MyHeritage does Theories of Relativity. They are like Ancestry’s ThruLines. MyHeritage compares ancestral trees and matches them with DNA matches. This can be very helpful. I have looked at Paul’s Theories in the past, but they need updating.
Here are Paul’s Theories:
These Theories will be from the Frazer and McMaster families as that is where Paul and I match. Here is an update of my chart:
This is my attempt to be more comprehensive in my look at Paul’s Theories. For example, I don’t have Melanie on Paul’s DNA Painter profile, but I don’t need her there as her mother is already there. I have one of the John’s on my McMaster DNA/Genealogy Chart, but I forgot to put him on Paul’s DNA Painter profile. The blanks are ones that I appear to not have looked at yet.
John on the Robert Line and DNA Painter
Here is John on the Robert Line:
Paul and John should be 4th cousins and MyHeritage’s Theory of Relativity agrees. Here is where Paul and John match:
The Chromosome 8 match looks large, but it is only 6 cM which is below the standard amount that DNA Painter will add.
On Chromosome 14, John adds some new mappimg area. On Chromosome 18, John shows that matches with Emily, Raymond, and Faye are actually on the McMaster side and not on the Frazer side. Further, it explains on which McMaster line this DNA comes from:
My second great-grandmother Margaret McMaster had two McMaster parents. This DNA was from the James McMaster side.
Painting John to My Sister Heidi
Heidi and John match on the first two chromosomes:
Heidi’s match on Chromosome 1 was too small to paint. Here is Chromosome 2;
The blue matches are on my Hartley side. Here, John’s DNA identifies the match with Susan as being on the McMaster and not the Frazer side. I didn’t have other DNA painted from Abraham McMaster and his wife, so I added that for Heidi.
Painting John to my Sister Sharon’s DNA Painter Profile
Sharon and John:
Sharon’s Chromosome match with John is large enough to paint.
Again John paints a new area for Sharon on Chromosome 1 and identifies other Frazer/McMaster matches on Chromosome 2.
Paul and Brian
MyHeritage shows:
I will create a floating tree for Brian. Here is an obituary for Ethel:
In 1900, James McMaster was a farm laborer in Hinsdale, Massachusetts:
Here is Hinsdale:
Here is the tree I have so far:
This tree is following the Theory.
Here is some more information on James McMaster (which my tree shows as McMasters):
According to the 1880 Census, Charles McMaster must have been born in Ireland:
Unfortunately, Charles had apparently died as Rachel shows as a widow. I notice that Brian has this interesting note on his family tree at Ancestry:
I would tend to agree with Brian. The William I descend from had children who were etiher in Ontario or stayed in Ireland.
I see that this is likely the same family in 1870 in Berlin, New York:
Ancestry has the surname as McMartus, though I can also see where this could be McMasters. The transcriber has Mary Blowers which makes sense as Brian has Rachel as Rachel Blowers.
I also see that Berlin is not far from Massachusetts and Vermont:
Here is where Brian matches my cousin Paul:
Here I have put Brian under Abraham McMaster, on Paul’s DNA Painter profile though there were some doubts as expressed above:
That tells me that Paul matches his Frazer relatives on the McMaster side on Chromosome 2 where those matches over lap with Brian.
Paul and Berenice
Paul and Berenice show as 4th cousins at MyHeritage. I’m going to shortcut and not evaluate Berenice. Besides, she shows as a 1st cousin to the John I already have on this line.
Paul and Brad
I don’t recall this match:
Unfortunately, Brad’s tree is missing some information:
It appears that Brad would have his mother a Long rather than a McMaster. Brad does show his paternal grandmother as a McMaster:
It looks like I can fill in some blanks. John had Andrew who married Evelyn:
That should be enough to go on for now. This stone is from the West Bothwell Cemetery in Ontario:
However, something still does not add up. MyHeritage has that Brad is in his 70’s. That means that he was born in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. If Evelyn was mother this would make more sense as she would be in her 20’s at that time. The person who manages Brad’s DNA is clearly the daughter of Evelyn McMaster. I will assume that Bev is Brad’s sister.
It looks like Evelyn would have been about 32 when Bev was born. Here is Evelyn in 1931:
Below is Evelyn potential great-grandfather William at age 98. I think that it will be difficult to place this family with certainty.
