How to use a GEDmatch to get information?

Question

I've been corresponding with someone about a profile and she provided this information that might have something about his death which she says was 1/1/1691.  I can find no documentation for him in Quebec at all.  Using GED info is a mystery to me and it could be a good learning experience.

GEDmatch Ref: 2871212 : P5499

She also thinks he might have been a Huguenot.  Does that open up any research avenues to determine his location?

Answer 1

Francois de Meules lived so far back in time, that autosomal DNA matching would not be expected among currently living descendants.  

His son though, is close enough so that some matching might be possible.  I need to emphasis the work "might" because the amount of matching expected for Joseph Demeules is limited.

The GEDmatch Ref number that was provided does not match typical GED numbers.

With valid GEDmatch numbers it possible to compare the DNA of 2 people and see how much (or how little) they match.  However, one needs to be very careful.

For example, I match 8.3cM with the descendant Eva Marie Desmeules.  Some researchers might consider that significant.  However, she does not match either of my parents at that level or above.  So, I know my 8.3cM match with her is really just a random match, which can happen at low levels.

That the other person thinks that a person "might" be a Huguenot, does not really help much.  

Comments

Well, "Might be a Huguenot" could open up the avenues of checking rosters of those known to be to find connections. Long way around, but you could start looking through lists of people in the period of time you think he or his relatives would be impacted, and try to locate something you can trace to him. "Disproving" a Huguenot connection by ruling it out with all the known data could be valuable too.

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Thank you both for the DNA info and the Huguenot list checking.  I'll pass that on to her.

Answer 2

The GEDmatch Ref above is his reference in an uploaded GEDcom file to GEDmatch. This is what it says:

Francois DEMEULES
GEDmatch Ref: 2871212 : P5499

    Born: 21 NOV 1651, St-Barbezieux, Charente, France

    Died: 01 JAN 1681, Neuville, Québec

To see who added the information, go to "User Lookup" and put 2871212 in "GEDCOM (genealogy) ID number:" and click on "display results".

Comments

Thank you for the info.  That is yet another death date, again on Jan 1 a decade earlier.

Answer 3

Don't know anything about the GEDmatch, but have been through both religious and notarial acts for the period, there is strictly no evidence that they ever came to the colony.  I have seen dates and places entered like that previously a number of times, don't really know what they are thinking of.

Comments

Thank you, Danielle, that was my finding too, glad to have you confirm it.