Figuring out a DNA connection

[grahamd15]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for advice so that I can figure out the father of one of my ancestors, Agnes Parker b. 1860. Her father had the last name Mcintyre/Mcateer and I have DNA connections to families linked to descendants of her children and the Mcintyre/Mcateer family but am struggling to connect the individual Mcintyre/Mcateer families and Agnes' father. I have Ancestry DNA Pro Tools, which has proven helpful in constructing trees for the Mcintyre/Mcateer matches.

My closest familial match range from 65 - 45 cM. Will it be possible to pinpoint the father with this amount?

[rsel]

Hi,
   I am not a real expert, but i would say that size range is unlikely to give you a specific person as a father. You can probably narrow it down to perhaps a family, on which one child could be the father, unless you get lucky and have families with one only one possible option :-).
    Based on what you have said, if you have got a family tree together for the Mcintyre/Mcateer matches, try entering it into the WATO tool on the DNA painter site. if you enter the match sizes back to you it can suggest possible relationships, on which you can then manually overlay your relationship to Agnes and hopefully you will get a few options to explore further.

Richard

[Biggles50]

Extremely difficult to pinpoint accutately.

More likely to get a few various possibilities but you will need to be lucky in what information you find.

The cM range you quote does have a lot of relationship probabilities hence my guarded response above.

The suggested WATO tool is great advice, I would also have suggested it.

You do not give an actual relationship between you and Agnes, no the generational distances between you and the DNA matches.

If we assume that Agnes is your Great Great Grandmother and the father of her child had children by another woman then if the DNA match is of the same generational distance as yourself then the cM for a 1/2 Third Cousin is an average of 48 cM so right in the range that you posted.

As a guide finding a link to a 3C has a 90% probability of success but drop down to a 4C and that probability drops to a 45% chance.  Go down a generation and it is at 15% and a further generation it is only 5%.

So keep fingers crossed that you get lucky.

[grahamd15]

Thank you both for the advice.

I am using my dad's DNA, who is the great-great grandson of Agnes Parker. The highest DNA match from Cluster 1 (the closest related Mcateer/Mcintyre family to me) is "GF" who shares 51 cM with dad (I won't give my dad's actual birth year but he was born c. 1960) and "GF" was born c. 1940. The furthest I can trace her family is to her great-grandfather Patrick Mcintyre b. 1852.

If my Agnes and her Patrick were half-siblings then "GF" would be my half-3rd cousin 1x removed, which does line up with what Ancestry suggests.

The only hold-up here is that, Agnes' father was purportedly named Patrick Mcintyre (by Agnes' mother in her baptismal record). "GF"'s great-grandfather, Patrick, said that his father's name was John Mcateer on his marriage record.

My highest DNA match from Cluster 2 is "EL" who shares 33 cM with dad. "EL" does not share any cM with "GF" but does share 37 cM with "GF"'s 1st cousin 1x removed (child of "GF"'s first cousin), "ML". The furthest I can trace "EL"'s family is to her great-great grandmother Mary Mcateer b. 1833-1837.

[Biggles50]

I would not be to concerned about the spelling of a surname, I have one in my tree whose surname is spelt Curran, Curwen and Corn in various records.  Another lists George William as his Father on his Birth Cert yet on his Marriage Cert his Father is listed as John.

EL and GF does indicate that there are likely further family DNA inheritance pathways that still require researching.

As an example my Wife has a DNA match of her Maternal Cousin’s Grandson, he is also related to my Wife via her Paternal line.  He shares one 31cM match in MD with my Wife but not share any cM with another of her DNA matches, namely JN, MD and JN are 2C’s to each other and hence further research is ongoing.

[grahamd15]

Sorry, I should have used the same surname - I meant if Patrick's (b. 1852) father John (which is what seems possible with the DNA range) were to be Agnes' father then that would go against who Agnes' mother stated as being the father on the baptismal record, Patrick.

I agree - it does seem that there is quite a bit of DNA matches that are related via both their paternal and maternal line to mine.

Thank you very much for your help.