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I have been helping a family member find her biological father’s family. Her mother, the wife of my uncle, was married to a man and they had a daughter. The man was abusive and his family was not nice so my aunt left him and cut off all contact with him and his family. Soon after my aunt met my uncle, they married and he adopted my cousin when she was about 5 years old. She is now 69. My aunt and uncle have passed. My aunt never talked much about her first husband or his family. All my cousin knew was her biological father’s name and where he was from.
I have been researching our family on Ancestry.com so my cousin asked me to try and find information on this man and his family. I identified a man I think was him and found him on several other peoples family tree. I contacted each of those tree’s makers to see if they could confirm that I had the correct man. One came back saying the man was thought to be the biological father of her cousin and suggested my cousin do a DNA test to confirm they are related.
My cousin took the DNA test and it came back that she was related to two people, one of which was the tree makers cousin. The only thing is the DNA results say they are first cousins. If they both have the same father, shouldn’t they be listed as half-sisters? The father did have two brothers. Does this mean their father’s were different and that they were brothers? How does the DNA test differentiate DNA results between brothers? Any help figuring this out would be appreciated. Jay
It is not unheard of for half siblings to be estimated as 1st cousins - remember, it's only an estimate based on how much DNA they share and there can be some overlap in the ranges of possible shared DNA.
How much DNA do they share? How many centimorgans?
The one that is her half-sister says: Shared DNA: 1,555 cM across 50 segments
The other one which we are pretty sure is her aunt says: Shared DNA: 1,809 cM across 65 segments
I don't understand what this means but we are very close to identifying them both. I found contact information for the aunt and they will be calling her today or tomorrow. Jay
The other one which we are pretty sure is her aunt says: Shared DNA: 1,809 cM across 65 segments
That's also consistent with the same group of half sibling/grandparent/aunt/niece.
Quote:
I don't understand what this means but we are very close to identifying them both. I found contact information for the aunt and they will be calling her today or tomorrow. Jay
It sounds like you're on the right track, good luck!
The one that is her half-sister says: Shared DNA: 1,555 cM across 50 segments
The other one which we are pretty sure is her aunt says: Shared DNA: 1,809 cM across 65 segments
I don't understand what this means but we are very close to identifying them both. I found contact information for the aunt and they will be calling her today or tomorrow. Jay
This chart shows the ranges of cm's per relationship:
Those relatives should be under the category "Close Family", and then under the username it should say "Possible range: Close family - 1st cousins." This is where aunts/uncles and half-siblings are usually placed in Ancestry.
So I thought I would give you all an update. From Ancestry I was able to determine the last name of my cousins aunt. I then found her addresses and phone number. My cousin contacted her and talked for over an hour. She found that she has two half sisters and two half brothers. The aunt confirmed that one of the Ancestry matches was her and the other was her half sister. My cousin is so happy and is making plans to visit the aunt. Thanks for the help everyone. Without it I am not sure I would have figured this out. Jay
Bravo! Good for her, and good for you to help her. And thanks for sharing the outcome.
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