Category: Rathfelder

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More Latvian Theories of Relativity at MyHeritage: Two Levas

MyHeritage is a good place to check for some of my Latvian relatives. Here is what MyHeritage has for Leva:

Leva is a DNA match to me. She shows as a 5th cousin to me also. I think the connection shown is wrong, but that we are connected on the Rathfelder line somewhere. Here is the DNA/Genealogy chart I already have:

It already has a Georg Ludwig Rathfelder in it. Leva must be related to me on that line along with Katja.

Leva’s Theory 2

Theory 2 at MyHeritage appears to be the right one:

Due to the fact that I have already a tree to Gerog Ludwig Rathfelder, this connection looks very likely. Here is the tree I built previously for Katja:

It looks like I had trouble finding a wife for Johannes Rathfelder in the tree.

Here is the birth record for Karoline Adodphine Rathfelder:

Here is the family list with Caroline’s family:

In my tree, Leva shows as 5th cousin once removed:

My tree is different than the MyHeritage Tree:

I have Johann Adam Rathfelder. He isn’t in the MyHeritage Theory of Relativity. I like my tree better.

Leva’s DNA Match

Leva and I share two segments of DNA with each other:

Unfortunately, the segment shared on Chromosome 16 is less than 7 cM. The default cutoff for DNAPainter is 7 cM. I think that the segment on Chromosome 16 is valid, but I will leave it out to be consistant with other matches.

Here is Leva added onto DNAPainter:

Even though the match is small, it changed my Maternal mapped DNA from 47% to 48%. Here is how the match fits in overall with my pateranal and maternal DNA matches:

My match with Leva is there, but gets lost among the many other matches. Overall, 53% of my DNA is mapped by identified matches.

One odd aspect of this match is that my mother does not match Leva. That means that my mother should have had a match and didn’t or I had a match and shouldn’t have.

A Second Leva and My Sister Heidi

My sister has a Theory of Relativity with Leva from Latvia. I mentioned her in a Blog in 2021. Myheritage shows that Heidi has a new Theory with Leva. Perhaps the new one is one of the three Theories. This is the first of three Theories:

Leva’s tree is private, so I will try to build out her tree based on her Theories. I also believe that Leva’s grandfather may be Raimonds who I have written about here. However, he tested at 23andMe, so his results only apply to me. Leva matches my sister and my mother. For some reason, the Theories only appear under my sister Heidi.

I’ll compare Leva’s Theories with what I had on Raimonds

Leva

  • Theory 1: Johann Jacob Gangnus 1777/Anna Elisabeth Juliana Biedermann
  • Theory 2: this is the same, but apparently the pathway is different
  • Theory 3: Friedrick Jacob Wilhelm Lutke 1804/Eva Christina Margaretha Fuhrmann

Raimonds

  • Friedrich Lutke 1804/Eva Fuhrmann
  • Johann Jacob Gangnus 1777/Biedermann
  • Johann Georg Gangnus 1704/Anna Margaretha Clausing

The last connection under Raimonds is due to the fact that I have Gangnus on two family branches:

Here I also did not add Raimonds which I should have.

Evaluating Leva’s Lutke Connection

Here is where I have Raimonds:

Leva is two levels below Raimonds.

This agrees with the Third Theory at MyHeritage.

Leva’s Gangnus Connection

I found this record for Emma Eugenie Charlotte Lutke:

She was confirmed in 1928. Her parents are listed as Johann and Antonie Shiller. Here is more information from the Personal Register:

Raimonds are added in at the next to the last column. I have painted this match to my sister Heidi. I will paint the match to my mother.

Painting My Mother’s Match with Leva

Fortunately, I already had a yellowish category for a match where I was unsure whether it was on the Lutke or Gangnus Line. This got my mother’s painted paternal DNA from 44% to 45%.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Leva appears to be a popular name in Latvia as my family has Theories of Relativity with two Levas
  • Both Levas add to the genealogical story from Hirschenhof, Latvia
  • Both Levas fill in missing DNA information for my family.
  • The second Leva is equally related to my family on two lines

 

 

 

 

 

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A New Rathfelder Side DNA Match at MyHeritage

I check my DNA matches at MyHeritage almost every week, but rarely find a match that I recognize. This week I found  a DNA match there who has Rathfelder ancestry. The match’s name is Alans. Here is how we match genealogically:

This is a view of Alan’s genealogy on MyHeritage. The person listed as Private is Alan’s paternal grandmother. The couple in the box are our common ancestors.

My Rathfelder DNA Testing Chart

I have a genealogical chart for those Rathfelder descendants who have had their DNA tested. This is part of it:

Alans descends from Nina Rathfelder who is a sister to Vera. Here is a photo of Nina:

It seems like Alans’ genealogy matches up with mine, so I won’t check what he has. Here I have added Alans to my chart:

Alans is my second cousin twice removed.

Alans’ DNA

Here is where I match Alans by DNA:

The matches are on Chromosomes 3, 5, 7 and 11. I can ‘paint’ those using DNAPainter. These are my maternal matches so far:

My mother was a Rathfelder, so that is why I am looking on the maternal side. My maternal side is 47% painted and I am 53% painted overall. Alans will add more orange Rathfelder DNA to my profile.

Here is Chromosome 3 where Alans has the biggest match:

The orange matches are on my mother’s father’s Rathfelder side. The gree and purple are on my mother’s mother’s side. Otis matches on the Gangnus side. As Alans match align’s with Otis’ match, it appears that the DNA is coming from Schweccheimer and Gangnus. Here is how I match Otis by genealogy:

Assuming I have the genealogy right, this DNA goes back to the late 1700’s. Because the match I have with Alans on Chromosome 7 is just below 7.0 cM, DNAPainter did not use the match. The default cutoff at DNAPainter is 7.0 cM and I match Alans at 6.5 cM on Chromosome 7

Painting Alans’ Match to My Mom

Alans has a slightly larger match to my mom than to me. Alans matches my mom at 68.8 cM. Here is my mother’s paternal side Chromosome 3:

 

My intention was to use a lighter color for the more recent matches. That is why I used pale yellow for my mom’s first cousins. My mom is painted at 37% overall and 44% on her paternal side, so a little less than me. Here is my mom’s current paternal side:

I changed the colors of my mom’s profile as the yellow did not show up well:

I highlighted Chromosome 3 above where Alans has the largest match.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Alans adds another piece to the genetic genealogical puzzle
  • Alans is the first DNA match relative who descends from Nina Rathfelder, daugther of Leo Rathfelder.
  • Alans does not add a lot of new DNA to my mother’s or my profile, but fills in areas on the chromosome map.

