I recently had an email that MyHeritage had discoverred a new Theory of Relativity for me, so I was interested to see if it was correct. Fortunately, I have been researching the Rathfelder Line for a while and have some good information on it.
MyHeritage Theory Between Robert and Me
The full Theory gives a low chance that the two Johanns are the same person:
This is where my Rathfelder DNA/Genealogy Chart comes in handy:
As shown by the red circle, I descend from Johann Georg Rathfelder born 1778. Robert likely descends from Johann Adam Rathfelder born 1775. The names these families had were often confusing.
Looking at Robert’s Genealogy
Next, it would be helpful to see if my records agree with Robert’s genealogy. Here is part of Robert’s paternal tree:
I need to figure out how to get to Rudolf who is actually Rudolf Georg Adam Spengel. I do have a Maria Barbara Rathfelder in my tree:
I do see a record for Dororthea Blandina:
She is the daughter of Georg Adam Spengel and Emilie Frederica Hauk (probably born Gempfer?). She was born in July of 1888. This appears to be Georg Adam’s birth record:
Here, I assume that the mother is Maria Barbara Rathfelder.
Here is my updated Rathfelder DNA/Genealogy Chart:
Robert is my 5th cousin once removed.
Looking at the DNA
Next, it is time to look at the DNA. Here is how Robert and I match:
We share a segment at the end of Chromosome 11.
DNA Painter
I keep track of what I can of my DNA matches at DNA Painter:
Right now I do not have anything showing on the right end of my Maternal Chromsome 11. I’ll add in Robert who represents DNA from either Hans Jerg Rathfelder or Juliane Bittenbinder.
For some reason, Robert’s match on Chromosome 11 appears to be the largest chunk of DNA from these mid 1700’s ancestors. I always find it interesting that we carry these ancient reminders of our ancestors in our bodies.
My Mom’s DNA
My mother’s match with Robert is basically the same as mine. Here is my mother’s paternal Chromosome 11:
Here, at the right end of my mother’s Chromosome 11, I have two mysterious matches to an unknown Latvian Ancestor. The ancestor must not be too far back from my mother as the length of the matches are quite long. Here is Robert added in:
A Clue to How Angelina and Assunta Match My Mom
Here is Assunta:
MyHeritage thinks that Assunta could be my mother’s 2nd cousin’s granddaughter. That means that Assunta could descend from Johann Rathfelder born 1819 and Rosine Schwechheimer:
Angelina shows as an even closer match. I have written to the person who manages their family tree to see if I can look at their family tree.
I checked my other 5 siblings and did not see Robert as a match, so it appears that DNA came down to just me out of the 6 children. This graph shows why:
The purple to the right of Chromosome 11 is Rathfelder. I was the only one out of 6 siblings to inherit my maternal grandfather’s Rathfelder DNA at that location.
Summary and Conclusions
- I looked at MyHeritage’s Theory concerning Robert and our common ancestors
- MyHeritage was off, but was not far off
- I was able to add Robert to my Rathfelder DNA/Genealogoy Chart and to DNA Painter
- Robert’s match on Chromosome 11 for my mother helped to get me closer to identify two fairly close matches on Chromosome 11. They must descend from a more recent Rathfelder Line.