysis up-to-date with my AncestryDNA Match list.

9)  I hope that this review of using a spreadsheet to analyze the AutoClusters has been helpful.  The first one I've created here has been instructive to me, and I see several ways to improve it.  I would appreciate any suggestions on ways to improve it from my readers.

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Disclosure:  I have no material connection to Genetic Affairs and am "just a user" of their service. 

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2019/02/using-geneticaffairscom-to-create-dna_12.html

Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.