ThruLines® Not "TrueLines"
- Leslie Ryan
- Aug 8
- 3 min read
This week has been very exciting! I finally got DNA matches for my 98 year old father in law this week after many long years of waiting! Ancestry's ThruLines® predicted this could be a parent or a sibling of our ancestor born in 1783. Since the match was born in 1795, I plugged him in as a sibling (had to add two "Unknown" parents). But, are ThruLines® TRUElines? We need to do some genealogy to prove it!
I spent the better part of the week studying these matches and their trees. Three DNA matches are listed for our 3rd Great Grandfather, sharing 14, 13 and 13 cM's respectively. Interestingly, only one of the three is a match for my husband, also at 13 cM. Most of these trees have no documentation. I wasn't expecting much before the 1800's, but we all know you can't ASSUME anything, right? You can't just go by the DNA, you have GOT TO DO THE GENEALOGY too!
The first thing I noticed were some date problems. Births were listed as taking place in counties and states that did not even exist as territories in the late 1700's. The possible sibling is listed as having been born in a county that did not exist until 1854.
His possible siblings in my family were all reportedly born in South Carolina before and after his birth date. But when we are dealing with as few cM's as 13 and 14, the possibilities range from 2nd to 7th cousins (and "removeds") according to the Shared cM Project at the www.TheGeneticGenealogist.com.
However, my family and these families all followed the trails of the Scots-Irish westward across the once Native American lands through South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and into Texas in the 1840's. Some new matches were born in Alabama in 1832, which lends some credence to the marriage record I have stashed in my Ancestry Shoebox from Alabama!
Some of the extended families settled in Nacogdoches County, and others, including my branch, settled in Panola and Shelby Counties.
They did not live as immediate neighbors, but I found the other families had neighbors with the same surnames that married into my branch! This was a great example of the FAN genealogy tool, look for Friends And Neighbors!
After a few days of building the trees, two of the three matches seem pretty good! The third seems to have an unexpected parent issue? The indicated direct descendant born in 1879 has a different last name. His mother is a widow in the 1880 Census and did not marry again until 1887 to our match in another county?
This is not the only incidence of ThruLines® not being verifiably TRUElines I have encountered over the years. The ThruLines® are great and can be very helpful, but they are only as good as the tree they are attached to.
You can't do the DNA without doing the Genealogy!! Say it to yourself again, please. Thank you! :-)
I hate to be the first to say it, but it's time to start preparing any Family History Holiday Gifts now! There are only 139 days until Christmas, and Hannukah starts in 128 days!
Watch for those next DNA sales, and start collecting family stories, photos, and scrapbook items to make the perfect keepsake gift that can be handed down through generations! I'd be glad to help you!
Always a FREE and NO OBLIGATION look at your tree and brick walls, just send me an email at the address below!
Thank you for sharing your time with me again this week!
Leslie Ryan
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