McGing Family Genealogy

Mom and dad are “cousins, something like 3rd – 5th cousins. This we know because we tested 2 of mom’s sisters and they are clearly dna cousins not just with dad, but with his direct line of siblings and people in his grandfather’s siblings lines. Maybe even with his great grandfather’s siblings being dna related to people on my mom’s side. Clearly, mom and dad share an ancestor, and dad says that his mother in law said it was so and that the family was the McNally’s. Trouble is, cannot find any McNally’s in common between these families. But Gedmatch has a new tool that doesn’t tell you who this might be but lays out how one can figure it out.

Following are the ancestor charts for my dad and mom, as accurate as I have records for.

In the chart above, based on testing my dad, who shows up in green, you can see my mom's two sisters (nheneghan and mgallagher) show up as sisters and see the other's on Gedmatch who are also dna related to dad and to my mom's people. Dad is in the green box, and dad is dna related to all of these people via the person in the box on the left #1. This yet unknown ancestor had children whose kids were ancestors to many people, and both my mother's family and my father's family are among them.

By fleshing out these family trees, we may find just who is the mysterous family in box #1 whose dna is shared by mom and dad.

The chart above shows my mom's sister Nora (in green) and who she is dna related to. You can see my dad and you can see in the lower right people who are related to dad via his father's sister and brother. Demonstrating that the familial connection between my parents is at least 2 generations back. We know the family tree for James Kaneavy, and dad and his niece and can use that to figure out who lioves in Box #1.

The chart above shows my mom's sister Mary (in green) and who she is dna related to. Funny how siblings can be dna related to people other siblings are not, eh? You can see my dad and you can see next to him his niece and a whole raft of tested people who also share this common ancestor that dad's people and my mom's people do. And again, by fleshing out the family trees of these folks, we can figure out who is in Box #1.

Well, now that I have some specific families I can contact and research, I may be able to see the forest for the trees. My biggest issue has been females who marry into a family and who the records treat as being invisible. And thw lack of records prior to 1866. But these 3 charts above do let me focus my research on lines that hold the promise of identifying just who is in common, and a way to verify any likely candidates. All in all, some good news on something I've spent 10 years trying to figure out.