I wanted to share one of the huge benefits of WTCB. I’ve pretty much completed the WTCB down to 20cM Matches and have added in a number of under-20cM Matches for which I had segment data (from GEDmatch, primarily, and some who had tested at the other companies). These under-20 Matches can be Clustered by looking at their over-20 Shared Matches for a consensus.

There are positives and negatives to WTCB. Overall, a large percentage of the over-20 Matches fit into very solid Clusters. But, just like a distribution curve, some of the Matches do not have many Shared Matches (a few have 0), and some just don’t seem to form a good, solid consensus. If you know me, I focus on what I *can* do – so I want to give you an example of a successful Cluster. And I want to note that this is not the best example, but it is a good one.

Here is a picture of Clusters 54 to 79 in a Super Cluster. The 281 Matches in the Super Cluster range from 20cM to 56cM (the upper threshold was 60cM for this run).

In my review of most of the Clusters and SuperClusters, I’ve found that the individual Clusters look prettier and more solid, but they do not represent a split in ancestral lines within my genealogical time frame (roughly 9 generations back; 8C level). So I have combined most of them into Cluster 54 – a total of 281 Matches.

In this Cluster I now have 3 Matches with an MRCA of A0020 (MITCHELL/UNDERWOOD couple); 12 Matches with an MRCA of A0084 (UNDERWOOD/CANNADAY) and 27 Matches with an MRCA of A0170 (CANNADAY/HILL). I also have 4 Matches who have MRCAs on different lines. The Cluster is very solid, so I suspect these 4 Matches are probably *also* related to me somewhere on my MITCHELL to UNDERWOOD to CANNADAY line. But clearly the 42 Matches on one line show a consensus!

Also within Cluster 54, I have 9 AncestryDNA Matches with segment data – they are all in Triangulated Group [17D25] – another pretty clear consensus. In DNA Painter, I could paint all 281 Matches on Chr 17, from 24 to 45Mbp. Note: In my TG spreadsheet I have over 150 Matches in TG [17D25] – 9 of them from Ancestry Matches and the rest from the other companies.  

I have Ancestors in my Tree beyond A0170 (CANNADY/HILL) which are fairly well known and also in many other Trees, and I’ve found Matches with those more distant MRCAs in other Clusters, but not in this Cluster 54. I’m coming to the conclusion that the 21Mbps in [17D25] probably came to me from either William CANNADAY 1730-1801 (A170) OR his wife, Nancy HILL 1733-1801 (A171).

But the best is yet to come. This Cluster 54 is a classic *pointer*.  I am now pretty sure that the rest of the Matches in this Cluster will have an MRCA with me on the same line. In fact, I’ve only recently found several of the MRCA Matches by building Trees back and/or looking at Unlinked Trees. Here is an example:  

In Cluster 54, I had a 36cM Match with an Unlinked Public Tree with 6 people in it. I opened it up to find only one real lead – Audrey (so I searched Ancestry for her):

BINGO! Note Audrey’s mother is a CANNADAY!! The rest was easy – I quickly found the Match’s link to A0170 (CANNADAY/HILL).

Note: I’ve had others that were just as easy; and some that took more searching and digging; and some that I threw in the towel and moved on.

The bottom line is that the WTCB tool can be very valuable in many cases. And when it works, I’ve got a Cluster which is a great MRCA-focused tool; I’m compiling consensus data for the Cluster (firming the TG and Chromosome Map), adding to the Ancestry Match Notes and helping ThruLines find more MRCAs in Private Trees.

[19Nc] Segment-ology: WTCB SITREP Nov 2022 by Jim Bartlett 20221112