Shared DNA Segments with Bainet Kin

One thing we are only novices with is using DNA painter and chromosome browsers more effectively. For instance, trying to use it to gain possible insights into our Bainet ancestry is something we have only just begun to investigate. Doing so has been made possible by using close Haitian DNA matches on Ancestry who are also present on Gedmatch to see on which chromosomes we share DNA. One example to came to us via a very distant cousin who appears to descend from a brother or cousin of our great-great-grandfather. We are still waiting for confirmation of exactly how our great-great-grandfather was related to the ancestor of this distant cousin. We know both our great-great-grandfather and this cousin's ancestor were born in the 1860s and late 1850s (c.1857), and both were artisans at least at one point in their lives. Moreover, they also shared the same surname. However, we are still waiting for confirmation of exactly how the two men were related (brothers or cousins?).

Nonetheless, both myself and my Haitian parent match this same Haitian woman with roots in Bainet. Indeed, she descends from the same man related to my great-great-grandfather as my godmother. Unsurprisingly, my Haitian parent shares even more DNA with this woman (85 cM versus my 23 cM on Ancestry). Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that the areas of my 2nd, 4th and 9th chromosomes which match this woman are all assigned to Benin & Togo, Senegal and France by Ancestry DNA. The longest segment, at 14.2 cM on Gedmatch, is Benin & Togo on the 2nd chromosome. This information may contain clues to the deeper origins of our main lineage in Bainet. It would appear that Benin & Togo, Senegal, and French heritage are part of that deeper origin of our great-great-grandfather (and, to some unknown extent, another great-great-grandparent who was a Francois). Our great-great-grandfather was only 2 generations removed from colonial Saint-Domingue. The French ancestry likely came from his father's mother's family, the Gaury. But the "Senegal" and Benin & Togo likely reflect both his mother and father's lineages. What was more interesting was the shared segment of DNA between this person and our Haitian parent on another chromosome, assigned to "Nigerian Woodlands" by Ancestry DNA. Since Ancestry uses Tiv samples for that category, we assume that might, perhaps, be an indication of an eastern Middle Belt Nigerian lineage. 

Looking at another distant DNA match with roots in Bainet sheds light on our roots in the valley section. First of all, we noticed that the previous match does not share the second match with my parent and I. Also important is that the next match is someone with a father not from Jacmel, but a mother who hailed from the valley section of Bainet. Intriguingly, our longest segment of shared DNA, on chromosome 5, is along segments identified as Spain (also the same on 23andme's Chromosome Painter), Western Bantu Peoples, Indigenous Bolivia & Peru, and "Mali" by Ancestry. The next longest segment of shared DNA was on chromosome 7, for a segment assigned to "Indigenous Bolivia and Peru" by Ancestry. Finally, on chromsome 14 we shared a segment of DNA assigned to "Spain" by Ancestry. Since France is sometimes reported as Spain by Ancestry, we wonder to what extent we actually share French ancestry rooted in the valley section of Bainet among descendants of free people of color. A similar question arose for us when comparing a shared DNA match between myself and our Haitian parent with a white American with roots in Louisiana and another with a Haitian with roots in the valley of Jacmel.