Author: joel@jmhartley.com

I have known about matching Whitney for a while, but I didn’t know how she fit in. Whitney and I have a sizeable DNA match spread out over four different DNA segments:

According to AncestryDNA, Whitney’s match is in the Very High Range:

That means that I should have a 99% chance of finding our common ancestors – assuming I can figure out the genealogy.

Whitney’s Frazer Ancestry

Here is Whitney’s tree at Ancestry:

Here is the tree I am building out for Whitney:

I had been working on this tree for a while and thought I should be looking at Whitney’s Masters side. However, today, I took an educated guess on her Cain side and came up with a Frazer. It looks like Whitney’s maternal grandfather’s mother was Elizabeth Frazer Cain.

Elizabeth Frazer was born in Boston to Richard Frazer – a cook. I know that some of my Frazer relatives were cooks,  and I had a Frazer relative named Richard, so that sounds promising. Here is the Richard Frazer family from my Frazer web page:

Richard was my great grandfather’s younger brother. This is my guess for Richard:

Richard’s wife was from Freedom, New Hampshire and this photo was taken in New Hampshire.

Here is Whitney in my DNA/Frazer Genealogy Chart:

Whitney fills in the DNA from Richard Frazer. Whitney and I are third cousins once removed. Here is how my Richard Branch looks like now at Ancestry:

Summary and Conclusion

• I was only a step away from finding a Frazer link with Whitney and didn’t realize it.
• According to AncestryDNA, there was a 99% chance that we had findable common ancestors. All I had to do was to find them.
• If Whitney uploads her DNA to Gedmatch, I will be able to do more comparisons with other Frazer and McMaster cousins.
• It is likely that my addition of the Cain family to my Ancestry Tree will result in new ThruLines. These are lines that are highlighted at Ancestry due to common ancestry and DNA matches.

 

OK, here is the situation. I administer Gladys’ DNA kit for an Irish Frazer Project. Occasionally, I get requests because people find matches to Gladys’ non-Frazer side. Gladys is not easy to get in touch with, so I’ll give a shot at finding Jonn’s connection to Gladys. Here is the note I got from Jonn:

Hi I’m doing research into my family history and you’ve come up in my results. Just wondering if we could make contact as I’m trying to find the name of my Mystery Great Grandad on my fathers side, who fathered my Grandad Frederick Davis Fassam (Fassam being the mother’s maiden name).   On his Baptism his father was labelled Frederick Edmund Fassam but we believe that’s a made up name as the father was unknown as far as we’re aware.   Most likely linking nameare Beard, Scott, Davy, Stone or Bobitt and the area of origin is likely to be West Ham in London, Essex or Cambridgeshire or Lancashire I think for the periods 1800-1910 Anyway, if you’re happy to, I’d love to hear from you and see if we could potentially identify our connection.   Look forward to hopefully hear from you.   

I found out that Jonn matches Gladys at Gedmatch. I further found out that Jonn tested at Ancestry and has a tree there:

This is Jonn’s paternal side. He has just his mother listed as private on the maternal side. This makes me wonder how we can know if Gladys’ match with Jonn is on his maternal or paternal side. Then, if the match is on Jonn’s paternal side, how do we know if the match is on the paternal grandmother or grandfather side?

Gladys’ Tree

Let’s look at Gladys’ tree.

I’m related to Gladys through James Frazer and Violet Frazer. I would rule those two out as they were from Ireland and Jonn is looking for someone in England. That still leaves a lot of potential. Ephraim Webber and Mary Jury on Gladys’ maternal side were from Devon, England. Seems like I found the right country, wrong region.

Here is Ephraim in 1861 in Chawleigh or Chawley:

This got me back a little further:

Gladys’ and Jonn’s Shared Matches at AncestryDNA

Gladys and Jonn are predicted 4th to 6th cousins at AncestryDNA. That means that the connection could be out quite far. Gladys and Jonn have four shared DNA matches at AncestryDNA:

1. Has the same last name as Jonn, but it could be her married name and a coincidence. She shows her father from Lymington, Hampshire, England
2. Her paternal grandfather is from Australia. That could indicate English heritage, but I didn’t trace the genealogy back.
3. Has a one person tree
4. Has a linked 6 person tree. The mother and father are both from Devon, England.