Here is where Brad matches Paul by DNA:
The 1891 Census appears to show an extended McMaster family group:
William J is living with siblings and parents: William and Sarah McMaster. An elder Eliza McMaster is also living with them. She is perhaps the grandmother bron about 1810.
William’s parents names are given on his death certificate:
This says that William’s parents were Abraham McMaster and Bessie Johnston. I have this already on my McMaster DNA/Genealogy Tree:
I had added in the past to the Abraham McMaster/Bessie Johnston Line but did not save it. I’ll add Brad now.
We think that Eliza made it to Ontario and perhaps her husband. Also I see that brothers William and Mark McMaster both married Crundwells.
Next, I add Brad to Paul’s DNA Painter Profile:
These are new sections painted to Paul’s chromosomes and the first from the Abraham McMaster/Bessie Johnston Line. This raised Paul’s overall painted DNA from 12 to 13%. That doesn’t seem like much, but I am only looking at Paul’s paternal side, so he is painted 26% on his paternal side.
While I’m at it, I’ll add Christina’s match to Paul on his profile:
I also mention Christina in my previous Blog.
Paul and Justin
Here is a progress update. Hopefully it is accurate:
Se that there are twice as many identified McMaster Theories compared to Frazer Theories. Justin shows in the Frazer camp:
I am initially skeptical of this connection. Here is the full Theory:
Many on the connections have low probabilities of being correct. I’ll move on to the next Theory.
Pamela and Paul on the McMaster Side
For some reason, two generations show as ‘Deleted profile’. First, I will try to recreate Pamela’s tree but putting Pamela in my tree as a floating tree. It appears that Elsie’s father should be Archibald:
Here is Steiglitz, near Melbourne:
I borrowed from an Ancestry tree to see that Archibald is actually Archibald McPherson III.
In my own tree, I have this information:
This is from an email I received in 2009.
So my tree for Pamela should have a McMaster by now, but has a Tait:
Here we have possibilities:
- Archibald had two different wives
- One tree is right and one is wrong.
- There was more than one Archibald born around 1860
Here is a gravestone from Meredith, AUS:
Meredith appears to be in the right part of the World:
I am not sure where the confusion is, but I am going with the Archibald from the gravestone above. My tree has an Archibald born 1860 and another Ancestry tree has this Archibald McPherson born 1867. I am not sure if this is the discrepancy:
So between the DNA match, my old email and other Ancestry Trees, I will add this Line in to my tree. This appears to be the other McPherson, buried in Gisorne:
I’ll add Pamela to my McMaster DNA/Genealogy Chart:
Here is Pamela on Paul’s DNA Painter profile:
This is confusing as this shows overlapping DNA from the McMaster and Frazer side on Chromosome 12. This suggests that Suzzanne could be related on the McMaster side.
Finally, Paul and Josephine
Josephine is Paul’s last Theory at this time:
Based on other Archibald McMaster/Elizabeth Meehan descendants, this connection seems likely. Paul and Josephine match on Chromosome 14 in this area:
This is the John that I mention earlier in the Blog who descends from Robert McMaster.
Based on the share matches between Paul and Josephine, the connection seems pretty certain. Here is Lalbert where Elizabeth McMaster Meehan was buried:
Here is a birth record for Margaret Mary Meehan borrowed from an Ancestry Tree:
This record is helpful:
Again, I will borrow this record from another Ancestry Tree:
That seems to close the circle. I will now add Josephine to my McMaster DNA/Genealogy Tree:
All that is left to do is to add the DNA match to Paul’s DNA Painter Profile:
Here is a summary:
Summary and Conclusions
- It was helpful to look at Paul’s Theories at MyHeritage as Paul is one generation closer to common ancestors than me or my siblings.
- The McMaster tree is quite large. This is just the tree I go back on on my James McMaster side. I have another tree for Fanny McMaster who married James McMaster.
- The McMaster families that I tracked were in the US, Canada and Australia.
- There was some confusion on some of the Frazer Theories. The connection for Justin was unclear. I already know the connection for Joanna, but MyHeritage did not show the right connection. This is understandable as the connection is a bit convoluted. I already had the connection to Suzzanne, but when mapped on Paul’s DNA Painter Profile, it appears that Suzzanne’s connection could be on the McMaster side.
- I agreed with Brian that his McMaster connection was through Archiabald McMaster, but based on naming conventions, I could also see the possibility that he could be connected on the William McMaster side.