How ThruLines and Enhanced Shared Matches helped identify the correct Smith family

Smith has long been the most common surname in the English speaking world. So how do we correctly identify which Smith family is ours?  Can I use some of Ancestry’s tools to help confirm the correct family in a fairly populated area like the Midlands in the UK in the late 1700s? I think I have!

Midlands area c1806 [A Vision of Britain Through Time ©British Library]

In June 2024, Ancestry released Pro Tools, an add-on membership that gives you access to advanced DNA and family history tools.  Pro Tools requires an additional subscription of approximately A$15 per month (although there have been occasional sales). For the keen genetic genealogist it is a “must have” feature. 

The key DNA feature Enhanced Shared Matches lets you see how much DNA your matches share and their predicted relationships to each other. This feature is already available at MyHeritage and 23andMe, however the sheer size of the Ancestry database makes it a much more powerful tool. 

How many times have you looked at a DNA match only to see that they don’t have a tree or that their tree is only small and only lists private people.  However, if they have a close family member who has tested and who does have a reasonable tree, it can help to determine how this match might connect as well. It can also be helpful if you are working on an unknown cluster to determine who their shared common ancestor is. 

Another Ancestry tool is ThruLines, which illustrate how you may be connected to a particular DNA match through a common ancestor. You and your DNA matches must have public or private searchable trees that are linked to AncestryDNA tests, ideally at least 3–4 generations deep.

Thrulines for Mary Bratt - matches for Colin Hails

ThruLines don’t validate your relationships with your DNA matches, but it does make it easier to view any source information, such as public or private searchable family trees, historical records and shared DNA, to help you reach your own conclusions about how you might be connected to your DNA matches.

 Family Tree showing my connection back to my paternal 5x great grandmother, Hannah Smith

My 5xgreat grandmother was Hannah Smith and she was born c1792 in Tipton, Staffordshire. She married John Plimmer on 29 September 1813 in St. Bartholomew's Wednesbury, Staffordshire. Unfortunately, as this is prior to civil registration, details of their fathers names and occupations are not provided. 

Hannah's Timeline

Hannah and her husband, John, an Edge Tool Maker (and later a Retail Brewer), had seven known children who were all born in Wednesbury between 1816 and 1830. By 1841, the family were living in the parish of Aston in Birmingham, Warwickshire and Hannah died there on 7 February 1871.  

Census records gave Hannah’s birthplace as Tipton and there were two potential baptisms there, one in 1791, daughter of David and Phebe, the other in 1795 daughter of Joseph and Hannah.  Did either of these relate to Hannah? Prior to DNA testing, I felt it most likely that her parents were David and Phebe. 

Census records confirming Hannah's birthplace

Possible baptism for Hannah from
Dudley St. Thomas Bishop's Transcripts

When Ancestry’s ThruLines were introduced in 2019, we didn’t have any hints on Hannah Smith's line, however, over time hints started to appear suggesting Henry Smith and Mary Bratt as potential parents for Hannah - neither of the couples I had previously considered!  

A baptism for Hannah daughter of Henry and Mary Smith dated 22 July 1792, has been located in the neighbouring town of Dudley in the parish of St. Thomas could relate to Hannah.  

I started to explore the ThruLine matches, build their trees and use Enhanced Shared Matches for each of the kits I had access to.  

Besides myself, I have also tested my dad and his maternal cousin, Marilyn and I also have access to the AncestryDNA results of my paternal cousin, Sandie, two 3rd cousins, Dallas and Brad and a 3rd cousin twice removed, Victor. All share Hannah’s daughter, Mary Plimmer, as their Most Recent Common Ancestor.  

DNA Testers

In addition to being able to view their matches, I am able to view ThruLine hints for Dad and Marilyn, back to Henry Smith and Mary Bratt, being their potential 5x great grandparents, which is the furthest back that ThruLines will work. I can also view Victor’s ThruLine hints as they are his 4x great grandparents. 