 

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Three New Latvian Matches at MyHeritage

I was pleasantly surprised recently to get three rather close DNA matches to myself and my family on my mother’s side. The three Latvian matches are Normunds, Elina and Zanda. Normunds is the father and Elina and Zanda are the daughters. These three matches are on my Rathfelder side.

Adding the New Matches to My Rathfelder Tree

I keep a combination genealogy/DNA match tree. This is what I have so far for the Rathfelder tree:

I need to add the three matches under Vera:

this shows that my mother and Vera are first cousins. that means that my siblings and I are 2nd cousins with Normunds and 2nd cousins once removed with Elina and Zanda. I have this photo of Vera from my cousin Anita:

How We Match by DNA

For some reason, I can’t see the detailed DNA results for Normunds or Zanda. I do see results for Elina:

DNA Painter

This information can be added on to my DNA Painter profile. This is how it looks now:

This shows that I am ‘painted’ overal 52%. This means that I have identified 52% of my DNA by known matches. On the representation above, the paterrnal side is the top part of each chromosome and the maternal part is the bottom of each chromosome. Here is just my maternal side:

This shows that I am painted 45% on my maternal side or a little less than half.

When I add Elina, this gets my maternal side up to 47%:

That also raised my overall ‘painted’ level to 53%.

Normunds DNA

At first I couldn’t see the specific matches for Normunds’ DNA but Zanda made the corrections, so I can now see his results. Here they are:

I’m interested to see how this will have an effect on my DNA Painter Profile. A second cousin is usually the best person to have for a match because they represent the DNA of one grandparent  – in this case, my grandfather Alexander Rathfelder. It turns out that there is no overall effect for Normunds. This is perhaps because he overlaps with other Rathfelder matches. There was a difference, but not enough to bring the painted percentage up overall or on the maternal side.

Here is Chromosome 15:

This would indicate that Carolyn’s match is spurious. She matches at 8 cM and a certain percent of small matches are inaccurate or false matches. The other orange matches all have Henry [Heinrich] Rathfelder and Maria Gangnus as common ancestors.

Here is what MyHeritage shows between myself and Normands:

This turns out to be more than average DNA for 2nd cousins to share:

This study shows that 229 cM would be average.

Normunds and Gladys Rathfelder

As Normands has as much or more Rathfelder DNA than his daughters and as my mother has more than her children, I’ll look at the match between Gladys and Normunds:

 

Normally, I don’t paint my own first cousins’ matches. This is because a first cousin normally just distinguishes between paternal and maternal side. However, for my mother, it looks like I painted hers:

Here the blue color is Rathfelder/Gangnus (1st cousins). This is just my mom’s paternal Rathfelder side. Also I usually have a lighter color for closer relatives, so the more distant, darker color relatives can shine through. My mom is currently at 40% painted on her paternal side and 35% painted overall. Let’s see if Normunds makes a difference.

Here I changed Rathfelder/Gangnus DNA to a more subtle yellow. This got my mom painted up to 44% on her paternal side and 37% painted overall.

Normunds adds some new DNA to my mother’s profile on Chromosome 1:

On Chomosome 2, Normunds overlaps with Angelina. I am not sure of her ancestry, but from her DNA, it is clear that she had ancestors from Latvia::

On Chromosome 7, Normunds has an overlap with Rudi:

Rudi has ancestry going back to 1723.

However, when I check MyHeritage, there are other possible relationships to Rudi. This one is called Theory 1:

This relationship would be on my mother’s paternal grandfather’s side, whereas the previous relationship would be on my mother’s  paternal gramdmother’s side.  Plus, I don’t know if I have checked out these different relationships. Altogether, MyHeritage has 4 Theories. It would be beyond the scope of this Blog to check them all out. The bottom line is that I thought that the match with Rudi on Chromosome 7 would give me more definition as to where the match that my mom had with Nornunds came from. However, in this case, due to intermarriage in the Colony of Hirschenhof, it is not clear.

Perhaps Normunds match with my mom on Chromosome 17 will tell us something:

Normunds has a partial overlap with Astrid and a complete overlap with Otis. This is giving a mixed message perhaps also:

Otis’ ancesetry goes back to Schwechheimer (1772) and Gangnus (1780). Astrid goes back to Rathfelder and Biedenbender. Otis has uploaded his DNA results to Gedmatch. If Normunds uploads his results there, perhaps this will reveal something.

Meanwhile, Astrid shows triangulation with my mom and Normunds at MyHeritage on Chromosomes 17 and 19:

Triangulation means that these people all match each other. That means that I would tend to think that the DNA matches between the three of us represent DNA from Johann Jerg Rathfelder born 1752 and his wife Juliana Biedenbender born 1755. Here is Gladys’ DNA profile on Chromosome 19:

Astrid’s Genealogy

In order to sort this all out, I will need to take a closer look at Astrid’s genealogy. Here is what MyHeritage shows:

Ancestry shows this relationship, which I have assumed was right:

The W Rathfelder is Wilhemina Rathfelder. As I recall in other research, there was more than one Wilhemena Rathfelder. I think that the custom was to name the godchild after the godparent, so that may be the source of the duplicate names. Another confusing thing is that Hans Jerg had two children named Johann Georg:

These two Johann Georg’s were born about 15 years apart. That in formation was from this publication:

Based on the underlining, the first Johann went by Johann and the second went by Georg. The father Hans Jerg was also a Johann Georg.

Checking Astrid’s Tree

The best way to check Astrid’s tree is to build my own tree for her. Astrid has that her mother was baptized here:

At the Raduraksti website, I see this Church:

At this site, I found some information on the Spengle family, but I didn’t see Astrid’s mother or grandmother:

This would take a long time to check, so I’ll just assume the connection is right. My suspicion is that there are other connections than just the obvious ones.

Normunds, Gladys and Eva

I wrote a Blog about Eva here. She is my third cousin. Here is where Normunds, Gladys and Eva triangulate on Chromosome 1:

The theory is that shared amount of DNA comes from either Johann Rathfelder or Rosine Schwechheimer:

In that Blog about Eva, I mentioned this family chart:

Did My Great-Grandmother Have a Second Husband Who Ran Away?

The Gustav Rathfelder family lived in Riga and attended St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. I wonder if the +1918 means that my great-grandfather Heinrich died in 1918. I have that he died before 1921. I put this image out to the Latvian Genealogy Facebook page and got these two responses:

“Abgang” is essentially departure — e.g. the +1918 means that Heinrich died in 1918 (and therefore “departed from” the church congregation). I’ll try to take another look at the rest later.

