In this blog I’d like to look at a new Frazer Triangulation Group (TG) that one of the Frazer DNA Project’s testers tipped me off to. (Am I OK ending a sentence in a preposition?) Then I’d like to take a first look at a Gedmatch tool called Traceability.
A Dual Line Multi-Continental Triangulation Group
I can tell that Joanna from the Frazer DNA Project has been reading my blogs. In a recent blog I highlighted Michael’s DNA. He is another member of the project. Joanna knew that her sister Janet also matched Michael, so she ran a Gedmatch utility that finds others that match both Janet and Michael. She came up with at least 3 new matches. I took a look and noticed that one of her ‘new’ matches was actually one of our project’s new testers that I mentioned in a recent blog. (I won’t address the other 2 new matches in this blog as they matched on a different Chromosome.)
Here is what Joanna’s sister’s Chromosome 7 DNA matches looked like:
#1 is Jean’s mom. Jean is from Australia and she and her mom are the newest Frazer DNA Project testers. #2 is the match with Michael. This looked like a prime candidate for a Triangulation Group. All that is needed for a TG is for Jean’s mom to match Michael to get our dual line multi-continental TG. The dual line means that Janet is from the James Line of our project and Michael and Jean’s mom descend from the Archibald Branch of the Frazer DNA Project. I suppose that multi-continental is a little over-hyped. Janet and Michael are from England and Jean’s family is from Australia. Here is the match between Jean’s mom and Michael:
The Start Location on Chromosome 7 where Michael and Jean match is the exact same Start Location where Janet and Michael matched (start of the blue segment above).
We Have a TG: Who Are the Common Ancestors?
The theory behind TGs is that when is found, it should represent the DNA from a common ancestor – or from a common ancestral couple. The problem is, who is the common ancestor? The parents of the Archibald and James Frazer Lines is always a possibility. If we use that first known Frazer set of parents as a common ancestor, Janet is a 6th cousin once removed to Michael and Jean’s mom. This seems like a long way for autosomal DNA to be valid. However, the Ancestry DNA Shared Ancestor Hints go all the way up to 8th cousins, so maybe a 6th cousin once removed or a 7th cousin is not too far off. Also a real life person should be able to do better than Ancestry’s computers which blindly mush together Ancestry Trees and DNA results. If anyone would like to find the common ancestor between Janet, Michael and Jean’s mom, you will get the Frazer DNA Project highest honors!
Traceability: the New Gedmatch Tool
The Traceability tool is a bit difficult to find at Gedmatch as it is not shown on the front page of Gedmatch. After multiple kits are chosen for comparison, it shows up as an option to choose.
The Traceabililty option is the 3rd from the bottom.
I’ll start with a simple example. I’ll use the same Janet, Michael and Jean’s mom (VO) that I mentioned above. The first part of the fairly new Gedmatch Traceability report starts with a estimate of how many generations the matches’ common ancestors could be just based on the DNA matches. Note that these numbers especially between Janet and V.O or Michael would be very low if we use the Early 1700’s Frazer couple. The actual generations to that couple would be more like 7 or 8.
| Generations Estimate | ||||
| F383447 | A541738 | A007097 | ||
| F383447 | Janet | – | 4.9 | 6.2 |
| A541738 | *V.O. | 4.9 | – | 4.4 |
| A007097 | Michael | 6.2 | 4.4 | – |
Next is the graphic and the where the matches were:
The dark triangle is our TG. Michael is at the top left, Jean’s mom is at the top right, and Janet is at the base. Janet’s matches with Michael and VO are in blue. The note says that Dark gray line represent more than one segment. That would be the match between Michael and VO on Chromosomes 1 and 7 that I mentioned earlier. Those matches are not spelled out as it would make things too messy, apparently. I guess the utility was not made for so few matches as it cut off a few numbers.
Let’s Kick Up Traceability a Notch
The next example I’ll use will be the line of Richard Frazer born about 1777. In that line, we have the Frazer Project DNA testers Michael, second cousins Bill and Pat, my second cousin once removed Paul and myself and my 2 sisters. In addition, we have added to that group, based on triangulation, Jane who was already in the group from a different line and David who was not previously in this group. Unfortunately, this example may not be that simple, as all except David appear to be in multiple Frazer lines. I’ll start first with Michael, Bill, Pat, Paul and my family:
This shows that we all match each other to varying degrees based on the DNA. The exception is that Patricia does not show a match with Heidi nor with Paul. [However, in reality she does match us as she is related to Bill.]
