I need help with a dna match

[heilanlassie]

Following a dna test, I have been matched with a potential 2nd/3rd cousin on my paternal line.
My father was an Edmund Chilla (sometimes spelled Chyla or Chylla). He was born in 1907 in Montawy, Swiece, Pomorze.
My grandparents were Franciszek Chyla and Julianna Manikowska. My grandfather was born on 16 December 1864 in Milewo.
Following the paternal line, my great-grandfather was Johann Chyla, married to an Ernestine Merker.

The father of the guy who dna matches with me was a Bernard Chyla, born in 1928. Apparently he had two elder brothers, Jan and Frank, who were killed in the war, as well as their parents. There was also an older sister, Anna, who had married before the war and moved to Gdansk (my father's family lived in Gdynia and Gdansk at the beginning of the war).

Going back to the guy who dna matches with me (I don't want to name him, out of respect) tells me that his grandparents were Jan Chyla and Franciszek Syczepanski. The grandfather, Jan, had a brother called Joseph, and he believes that they had a family farm near Gniew.

How on earth can I move this research forward to find out just how I am related to this guy?

Any help will be very, very much appreciated.

[LizzieL]

Is the "potential 2nd / 3rd cousin" an estimate from Ancestry (or whatever DNA  testing service you used)?  I have found my actual relationship and Ancestry's estimate can be wildly different. How many cMs is the match?

[heilanlassie]

Is the "potential 2nd / 3rd cousin" an estimate from Ancestry (or whatever DNA  testing service you used)?  I have found my actual relationship and Ancestry's estimate can be wildly different. How many cMs is the match?

I did my test with Ancestry and I share 100cM, 1% shared dna with this guy, and it says that he could be a 2nd - 3rd cousin.

I hope you are not telling me that in fact we aren't related, and only share a surname. I would be so disappointed.

[LizzieL]

for 100cm DNA Painter gives probabilities

38%  Half 2C, 2C1R, Half 1C2R, 1C3R
30%   3C, Half 2C1R, 2C2R, Half 1C3R
20%  Half 3C 3C1R Half 2C2R 2C3R

The remaining 12% split between some closer and some more distant relationships.

If your family and the matches'  family came from the same location you could have connections in more than one line

[heilanlassie]

for 100cm DNA Painter gives probabilities

38%  Half 2C, 2C1R, Half 1C2R, 1C3R
30%   3C, Half 2C1R, 2C2R, Half 1C3R
20%  Half 3C 3C1R Half 2C2R 2C3R

The remaining 12% split between some closer and some more distant relationships.

If your family and the matches'  family came from the same location you could have connections in more than one line

I wish I knew what any of that meant 

[LizzieL]

This website is very useful in explaining relationships and probabilities of relationships from no of cMs match

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

[oldohiohome]

Second cousins share a set of great-grandparents. Since you know your great grandparents, the next step is to find out your match's great grandparents. If he doesn't know yet, then you or he will have to do the research.

Since you match a surname, I'd focus on that line first, so try to find out the parents of his grandfather, Jan Chyla. If they are Johann Chyla and Ernestine Merker, you're done and congratulations. From the other direction, try to find out all the children of your great grandparents Johann and Ernestine. Maybe one is named Jan and maybe that is your match's ancestor. *

As LizzieL mentioned though, if all the families came from the same area, you might be second cousins through a different line, not the Chylas. So you will need to research the other lines as well. Basically you need to research his family tree as well as you have done your own.

-----
DNA helps to identify where to look for common ancestors and can confirm or disprove the paper trail research, but DNA results alone can't name the common ancestor.

Edited to add:  * If your great grandparents don't match, then work backward another generation to see if you and he are third cousins. If the records just aren't there, then you just resign yourself to that fact and know that if they were you'd probably identify the common ancestor. That is the case with my own Irish ancestors - the DNA and the paper trail point to a common ancestor for me and a few others, and we can pretty much tell that that person lived about a generation or two before the records become available.

[brigidmac]

One of the possibilities is half second cousins so you have to check if your greatgrandfather had a second marriage

Your match could be a descendant of your great grandfather but not your great grandmother
Or he could be a generation removed from you ie your second cousins son

It seems an amount that's reasonably
Close to work out
Good luck

[heilanlassie]

This website is very useful in explaining relationships and probabilities of relationships from no of cMs match

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

A very interesting website - thank you for sharing.