When the First Shared Match Does Not Share

Not all of DNA matches have trees, but those that do can keep one aware of reasons why those matches might not make sense. The issue with this match is one that we’ve discussed before here, but some warnings are worth repeating. This match (whose tree is partially shown) is a descendant of Sarke (Fecht) Huls. Sarke is my 3rd great-grandmother Elska (Fecht) Janssen’s sister. The Tjark Huls shown on the chart is a second cousin to my great-grandmother Ufkes. Looking at this match’s tree indicates that our only biological connection is through the Fecht family. My branch of this family and the match’s branch of this family settled in Bear Creek Township, Hancock County, Illinois, in the later part of the 19th century.

That’s our only direct biological connection: my maternal grandfather’s familial connection. There’s other connections that aren’t biological–at least not to me. When I viewed the tree of this match, I noticed several last names that were also familiar because they were families that lived in Walker Township, Hancock County, Illinois (where my paternal grandparents had family connections): Kunz, Mulch, Mund, and Hanerhoff (not seen in the illustration because it is one generation further back). A first cousin of my great-grandma Rampley married a Kunz, a family with the last name of Mulch raised my great-grandma Trautvetter, a sister of my great-grandfather Trautvetter married a Mund, and another sister of my great-grandfather Trautvetter married a Hanerhoff. So there were chances for additional shared connections through these families with this match’s matches where we all did not share a common ancestor.

And there were.

The closest shared match (154 cM) I had with this Fecht relative was one I had already determined. That match (Dawn)’s connection to me has already been established. She is a relative of paternal great-grandmother Neill and is not a Fecht descendant. Dawn’s tree indicated that she had other connections in Walker Township besides the Rampleys and it’s probable that the connection Dawn has to this match is through one of those families whose connection to me is not biological. The closeness of this match to me (154 cM) does not indicate anything about how close this match matches my known Fecht relative. Their relationship may be more distant than that.

The second match shown I do not have determined yet.

The third and fourth matches are known descendants of the Fecht family. The third (m) is also a known descendant of another of my families that is not shared by this match.

This is another set of shared matches that could have been very confusing because the first one’s biological connection to me is not the same connection I have with the match itself.

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