MyHeritage has recently had an update on Theories of Relativity. These are similar to what Ancesty does with ThruLines. It combines the DNA matches with potential genealogical matches.
Wolf’s 3 Theories
I am sure that I have looked at Wolf before. He shows as new, but perhaps some of his theories are new. Here is the first theory:
This must be a half relationship as Anna as shown is born in 1807 and Anna Niclas has died years before this time. Here is what I show for Philip Jacob’s second wife:
Wolf has a different second wife for Philip:
When I look again at my tree, I see this in agreement with Wolf’s tree:
At any rate, the theory does not seem to match up with Wolf’s tree. The Theory has Johannes Hassenfuss lived for only two years from 1849-1849 and had Gagnus as his mother. Here is Wolf’s tree:
He has Johann’s mother as a Biedermann.
Theory 2
This also does not make sense:
This also does not make sense as Anna Biedermann is the daughter of Joahann Pfeif.
Theory 3 with Wolf and Me
As I mentioned above, this does not square with Wolf’s tree.
In 2018, I came up with this connection with Wolf:
Also this;
Further, I descend also from my mother’s paternal grandmother from Schwechheimer line:
This likely explains why Wolf and I share so many DNA segments:
A major advantage of MyHeritage over Ancestry is that MyHeritage has a Chromosome Browser that shows on which chromosomes and where on those chromoses two people match. If I were to map these segments, should I have them as Schwechheimr, Biedenbender or both? The likelihood is that they should be Schwechheimer, but there is no guarantee.
Some matches are under 7 cM so they will not map by default:
Here is Wolf added to DNA Painter on Chromosome 1:
I have him as Schwechheimer or Biedermann.
Paul and Bill
Paul is a second cousin on my Frazer side. Bill is here:
Bill is a 3rd cousin once removed to Paul. The MyHeritage Theory is more concise:
I will paint the DNA match to DNA Painter:
Bill’s match adds a small amount off previously unmapped DNA on Chromosome 8 Chromosome 1 confirms that Violet Frazer descends from Richard. The match on Chromosome 8 may be on the James Frazer side, but we cannot tell for sure without other matches. I should change the label for Gladys. Although she is from the Philip Line, she is also from the Richard Frazer line.
A Frazer Theory that Cannot Be Right
I know who my grandmother’s mother was and it was not Anne Lewis. I will reject this Theory. Sharee is a shared match with Shani:
Here is Shani at Ancestry:
Shani also matches me further back on my McMaster Line.
Sharee matches me here:
That match would be here on my DNA Painter profile:
That match overlaps mostly with Zoe but also with Ron. I have Zoe mapped as Clarke or McMaster.
For some reason, I have a lot of Theories showing my grandmother had a Lewis mother. Actually her mother was Margaret Clarke.
A Latvian Theory with Inguna
This match looks more likely:
My mother’s father had Schweccheimer on both his paternal and maternal sides:
It looks like he had Gangnus on his paternal and maternal side also. The good news is that there must be a connection. The bad news is that there could be many connections.
Here is Inguna’s paternal grandmother’s tree:
She has a Juris Schweccheimer in her tree where the Theory has Johann Georg Schweccheimer. Perhaps these two are the same person. I am willing to add Inguna to my tree as a floating branch and then add her if I can find the connection.
Here is the Schwechheimer DNA tree that I have:
It seems overly simplified as it does not have my grandfather’s mother’s line. That would bring me down a generation on the tree from where I am now. Here is where I have Anna Elisabeth Schwechheimer on my Ancestry tree:
She shows up as the youngest in the family. Here is the updated Schwechheimer DNA Tree:
This feels more complete. So, for example, I am 5th cousin and a 5th cousin once removed to Otis and Sane. Confusingly, as Otis is their twice, I am related to him in 4 ways on the Schwechheimer Line. This is why it is helpful to create a chart.
Back to Looking at Inguna’s Tree
Ancestry does not have many good recent Latian records, so I will go by Inguna’s tree for a while. Fortunately, the Lutherans kept good records, and I found this one at Ancestry:
Here, Erna is born 30 June 1889. Her husband is Johan Alexander Lutz. From the next page, it appears that Alexander was confirmed in Hirschenhof and Erna in Riga in 1908.
Here is a marriage banns record:
It appears that the Theory is following what I am seeing.
This appears to be the birth record for Johann Georg son of Gerhard Schwechheimer:
However, the theory has he was born in 1859.
Let’s go back to the daughter to see if there are any clues. Here is a marriage record:
I think these were in Russian, but the German names are in parentheses. This is from 1912.
Here is part of Erna’s confirmation record:
Now her mother is known by Emilie than Cathernine Ernestine.
Here is a non-private tree that MyHeritage used to help create the Theory:
Here we have that Erna’s mother is Catharina Emile Hermann. This is a Veckaln’s tree, so likely one that Inguna used. As I look at this tree, I see that Georg’s mother would have been about 44 when Georg was born.
I do see this record:
However, I see the date at the top of the page as 1853. That makes more sense to me. So basically I agree with the Theory, though the review could have been more rigorous. The best way to check is through the Revision Lists as that should list family units if the timing of the lists are right.
Updating the Schwechheimer DNA Tree
While working on the DNA Tree, I found this record:
For some reason, the birth date for Georg is off, but I am going with what I had above. The names seem to fit in.
That makes Inguna most likely my 4th cousin once removed.
DNA Painter for Inguna
Here is the match I have with Inguna:
By default, the second segment will not map as it is less than 7 cM. However, it seems like is should be valid due to its proximity to the first segment.
This match fills in some empty space on Chromosome 11.
Inguna and my mother have a larger DNA match:
Here is my mom’s new DNA Map for Schwechheimer:
There is no overlap with Otis’ matches. I don’t know if that is a problem or not. It is possible that Inguna may not match Otis at the 4th cousin once removed level. She does share a match with Sane.
Summary and Conclusions
- I looked at two Latvian Theories, a Frazer Theory that could not be right and a Frazer Theory with my cousin Paul that was right
- I mapped the correct theories on DNA Painter
- I found the Schwechheimer genealogy very complicated due to large families and similar names.
- I had a chance to tell MyHeritage that many of the Theories for my Frazer grandmother were wrong.
- I will likely continue to look at the MyHeritage Theories updates.