Similar thread here:
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=812406.0An interesting point someone on the thread made:
I wonder if it is actually picking up what is known as Identical by Segment, or Identical by Descent, and it is just very ancient links which are for some reason overestimated in MyHeritage. In fact I think I recall Andy Lee from Family History Fanatics saying Ancestry was much more cautious and MyHeritage was one of the least cautious, so you might have much higher cM link to the same person on MyHeritage than the same person on Ancestry. It is hard to make a definitive judgement as you cannot see most tester's country of origin on Ancestry.
I am currently working through my mother's DNA matches on Ancestry and MyHeritage. I too was surprised to find so many matches from continental Europe. The strongest European match is Swedish at 50.3cM, 2 shared segments, largest segment 40.7cM - my mother's ninth highest match!
2nd strongest is Dutch at 48.5cm, 3 shared segments, largest segment 33cM. (However, after looking at our shared matches on the chromosome, I am fairly confident that we share an English ancestor)
It is sometimes useful to put the matches into context by looking at the shared cMs of a match you can identify. For example, my mum's third cousin on MyHeritage shares 46.3cM with her and her fifth cousin once removed shares 41.9cM so you can see how a match can seem close but, in this case, the shared ancestors were born in 1696 and 1697 respectively (granted my mum's 3xGG was 75 when my mum's 2xGG was born so that skips a couple of generations but still)!
I can't see any mention on this thread about triangulating matches using the chromosome browser - did that throw up anything for any of you/have you tried that?
The tools on MyHeritage, like the chromosome browser, are really useful and definitely worth the unlock fee if you are interested in finding out more. I particularly like the AutoClusters feature, which does the work for you.
It pointed me towards this group of Norwegians:
AD 27.9cM
KK 27.9cM
LJ 16.6cM
JJ 13.3cM
EN 13.3cM
We all match on chromosome 22.
They all share an ancestor called Mr X, a Norwegian man born in 1844. I know this because he was married twice and my mother matches to children from both his first wife and his second.
There are many more shared matches (almost exclusively Norwegian/Swedish or American of Scandinavian descent) on this chromosome but the trees aren't detailed enough to figure out how they are linked to this man.
Mr X has a family tree back to the mid-1700s and he has no English ancestors. I am perplexed to say the least! Especially as all my mum's ancestors are English and verified by DNA (except for her great-grandfather who was adopted but the named father on his birth certificate sounds English).
Have any of you discovered a group descended from a common non-English ancestor? Would be interesting to find out!
Queenie
