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Hey all. I took the 23andMe test a few months back and shortly after a young guy sent me a message wanting to share DNA with me. Turns out we share 2.66% of our DNA, which is a lot for a complete stranger. Its basically just under a full second cousin (first cousin twice or three times removed?).
I'm trying to understand the degree of "relatedness" to me of his dad and his grandmother. If I share 2.66% with this guy would it be double for his dad (full second cousin or first cousin once removed) and double again for his grandmother? If that's the case I would share over 10% of my DNA with his grandmother, again, who was adopted. That's puts us in first cousin or first cousin once removed territory.
I have contact with a couple other "relatives" on 23andMe who are related to me through what I suspected was the paternal branch I was related to this guy from. Now that 23andMe shows how all your DNA relatives can be inter-related it turns out they are also related to him. That pretty much nails it being from my dad's paternal line.
If that's the case my dad's older brother (by eight years)... who was 15 years old when this guy's grandmother was born... must be her biological father. It would make sense for a couple of teenagers back in the early 1930s getting in trouble and the baby being adopted out (which happened in the state adjacent to my family's).
Is my train of thought possible here? I'd really appreciate any insight from any genealogy pros here if I'm figuring this right. Thanks.
Bump for an answer - I'd like to be as sure as possible before I approach my cousins to tell them that their dad may have fathered a child in his teens (and that they have an older half sister).
Hey all. I took the 23andMe test a few months back and shortly after a young guy sent me a message wanting to share DNA with me. Turns out we share 2.66% of our DNA, which is a lot for a complete stranger. Its basically just under a full second cousin (first cousin twice or three times removed?).
I'm trying to understand the degree of "relatedness" to me of his dad and his grandmother. If I share 2.66% with this guy would it be double for his dad (full second cousin or first cousin once removed) and double again for his grandmother? If that's the case I would share over 10% of my DNA with his grandmother, again, who was adopted. That's puts us in first cousin or first cousin once removed territory.
No, not necessarily. Due to recombination, the amounts you share with cousins don't split evenly like that, they are more varied. For example, I have a match I share 109 cM with, and my mom shares 155 cM with the same person - so not double the amount. To know how much DNA you share with his dad or grandmother, they would really have to take the test themselves.
According to ISOGG, 2.66% could fall in the range of any of the following relationship types:
Second cousins, first cousins twice removed, half first cousin once removed, half great-great-aunt/uncle, Second cousins once removed, half second cousins, first cousin three times removed, half first cousin twice removed
I have contact with a couple other "relatives" on 23andMe who are related to me through what I suspected was the paternal branch I was related to this guy from. Now that 23andMe shows how all your DNA relatives can be inter-related it turns out they are also related to him. That pretty much nails it being from my dad's paternal line.
If that's the case my dad's older brother (by eight years)... who was 15 years old when this guy's grandmother was born... must be her biological father. It would make sense for a couple of teenagers back in the early 1930s getting in trouble and the baby being adopted out (which happened in the state adjacent to my family's).
Is my train of thought possible here? I'd really appreciate any insight from any genealogy pros here if I'm figuring this right. Thanks.
It's hard to say since I can't see and compare the matches, but it's certainly not impossible. I wouldn't rule out other possibilities though.
Hmm... Don't quite know what to think now. 23andMe says "14 overlapping segments" and when uploaded to DNA.LAND it says 267.14 total and 168.24 recent cM.
That's the problem. I've done a bit of research on my family back to the early 1800s, but again, his grandmother was adopted in the early 1930s. Kind of stumbling block and the ball is more or less in her court. I'll check in with him again but I get the feeling it probably doesn't matter much to her at this point.
Even if the percent of relatedness doesn't double with each generation I'm still probably quite related to her. Kind of interesting to speculate the possibilities as to how.
Hmm... Don't quite know what to think now. 23andMe says "14 overlapping segments" and when uploaded to DNA.LAND it says 267.14 total and 168.24 recent cM.
168.24 cM sounds about the right amount of total cMs for 2.66%. The amount of segments has nothing to do with the lengths of them and therefore the total amounts. You can have 168 cM split over 5 segments, or 14, or 20.
Bump for an answer - I'd like to be as sure as possible before I approach my cousins to tell them that their dad may have fathered a child in his teens (and that they have an older half sister).
I would contact them but proceed carefully before jumping to any conclusions. I would give out the info & ask for help with the mystery. There were many reasons infants were placed for adoption, some were result of untenable acts like incest or rape.
If it was a legal adoption, county court records or adoption court records should exist. Or if any institution was involved such as orphanage, home for unwed mothers, or foundlings home. State historical societies often have records of institutions & the freedom of information act opens public records older than 75 years. Informal adoptions had some tie between bio& adopted families whether family, job, church, or location.
Church records are also a source for baptismal info.
I would read the local papers in both the adopted town & the new cousins' town for the year before and after birth of your grandmother for any & all clues.
Do you know if your grandmother was adopted as a newborn?
Well, the guy needs to work on finding his grandmother's real biological parents. You can't just make guesses based on a DNA test.
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