Strange results at My Heritage?

[familydar]

I too got a smart matches email from MyHeritage, initially I assumed I had some sort of new DNA match but that wasn't so (and I wasted a lot of time wondering why I couldn't find a DNA match despite clicking the link).  Eventually I checked the wording of the email:  somebody I've never heard of  has "confirmed 4 Smart Matches between his family tree and yours".  When I looked at his tree I can see that he does indeed have the four names identified, but looking critically at his tree I think he's not considered whether the locations fit or perhaps the Atlantic Ocean might be in the way and also has amalgamated a couple of generations so that one couple apparently continues to have children long after the wife's death.

Needless to say I've not confirmed the match.

Jane :-)

[sugarfizzle]

Eric, I suggest you start a new thread, without mentioning myheritage or Smart Matches. People may feel your original question has been answered without reading through it.

Without meaning to it has become more a discussion about Smart Matches than about your real query.
Sorry if it got derailed a bit by me.

My feeling is that you are not in any way shape or form connected genetically to your wife.

A(ustralian) matches with you and your aunt on one side of her tree, and your wife and mother-in-law on an unrelated side of her tree, or it is indeed an error.

Do you and your wife's family match at your original testing company? Do you all match A on the same segments? Does A have widespread ancestry?

Regards Margaret

[Gadget]

Do you all match A on the same segments?

I was wondering about this Margaret.  Eric might have mentioned it and I could  have missed it. My Heritage chromosome matching is pretty straight forward.

Gadget

[sugarfizzle]

Eric, For example, please correct me if I am wrong -

MRCA of wife, mil and A are perhaps mutual 7G grandparents, B and C from SW England.

MRCA of you, your aunt and A are perhaps mutual 4G grandparents, D and E from Yorkshire.

If descendants of B and C in A's line marry descendants from D's line, A will match all of you, will be closer related to you than your wife and will have ancestors from both Yorkshire and SW England.

But B and C are not related to D and E at all, you still have no ancestors from SW England and are not related to your wife, other than by marriage to her.

In chromosome browser, A may match with all of you, but with you and your aunt on one chromosome, your wife and mil on another one.
 
A bit of a coincidence, if this is the explanation, but life is full of coincidences.

Examine A's tree for any likely intermarriages between the four main areas of interest.

Regards Margaret

[lisalisa]

'MRCA'  =  ?

following the thread with interest, but new to dna so not sure of abbreviation, thanks.

Lisa

[sugarfizzle]

Sorry, Lisa.

Most Recent Common Ancestor/s

Regards Margaret

[lisalisa]

Sorry, Lisa.

Most Recent Common Ancestor/s

Regards Margaret

thanks Margaret 

[Eric Hatfield]

I too got a smart matches email from MyHeritage

Hi Jane, yes I agree, many "smart matches" or hints are dubious at best and quite obviously wrong at worst. But DNA matches are more objective, and it is that side of the double matches that I am querying.

[Eric Hatfield]

Hi Margaret,

If descendants of B and C in A's line marry descendants from D's line, A will match all of you, will be closer related to you than your wife and will have ancestors from both Yorkshire and SW England.

I think something like this must be the explanation. Using the hypothetical figures you have used, there would be 64 4G grandparents on one side and 512 7G grandparents on the other side (if I have calculated correctly). Each of these would have many, many descendants today. It just requires two of these descendants to have got together to produce A - unlikely to happen all that often I guess, but must happen sometimes, especially when people from different parts of UK migrate to Australia. I just haven't seen it before myself.

Then there is the coincidence of there being not only a DNA match, but also a paper match with my grandmother's adoptive parents.

Examine A's tree for any likely intermarriages between the four main areas of interest.

A only has a small tree, with only one line going back very far, and that is the one who has my grandmother's adoptive parents in it. I have messaged A, but no answer yet.

I suggest you start a new thread, without mentioning myheritage or Smart Matches. People may feel your original question has been answered without reading through it.

Yes you are right. I originally thought it was an artefact of the filtered match process, but I agree now that it isn't, and that was a red herring. I can now ask a quite different question. So I will start a new discussion. Thanks.