On the limited information that I have the DNA connection could be through Devon. However, it may not be on Jonn’s line that he is looking for.

Gladys’ and Jonn’s Shared Matches at Gedmatch

I found a close match to Gladys who shares a match with Jonn:

The first row is Gladys’ match to herself. The second row is the one I am interested in. The match to Gladys is 252.8 cM and to Jonn is 22.3 cM. This person also tested at AncestryDNA. I took a guess as to who the match might be at AncestryDNA. I picked Ryan. However, he doesn’t have a very good tree at Ancestry. I found a Shared match with Ryan who does have a good tree. Rox-Ann’s Tree has Jury and Webber:

That only narrows down Gladys’ tree to her maternal and we are still in Devon.

Summary and Conclusion

• I did some poking around and it seemed like there could be a connection between Gladys and Jonn in Devon.
• I wasn’t sure that the DNA connection that Gladys and Jonn had was on the side of Jonn’s tree where he was looking.
• Jonn could do a shared match analysis with Gladys at Gedmatch. If he could identify one of those shared DNA matches, he could figure out on which side of his tree he and Gladys match. This would narrow down where to look.
• I was able to narrow down that Jonn and Gladys match on Gladys’ maternal side. I had already assumed that based on the fact that most of Gladys’ paternal side was from Ireland. Gladys’ maternal side as far as I know is from Devon, England.

 

In a previous Blog, I set out to write about four McMaster sisters. One of them was my third great-grandmother Fanny McMaster. In the process of writing about them, I discovered that Fanny’s mother Margaret Frazer McMaster had traveled to Canada with the family. I later found out that the sisters had a brother James who moved from Canada to the US. His mother Margaret lived with his family before he died.

James McMaster in ThruLines

Recently while I was going through my ThruLines, I came upon a DNA match, Jennifer, from this newly added James Branch:

Fanny incorrectly shows as my 4th great aunt for some reason. This also shows Fanny’s sister Mary Ann McMaster and Fanny’s brother James Archibald McMaster. I match Jennifer at 14 cM which would be normal for a 4th cousin once removed. Jennifer’s tree in dotted line goes up to her grandfather Paul McMaster. After that, my tree takes over with James A McMaster.

The above ThruLines probably appeared after I added James Archibald McMaster to my tree based on my previous Blog.

Connecting Two McMaster Trees

My guess is that these two trees should connect. Jennifer has that her father was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That would be the right part of the US. I have that James A McMaster died in Allouez and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Green Bay:

Here is the Cemetery location:

Here is James A in Janesville, WI in 1870:

Here is some more information about James A McMaster from Find A Grave:

Here is James in 1900 in South Dakota:

I don’t see any Paul yet. I suppose Harry P could be Harry Paul. I’m going about this backwards as genealogists are supposed to go from the present to the past. I am going from the less recent to the more recent.

The James Archibald McMaster Family in 1910

Now the family moved back East to Hutchins, Wisconsin. James’ wife Carrie died and Harry P is now Paul. That seems to cement the connection between my tree and Jennifer’s.

 

Adding Jennifer to the DNA/Genealogy Chart

I don’t have Jennifer in green as she has not uploaded her DNA to Gedmatch as far I know.

