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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: Rosezi on Thursday 29 November 18 21:11 GMT (UK)
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I have recently had one of those extremely high DNA matches, Ancestry says we are 4th cousins. This new person does not yet share any other DNA matches with my other 243 4th cousins or closer. Am I correct that we probably share 3x great grandparents? I wrote down all my 16 sets of 3x great-grandparents to try and work out a possible connection. So far my DNA matches have not fund any matches linked to my ancestors with the surname Clark who came over from Ireland. At the moment that is where I think we are linked. Has anyone else come across a very high DNA match with no clue where the connections is?
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What is the cM of the match?
Added - I have a few 40-56 cM matches that I've not worked out the relationships yet.
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I have a match at the 122cM level that showed up on MyHeritage. When I looked at the match in the Chromosome Browser, most of the cMs were on the first chromosome...right in the middle of a pile-up area. The attached tiny family tree was no help and I was unable to build the tree on Ancestry.
It appears as though that matching level is overstated.
:)
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Yes. I have a 2nd to fourth cousin match (with another company) and I can't find our common ancestors. Most of my other matches are not as close as this, so it really stands out. :)
A DNA match does not necessarily also mean a surname match, especially if there was an illegitimate child in the tree, or your match is on a female line.
I think that your common ancestor could be further than 3x great grandparents. I have a chart somewhere which I need to locate, and will post it later if no one steps in to help in the mean time.
Btw ... I suppose it is subjective, but I wouldn't class a 4th cousin estimate as a very high match. ;)
Added: Ancestry allows you to upload your raw data to other sites, which may give you different or more "cousin" matches.
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Here is a link to Blaine Bettinger's chart.
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4
:)
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Btw ... I suppose it is subjective, but I wouldn't class a 4th cousin estimate as a very high match. ;)
Ruskie, Ancestry gives matches sharing above 60 cM a confidence level of 'extremely high'. It then goes down to 'very high' between 45 cM and 59 cM.
Most matches at this level are easy to connect to, providing both of you have researched that far back and are keen to connect.
BTW, Rosezi, you should have 32 3G grandparents, not 16. You need to go back at least another generation.
Regards Margaret
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Thanks for the replies so far. The DNA match is 61cm extremely high. We have 16 sets of 3x great grandparents which equals 16 3x great grandmothers and 16 3x great-grandfathers - is this correct? Perhaps me and this DNA match share 4x great grandparents, she only has 82 people on her tree it will be a while before I find out the connection.
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I think many people are disappointed with the lack of "connecivity" within their DNA matches. For me, the reality has been that there are very few matches that I can connect to my family tree and I have identified all my 3xgreat-grandparents!
Whilst the levels of probabilty quoted for a match to be a definite connection appear to be reasonable, I feel that the "4th to 6th cousin" indicator is misleading.
I have a 94cM match suggested to be a 3rd cousin who is actually a 1st cousin twice removed (and is the grandchild of a cousin I have just reconnected after sixty years). I know the small print suggests this as an alternative relationship, but it is not what most people seem to expect.
Looking at my top ten 4th cousin matches, I have positively identified only one commmon ancestor. Two more are descendants of a Welsh emigre to Utah whose name I know but whose connection I cannot find on paper even though he is from the same village as my maternal grandfather.
My most common shared match is with shared with unidentifed "Ingram" ancestors who I can trace back in my tree to 1725. I share >20cm matches with twenty-nine other such individuals and can identify a common anceestor in only four of them!
Almost certainly, there will be a few "indiscretions". Add in some false positives and the probabilities dwindle quite rapidly.
Having painted what might seem like a bleak picture, I have found some very rewarding nuggets. Like most gold, they took an awful lot of digging.
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Shared DNA: 261 cM across 17 segments on my test
expected 2nd or 3rd cousin for my test and my mother's test
expected 3rd to 4th cousin for both of my sons
no clue who it is - no response to messages
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;D
If above 60 is classed as extremely high, 261 must be "extremely extremely extremely high"
How frustrating for you to not be able to find the connection and even worse that they don't seem interested in corresponding with you. :(
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I have a “3rd cousin” with a 99 cM match who matches both my kids and a maternal cousin. Know where he lives but he doesn’t reply to messages.
I have absolutely no idea how we’re connected!!!!
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Russki it was still just extremely high
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My number one match on Gedmatch, with 135.9 cM and largest segment 30.1 cM, with 9 separate segments, and I to have no idea who he/she is and what the connection might be- no response from them when I sent an email. This is very frustrating, though I have been able to work out who the next 7 matches are, what their connection is. I see his DNA was processed originally by 23&me (kit number starts with M), I think I am right that I cant upload my DNA file to them, unlike My Heritage/FTADna .
Having said that, I don't know the exact relationship of any of my FTDNA matches, but they are at a significantly lower level - top one is 79 cM. Part of my problem is that I am pretty much 100% Irish in origin, though my family has been Scottish based for 150 - 200 years. So it is an uphill struggle, for all the obvious reasons, and there are plenty of matches, but most are in US ,Canada & Australia, and few know details of family back before they originally emigrated from Ireland. I have found a few matches still in Ireland, and from where they live, and comparing joint matches I can work out which bit of my family they may be connected to, but due to the lack of independent civil records on one side, and the lack of family trees and answers to email/communications,on the other side, it is made an uphill struggle to prove any connections.
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I have a 229cm match (374cm for my father) who I don't have the slightest clue who they are :-) They haven't responded to me messages, and despite various search's using there name can't find any birth records for them.....
Richard