I did post a few years ago about this but it is still a big mystery so thought I would get some more opinions. I have ancestry DNA. I have about 250 links to an extended American family. By extended I mean very very extended but they all trace their ancestry back to three or four different families who lived in the same town in the 1750s. Most of them are matches to each other as well in different combinations. I can trace DNA matches (usually 18-24cm so not close) up through multiple unconnected lines in this family (I have built a tree with all this in) which makes me think it isn't all stemming from a 'person x' who emigrated to America from England and left my ancestor behind. For example I can trace matches back to 1600 on several different branches where they were living nowhere near each other e.g. Germany, England, France. The other weird thing is that not one of these DNA links appears to based in the UK or have any recent UK history (where this information is available). They are all very old American families, not recent immigrants. I am the only one who is British. Surely there would be a couple of other British people if this was just someone who went over there a few hundred years ago and left relatives behind who I could be descended from? On the flip side I know people from America are more likely to want to trace their history so there would be more of them in my matches. I have a big gap in my own family tree on my grandma side so I am fairly sure this lot must connect with that side, especially as they don't match with any matches on my other lines. So my theory is that in my recent history (mid 1800s) I must have an American relative. My grandma's family were in the East London slums so lots of to'ing and fro'ing I expect with immigrants and the docks. Can anyone think of another explanation for how I can appear to be descended from multiple emigrants to America who all appear as the different upper branches of one family and only connect with each other in later generations?
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