The note next to Marie’s name (above the +1918) says, “married to a Kroeger, missing”. Her husband (first husband? second husband?) is presumably the one who’s missing.
The fact that one of Gustav’s sons is also named Heinrich doesn’t necessarily mean that he was named after Heinrich, though it’s possible. It was a pretty common name, and names often appeared multiple times in the same family without being namesakes in the sense that we’d think of it.

It sounds like Maria Gangnus Rathfelder had a second husband which would make sense if the first one died. He apparently deserted her if I understand the record correctly.

Concerning the comment on naming, I have seen that a child often had the same name as the Godparent. Here is the birth record for Robert Nicolai:

I take #1 above to be the godfather, Nicolai Rathfelder. Further, I believe him to be Johann Philip Nicolai Rathfelder born 1874 to my great-grandfather Heinrich Rathfelder.

Here is a photo of Marie. I assume that it is during Christmas and that she is with some of her relatives:

Marie is second from the left. She was born in 1856, so she would be quite old here.

Gladys, Normunds and Peter

These three people also triangulate at MyHeritage. That means that they all have common ancestors:

This triangulation happens on Chromosomes 7 and 18. Here is my mom’s DNA profile for those two areas:

These two areas represent ambiguous genealogies. Remember Rudi had about 4 ways that he could match. Also Silvia and Patrick could match on two different lines.

Peter’s Genealogy

MyHeritage shows this:

I can try to build a tree to see if I can get any further. I’ll start out on the paternal side. This marriage record is helpful:

However, this has Oleg’s mother as Emilie Grassman rather than Berta. Social Security has this information:

It seems like Oleg has a sister Vera. Find a Grave has more on Emilia:

My tree so far:

Here we see that Emelia was born in Riga:

This could be the connection that I was looking for.  This is likely Emilie traveling from Lithuania to New York in 1955:

That’s as far as I can get now. The connection appears to be with Emilie Grossman or Grassman. One tree at Ancestry has her parents:

Normunds, Gladys and Deborah

Perhaps I don’t know when to give up, but I’ll look at Deborah. These three triangualte on Chromosomes 1 and 9:

Deborah has a meager tree at MyHeritage:

It turns out that I already started a tree for Deborah. However, I couldn’t easily find anything new. Aparently Brigitta was born in Riga.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was happy to find out about another branch of Rathfelder relatives in Latvia through DNA matching.
  • Normunds is my mother’s first cousin once removed.
  • I was able to ‘paint’ Normunds on to my DNA profile as well as my mother’s. It would be possible to add him also to my siblings’ profiles
  • In some cases, due to matches with more distant relatives, it is possible to tell where certain portions of DNA matches between my mother and Normunds come from
  • In other cases, it is difficult to tell for certain to intermarriage in the Colony of Hirschenhof where the Rathfelders and their ancestors lived long ago.
  • I looked at some common matches that Normunds and my mother Gladys have at MyHeritage
  • I relooked at the match of Eva. I found the family record kept by the Lutheran Church for Eva’s great-grandparents. He great-grandfather was the younger brother of my great-grandfather. This record gave the death date for my great-grandfather Heinrich Rathfelder. It also suggests that my great-grandmother remarried a Kroeger who went missing.
  • It appears that there could be more research of the DNA and genealogy to pull these families together.

 

 

 

 

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A Schwechheimer Match for My Mom at MyHeritage

There used to be an ad for a jam company that said, “With a name like Smuckers it has to be good”. In this case, with a DNA match with a name like Schwechheimer, it has to be a relative. This Schwechheimer match came up as a DNA match for my mom recently at MyHeritage:

The Scwechheimer Tree

The tree is a bit sketchy:

Dates are only given on the maternal side.

I can try to build out a tree at Ancestry to see if I get anywhere.

My Version of the Schwechheimer Match Tree

I like this suggestion from an Ancestry Tree for Kurt Schwechheimer:

I have written to my mom’s Schwechheimer relative in Germany to see if this is the same Kurt that is in her tree.

Meanwhile, I see that the owner of the tree for Kurt Friedrich Schwechheimer is a match to my mother at ancestry.

My Mom’s DNA Match with Karin at Ancestry

This is a modest match. Here is Karin’s tree:

This tree is unlinked, so Ancestry is not working to see where our common ancestors are. I suppose that I could try and build out the Hirschenhof (maternal) part of Karin’s tree. Hopefully, the vital records are not in Russian for that time. Interesting, I already have a Smits tree going. It must be for a relative of Karin:

This is likely for Karin’s brother.

Delving into a Latvian Genealogical Website

The go-to website is https://www.raduraksti.arhivi.lv/. I’ll give that a shot. Here are the Church records for Linden:

However, I think that this is the wrong set of records. I believe that the first Linden below is correct:

Now I am noticing some discrepancies between the two trees above. One has Friedrich born in 1894 and one in 1896. Here is a Schwechheimer record from 1894:

Unfortunately, the record is in Russian. Does Mar mean March?

Meanwhile, I heard from my mom’s Schwechheimer match and Kurt is the same as Kurt Friedrich as I expected.

Looking for Helma Lutz

Entry #32 in the Linden Church records shows an Olga Helma born in 1902:

This entry goes on to the next page:

I’m going to make a guess that this is the correct Helma. This gives us two more names: Johann Jacob Nicolai Lutz and Emilie Friederike Lutz. Here the record keeper was nice enough to put the parents’ names into more understandable (to me) German.

I think that this Johann Jacob (second entry) fits the bill:

Here is the Ancestry transription:

The father’s middle name is abbreviated. Perhaps for Michael.

Here is Emilie Friederike in 1867:

I assume that the right side of the page are sponsors or godparents. The transcription adds the day and month:

Here are Emilie’s parents:

Here the initials before Johann Gustav Lutz are unclear to me. I suppose it could mean that he had been married before?

Above there is a slight discrepancy of the spelling of Gagnus and Gangnus – which is not unusual. I have a book on the Gangnus family which I take to be the correct spelling. It is by Gustav Gangnus written in 2003.

Friederike AKA Anna Friederike Emilie Gangnus

According to Gustav Gangnus’ useful book on page 71 Friederike was born 16 Mar 1843 and Georg Michael Lutz was born 24 Oct 1841:

Looking for Johann Gustav Lutz and Anna Catherine Gangnus

I have Emilie born in 1867. I like this choice for Anna Catharina:

That would mean that Anna Catharina likely was married 1841 or before.