Now our dark triangle has grown to have 7 sides. This shows in a simple way, the 2 Richard Line TGs. One is on Chromosome 12 (in blue) and one is on Chromosome 1 (in green). Actually, the Chromosome 12 TG is not a true TG as it includes 2 siblings, but once we add Jane and David back in, it will be a true TG. Right now TG 12 includes Bill, myself (Joel) and my sister Sharon. TG 1 includes Bill, Michael and Paul. From previous experience, I know that my sister Heidi is also in that TG. She matches Bill, Michael and Paul, but because she matches on more than one segment, her Chromosome 1 matches with them are not highlighted. Her matches are therefore shown in dark gray.
This chart also sorts us by family. My sisters Sharon and Heidi are at the top and I am to the lower right of them. Paul, my second Frazer cousin once removed is to the lower left of my sisters. We are all above the red line and all descended from George Frazer b. about 1838.
Below the red line is Michael, Bill and Patricia. They are all descended from George’s grandfather Richard Frazer b. about 1777.
Adding Jane and David to the Richard Line Traceability
Now we are up to 9 people. The blue TG has gotten quite large.
Jane (A974138) is shown now in the Chromosome 1 TG. She is also in the Chromosome 12 TG, but as she matches in more than one segment, that fact isn’t perfectly clear.
All the Frazers!
Next let’s try all the testers. I’ll have to leave some testers out as the Traceability seems to only work on up to 20 people. I’ll take myself out. Also Joanna and any children of testers. Also I’ll take out Patricia as her cousin Bill has some good matches.
In general, the Archibald Line is first, up to Janet. However Doug looks like he is with the James line as he is last. Actually, his only match is with the Archibald Line (Jane). So the Archibald Line is mostly top left and the James Line is bottom right:
I have 3 Frazer Lines. One I have not identified, but I expect that it is a James Frazer Line. That may be why it appears that my family and Paul are pulling part of Joanna’s family into the James Line section.
Here are the Frazer Global matches:
Frazers Around the Globe
We’ll give the James Line the Western Hemisphere and the Archibald Line will take the Eastern Hemisphere:
Janet and Michael are on either side of the dividing line on the top right. Clyde (CS) and Doug are on either side of the James Line/Archibald Line divide. This globe shows matches within one’s line and outside of one’s line. For example, Bonnie (A154993) shows matches with everyone on the James Line except for Jonathan and Janet on top of the globe. In addition she matches the 1st four Archibald Line testers on the bottom of the globe (Doug, Bill, Heidi, and Sharon).
Bugs in the Traceability?
I noticed that in the Generations Estimate above, Doug had one match. On my own spreadsheet, he had 3 matches. However, on the ‘globe’ above, he has 7, so there seems to be a glitch in the system. Some of his matches I can’t reproduce at Gedmatch using a ‘one to one’ query. That’s too bad, because the results were getting interesting. Perhaps I overloaded it with too many names. I tried it again with the same names and Kit numbers and got this:
This globe had more realistic matches, at least based on Doug’s results. Doug had 3 Project matches and here Doug (F437682) has 3 matches. The only problem is, that he appears to be placed on the James side. Perhaps the computer thought he fit better there. He does show the 2 matches to the Archibald side in yellow above so he clearly belongs there. This would be the TG he is in on Chromosome 4.
Now let’s see if we can find Joanna’s TG that we mentioned in first part of the blog. That TG was with Janet, Jean’s mom, and Michael. I’ll highlight the top right part of the globe where they are.
The dividing line between the James Line and the Archibald Line goes between Janet and Jean’s mom. There are 3 lines forming a triangle between the 3 people. Between Janet and Jean’s mom there is a white line. On that line it says C7 0M-8M which is the Chromosome number and the position of the match. There is a longer line between Janet and Michael. Their match is also shown as C7 4M-8M. Then, to complete the triangle, there is a dark gray line between Jean’s mom and Michael. Dark gray is good because it means there is more than one DNA segment in the match. However, they are a little more difficult to see. That dark gray line finishes the triangle of the TG.
Where Are You On the Frazer Globe?
