CUSTOMIZE Your Leeds Method Chart to Cluster Your DNA Matches - Genetic Genealogy Tutorial

[@dreamawhatley9609]

Breakthrough!! My Grandma Susie wasn't a Stewart. She was a Wilkerson. I kept having Wilkerson/Davis/LeQuire DNA showing up and started tracing them back. I've gathered quite a few proofs . . marriage records, a couple of death certificates, but the kicker came when I found her and a child whom I've already traced and confirmed on a 1900 census record!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

CONGRATULATIONS! 👏👏

[@nancycrane9615]

I add a column for whether they have a tree (yes, no, locked, unlinked) and how many people are in their tree.

[@AimeeML]

Nancy Crane Great tip!

[@kjw79]

Me too! Saves time.

[@seanmaher3518]

@Pedro Mack That May be my only option, you still in business?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Great tip

[@CCCCCCCCCCCmany]

That’s a good idea

[@maryhaak7962]

I've expanded my chart to great grandparents. My matches are still all assigned to a primary, but then grandparents are lighter and lightest shade of the primary color. If I can identify which great grandparent a match is associated with, they go in to that color group too. I'm hoping to collect enough information at some point to help identify the ancestry of my great grandmother who was adopted.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Good luck with your search.

[@Hunting4MyRoots]

Thank You Andy. I already understood in context what needs to be done to cluster my matches. But you provided The Best Explanation of HOW to do this! I So Much Appreciate it. Subscribing again.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Great to hear!

[@martasobota8523]

Andy, you and Devon do such a wonderful work! I'm a fan of yours! 🌳🧬🙂

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks so much!

[@AimeeML]

Loved the video Andy! I first watched the two videos in the series and then watched again while following along. My results were strange. I only had two really significant color groups. In total I had 8 colors, 1 group only had two matches, two colors had only one match. I think this is due to a combination of half cousins and 3rd cousins. Wondering if I may get better results using myself as an example, I used my father’s DNA and maybe due to his age he doesn’t have as many 2nd cousins that have taken the test.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yeah, there are a lot of things that can happen. It may also be because you didn't have close enough matches. A perfect grouping with only 3rd cousins will yield around eight colors representing each of the great grandparents.

[@now_what56]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I have 9 colors w/ my mother's DNA and I only did about half of her cousin matches!

[@traceymullis3158]

Could you explain further about the overlap please? I have created my spreadsheet and have a number of people with 2 or 3 people. In your video you suggest assigning them numbers 1 and 2. I couldnt quite work out if you are assigning #1 if the match has a higher cM than the * and then assigning #2 if they have lower? or are you assigning #1 if the * they share with has a higher cM? Im a little confused. Your example doesnt quite show exactly what to do with the orange and teal. Not sure where you got your numbers from in those examples. Thank you for your time

[@thomasedgaredgar4941]

Im also confused by this as Im not sure how you can see how much DNA a match shares with the lead match without being able to view the matches DNA list.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You have a match (A) who matches point person B and point person C resulting in two colors. To prioritize, AB = 90 cM and AC = 120cM. So I would put a 1 on the C color and a 2 on the B color.

[@theropesofrenovation9352]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics But they are all on the same line!

[@dreamawhatley9609]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics: Ancestry does not show how much cM are shared? So, what to do with overlaps that you CAN'T compare how much DNA they share?

[@kathywiseman7944]

I started doing it your way and skipped the closest matches but I've had more luck just using all the matches down to 20cM and then going to my tree and working out where and how the connections are.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

There is more than one way to skin a cat.

[@Lostitalltothelegion]

Both my parents are lone children of their fathers, and have siblings. All my matches are half matches until I get up high…. Should the cM range be modified? I imagine I’ll have to map out relationships to figure it out but all my matches in the provided range are 1C1R or half.

[@TopProducer-l8o]

My chart has 8 groups, I can see a common between the groups and how they are related to my 4 grandparents. Should add another row showing Great grandparents? What should I do with the other colors on my chart?

[@roadsta97]

So, Love all your videos and someday I'll learn enough to be able to figure things out. So, Step 3, Prioritize Individuals with multiple color groups totally confuses me. So, if I have someone in my tree called Mary Jane and she is in 2 color groups, red and blue. Mary Jane shares 140 cM with me. The leader of Red Group shares 220 and the leader of Blue Group shares 190. Would I list Red Group as 1 and Blue Group as 2? So, in another instance, if I share 124 with Bob and he is in 2 groups, Yellow and Green. The leader of Yellow group shares 170 and the leader of Green group shares 101. It would be Yellow group 1 and Green group 2? Just by creating the Leeds Chart, I have already had some break thru's. Thank you again.

