Has anyone else heard from 5th-8th cousins? (American, find, search)
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My husband and I had our DNA tests done through ancestry.com
I ended up getting a long list of distant relatives (4th cousins and beyond). Since they are so distantly related to me, I've never contacted any of them.
Recently, I've heard from two people who are 5th-8th cousins. One was curious as to how we were connected. I looked at the names in her tree and didn't recognize any of them. Nor could I tell, given my background, which side of my family was in anyway connected to her.
Then I got one from someone looking for her bio parents. None of the info she gave me rang any bells.
I've answered both of them and I give them both credit for their persistence.
Has anyone heard from distant relatives? If so, have you been able to figure out the connection? Do you respond to their queries?
I always respond, but as you've probably figured out, distant relatives may share a common ancestor from so far back that they can't be traced. Some of my more distant matches can be identified as descended from some of my colonial ancestors, but otherwise, I only really contact my closest matches from my first page now.
If you and your match have extensive paper trails that contain some well researched lines it can be relatively easy to find the common, even if distant, ancestor.
If you and your match have extensive paper trails that contain some well researched lines it can be relatively easy to find the common, even if distant, ancestor.
I agree with this.
IMO it is important to research all the siblings of your direct ancestors and have a record of their spouses/children a well.
I honestly grew up with 4th and 5th cousins so I already "knew" them but I didn't discover until starting genealogical research how they were connected to me.
I did have a cousin contact me out of the blue that I had never known about/met before. I'd have to think of which number cousin they are lol. Basically their great grandfather was the brother of my great great grandmother.
I's early in the morning for me so I may have to look up a chart to determine which number of cousin they are lol.
But when they told me who their great grandfather was, I immediately knew that the person was, indeed a cousin since I had a lot of information on all the members of that line of the family and even had information about their father who passed away in the 1990s. The cousin also had a lot of information about my own family and they found me based on the married surname of my great grandmother.
I've also found cousins myself and we do share some distant ancestry. I also have not counted the number of cousins they are. My 4th great grandparents are their 3rd great grandparents. But I haven't taken a DNA test. I just research lines as close to current as possible and luckily since I am from a not too big city, I can usually discover I am related to someone I already know. The cousin whose 3rd great grandparents are my 4th great grandparents, they are a pretty serious genealogical and local history researcher of the area that one of my paternal great great grandfathers was born and the family lived there from the 1820s forward and inter-married with the other settler families. So I've found I'm cousins of a lot of people from that town.
IMO it is important to research all the siblings of your direct ancestors and have a record of their spouses/children a well.
I honestly grew up with 4th and 5th cousins so I already "knew" them but I didn't discover until starting genealogical research how they were connected to me.
I did have a cousin contact me out of the blue that I had never known about/met before. I'd have to think of which number cousin they are lol. Basically their great grandfather was the brother of my great great grandmother.
I's early in the morning for me so I may have to look up a chart to determine which number of cousin they are lol.
But when they told me who their great grandfather was, I immediately knew that the person was, indeed a cousin since I had a lot of information on all the members of that line of the family and even had information about their father who passed away in the 1990s. The cousin also had a lot of information about my own family and they found me based on the married surname of my great grandmother.
Thanks so much. I hope to one day be able to trace my grand parents in Hungary to figure out how I have relatives (3rd/4th) in the US when my parents were supposedly the 1st to come over.
I see cousins (in the US) with the name of my favorite high school teacher and wonder if he's some how related to me. The cousin's photo looks like he could be a brother to my teacher. Of course Ancestry is having issues right now so I can't even contact him.
I tested with 23andMe, Ancestry DNA and Family Tree DNA. One girl was listed as a 5th-8th cousin/distant cousin on the DNA Relative Matches on 23andMe, but also shows up as a match on Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch. The girl is adopted from Guangxi Province in Southern China. The mother of the girl has contacted me. I am also curious as to how we are related. I am Taiwanese-American (born in reside in the US). My family has been in Taiwan for at least 8-9 generations. Before that they moved to Taiwan from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China which is located in the Southeastern Coast of China. It does not border Guangxi Province, China.
But, interestingly enough we have the same exact MtDNA Haplogroup (including the subclade). Thus, my educated guess is she and I are related through one of my ancestors in the maternal side of my family. I also studied some history in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasty (as I believe we could have a common ancestor that dates back to then, most likely during the Qing Dynasty). During the Qing Dynasty, the Emperors were concerned with attacks from Japanese pirate and also loyalists to the prior regime of Ming Dynasty along China's coast and they ordered people to migrate more inland from the coast. My theory is one of my ancestors in Fujian coast probably moved to Guangdong Province in China to the south and west. Thus, our common ancestor could have lived there. Then later on her ancestor moved to Guangxi Province, China which lies just west of the Guangdong Province, while my ancestor may have migrated from Guangdong Province to Taiwan at around the same time. And I also believe I may have some Hakka ancestry (a subgroup among the Han people) mixed in with ancestry from Fujian as a DNA specialists noted my ancestry is mixed with people from southern Fujian of China, possibly Hakka people who moved to Taiwan from Guangdong Province of China and even some Taiwanese Plains Aborigines people (Pingpu) people- the indigenous people of Taiwan- there are 2 main large group- those on the western plains and those on the eastern part and east coast of Taiwan, but numerous tribes.
I tested with 23andMe, Ancestry DNA and Family Tree DNA. One girl was listed as a 5th-8th cousin/distant cousin on the DNA Relative Matches on 23andMe, but also shows up as a match on Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch. The girl is adopted from Guangxi Province in Southern China. The mother of the girl has contacted me. I am also curious as to how we are related. I am Taiwanese-American (born in reside in the US). My family has been in Taiwan for at least 8-9 generations. Before that they moved to Taiwan from Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China which is located in the Southeastern Coast of China. It does not border Guangxi Province, China.
But, interestingly enough we have the same exact MtDNA Haplogroup (including the subclade). Thus, my educated guess is she and I are related through one of my ancestors in the maternal side of my family. I also studied some history in China during the Ming and Qing Dynasty (as I believe we could have a common ancestor that dates back to then, most likely during the Qing Dynasty). During the Qing Dynasty, the Emperors were concerned with attacks from Japanese pirate and also loyalists to the prior regime of Ming Dynasty along China's coast and they ordered people to migrate more inland from the coast. My theory is one of my ancestors in Fujian coast probably moved to Guangdong Province in China to the south and west. Thus, our common ancestor could have lived there. Then later on her ancestor moved to Guangxi Province, China which lies just west of the Guangdong Province, while my ancestor may have migrated from Guangdong Province to Taiwan at around the same time. And I also believe I may have some Hakka ancestry (a subgroup among the Han people) mixed in with ancestry from Fujian as a DNA specialists noted my ancestry is mixed with people from southern Fujian of China, possibly Hakka people who moved to Taiwan from Guangdong Province of China and even some Taiwanese Plains Aborigines people (Pingpu) people- the indigenous people of Taiwan- there are 2 main large group- those on the western plains and those on the eastern part and east coast of Taiwan, but numerous tribes.
Of course, this is all speculation on how I am related to this adopted girl listed as a 5th-8th cousin.
Hope you can find out where you two are related!! I bet that the adoptee and her mom were excited to find you and be able to get more information about her ancestry.
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