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How far back can you trace relatives for a good DNA match?
I have dead end 2nd great grandmother whom I am sure was born in Pennsylvania in the mid
1800's, and I was wondering would DNA matches show up connected to her? Her parents or siblings?
It's frustrating when you hit a dead end and you just need some good DNA matches to guide you a little bit.
Is the DNA too diluted at 2nd great grandmom?
If people from her branch have tested, at least some of them will share DNA with you and show up as a match. People descended from her parents would be your 4th cousins, and 4th cousins have about a 50-70% chance of matching each other. It's around 8th+ cousins that the chance of matching is less than 1%.
I have identifiable matches back that far and probably one more generation back. In my case it was a paternal line from a small spot in Europe. Some matches traced to the same place on their family trees. It takes a recognizable clue of some sort.
How far back can you trace relatives for a good DNA match?
I have dead end 2nd great grandmother whom I am sure was born in Pennsylvania in the mid
1800's, and I was wondering would DNA matches show up connected to her? Her parents or siblings?
It's frustrating when you hit a dead end and you just need some good DNA matches to guide you a little bit.
Is the DNA too diluted at 2nd great grandmom?
Test at ancestry, they have the largest DNA database, then upload free to My Heritage which is world wide. Also do 23 and me if needed. Ancestry goes for $59 sale a lot. 23 and me $99 during black Friday and Christmas
Are either of your parents alive? If not, what about their siblings? Usually test the oldest generation which would put you closer to that 2nd great grandparent.
Yes it is doable, I have a match to 2nd great grandparents on my fathers side at My Heritage that lives in Hungary still.
Ancestry and My Heritage are genealogy sites where people also have trees. 23 and me is more of a health testing site but some people have better matches there for some reason.
When you have a brick wall, you have to do whatever you can.
FTDNA and GEDmatch are also free to upload to. Neither are genealogy sites and neither have helped me but you could be different with relatives in the US. Mine are from Europe. Both allow law enforcement to upload crime scene DNA which you have to opt out of if you don't want to do it.
I suppose it depends on how many people from a particular country submit DNA to Ancestry, and submit their trees.
A lot of UK people do both on Ancestry. I have gotten both DNA and tree matches in UK going back to 1700's. Their official records go back farther in time than the US records.
Edit: My grandparents came to this country in late 19th century. I have far more DNA results in England than in the US.
If people from her branch have tested, at least some of them will share DNA with you and show up as a match. People descended from her parents would be your 4th cousins, and 4th cousins have about a 50-70% chance of matching each other. It's around 8th+ cousins that the chance of matching is less than 1%.
There could be DNA matches from earlier generations, who would then be a 3rd cousin once removed or even 2nd cousin 2x removed.
I was lucky to find a surviving great-granddaughter of my 3rd great grandparents who agreed to test. She is my (half) great aunt, but a 2nd cousin 2x and in some cases 3x removed to lots of descendants of those ancestors. She matches everyone in the family project.
I would NOT send my DNA to any of those places. Who knows what they are really doing with it.
Why bother replying in the thread? This is the genealogy section where a lot of us have done DNA. What do you think companies do with it? Companies like 23 and me that do sell results disclose it so people can opt in or out.
I have several different DNA relatives where our most recent shared direct ancestors was born in the early 1800s.
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