DavidK
LostCousins Member
About a year ago, I purchased an Ancestry atDNA test. At the time, I was focussed on my maternal grandfather’s line, and the test produced some spectacular results.
Turning more recently to my paternal grandfather, Edward Kendall, whose family history first got me hooked on genealogy, I was dismayed to find very little in the way of DNA matches. I had build an extensive tree of the Kendall families of Ringwood, Hampshire, and over the years, made contact with several third cousins who were descended from the siblings of my GGF, Edward’s father Charles.
Of the three known 3rd cousins who had tested at Ancestry, Two matched as 5th-8th cousins, and the other was not a match at all. Three more Ancestry users, who connect to my tree as 4th cousins, also matched as 5th-8th. I began to doubt my tree.
I had read Peter’s DNA Masterclass, and noted a 2% chance of no DNA match between 3rd cousins, but it wasn’t a huge consolation, as I was getting poor matches with *all* my known cousins, and zero "above average" matches.
So I got in touch with my half 2nd cousin, Susan, who is descended from my grandfather’s half sister, Annie Julia, and sent her an Ancestry test kit. The DNA match was 199 cM across 8 segments, well above the average (73 cM), and high in the expected range (0-341 cM) for this relationship.
I felt better about the connection to my GGF Charles, but now wondered about the link to his parents, John and Elizabeth. Charles led a complicated life, and the BMD records are convoluted. Perhaps I’d connected my GGF Charles to the wrong parents?
Following Charles’ untimely death in 1910, Annie Julia appeared in the 1911 census, living with Charles’ sister Elizabeth and her family, but listed as “Cousin” instead of “Niece". On the other hand, another of Charles’ children appeared with his sister Alice, correctly listed as “Niece”, and two more with Elizabeth’s married daughters, correctly listed as “Cousin”. Three out of four ain’t bad. The historical record seems circumstantially credible!
My next step was to get in touch with another 3rd cousin, Darren, who is a direct male descendant of my GGF Charles’ brother John. John is also the GGF of one of my low-matching 3rd cousins. I sent Darren a Y-111 kit, and upgraded my own from Y-37 to Y-111. Results are due in January.
That was all before i joined this forum.
In retrospect, I wonder if the estimates provided by Y-111 will be accurate enough to confirm a 3rd (vs 5th-8th) cousin?
I know that Peter advises using DNA to knock down brick walls, and it becomes clear after re-reading his Masterclass a couple of times that it’s highly random, but it’s so tempting to seek confirmation!
On the other hand, many years ago, when I was researching the Kendall families of Ringwood, I was unable to connect three main branches. So I located male-line descendants of the other two branches, and arranged Y-37 tests, which indicated we were related. I’ve upgraded them all to Y-111 which, if nothing else, will hopefully provide greater accuracy to that exercise.
Turning more recently to my paternal grandfather, Edward Kendall, whose family history first got me hooked on genealogy, I was dismayed to find very little in the way of DNA matches. I had build an extensive tree of the Kendall families of Ringwood, Hampshire, and over the years, made contact with several third cousins who were descended from the siblings of my GGF, Edward’s father Charles.
Of the three known 3rd cousins who had tested at Ancestry, Two matched as 5th-8th cousins, and the other was not a match at all. Three more Ancestry users, who connect to my tree as 4th cousins, also matched as 5th-8th. I began to doubt my tree.
I had read Peter’s DNA Masterclass, and noted a 2% chance of no DNA match between 3rd cousins, but it wasn’t a huge consolation, as I was getting poor matches with *all* my known cousins, and zero "above average" matches.
So I got in touch with my half 2nd cousin, Susan, who is descended from my grandfather’s half sister, Annie Julia, and sent her an Ancestry test kit. The DNA match was 199 cM across 8 segments, well above the average (73 cM), and high in the expected range (0-341 cM) for this relationship.
I felt better about the connection to my GGF Charles, but now wondered about the link to his parents, John and Elizabeth. Charles led a complicated life, and the BMD records are convoluted. Perhaps I’d connected my GGF Charles to the wrong parents?
Following Charles’ untimely death in 1910, Annie Julia appeared in the 1911 census, living with Charles’ sister Elizabeth and her family, but listed as “Cousin” instead of “Niece". On the other hand, another of Charles’ children appeared with his sister Alice, correctly listed as “Niece”, and two more with Elizabeth’s married daughters, correctly listed as “Cousin”. Three out of four ain’t bad. The historical record seems circumstantially credible!
My next step was to get in touch with another 3rd cousin, Darren, who is a direct male descendant of my GGF Charles’ brother John. John is also the GGF of one of my low-matching 3rd cousins. I sent Darren a Y-111 kit, and upgraded my own from Y-37 to Y-111. Results are due in January.
That was all before i joined this forum.
In retrospect, I wonder if the estimates provided by Y-111 will be accurate enough to confirm a 3rd (vs 5th-8th) cousin?
I know that Peter advises using DNA to knock down brick walls, and it becomes clear after re-reading his Masterclass a couple of times that it’s highly random, but it’s so tempting to seek confirmation!
On the other hand, many years ago, when I was researching the Kendall families of Ringwood, I was unable to connect three main branches. So I located male-line descendants of the other two branches, and arranged Y-37 tests, which indicated we were related. I’ve upgraded them all to Y-111 which, if nothing else, will hopefully provide greater accuracy to that exercise.