Here is a possibility for Michael:

However this birth was in 1849 and would have Michael at age 18 at the birth of Anna Catharina Gangnus. It seems like given enough time, I could find at least one common ancestor between my mom and this Schwechheimer match, but I will leave this to another time.

Summary and Conclusions

  • A DNA match with a Schwechheimer name is very likely to be a match to my mother
  • Unfortunately, the match’s great-grandparents were born during a time when the birth records were in Russian
  • For Helma’s Lutz’s birth time-frame, the names of the person and the parents were also given in German in the birth records. This was helpful in going back one more generation
  • At the third great-grandparent level, two Lutz ancestors married two Gangnusses
  • Between the Schwechheimer and Gangnus names there are a lot of opportunities to find common ancestors, but those common ancestors have not yet been found.
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My Mom’s DNA and Genealogical Connection to Katja

I’ve noticed lately that Ancestry has some helpfull Latvian records. So I have been looking through some of my mom’s Latvian DNA matches to see if I can find out how we are connected.

Katja at MyHeritage

MyHeritage seems to be a good place to find Latvian DNA matches. Katja also has a Theory of Relativity with my mom, but I don’t think that it is right:

I have a different genealogy for my mother:

Besides, why would have a Pfief have a Biedermann for a daughter?

Here is Katja’s tree at MyHeritage:

Katja is missing a maternal side and has additional Hirschenhof ancestry on her Lutz side.

Building a Tree for Katja

I will check out Katja’s genealogical tree by building a tree at Ancestry:

When  I entered Wilhelm Georg Lutz, Ancestry gave me hints for his parents. The hint for Wilhelm Georg is from this tree:

I checked the records at Raduraksti for 1895, but those records appear to be in Russian. I’m not sure if the Ancestry suggestion is correct at this point.

Pauline Rathfelder

Next, I will check on Pauline. Here is a record – perhaps baptismal?

Pauline and Emilie appear to be twins. I see Pauline’s mother’s maiden name as Mattheus, but I’m not sure. Here is the record transcription of their marriage:

This Goerge Ludwig seems the right age to have Pauline in 1879:

Based on the DNA matches between Katja and my mother, I expect that the match is on more than one line:

Sometimes many small matches mean more than one pair of common ancestors going back. So likely, some of the DNA matches represented above are from Lutke and some from Rathfelder- or perhaps even other surname.

A Common Rathfelder Ancestor for Katja and My Mom?

It turns out that I already have a Georg Adam Rathfelder in my Ancestry Tree:

However, this Georg was born in 1798:

I also see another marriage for a Georg Adam Rathfelder:

This marriage was in 1818. So this Georg Adam could have re-married in 1839 or had a son Georg Adam who married in 1839. Fortunately, I have a paper which seems to help:

According to this paper, Georg Adam was actually the son of Johannes Rathfelder born in 1796 I think I’ll go with this paper.

Here is what I have so far:

The Johannes in Line A above was the son of Johann Adam Rathfelder and Anna Catharina Elisabeth Rothweiler. I have Johannes in my tree already:

That should be enough to add Katjia to my Rathfelder DNA match tree:

Katja is my mother’s 4th cousin twice removed on the Rathfelder side.

Back to the Lutz Connection

Here were the hints for Katja’s ancestors from Ancestry:

It seems like two possibilities here:

I see a Gottlieb Hermann and a Gottlieb Otto. Here is a third more likely candidate:

Here is a Peter Gottlieb Lutz who married Elisabeth Hauk (maiden name Herman).

Katja’s Family Tree

I have this so far on Katja’s paternal side:

It would take a while to build all the other lines out as far as Hans Jerg Rathfelder and his Bittenbinder wife.

Painting Katja’s DNA Matches to My Mom’s Profile

Here is what I have so far for my mom:

The first line for each chromosome represents my mom’s paternal matches. The Rathfelder/Bittenbinder DNA matches are in red. As I intimated earlier, Katja’s matches with my mom are probably not all from Rathfelder and Bittenbinder due to the nature of where this family lived. They were in a German Colony and married among their own which means that intermarriage of families normally took place.

My mom is 35% painted overall and 40% painted on her paternal side.

By default, DNAPainter adds matches of 7 cM and over. Here are my mom’s paternala matches with Katja added:

Katja matches my mom on Chromosome 4 at 6.7 cM, so that match did not get added. Here are Katja’s specific matches with my mom:

There is no overlap with the matches Astrid has. Astrid and my mom also have Rathfelder and Bittenbinder common ancestors.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Katja matches my mom at Ancestry and has a Rathfelder in her tree
  • I was able to find Katja and my mom’s common Rathfelder and Bittendbinder ancestors
  • Katja and my mom probably match on other ancestral lines
  • I painted the DNA matches Katja has with my mom on my mom’s profile. Those matches were painted to Rathfelder and Bittenbinder even though they may represent other common ancestors.
  • Without a published document that explains some of the complicated Rathfelder relationships in Hirschenhof, it would have been very difficult to figure out the Rathfelder/Bittenbinder common ancestors that my Mom and Katja have.
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Browsing Latvian Church Records for Ancestors

For a while, Raduraksti was updating its website, and I was not finding the Church records I used to see for my ancestors in Hirschenhof, Latvia. My ancestors attended the Linden Church in the area:

These appear to be the records:

There should be earlier records. Perhaps they will become available later.

Liepkalnes, Not Linden

I see now that I should have been lookiing at Liepkalnes, not Linden:

That would explain why I was having so much trouble finding people.

Here are some of my ancestors who lived in Latvia:

I see that some death dates are missing. It would be nice to fill some in if I could find them. However, that seems difficult. Perhaps filling in marriages would be easier.

Jacobine Lutke

I see that I don’t have a marriage for my second great-grandmother Jacobine Lutke:

Ancestry has this hint:

Here is the record on the page:

I would say that this looks right. Of course, this is just the summary of the marriage record and not the marriage record itself. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find this record on the Raduraksti website.

Johann Georg Rathfelder Born 1778

I am missing Johann Georg’s marriage record also:

This is a tricky person to research because my memory tells me I had that Johann Georg had another brother by the same name – improbably as it seems:

The other confusing part is that the second Johann Goerg was supposed to have been born 14 years afther the first one. Aslo the Johannes who was supposed the be the son of the first Johann Georg was born in 1819 which would make him of an age that he could have been the son of the second Johann Georg! I would like to find the birth for Johann, but it appears that the records only go back as far as 1824 currently.

Browsing Ancestry Records

I found this interesting record at Ancestry:

I don’t recall seeing this before. This appears to be a personal register for the Rathfelder Family for Saint Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Riga.