The above Frazer Globe is a good summary of the entire autosomal portion of the Frazer DNA project in one image. The matches going across from the James Line side in yellow to the Archibald Line side in red are the more distant matches. The closer matches are along the outside of the circle – especially where there are many lines (indicating matches). In red, the Archibald Line testers seem to fit neatly into either a Richard Line or an Archibald Line. Finer groupings seem to be indicated also. For example, the bottom 4 testers of Bill, Heidi, Sharon, and Paul all descend from 2 Frazer cousins born in the early 1800’s. On the top of the globe in yellow, there are six James Line testers that appear to group together. Prudence is by herself which makes sense as she is on her own line. Here is the James Line by genealogy:
I didn’t need to include Carol in the globe as she is the daughter of Clyde. The groupings on the Globe other than for Prudence don’t match perfectly with the genealogy that we have. I have noted this before and the Traceability showing all the Frazers also seems to point that out. Charlotte and Mary Holly do seem to be grouped with Joanna’s family. That makes sense as that is what the genealogy shows. But in between those two groups is Bonnie and Judith who are shown on the right in the above diagram. We may have thought that they should be grouped with Beverly. Then Beverly and Clyde seem to be grouped together. They are also shown on opposite ends of our genealogy diagram. Finally Doug, who I have in yellow (but should be in Red for the Archibald Line) is on the wrong side of the globe entirely. I hope that he doesn’t mind swapping out his ancestors!
Another Look At the James Line DNA
I was going to end this blog above with the large globe of all the Frazers as the grand finale. However, I’m still curious about the James Line. I am glad I took a second look. Here is the generational estimate just based on the James Line testers:
It looks like the Archibald Line was interfering with the James Line results. This now lines up with the genealogy chart above. Prudence is by herself but closest to Charlotte. Charlotte is in the right group with Mary Holly, Joanna’s family and Clyde (CSW). Then Beverly is where she should be with Bonnie and Judith. Those 3 are descended from Michael Frazer. The most important family groups are those that are closest to the diagonal line that goes from the top left to the bottom right indicated by dashes where I drew a red line. The matches further out from the red line may be considered secondary matches.
James Line Globe
I find this James Line Globe a little more confusing to look at than the Generations Estimate above. Remember that a dark gray line is multiple matches. A colored line therefore is a weaker match. Prudence is at the bottom of the globe. She is by herself in that there is no match on her left and only a weak one to her right (in blue on the outside of the globe). To the left of Prudence are 3 Michael Frazer descendants (Judith, Bonnie and Beverly). Going clockwise from Beverly there is a weaker green match to Clyde at the top left who continues the group all the way to the bottom right where Charlotte is.
The right of the red line below indicates descendants of Archibald Frazer b. 1751 and Catherine Peyton. This couple had another Archibald. All those to the right of the red line except Prudence are believed to be descended from him. Prudence is descended from Edward Frazer b. 1803. He married Mary Kirkwood.
Here is how the globe looks like in numbers:
The chart above is similar to one I keep for Frazer DNA matches. However, the one I have for the James Line is over 100 rows long. It is also worthwhile to check matches of the same color above. These would have the potential for being Triangulation Groups. The ones above are not, but perhaps indicate stronger matches. Some of the matches of the same color are due to multiple matches in Joanna’s family to other James Line testers.
Summary
- Joanna has pointed out a new TG without knowing it. In that email she wrote to me, “Oh – how I wish I understood what I’m looking at!!” I quote her because I believe that we all feel the same way looking at these DNA results. I have found that blogging has helped me to come to some understanding of what I’m looking at.
- Although a DNA TG was found, it is not always easy to find the corresponding set of common ancestors. This is especially true as the TG included both relatively distant from each other Frazer Lines. This increases the number of ancestors known and unknown that could be the common ancestors indicated by the TG.
- The traceability tool is good for visualizing the DNA match results. It needs to be used with caution. As the math teacher said, “check your work”. My initial foray resulted in some false matches for Doug that could not be replicated. These false matches went away when I tried re-ran the Traceability Report.
- The first look at all the Frazers seemed to indicate James Line groupings that didn’t mesh with the paperwork genealogy that has been done to date. Isolating the James Line seemed to correct those groupings and produced results that matches well with the testers’ genealogical research. Yay!