Bubba, Tommy, and Me

Shared DNA matches can be confusing if one does not stop and think.

Another descendant of my Samuel and Anne (Murphy) Neill, referred to in this post as Bubba, also performed a DNA test at AncestryDNA. That’s helpful to me because then I can see with whom we share matches.

Most of the shared matches with Bubba are other known descendants of Samuel and Anne (Murphy) Neill–except for one I’ll refer to as Tommy. Bubba’s other matches tend to share those same Neill descendants in common with me. That makes sense.

Except for Tommy.

The matches that Tommy and I share contain none of the matches that Bubba and I share. Not one.

I looked at Tommy’s scant pedigree chart.

I looked at Bubba’s scant pedigree chart.

There were no names that I could see in common to both of them. There were no names of relatives of mine at all in Tommy’s tree. But all three of us have roots in the same part of rural Hancock County, Illinois.

Bubba and Tommy must share some biological relationship that has absolutely nothing to do with me. They have roots in the same general place and it would not be unexpected for them to have a connection.

And Tommy and I must share some relationship as well–and based on the surnames in his tree and his shared matches with me, it most likely is through my great-grandfather Trautvetter.

Bubba and I share matches with other Neills.

Tommy and I share matches with other Trautvetters.

Bubba and Tommy must share some connection with each other.

But all three of us are not all related to each other.

That’s not the way it works.

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One thought on “Bubba, Tommy, and Me

  1. I so appreciate ur input on this, as I will be learning about this soon. We have expectations that sometimes never occur. Now I will not be surprised if things don’t always turn out as planned.

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