From what I can tell, this is a record for the brother of my great-grandfather Heinrich Rathfelder. I have this brother as Georg Gustav Rathfelder:

The above record can at least fill in some family history. I don’t know if the +1918 attached to Heinrich was to mean his death or just his leaving. It appears that Johann Heinrich was named after my great-grandfather. I couldn’t make out the second name for Jakob. There appears to be much other interesting information on the page, but I don’t know what it all means.

A Record for My Great-Grandfather Johann Heinrich Rathfelder

This appears to be a baptismal record:

Sponsors appear to be Gerhard Schwechheimer and a Rathfelder. I see that I can also add this wedding record to my Ancestry file:

I’m having such fun with these records, I’lll look more into Alexander’s siblings.

Johann Phillip Nicolai Rathfelder

This appears to be Nicolai’s Baptismal record:

Again, I take the additional names to be sponsors. However, there appear to be more names than usual. I found this record listed under Marriage Banns:

I think that this is telling me that Philippe Nicolai’s mother-in-law was Wilhemene Rathfelder.

This is my great-aunt Maria Caroline Rathfelder’s baptismal record:

I recognize the last name as Pfief or similar spelling.

Harry Eduard Rathfelder

Here I think I have a mistake and I think I know how it could have happened. Harry is the son of Phillipe Nicolai:

Harry’s Personal Register is interesting:

I don’t understand all the notations. It appears that although he was born in Riga, he was confirmed in Linden. Looks like he married in 1932 and has a swastika near his name. The above record is from the Jesus Church – I assume in Riga.

Erna Auguste’s Baptismal Record

Erna’s great-grandmother was a Fuhrmann. I believe that Ern died young:

I am glad for transcriptions as I would have had trouble finding this record:

Caroline Antonie

It looks like I missed one of her names. Ancestry had her birth year as 1877, but that bumps into Erna’s birth, so I will keep the 1878 that I had. Caroline’s Confirmation Record shows her born in 1878 also:

Johann Jacob Reinhold Rathfelder

I may have too many names here:

I dropped the Reinhold in my family tree.

Robert Ernst

It appears that Robert also died young:

Marie Otilie Hilda

Otilie must have been for her godmother. Marie also died young at 2 month:

Ludwig Artur Wilmar

If I have him right, he would have been my grandfather’s next oldest sibling. I am having trouble finding this person in the Latvian records that Ancestry has. I also cannot remember where I got the original information. I may have to re-evaluate Ludwig. While searching for Johann Heinrich Rathfelder, I finally found him:

The Ludwig name was probably for his sponsor Ludwig Metz.

Leonhard Florentin

Leo was apparently the baby of the family:

He got his name from Leonhard Goldigowsky(?).

My Grandfather, Alexander Siegfried Oscar

For some reason, Alexander’s baptism was at St Paul’s rather than St Peter’s Church in Riga. It looks like Alexander didn’t pick up a name from his sponsor. I see that Alexander’s godmother was Ottilie who was a sponsor for Alexander’s older sister Marie Ottilie HIlda who died young. It also appears that Alexander was born in July not June as I had it previously. Of course, all other records appear to show that Alexander was born in June. I guess I’ll go back to June.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I started out trying to use the Raduraksti website to find the records of my Rathfelder ancestors, but found the Ancestry records much easier to use
  • The death records were especially easy to use as they are difficult to read and go through without being able to search for records.
  • I found that searching in different ways helped. For example, I could only find one of the sons of Johann Heinrich Rathfelder by seaerching for the father
  • I found that one of the sons I had for Johann Heinrich Rathfelder was actually the son of his oldest son Nicolai. Nicolai’s son Harry appeared to have a swastika by his name which I am sure would have been common for Germans in the 1930’s.
  • Finally, I found out that I was looking at the wrong records at the Radurakski website.
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Reinhold’s DNA Match and the Hirschenhof Connection

Reinhold matches my Mom by DNA at AncestryDNA. The match is not huge at 38 cM, but Ancestry shows common ancestors. Here is the first common ancestor tree that Ancestry shows:

I see one problem in the tree in that Reinhold’s grandmother shows as being born in 1970. I’m not sure why. Reinhold’s tree has Veronika born in 1903. Here are other likely common ancestors:

Here are those same names highlighted on my mother’s tree:

The closer three connections are on my mother’s paternal grandfather’s side (Rathfelder). The further connection is on my mother’s paternal grandmother’s side (Gangnus).

Let’s see if I can find all these people on Reinhold’s tree. He is two generations removed from my mother for six of the common ancestors and one generation removed for Niclas/Riedel.

The Rathfelder/Bittenbinder Connection

I have Biedenbender rather than Bittenbinder but I am sure they are the same. Here is Reinhold’s tree:

This couple are the 5th great-grandparents of Reinhold. I could check on Reinhold’s tree, but I have no reason to doubt it. According to Reinhold’s tree, his paternal grandmother Veronika Simon was born in Riga in 1903. My grandfather Alexander Rathfelder was born in Riga, Latvia 10 years earlier in 1893. This was a tumutuous time and place to be born. Veronika’s mother was born in Hirschenhof, Latvia in 1880. This was a German Colony in the heart of Latvia. These Germans tended to intermarry with each other within that Colony.

I name both Rathfelder and Biedender as the DNA shared between Reinhold and my family only came from one or the other of the two. It would be difficult to find out from which side the DNA came from or even if the DNA shared is from either as there are so many other possibilities.

Mertz/Muth Connection

Again, from Reinhold’s tree:

Reinhold’s fourth great-grandparents were Gustav Mertz and Anna Maria Rathfelder, but we are connected throught the parents of these two or at Reinhold’s fifth great-grandparent level.

Gangnus/Muller Connection

I’m glad that Reinhold built such a good tree. This is a bit of a who’s who in my mom’s Hirchenhof genealogy. This is on Reinhold’s Spengel line. Interestingly, my mom’s grandmother was a Gangnus, but this Gangnus is on my mom’s paternal grandfather side.

What’s more, if I have my genealogy right, my mother had two Gangnus 3rd great-grandparents named Gangnus. I have that Philipp Julius Gustav Gangnus and Philipp Jacob Gangnus were brothers.  Philip Jacob was on my mother’s Gangnus side.

One Generation Back to Niclas/Riedel

It is less likely that the DNA match is on either of these two people, but it is still possilble:

On Reinhold’s tree, this couple is on his Simon side. In my mother’s tree, this match is on her Gangnus grandmother’s side.

