Do you wonder whether it is possible to organize DNA matches on Ancestry into groups for easier ancestor identification? In this post, learn how you can easily group matches together into clusters to quickly identify potential common ancestors.
Most of us have thousands, or even tens of thousands, of DNA matches on Ancestry, making even experienced family tree researchers feel somewhat overwhelmed.
How should one approach understanding who’s on our DNA match list, and their possible connections? While we could go down our DNA match list one by one and look at each individual match individually for analysis purposes, there can be compelling arguments in favor of organizing matches into larger groups for greater analysis purposes.
Your initial assumption may be that Ancestry doesn’t offer clustering because there’s no chromosome browser, but while we may not have access to detailed chromosome information on Ancestry DNA, manual clustering remains possible for matching profiles.
With Ancestry’s ability to arrange our DNA matches by Parent, this process becomes even simpler and faster.
Cluster your Ancestry DNA matches for analysis — Clustering can help you quickly analyze your DNA match list by grouping similar individuals together who may share similar ancestors. Clustering provides an effective strategy that allows you to pinpoint those common ancestors shared among clusters of matches.
Use the cluster method of DNA matching research to discover unknown ancestors or determine your relations to other matches. Though not foolproof, this approach provides a robust and systematic method for making sense of your DNA match list.
This strategy is similar to the Leeds Method, but instead relies on using an Excel spreadsheet for match tracking.
How Can You Group or Cluster DNA Matches on Ancestry? To cluster Ancestry DNA matches, simply sort them into groups who could possibly share common ancestors. Once done, research each family tree associated with each cluster to locate a shared ancestor that you believe may exist between all DNA matches in that group.
Steps for Clustering Ancestry DNA Matches:
Starting with second or third cousin matches, identify all DNA matches shared between them; assign each of those DNA matches to a custom group as per instructions below (option 4).
Search for all DNA matches shared among members of a custom group, and assign those matches to that same group. Next, locate second or third cousin DNA matches who are unrelated to your initial match and repeat this process for each of those unrelated cousin matches.
Once you have assigned approximately 30-50 DNA matches (or more, as desired) to clusters, it’s time to research each match and identify likely shared ancestors within it.
Below you will find additional instructions and explanations of each step in the process.
Note: Even if you have already created groups on Ancestry DNA, this process can still help. Just choose different colors and names for your clusters that have not already been used before.
Shared Matches on Ancestry can assist in building clusters. By using this feature, it allows you to identify DNA matches who may share a common ancestor through its Shared Matches feature.
For Shared Matches to work properly, first choose an ideal DNA match – perhaps second or third cousins for easier clustering purposes.
Clicking one of your cousins from your DNA match list reveals their shared DNA matches on the Ancestry Matches Compare page.
The Shared Matches feature is designed to reveal people related to you and your DNA match. Without access to exact chromosome data such as shared DNA segments’ location or size, clustering relies on an assumption that all parties involved share an ancestor – for instance when we don’t know exactly which segments belong together in one chromosome segment.
DNA matches may overlap but be related to one another in different ways; for instance, you might share Sally and Doug as matches in common with Jane, yet be related through both sides of your family tree; you might discover, for example, that Sally and Jane share one great-grandparent while both share an ancestor on your mother’s side of the family.
However, for ease of understanding when first starting out, we tend to assume all shared matches are related through one common ancestor. Once your start researching clustered groups of matches you can identify whether any must be removed from this cluster grouping.
Assign Your Ancestry DNA Matches A Custom Group
One quick and easy way to organize Ancestry DNA matches is by assigning them into groups using colors. Simply give each one of your Ancestry matches its own group name and color!
Once selected, click “Save” to create your new group – also your initial cluster!
Your group, or cluster, could be identified using any number you’ve determined; its name could also refer to an ancestry line on your family tree that seems likely; or even just the town or region where most matches seem to reside. Whatever name is chosen should help create a sense of connection with this particular cluster of matches since you will most likely end up creating multiple clusters after completing this process.
Find Shared Matches of Shared Matches and Add Them to the Cluster
Now, it is important to access each DNA match from your first cluster and view which of their matches you share, then add these matches into this same grouping.
Tips: It may be beneficial to add any known cousins into the cluster if you already know your relationships, as this could help identify how other matches in it are related.
Once all shared matches are added to a cluster, move on to any second or third cousins on your match list who do not already belong in one.
Ancestry DNA Cluster Analysis for Genealogy You can use Ancestry DNA’s cluster method for matches to find their ancestor more quickly, and triangulate clustered groups in order to ascertain biological origins – making this tool an immensely powerful one!
To analyze Ancestry DNA clusters effectively and gain useful information from them, you must identify which of your DNA matches in a cluster have family trees attached to their results. If only some matches in your cluster do, there could be many reasons for this! In such a situation it might be beneficial to connect with each DNA match individually in order to see how much they know about their family tree and whether they would like to share any knowledge they might possess.
If there are multiple matches within a cluster who only have partial family trees, creating a quick and dirty family tree for them could help complete their family history a few more generations back and help identify common ancestors. This method could prove particularly fruitful in finding common relatives.
Once you have identified a common ancestor among several of your Ancestry DNA matches, it could turn out that they all descend from that same ancestor; or you might discover evidence suggesting different members are related through different lines and must therefore split your cluster accordingly.
Conclusion I hope that this post has given you a clearer idea of how you can cluster Ancestry DNA matches, and how this process could lead to exciting new discoveries about your family tree.
If you have any queries about anything that was written here or would like to share how clustering your DNA matches (on any site!) has helped, I welcome your input below in the discussion forum.
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