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Old 12-22-2014, 10:44 PM
 
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So...I did the ancestry.com DNA test. As those of you know, along with the results you get a list of people who have also done the test and are related to you. In my case, lots of 4th through 6th cousins, a couple of people who are 3rd cousins, and one who is either first cousin once removed or second cousin.

Since third cousins share a set of great-great grandparents---and I have no clue as to any of my great-great grandparents' names---I'm not about to attempt to find a common link there.

However, I did get in touch with the person who is a first cousin once removed or a second cousin. I figured that we would right away find the common set of great-grandparents but---no.

Here's what I've been able to figure out --- this cousin is related to me on my father's side. Through census records, I was able to find out the surname of my paternal grandmother's mother and I already knew the surnames of the other great-grands. When I shared my info with the cousin, the cousin didn't recognize any of the surnames. When the cousin passed along the surnames in the cousin's family, neither did I recognize any of those surnames.

I've been in touch with another cousin who is related to me through my paternal grandfather. She is very familiar with the extended family history. Well...she didn't recognize any of the surnames either.

As for my paternal grandmother, she died when my father was a young boy and the only family he knows from that side were 2 of my paternal grandmother's sisters and a couple of cousins (who have all passed away).

So...any ideas on how to search for the common ground here? This cousin and I both want to know.

I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions.
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Old 12-22-2014, 11:55 PM
 
Location: The High Desert
15,973 posts, read 10,531,630 times
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A mystery!! Ask the new cousin for more ancestor info - enough to look up census records. Were they even from the same locality? If not I might question the DNA test result analysis. Was there an adoption or foundling? Orphanage? Were they neighbors to your ancestors? Do you have other cousins who would have their DNA tested to see if their DNA matches yours? First cousin or first-once-removed is pretty close so this sounds irregular. I would consider getting surnames from the third cousins to see if they turn up in the new cousin's name list.
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Old 12-23-2014, 12:08 AM
 
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Yes, it is indeed a mystery.

This cousin doesn't have many people in their tree, which makes it even harder to turn up a common great-grandparent.

And here I thought this would be simple. I figured that we would share information and instantly know where the connection is.
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Old 12-23-2014, 12:50 AM
 
Location: North Carolina
10,194 posts, read 17,735,000 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BOS2IAD View Post
However, I did get in touch with the person who is a first cousin once removed or a second cousin. I figured that we would right away find the common set of great-grandparents but---no.
The relationship estimate is just that, an estimate. It's calculated based on the amount of DNA you share with that person but the thing is, we don't normally share the exact amount you'd expect on paper - it's inherited more randomly than that. So an estimated 2nd cousin could actually be a 3rd cousin or more distant.

Quote:
I've been in touch with another cousin who is related to me through my paternal grandfather. She is very familiar with the extended family history. Well...she didn't recognize any of the surnames either.
To be honest, it sounds like your tree isn't extensive enough for anyone to make a connection.

Quote:
So...any ideas on how to search for the common ground here? This cousin and I both want to know.

I would appreciate any ideas or suggestions.
Just keep researching the paper trail of your tree. And compare the locations in your trees - if you can narrow it down to a certain branch based on location, you can focus your research on that branch to find the link. If you're hitting brick walls, you can always post about them here and people will try to help.
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Old 12-23-2014, 06:36 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Rhode Island
9,215 posts, read 14,768,550 times
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I've found that people who do that test get all kinds of names as relations who don't fit in anywhere. I've a researched genealogy of thousands of names and no names ever suggested by ancestry popped up at all.
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Old 12-23-2014, 08:53 AM
 
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on anchesry, i will have fourth fifth cousin that are related to me 200 years ago, but second third cousin, no way at all. but i did find a grandson of my grandmother sister, that i never knew about. He met my dad years ago.
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Old 12-23-2014, 02:00 PM
 
2,334 posts, read 2,631,518 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollytree View Post
I've found that people who do that test get all kinds of names as relations who don't fit in anywhere. I've a researched genealogy of thousands of names and no names ever suggested by ancestry popped up at all.
That's been my experience as well. After three solid years of research, I've only matched up with one person who shares the same 2nd great-grandmother, and that was just about a week ago! It helps of course if the trees to which you're comparing yours are as "full" as your own.
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Old 12-23-2014, 04:55 PM
 
22,282 posts, read 11,778,782 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tobiashen View Post
That's been my experience as well. After three solid years of research, I've only matched up with one person who shares the same 2nd great-grandmother, and that was just about a week ago! It helps of course if the trees to which you're comparing yours are as "full" as your own.
^That's part of the problem. The cousin's tree is very sparse which isn't helping.
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Old 12-24-2014, 11:58 AM
 
Location: Mount Monadnock, NH
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I think you really should work on expanding your family tree (and going back farther where possible, but also tracing other branches to living descendants) so you have more to compare with. DNA is great but it is limited to having things to compare it to---as for the cousins thing on these DNA test results, they are just estimates based on statistics; what is listed as a possible/probable second cousin could really be in fact a third or fourth (or a first cousin)...nothing beats good old research to compare these results too!

If you run into any problems trying to trace back another generation, etc. or have other questions on researching, post the questions here---there are many people here who are willing to (and enjoy) helping to assist. Some of us have many years of experience researching and have good skills in it!
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Old 12-24-2014, 04:24 PM
 
22,282 posts, read 11,778,782 times
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Thank you, everyone, for your responses.

Just finding out info about great-grandparents took some work. Even now, I have no idea as to the first names of either great-grandfather on my father's side.

Ancestry.com does now have Catholic church records from Puerto Rico available and I was able to find out something about a great-grandmother.

As a kid, I had to foresight to ask my maternal grandmother what the names of her parents were, as well as the names of my maternal grandfather's parents. I'm so glad that I did that!

However, my father really knows practically nothing about his mother's family.

I know that I need to spend lots of time combing through those Puerto Rican church records to see what more I can learn.

Plus, I'm well aware that with this cousin that ancestry found, it could well be that I unwittingly unearthed a skeleton in the closet.
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