Adding Reinhold to My Rathfelder DNA Tree

This is a tree that combines DNA matches with genealogical matches. This is what I have now:

Reinhold is a 4th cousin twice removed, so he will be two levels below Astrid and Ingrid:

Reinhold’s name did not get centered for some reason.

A Merz/Muth DNA Family Tree

This is a new tree for me:

Turns out I can copy and paste from the previous tree, but the formatting is a bit odd. Reinhold’s tree has a birth date for Johann Peter Mertz at the top, so I borrowed that from there. As far as I know, Reinhold is the first one who I have found that shares these two ancestors of Merz and Muth.

Gangnus/Muller Tree

Unlike the Merz/Muth Tree, I already have an extensive Gangnus tree:

Rienhold should come in on the left side with Philipp Julius Gustavis Gangnus.  He descends from Sophia Gangnus born in 1783:

This gets a bit complicated the way I have it. I don’t think that Ancestry picked up the fact (if I have it right) that Reinhold is a 4th cousin twice removed and 5th cousin twice removed on the Gangnus Line. This tree is quite robust. There are many branches which in my view is desirable.

Niclas/Riedel Tree

This tree is also a first:

This tree also has the good type of branching in three different generations that I like to see.

Summary and Conclusions

  • Reinhold matches my family by DNA and by many common ancestors.
  • From what I can tell, Reinhold shares at least 10 common ancestors with me and my family.
  • I added Reinhold to my Rathfelder/Bittenbinder and Gangnus/Clausing Tree
  • I created a new Merz/Muth and Niclas/Riedel DNA Tree to show the relationship between Reinhold and my family.
  • It is no surprise that Reinhold has DNA matches with my family considering all the common ancestors we share.

 

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Finding My Latvian Cousin Raimonds at 23andMe

Occasionally, I check 23andMe to see if I have any matches. The last time I checked I was happy to find Raimonds. Raimonds lists his location as Riga, Latvia. That got my attention as my mother’s father was from Riga.

How Raimonds and I Match By DNA

Here is how we match by DNA:

Under 23andMe’s advanced DNA comparisons, I see this:

Another thing that jumped out at me was the X Chromosome match that Raimonds and I have. This seemed significant. Here are the places on my tree that Raimonds and I could have an X Chromosome match:

This is the tree of my grandfather who was Alexander Rathfelder. As both Raimonds and Alexander were from Riga, it makes sense to start with Alexander’s tree. X DNA is not passed down from father to son, so that rules out the Rathfelder line. As we go back it eliminates the Gangnus and Lutke Lines. However, with intermarriage, these could possibly be added in later back in time.

Raimonds’ Genealogy

I wrote to Raimonds at 23andMe and he was nice enough to write back. Here is what Raimonds told me:

I do see a Carl Heinrich Lutke in my tree. However, based on the X Chromosome inheritance, I don’t think that our DNA match reflects that ancestor. In addition, Raimonds’ maternal Lutke grandfather would have not gotten any X Chromosome from his father. That means that the X Chromosome match could as easily be on Raimonds’ maternal grandmother’s side.

So How Am I Related to Raimonds?

The answer appears to be at the Raduraksti Web Page that has a lot of the Latvian Church records. I think that the records are listed under the Linden Church at that web page. Here is the Linden Church:

Here are two links that are in the right time period:

Unfortunately, I don’ t know what the L (l, v) means. Also the more recent records are in Russian. I also checked the Linden Church in 1890 for Lutke. Here is one entry:

However, this is not Johann.

I then went back a year to 1899:

This appears to be the birth and baptismal dates for Johannes Ernst Lutke. He was the son of Johann Marcus Lutke and Wilhemine Catharine Schwechheimer. I left out the sponsors names from the next page:

Here is a Lutke marriage from 1910:

It seems like this Johann is different than the one above. I read Johann Jacob Lutke married to Emma Maria Apollonia Gempfer.

Here is an 1891 birth to Johann Marcus Lutke:

That is what I found looking through 1889 – 1891 births and baptisms.

Things Are Moving Fast

I got another message from Raimonds:

That means that I can draw a Lutke DNA tree. Here is what I have so far:

I just need to add Raimonds. He has told me who his grandfather’s grandparents were, but who were his grandfather’s parents? Based on what Raimonds says, we should be third cousins once removed.

MyHeritage has an Instant Discovery for me:

Ironically, the hint they want me to use has a photo that I have on my Gangnus web page:

I think MyHeritage wants me to pay them money before I can use their “discovery”.

I did find a tree on Ancestry with a Johann Otto Lutke:

He was born 1879. Raimonds thinks his Johann was born around 1885.

Painting in Raimonds’ DNA Match

I use a utility called DNA Painter to track my identified DNA. I don’t have all the documentation, but Raimonds says that our common ancestors are Lutke and Fuhrmann. Here is part of what I have so far on my maternal side:

This shows that I am 34% painted maternally. Overall (paternally and maternally combined), I am 43% painted. In the key above, I have a color for Lutke/Fuhrmann already, but also one where I wasn’t sure, because I was related to the person both ways. For some reason, Patrick is in the second category and his mother is in the first. I’m not sure if this is a mistake or not on my part. I don’t know enough about Raimonds’ genealogy to know which category he will be in. For now, I’ll put him in the first category also.

Here are the segments that Raimonds has added. These matches don’t currently overlap with existing DNA matches, so Raimonds is in uncharted territory. I didn’t add Raimonds’ X Chromosome match as that is unlikely to be on the Lutke side. It looks like I need to change some colors due to the similarity of the blues of Schwechheimer and Lutke. Once I find out how Raimonds and I are related on our X Chromosome, I will paint that in also.

Here I made the color change and moved Silvia to the more ambiguous Common Ancestor Group:

Overall, this upped my overall painted percentage to 44%:

An Update from Raimonds’ Granddaughter

Raimonds’ granddaughter sent me a family tree showing how our Lutke Lines connect. This information was from someone that Raimonds had gotten in touch with through MyHeritage. This person apparently has done a lot of work with Hirschenhof genealogies. Here are Raimonds’ maternal grandparents:

All I have to do is find Johann Peter Woldemar’s birth in 1881. Fortunately for me, he is on the first page of the Linden Church Register:

Actually this may be the 5th page of the Register for the year. I didn’t see pages 2-4. There is a lot of information here. For some reason the last name is given as Lütken. Before the father’s name is the occupation. But I’m not sure what it is.

Going Back a Generation

This connects with the tree I have for Silvia and Patrick.

I re-typed the Lutke DNA tree:

So it turns out that Raimonds is more closely related to Silvia and Patrick than me. Silvia and Patrick tested at MyHeritage. That also means that some of what I wrote in my Blog about Patrick applies to Raimonds. This also means that I am doubly related to Raimonds like I am to Patrick.