The MTrent Connection

Next, I checked to see if I had any shared matches with Jennifer. One name came up at AncestryDNA: mtrent. Mtrent had gotten in touch with me in 2017:

Hi Joel. Your name is on my DNA list. I noticed that your Fanny McMaster has info sources from Kilmactranny parish. My 3x great grandfather, James Archibald McMaster was born in Kilmactranny in 1822, immigrated to US via Ontario, Canada. His mother was Margaret, based on census records, born around 1790. Was wondering if you have any information on my branch of the family? I looked at William and Margaret, Fanny’s parents as possible parents for James A,but you have only daughters listed for them. Do you have information on my line of the McMasters? Any info appreciated. Sincerely,

It wasn’t until this year that I discovered the connection. Mtrent’s tree is private, so I don’t know the specific path to mtrent has to James McMaster. However, mtrent is one generation down from Jennifer, so that would make us 5th cousins.

McMaster and Frazer and AutoClustering

I performed an AutoCluster last year when these first came out. Here was my first AncestryDNA autocluster:

This was a simple autocluster with only 5 clusters. The purple Frazer Cluster is relevant to this Blog. BV is the first match in the Cluster. Her ancestors are William McMaster and Margaret Frazer. The next match is Whitney. She matches BV and Gladys the third match. BV and Gladys do not match in this analysis. Gladys matches on my Frazer side.

In January this year, I wrote a Blog about my sister Lori’s 29 AutoClusters at Ancestry and noted this break-down:

Lori’s Irish Clusters were in a big box in the middle of her autocluster analysis. BV and mtrent are in Lori’s green Cluster 12:

Summary

So a Blog I wrote on my third great granmother’s sisters strongly suggested that James was in the William McMaster/Mararet Frazer family. I added James McMaster to that tree and ThruLines found a descedant of James named Jennifer who matched me by DNA. I looked for shared DNA matches between Jennifer and me and found one that went by mtrent. Mtrent had mentioned that she was descended from James McMaster in 2017. I now know that her guess that James was a son of William McMaster and Margaret Frazer was right. Identifying mtrent’s ancestry may give further hints for other shared matches.

The initials BV come up a lot in my Frazer DNA research. My family and I also have a significant DNA match to BV. This is because we are related to BV on two lines (Frazer and McMaster) and in two different ways and also due the fact that we randomly have a higher than average DNA match-up.

BV’s Genealogy with DNA-Tested Descendants

The obvious connection between BV, My family, Emily, Paul and Keith is with William McMaster and Margaret Frazer who were born in the late 1700’s. BV goes back one more generation than others on the tree as she had only two ancestors in the 19th century. Compared with me, I had four ancestors descending from the same common ancestors above in the 19th century.

I have put a green box around two of my other ancestors. They are George Frazer and James McMaster. They would match BV further back. George comes from two other Branches of the Frazer family whose common ancestor is Archibald Frazer born about 1690. I’m not as sure of the connection on the McMaster side, but my assumption is that there is a connection – either in Ireland or Scotland. Because these connections go further back, the DNA matches may not reflect these more distant relationships.

BV – The DNA

Here is how I match BV, who is my 3rd cousin, twice removed, by DNA.

Based on this DNA match, there should be 3.9 generations to our common ancestor. There are four generations between BV and our common ancestor, but six between me and our common ancestor. That averages out to 5 generations. That means that BV and I share about one more generation’s worth of DNA than expected.

Let’s Paint BV’s DNA Match

I can paint BV’s DNA onto mine using a program called DNA Painter. This is what I have painted so far:

This shows my paternal DNA on the top bar and the maternal on the bottom. For me, Frazer and McMaster are the top paternal bar. I already have Abraham McMaster up there somehow. I can drill down to figure that out. That match is on Chromosome 12 with someone named Warwick.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember who Warwick is right now. Perhaps it will come to me later.

Note on the key above, I don’t have anything for William McMaster and Margaret Frazer. That is one reason why my match with BV is so important. The top of the colored image above shows I am 38% painted. When I chose just the Paternal DNA, I see that I am 49% painted.