[@kjw79]

These 2 videos were really good. In one day of work, I finally have a handle on my 2nd and 3rd cousins. But, I wish there was another video to keep going! Or, a more in-depth description of the steps in this video. Please give us more detail because this is very specific and fruitful work!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Give me an example of what you'd like to see next or what questions you have and when I start filming again, I'll add it to the queue. Send your feedback to us via www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/contact

[@StokesCheri]

Andy, how about one specifically for MyHeritage. I was originally adding all shared matches but now I'm only adding matches that triangulate and noting on what chromosome. A, B & C match on 12 but D & E match A on 1...

[@rover790]

I would like to see this tio please​@@StokesCheri

[@s_c_r_e_w_b_a_l_l]

Hello, thank you for the video - straightforward. I do have a question: I have tested as have a number of close family (out to first cousins once removed). I had eliminated the maternal matches and line as they are not being researched. First cousins once removed at at apx. 348 cM and below with a MRCA couple identified as their grandparents and my great grandparents. This is the line being investigated. The wife is from Ireland and matches associated with this first great grandparent / grandparent have been eliminated. This leaves the German husband whose line is the target of research. Since I am trying to identify and confirm the ancestors of (what is) my great grandparents and my first cousins once removed great grandparents lines from Germany - are there any tips or changes I need to make ot this method to use it correctly? I am tracing from known first cousins once removed out to 3rd- 5th cousins and as far out as 5th - 8th cousins with a cM range of 348 - 8 cM. This method is about my last and only hope to try and break through a longstanding brick wall of unconfirmed or missing great grandparents. Also, to complicate things, I have to mention ENDOGAMY. There was a number of intermarryings in family secondary to small villages and sparse population / immigrating and settling together. Thank you.

[@karenhill9507]

I have Ancestry DNA: how do I work out the shared DNA between the lead person and the others in a group. I ca only see where it compares to mine. Thanks

[@nancysabo4254]

You would need to contact the lead person and ask if they would share their dna results with you. I find this is more likely if you send them an invite to your matches first.

[@karenhill9507]

Nancy Sabo thank you

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

This is the major downfall of Ancestry and Family Tree DNA for clustering.

[@alicecassell9137]

Using ancestry info mostly- how do you know how much your matches share with each other?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You can't. FTDNA and Ancestry do not provide that information.

[@anna-karins1176]

Very interesting I use a simplified similar Excel chart. but I have trouble sing the names of the columns in your chart . Do you have a bigger version of it somewhere ?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Here's a link to the one I used for the YT video: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11UN0YSSwzddvCYBwsh76fCbPQgvcI96FoQmCnKfPr98/edit?usp=sharing

[@JD_Lakad]

Would you add from different dna sites, ie all matches on the same spreadsheet?

[@helenbisset3147]

JD DJ I’d like to know the answer to this also, as in Ancestry DNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage DNA, Family Tree DNA etc. should these be put in the one spreadsheet, or kept in separate spreadsheets?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I don't (because not all matches are on different websites). I do whenever possible put in the nots field information as to which other sites a match is on. This is helpful in cross identifying clusters between websites.

[@paulbaltzer4745]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I put different website matches all into the same spreadsheet. This greatly increases the chances for me to figure out and find MCRA across multiple sites. Every match from all the different website MUST match me...that is why I put them ALL into one spreadsheet. Just today, I found an unknown MyHeritage match of 52cM and b/c of Leeds was able to easily assign my grandparent line that I need to search to place them.

[@staceycoates1418]

So I decided I was going to do a Leeds chart on my matches and I was only going to go down to 90 CM's (though I do have the higher matches like my grandparents that I would not make leads). That was 36 matches, 26 not likely to be first cousins or closer. Out of those 26 matches I only have 8 that I have not identified exactly who they are, and most if not all of those eight I have identified what great-grandparent side at the very least they have come from. And I take that back, one of the matches is newer and I am trying to get some info from the match but I think he is my great-uncle's grandson which makes him my 1C1R. So I am working with 7 matches and I don't know if it worth going farther. So I think I am asking, is there a more advance version of a Leeds chart that goes back a further generation? The Leeds chart gets you to great grandparents and I have that info. So what is my next step? Especially as this is through Ancestry. I am going to start working on my grandparents' kits but I am thinking I am not going to get much further because more of the matches are going to be in the first cousin range.