Raimonds and the Gangnus Connection

I don’t want to re-type this tree, but here are two more ways I am related to Raimonds:

The first way is through Johann Jacob Gangnus and Biedermann. This is important because it is at the same level as my Lutke/Fuhrmann match with Raimonds. The second way we are connected is two generations further back, so that connection is not as important as far as the DNA matching goes.

Back to the X Chromosome

Now that I see how we are related on the Gangnus side, I can see how the X Chromosome match between Raimonds and me may have happened:

It actually worked out quite well. Note that between me and Biedermann above, I go male, female, male, female, male female. That is the way I would get the most X Chromosome DNA from the furthest back. Normally autosomal DNA will recombine. However, when a father gives his X Chromosome to his daughter, he only has one Chromosome to begin with. So when Johann Philip Gangnus gave his one X Chromosome to his daughter Maria Elisabeth Laura Gangnus, it was the same one that his Biedermann mother gave him. Also, it is important that I descend from the male Johann Philip Gangnus. Because of that we know that the X Chromosome that he got could only be from his Biedermann mother. That means that the X Chromosome that Raimonds and I share is likely from the Biedermann side. I say likely, because there is a small possibility that it may come from an ancestor of Antonie Elise Marie Schiller. I haven’t looked into that line and Raimonds doesn’t know about that side.

Fixing DNA Painter

Here is some more information on Biedermann:

I took out the entry for Lutke/Fuhrmann at DNA Painter. Now I just have Lutke/Fuhrmann or Gangnus/Biedermann. Now I will need an entry for Anna to paint the X Chromosome match that Raimonds and I have.

Unfortunately, I have pink on pink for Biedermann, but I have painted Biedermann onto the X Chromosome. Notice that this segment overlaps with my maternal first cousin Rusty. That means that this part of Rusty’s X Chromosome must also be from Anna Biedermann. Here is a better color:

Summary and Conclusions

  • I was happy about finding this DNA match with Raimonds
  • It is rare that a X Chromosome match works out so well. So many things have to align correctly in both my ancestry and Raimonds.
  • It is also rare that I am able to figure out who our common ancestors are so quickly – especially with Latvian genealogy. This was due to information I already had plus genealogies that Raimonds was able to get through MyHeritage.
  • I am glad to see that a lot of the Linden Church records are back on-line. These are the records for Hirschenhof residents.
  • If Raimonds uploads his DNA results to Gedmatch.com and MyHeritage, he will find more DNA matches.

 

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A Rathfelder DNA Match at 23andMe: Iain

I recently noticed a good match I had with Iain at 23andMe. 23andMe predict that Iain and I are 2nd cousins. Fortunately Iain put down some of his family names:

My names are on the left and Iain’s are on the right.

I recognized Rathfulder as a form of Rathfelder. I had already written a Blog on Donna and what was our almost certain relationship. Here is how Donna fits in on my Rathfelder tree:

Here I have added in Iain. He would be Donna’s brother or cousin. Donna did mention that she had a cousin. This shows that Iain is a second cousin once removed to me. Here is my grandfather Alexander Rathfelder on the left and Iain’s great-grandfather Leo Rathfelder on the right:

Donna tested at AncestryDNA. Iain tested at 23andMe. One difference between the two companies is that AncestryDNA does not show detailed DNA matching and 23andMe does. That means that I can compare Iain’s DNA matches with other Rathfelder matches.

My DNA Match with Iain

My DNA match with Iain represents the DNA we both got from our two common ancestors. Those common ancestors are Johann Heinrich Rathfelder born  1846 and his wife Maria E.L. Gangnus born in 1856. Heinrich and Maria were born in the German Colony of HIrschenhof in Latvia. They had nine children in Hirschenhof. Some time between 1890 and 1894 the couple moved to Riga, Latvia where they had their last two children Alexander and Leonhard.

Here is how 23andMe shows my DNA match with Iain:

Those DNA matches look like this in table form:

I can add these matches to my master match list. I can also paint these matches onto my Chromosome map.

DNA Painting Iain

Here is what I have painted so far using an on-line tool called DNA Painter:

This shows all my matches. I’m about 38% painted. Here is just my maternal side where I get my Rathfelder DNA:

Here I am only 28% painted. Iain and I will match on the orange segments. Normally, DNA Painter only adds segments at 7 cM and above. However, there are a few matches I have with Iain just below that cutoff that I want to add:

The differences are difficult to see, but this brings my painted (or identified) DNA up to 39% overall and up to 30% on my maternal side. Not many new orange segments have been added, but segments have been expanded or filled in:

Above is a more detailed view of Chromosome 3. Iain has added to the match that I have with Anita. Iain has also filled in a space in the next segment. Iain does not share DNA with Otis that Inese and Anita do. This would represent more ancient DNA. Otis and I match on the Schwechheimer and Gangnus ancestry. This could mean that even though Iain also has Schwechheimer and Gangnus ancestors,  Iain didn’t get the same Schwechheimer/Gangnus DNA at this portion of his Chromosome 3. Nigel and Carolyn above represent DNA that I got from my mother that would not match with Iain because it is on my mother’s non-Rathfelder maternal Lentz/Nicholson side.

Iain and DNA Triangulation

As shown above, Anita and Iain both match me in overlapping segments on Chromosome 3. This suggests DNA triangulation which means the three of us share common ancestors. Those common ancestors are here:

The same thing happens with Catherine and Iain on Chromosome 7:

Iain will match Catherine, Anita and Inese more closely than he matches me as Iain is a 2nd cousin to Anita and Inese and 1st cousin once removed to Catherine. This will show if Iain uploads his DNA results to Gedmatch Genesis for comparison.

Summary and Conclusions

  • DNA has tied together Rathfelder descendants in the US (my family), the UK (Catherine, Donna and Iain) and Latvia (Anita and Inese).
  • Iain tested at 23andMe. His results show specifically how our DNA matches and where. This allows for some DNA comparison.
  • The DNA that Iain and I share represents our common ancestors Johann Heinrich Rathfelder and Maria Elisabeth Laura Gangnus.

 

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A Latvian Match at MyHeritage – Patrick

I recently was pleasantly surprised to get a message from Patrick from Berlin. He says that we are connected through his great-grandmother Wilma Pfeiff.