When I go to paint the DNA onto my map above, I get this message:

I can ignore the Maternal side as this is a paternal match. This says that there is overlap with Frazer/McMaster 1838 and Abraham McMaster 1764. The first note makes more sense as the McMaster in the Frazer McMaster 1838 was Fanny McMaster she was the sister of BV’s ancestor Marianne McMaster. The Abraham McMaster is more mysterious as I have that Fanny McMaster husband was James McMaster and that his father was Abraham McMaster. I’ll have to look more into that later.

Here is the Paternal side of my Chromosome Map with BV’s match in purple painted in:

Here is Chromosome 12 expanded:

Maury is on my Hartley side. Then I see how BV overlaps with matches with my 2nd cousin once removed Paul and Warwick. The light blue matches are other Frazer matches. The issue with my three matches with Paul, Warwick and BV is that they imply that there could be triangulation. That means that if Paul also matches Warwick and BV matches Warwick and BV matches Paul, that would also imply that they have the same common ancestor.

Warwick

I blog about all my the DNA and checked there. Turns out Warwick tested at MyHeritage. I mention Warwick in this Blog. Here is how my tree and Warwick’s match up:

This shows that, as I mentioned above, James McMaster Sr. who was Fanny McMaster’s husband is the son of Abraham McMaster. Fanny was the daughter of William McMaster. Some trees have William as the son of Abraham McMaster, but based on my research, I don’t think that is correct. In fact if is was correct it could imply that Fanny married her own brother.

Here is a possibility that would give a common ancestor of Archibald McMaster for Warwick, BV, Paul and myself:

Based on where these people lived, it looks like William could have been the son of a John McMaster. He may have been named for the father of Archibald McMaster who I have as John. Or the John in blue above may have descended from a brother of Archibald. Based on the above, James would have been a first cousin once removed to Fanny. My second scenario would have her as a 2nd cousin once removed to James Sr.

The other confusing part is that I don’t know who the Margery is that Abraham married. She could even be a Frazer.

The working theory is that Paul, Warwick and BV triangulate up to Archibald McMasteer born in 1730. Without drawing it all out, here is the idea of how the triangulation may work out:

BV descends from Marianne, I descend from Fanny and Warwick descends from Samuel who sailed to Australia.

BV and Her X Chromosome Matches

X Chromosome matches are interesting in that people only inherit the X Chromosome by certain paths. If you are a male or if you have a male in you ancestry those males have not inherited an X Chromosome. BV matches me on my paternal side, so I cannot have an X Chromosome match with BV. However, my three sisters, Heidi, Lori and Sharon all have X Chromosome matches with BV. In addition, Charlene has an X Chromosome match with BV:

Here is Sharon’s match with BV:

Here is Charlene’s match with BV:

Here is Sharon’s match with Charlene:

This shows that these three have triangulation. That means that they have a common ancestor and that common ancestor can only be along a certain path. That is a double narrowing down of the possibilities for the common ancestors of these three matches.

The X Path Inheritance

For Sharon, it looks like this:

The likely path is through my grandmother’s father, James A Frazer. Then through his mother Margaret McMaster. After that, one would think that it would go through Fanny McMaster and her parents where I have common ancestors with BV.

Checking BV’s X Inheritance

BV’s maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Shannon. This takes us to the same place as my tree.

Charlene’s Ancestry

My guess is that Sharon’s match with Charlene could represent an older Common ancestor. Here is Charlene’s McPartland Branch:

The apparent connection to my family is through Charlene’s brick wall ancestor Ann Frazer. I’ll also build out a tree for Charlene:

Jennie Penders is Charlene’s paternal grandmother. Here is the family in 1915:

We see that Jennie’s parents were both born in Ireland. Jennie’s mom Catherine or Katherine (Jennie) is the one that we are following:

Here is the grave marker in Lackawanna, NY to the South of Buffalo:

Getting From Buffalo to Ireland

Next, I would like to make the jump backwards to place Jane in Ireland. Just to confuse things, this passenger crew list from 16 May 1883 has a Kate and a Jennie:

Most genealogies have Jane as Katherine or Catherine Jane. Here Kate indicates she was 21 so born around 1861 or 1862.