[@staceycoates1418]

Follow-up. Well, three of my grandparents it was fairly clear. But then I got to my last grandparent, my maternal grandmother. This is the one that you looked at before, back in Spring 2020 I think). And I actually had a hard time with hers. And I have theories. There are 90 names; twelve are listed in the 1st cousin range, plus me. So 13 out of 90 are too close to use. I actually redid this one twice because I thought I might have used a first cousin as a lead. This is one of the first times where I have gotten only a few groups (9). And by cherry-picking my leads, I had three matches that had no grouping (two were in the first cousin range and in my tree so I know where they go and the other was the one I purposefully skipping). My groups, except for two, easily fell into maternal and paternal. And those two 'groups' had basically the lead and 1st cousins. And it looks like the paternal lines may have had cousins who married between my other lines. I am going sit on these for a day or two (my allergies are stuffing me up so I am afraid I might miss something obvious). But if you ever want to do a follow-up (even if it isn't looking at my original question) I will volunteer this. Or if you would like to just look at what I came up with this go around.

[@mrspeedy1011]

Hello need assistance in finding the birth mom of my paternal grandfather.Also my paternal grandmother mom dad is unknown and same for her brother dad.They share the same mom.Third I’m trying to verify my maternal grandfather maternal line too.Finally my mom maternal grandmother parents lines?I have a lot of 4th cousins that could possibly hold the key to some of these queries. Thanks in advance Robert S

[@PaulJHawkinsJr]

at 5 minute mark, is the lead not Mabel instead of Deborah?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I don't see Mabel or Deborah at that point in the video. Could you clarify?

[@PaulJHawkinsJr]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I'll have to re-watch it. Sorry 🇨🇦

[@dreamawhatley9609]

I am also completely not understanding how to compare between the groups of people who have more than one match. BUT, I MAY have found a sibling to my great great grandfather, who was a rotten egg, to be sure, but still trying to trace him back. IF the person's family tree is correct then I did indeed find a sibling. Oh!! Happy Dance!!

[@leanneprescott9664]

I quite like finding the "rotten eggs". I believe you can't sanitise history - it is what it is. If the rotter has descendants they are not responsible for their ancestor's behaviour - but it might make a fabulous story!

[@barbaramythen5774]

Hi - Is prioritising the individuals in multiple colour groups necessary as in my case all the 2nd and 3rd cousins I am researching are all in the same multiple colour groups. If so, can you explain further please as I can't get my head round it!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Not if that is what you are doing.

[@MusicInMotion_67]

So to confirm this, I wouldn't add anyone at all above 400 cM? Even if I they are a shared match? I have six colors (known lines) and two unknown. I suspect at least two of these colors are going back to GG on each side. I've checked some of these relationships and a couple are half 1C1R. I'm just trying to understand why I get so many colors. I don't know my paternal side of the family other than what I've learned during this journey.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

The number of colors is going to depend on what the relationship the lead of each of those colors end up being. If you have 4 2nd cousins, one from each grandparent, then your table will end up with only 4 colors. If however, you have a third cousin as a lead person (which represents a great grandparent), then you could have 8 colors.

[@mattpotter8725]

I think adding anyone above 400cM isn't don't because you are trying to identify matches that relate to each grandparent and those with this much DNA are going to be from children or siblings of parents, so first cousins who will match both grandparents and what you're really after, to identify matches to individual grandparents, are matches who the common ancestor is really the great grandparent level otherwise all the people you would be adding people who are in multiple, in some cases all, groups and I'm not sure how this technique would really help you. You should be able to see that because you have such a high amount of shared DNA where these people link into your tree (and is you don't using this technique won't help you find them), and I don't think the advice is not to add them just that they shouldn't be used as a basis for a group because they will match to people on both sides so aren't any use in dividing your matches up into groups. I hope that makes sense.

[@monig7241]

While watching the previous video, and this one, I set up a spreadsheet, did the color-coding, etc .. made it through #2 on this video but got stuck @ #3. How am I supposed to know DNA % between two people, neither of which is me?

[@monig7241]

I found the answer in a question similar to mine, making the LEEDS video useless for me. :(

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

With Ancestry, you can't know it. With 23andMe, MyHeritage or GEDmatch you can.

[@kjw79]

The chart is still very very beneficial even without knowing how many cms matches share.

[@mattpotter8725]

@@monig7241 It's not useless, it just makes life harder. It should still give you hints as to which grandparent is the common ancestor, and potentially using this to see which in the group have common shared matches and which don't can be used to try and work out those within the group are closer related than others. You are right though that this makes life a lot more easy.