Wilma Pfeiff

Here is a photo of Wilma from an article written in 2010:

I enjoyed reading about Wilma’s history [translated on-line]:

Wilma Pfeiff was born in Riga, Latvia. She experienced the First World War in Russia in a city on the Volga. There her father had to work in a machine factory. She was allowed to herd cows and learned fluent Russian. “I always went to the other girls and talked to them.” After the war, they went back to Riga. There she married. “My husband was supposed to marry my older sister, but she did not want to,” remembers Wilma Pfeiff. The girls had hardly any say in the election of the groom. In 1929 she got her first child, nine more followed. In 1939, the German-descended family was relocated to the Polish Wartheland. Her husband later went to war and did not return home. Then the day came Wilma Pfeiff had to flee from Poland with her ten children. In open wagons, actually coal cars, the families were penned. “Mother was always smart. She had a blanket, “says her sonErich Pfeiff (71). And his brother Edwin adds: “We still got straw to keep us warm.” The family was stranded in Brandenburg, on detours, it went on to Lemwerder. That’s where the Pfeiffs lived in the refugee barracks, that was in 1947. “That was a very difficult time,” says the 104-year-old. She had to fight for her children, they wanted to take her away. “‘Young dogs are distributed, but no children,’ I told them then.” She was allowed to keep the children, the elders were apprenticed. “The children were all very nice, they helped a lot,” says Wilma Pfeiff. She never married again: “I could have found a husband, but no father for my children.”

I have found DNA relatives to people in the US who have had ancestors from Saratov. I have wondered how they could be connected to Latvia and this article may explain it. Saratov was about 1,000 miles away from Riga, Latvia. I know that my great grandmother was also moved around a lot in WWII like Wilma was.

The DNA Match – My Mom and Patrick

Here are the DNA matches between Patrick and my mom, Gladys:

There are five matches that are fairly small. This could mean that our common ancestors go back several generations. I have a cousin who has not uploaded her DNA to MyHeritage. I have other Latvian cousins at MyHeritage but they do not show DNA triangulation with Patrick.

Wilma Pfeiff’s Genealogy

A good resource for Latvian Genealogy is a website called Raduraksti. They have a page with 10,000 Latvian names that could be helpful to find Wilma Pfeiff. One problem with using this list is that the Latvians like to spell German names their own way. Another problem could be that Wilma was not in Latvia when they took the survey or if she was, she may have gone by her maiden name. This appears to be the Latvian spelling:

Another Hint from Patrick

Patrick messaged me at MyHeritage:

My Family lived in a German enclave with 3 other Families: Pfeiff (my one), Schmidt, Gangnus, Wolde. They all married each other. For Example my Great Grandma was firstly Schmidt and married Johann Otto Pfeiff. 

This is a big help as I didn’t know Patrick’s great-grandmother’s maiden name. There are two Johans in the list above:

The second Johans seems to be born in the right time.

Wilma Schmidt

Next, is Wilma listed on the Latvian database? This must be her:

She was born in Riga. This also gives a name for Vilma’s father. However, there were many churches in Riga. Here are some Oskars’ from the Latvia database:

My top choice is the Oskars born in the Irsu pag. as that is another name for Hirschenhof where my ancestors came from.

Patrick’s New Finds

Since I started writing this Blog, Patrick has found a lot more information on his Hirchenhof ancestors. I built out part of Patrick’s tree that I had started based some of Patrick’s new research and got this:

I put a green box around the common ancestors Patrick and I have. It looks like Patrick and I are double 4th cousins once removed.

The Lutke Connection

Lutke is interesting because I was previously stuck on Friedrich Lutke as well as Eva Fuhrmann. Patrick’s research helped me fill in this whole lower right side of my Latvian tree:

This added a new Buchenroth surname that I had not heard of and an additional Schwechheimer. Here is how Patrick connects with me on the Lutke side:

A Gangnus – Biedermann Tree

This tree is more complicated because I already match some other people there by DNA:

This is complicated because I descend from from Gangnus ancestors on my grandfather’s mother’s and father’s side. Robert above also has a double connection.

Patrick’s Pfeiff Side

I can’t see the ancestors of Johann Otto Pfeiff on Patrick’s MyHeritage Tree:

Patrick has Johann Otto Pfeiff born in Riga on 23 May 1906. I have Johann Karl Pfeiff born in Hirschenhof on 6 August 1906. I wonder if they are the same person? I did find a birth record for Johann Otto Pfeiff in the HIrchenhof Church records.

The record goes onto the next page. At this time, the Church records were in what appears to be Russian. Fortunately, the names are also in German. I did find a Russian Genealogical Wiki. The first column must be birth and the second baptism. My guess is that Patrick’s 23 May was right.

I don’t know when to give up, so I looked for a marriage for Georg and Ottilie:

This marriage appears to be in 1902 or 1903. The German translations of the names are in parentheses. I think that the second name after the first name must be the father’s name of the groom and bride. I see those names as Johann and Georg.

Painting Patrick

I would like to paint Patrick’s DNA matches using DNAPainter. The problem is that we match three different ways. I’ll work around this by just naming the common ancestors by the two closest pairs of common ancestors. That would be Lutke/Fuhrmann or Gangnus/Biedermann.

Here is where I match Patrick:

Here is my already maternal side that is painted:

One problem here is that Chromosome 20 is already taken up by the wrong side. My Lentz ancestors mostly lived in Philadelphia. Also matches under 7cM are not likely to be valid.

There also seems to be a problem with the match at Chromosome 18:

The MyHeritage Chromosome Browser shows no triangulation on Chromosome 18. My match with Patrick is in red and my matches with my two Latvian 2nd cousins are in orange and yellow. That means I am skeptical of this match also, but I don’t want to just toss it out.

Here is the new DNA painted in light blue.

I made a note under the match in DNAPainter that the Chromosome 18 segment did not triangulate. Here is a portion of DNAPainter with my paternal side included:

My Latvian maternal matches are on the bottom bar of the Chromosome.

My Mom and Patrick

Here is my mom’s currently painted matches:

Here is my Mom’s map where Patrick’s matches were added:

DNAPainter doesn’t add the matches under 7cM. The match on Chromosome 18 doesn’t show as it is under other matches:

My mother didn’t match Patrick on Chromosome 20.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I’m glad Patrick contacted me. It has been fun working with this enthusiastic and talented German genealogist.
  • Patrick and I both have an interest in German/Latvian genealogy and we are working well together.
  • Thanks to Patrick, I have added some ancestors where I was stuck on our shared Lutke and Fuhrmann Lines.
  • Painting my matches and my mother’s matches with Patrick gave some more insight on the shared matches.
  • I’m hoping to find out more about Patrick’s genealogy and meet other DNA matches with an interest in genealogy like Patrick.