Here is the 27 October 1860 Baptismal record that Joanna (a Frazer researcher) found in the Aghanah Catholic Parish record:

This is a record of the birth of Cath. Janam (Jane) [Mc]Partland daughter of Eugene and Ann Frazer. It appears that a Patrick Partland and a Healy were there and that the family lived in Annagh.

Here is the Parish:

Here is the updated tree:

The X Chromosome match no doubt goes through Ann Frazer.

Here is a potential birth record for Ann:

Hannah Frazer  daughter of  James and Margaret Frazer

Bapt.  Jan 05, 1823

Here I’m sticking an unknown with unknown parents. I’m not sure who this James and Margaret Frazer were. That’s the best I can do right now.

Back to BV’s Autosomal DNA Matches

BV has a good match with my 2nd cousin once removed, Paul:

This DNA also represents William McMaster and Margaret Frazer. Or technically, it represents the DNA that Marianne McMaster got from either William McMaster or Margaret Frazer [and that she shared with her sister Fanny McMaster].

I decided to paint Paul’s Frazer and McMaster DNA to see what was going on:

The hot spots are at Chromosomes 1 and 12. Here is Paul’s Chromosome 12 expanded:

Isn’t that confusing. Notice that I put the match with Joanna way back to Archibald Frazer from the late 1600’s. However, there is a closer route.

I did find a match between Joanna and BV here:

That means that Joanna, Paul and BV triangulate and they have a common ancestor.

This shows Joanna, BV and Paul triangulating up to James Archibald born around 1720. I have Charlene over on the same branch as Joanna. However, I note a Catherine McPartland. If Ann Frazer was the daughter of Catherine Knott on the James Line, she could have named her daughter for her mother. I haven’t worked out the details on that, but it would make sense on a purely naming rationale. Perhaps we could vote on this idea. The above-shown triangulation puts Joanna and BV at 5th cousins.

Here is my new idea on the Catherine Knott Branch:

A Re-evaluation of the X Chromosome Triangulation

Above, I had mentioned that the X Chromosome triangulation between my three sisters, Charlene and BV. That makes more sense with the configuration that I have above:

Under this scenario, the X Chromosome DNA shared by these three is actually from Margaret Stewart and is not Frazer or McMaster DNA. That is because, if this were the correct path, Archibald inherited no X Chromosome from his father. He only got his X Chromosome from his Stewart mother Catherine. This scenario does not prove the lineage. However, it does show that it is a possible scenario.

Summary and Conclusions

• BV has played a pivotal role as a match in many ThruLines at Ancestry. Now her daughter has uploaded her DNA to Gedmatch Genesis, so we can take a closer look at what is going on with her DNA matches.
• I found a match between BV, my family and Warwick from Australia that seemed confusing. One possible explanation is that it suggests a possible common ancestor with Archibald McMaster who was born about 1730.
• I took a look at an X Chromosome match that BV had with my three sisters and with Charlene. These matches formed a triangulation. I looked at Charlene’s genealogy.
• I painted BV’s DNA onto my chromosome map and onto my cousin Paul’s chromosome map. There was a lot going on at Chromosome 1 but even more on Chromosome 12.
• I looked at a triangulation between Joanna, BV and Paul on Chromosome 12. This resulted in the a reassignment of the common ancestor for the matches with Joanna. I also moved re-figured BV under Michael Frazer where I feel she belongs.
• I noted that Charlene’s McPartland Line could also go under the Michael Frazer Branch. Although this is not a proven lineage, it is a plausible one based on the name of Catherine Knott possible being passed down to Catherine Jane McPartland. Also it fits in well with the X Chromosome triangulation mentioned above.
• While there were no major breakthroughs at this first look at BV’s DNA, it seems like her DNA matches are moving things toward a better explanation of Frazer and McMaster genealogy.
• It may be worthwhile to paint BV’s chromosomes in the future and compare her DNA matches with others in the Frazer DNA project.