I started using RootsFinder because someone on one of the genetic genealogy Facebook groups I’m a part of posted a link to a blog post about the new experimental DNA tool. I watched the video and I was enthralled. I loved how it would paint everything for you once you identified how your matches were related to you. I signed up (link to do so on their main page, not on the blog post), imported my information from Gedmatch (including information from the paid for tier 1 tools) and then I was less than enthralled.

My cluster DNA looked like the dog’s breakfast.

I understood that each dot represented a person. I also knew that the pink dot was my great-aunt, S.R., but that was it. Then someone posted a picture of their father’s cluster, which was just one big circle with all the dots connected and joked, “this is what endogamy looks like.” Finally it clicked. That large grouping in the middle? Those are all my paternal matches. On my father’s side, most of my matches are related to my other matches. The smaller groupings around the big cluster in the middle would be my maternal matches. My mother comes from a more diverse background, but there is one very endogamous cluster where that pink dot is. My distant but known cousins F.G. and W.M. are also in that cluster. F.G. and W.M. are related to me through my ancestors who worked for Hudson’s Bay Company way back when. This means that the DNA matches who are in that cluster with them share ancestry with me through that line.

Let’s back up a little, first. Endogamy is defined as “marriage within a specific tribe or similar social unit.” If your ancestors were all from the same village and all intermarried with each other, you will have endogamy in your family tree. My ancestors who worked for the Hudson’s Bay company all lived in the same area and intermarried with each other. Textbook endogamy.

Why is this a problem? When you are trying to figure out how your DNA matches are related to you, the first thing you might check is if they are matches to any known relatives. Great! I have lots of matches that are also matches to F.G. and W.M. These matches could be related to me through our McBean ancestors, through our McLeod ancestors or through our Turner ancestors (both the McBeans and the McLeods married into the Turner line). What a mess!

Enter Rootsfinder. I wasn’t having a lot of success with it, but then I remembered that I manage my great-aunt S.R.’s kit at Gedmatch and since I’ve already bought a month of the Tier 1 utility I should import her data to Rootsfinder as well. Here’s where it gets interesting.

I had emailed another random match on Gedmatch and it turns out they’re related to me on my Turner line, and only my Turner line. F.G., W.M. and these two Turner matches, S. and J. are too distantly related to be painted into my tree, but they are more closely related to my great-aunt.

Here’s her cluster. Turner is Yellow, McBean is pink.

Here’s a closeup of the pink and yellow dots. You can see the lines that connect them.

Here’s the RootsFinder chromosome browser:

Here you can see how the pink McBean/McLeod cousins have a segment of DNA on Chromosome 19 in common with the yellow Turner cousins. That means that the DNA in that particular spot goes through the Turner line. Other DNA matches in this spot will also be related to me on the Turner line. It will be much easier to connect with DNA matches when I can tell them through what line we share the DNA rather than sending them an email that says “we share DNA, want to figure out how?”

Obviously as I identify more matches this will help me improve my chromosome labeling. My next steps are to find McLeod cousins who are not McBeans, and McBean cousins who are not McLeods.