Summary of potential ThruLines matches for Colin, Marilyn and Victor 

This table provides a summary of the number of DNA matches ThruLines suggests for each of the three kits, through six of Henry and Mary's children.

As Henry and Mary are 6x great grandparents for Sandie, Dallas, Brad and myself our Thrulines don’t go back that far, but I was able to see DNA matches in common with some of the matches identified in the above analysis.

I will focus now on my review of Dad’s matches through Mary’s son, Henry.

ThruLines for Mary Bratt through son Henry Smith - potential matches to Colin

While exploring each of these matches individually, I started to see that amongst their shared matches many were also in common with other Smith/Bratt descendants or with other descendants of Hannah Smith and John Plimmer or their daughter, Mary Plimmer and her husband, Henry Williams. 

Enhanced Shared Matches Example

The table below summarises the number of shared matches and the range of centimorgans they shared with Colin and the match. It also shows how many known or confirmed matches each has and how many of these also had Common Ancestor hints. Of the known matches I've then broken down which generation the shared match comes through. 

Having analysed all the matches, I put together this matrix depicting 34 shared matches through five of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt’s children. 

DNA Matrix - Descendants of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt

Obviously there are more matches through Hannah being our direct line, but it’s encouraging to see there are multiple shared matches across several branches of the family and this provides some additional support in lieu of segment data. 

This McGuire Chart also demonstrates the shared matches across the different branches of the family. 

McGuire Chart of Smith/Bratt Matches with ThruLine hints

Having built out the trees for all of the ThruLine matches, I was able to identify several additional matches who only had small trees or unlinked trees so they had not appeared as Common Ancestor hints. As a result I have now identified 84 known matches. 

Confirmed matches through children of Henry Smith and Mary Bratt

During the analysis,  several “unknown” shared matches were identified who triangulate on Chromosome 8. While I’ve built out their trees - I haven’t been able to connect them directly to this family. That said, their trees all included Smith families from the Midlands. 

Chromosome 8 - Triangulated Group

Stephen is a known 4th cousin match who descends from Henry Williams and Mary Plimmer. He tested on MyHeritage so cannot be compared directly with most of these kits.  Kimberly, Susan and V.M. are "unknown" shared matches for Phillip and Carole, supporting that this shared segment may go back to the Smith/Bratt couple.

As a nice surprise during my research I came across some additional documentary evidence. I discovered that my ancestors, John and Hannah Plimmer were the witnesses at the marriage of two of Hannah’s sisters. 

Firstly, at the marriage of Mary Smith to John Wesley in 1825 - unfortunately I’ve only been able to locate a transcript for this marriage on FreeReg at this time. 

Secondly, at the marriage of Phoebe Holmes (nee Smith) to George Sillitoe in 1834 - and I managed to locate a very poor copy verifying John and Hannah listed as the witnesses.

Marriage of George Sillitoe and Phoebe Holmes (nee Smith)

I also noted on the 1861 Census that Phoebe Sillitoe and her daughter, Hannah were living with Phoebe's sister, Elizabeth Hobbins in West Bromwich, along with two of Elizabeth’s granddaughters - a great example of the FAN Club principle - a research technique that involves identifying people associated with an ancestor.

Another observation was the repetition of certain given names, particularly Syndonia, which I came across on 16 occasions and Phoebe, on 12 occasions. 

On the balance of probabilities I am confident that the genetic and documentary evidence supports my research and the many connections between the various families. During this process I have identified an additional three children, for whom we don’t appear to have any genetic evidence at this time, but I hope by sharing this research it will encourage others to share their results and hopefully find further genetic evidence. 

I would encourage those who have taken an AncestryDNA test to consider uploading their results to any of the databases with a chromosome browser, such as:

• MyHeritage
• FamilyTreeDNA
• Gedmatch
• LivingDNA

All the sites offer free uploads and you only need to pay a nominal fee if you'd like to access their more advanced tools.  At the time of writing MyHeritage is offering Free Uploads. 

Click here for instructions on how to download your Ancestry data and upload to other databases.