[@monig7241]

@@mattpotter8725 I appreciate your comment. My "useless" remark above, made 2 yrs ago, was due to someone else's post below, about 2 yrs ago. Also, at the time I watched the video, I didn't realize it was part of a series + not the first in the series. Due to my frustration I put it on the back burner, eventually forgot about it and now can't find it .. it's probably on an external HD. Aside from the MCRAs noted on Ancestry, the spreadsheet I created in 2020 didn't really help identify any new ones. That's because I can't even tell which column is which grandparent. Fast forward to July 2022. I watched a Dana Leeds video on the Legacy Webinars page, I created a new spreadsheet and was able to get *so* much farther than on the one created two years ago. Then I started hearing that the Leeds Method doesn't work when there might be/is pedigree collapse or endogamy (plenty in my family tree). I got a tad annoyed, until I came across a tweet about how to handle pedigree collapse or endogamy when sorting DNA matches. I need to find that tweet again. I'm still not able to assign a grandparent/family name to any columns because I have 13 clusters!! ... like I said, plenty of pedigree collapse or endogamy in my family tree! However, since I now have a better understanding (compared to 2 years ago) I will watch the above video again .. I'll also watch the related videos and, hopefully, in the correct order.

[@theropesofrenovation9352]

Oh Lord, please go into prioritizing more. I have 6 column. I just don't get it. PLEASE! I see your comment below but I still don't get it!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

How about you send me a screen shot or a link to what you have created? Perhaps when I see where you got stuck I can help you more. Use this contact form. www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/contact

[@lynntaylorbuccafuri5924]

I am still completely lost 😞. I feel that I will never understand this DNA stuff. It is so frustrating, especially since I don’t even know who my dads parents were. We only have his mothers name, and from the Azores, and his father could be John Taylor or Robert A. Taylor. There is not enough information to figure out who the real man is. Everyone from that side of the family is gone. I figured you would be the best to help me understand, but the more I try the more confused I get, and your the only one that seems to have made any sense to me when I thought I understood 😳🤦🏻‍♀️.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Lets start with the Leeds chart. Did the video on making one make sense? Have you created one?

[@martnal]

The cM column would look a lot better if it was rounded to whole numbers and right aligned.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's a suggestion worth considering.

[@TejalParekhTV]

Very interesting 🧐

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Glad you think so!

[@swilliams1759]

Where EXACTLY are you getting this information on your 2-3rd cousins dna matches from? What dna testing site are using? Because it does not work with Ancestry!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

It does work with Ancestry. Follow up with this blog post www.danaleeds.com/dna-color-clustering-the-leeds-method-for-easily-visualizing-matches/

[@mariacapaldi5062]

Hi everyone!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Howdy

[@WendyMoule]

I am having no luck with finding a dna match on my paternal grand mothers side.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

There are many reasons that could be. The most likely one is there might be enough descendants who could test that have tested. Keep working on the other lines and then once you've solved who is related to them, you might have enough of the people who don't match them to make up your paternal grand mothers side.

[@WendyMoule]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I have been working a spreadsheet with about 4k matches. But then this last week a first cousin match came up that broke the wall down. I still have a ton of working out to do but I now know which line matches which set of grand parents. Two NPE events at parent and grand parent level made it very difficult. Videos that you and others put out helped me to crack this, Thank you!

[@dorasmith7875]

Doesn't work, on account that for any segment you can't tell by segments alone which of your parents the DNA came from. These segments are all half identical, specifically because half the DNA on them typically came from each parent. I have many segmetns where some people match me from an ancestor of my father's in Pennsylvania and some from ancestors of my mother in New England.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

The creator of the Leeds Method says this "The Leeds Method works well if you do not have endogamy or pedigree collapse in your tree"

[@mattpotter8725]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I totally agree with this. I have, or at least suspect I have this looking at my grandpa's DNA and knowing a branch of his tree in which some matches who I know are related exactly to his great aunt and her descendants, but her husband has the same surname and was from the same townland (in Ireland) as his grandma (though his father and my grandpa's great grandmother have different fathers so aren't siblings), have more DNA for the relationship than is expected (though not impossible). Therefore if I add the hypothetical double path they share DNA from it does give me the DNA amount they actually share, though because this isn't an exact science in how much DNA you get from each grandparent it is all a bit hypothetical. He was from quite a rural area and so I think this might have happened quite a bit. There's nothing incestous, just 2nd or 3rd cousins marrying maybe without even really knowing that's all.

[@ArleneWaters-b9d]

This is the worst video I have ever watched for Family History Fanatics. You speak much too fast. It makes no sense and nearly brought me to tears with frustration.