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Writer's pictureSteven Jaron

DNA Match Challenge

So according to one of my genealogy friends Janice Sellers another genealogist does these Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenges. This past weekend I saw this one and figured I'd jump on it, but maybe expand beyond the top ten. I will also do my parents top 10 (maybe expanding on theirs as well).



1) Have you done an autosomal DNA test? If so, which testing company/ies?


2) Of your Top 10 DNA matches on any site, how many are a known relative, and are they in your family tree? No names...but give a known relationship if possible.


3) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post. Please leave a link in a comment to this post.

Here's mine:


My original test was on Ancestry and I transferred the data to MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, and Gedmatch. 23&Me and Ancestry do not allow data transfers so the results will vary. Additionally because I am Jewish I could have known matches that are buried (because I have so many in the 2-5th cousin range) or people who seem closer than they really are.


On Ancestry I have 134,273 matches. My top ten+ are -

1) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandfather 258cm

2) Father's second cousin through his maternal grandparents 245cm (this branch has some pedigree collapse. His maternal grandparents were cousins at least once)

3) Second cousin on my paternal grandmother's side 225cm

4) Second cousin on my paternal grandmother's side 224cm

5) Second cousin on my paternal grandmother's side 215cm

6) Second cousin once removed on my paternal grandfathers side 215cm

7) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 201cm

8) Not 100% sure if this is my second cousin through my paternal grandfather or his child 189cm

9 Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 168cm

10) Unknown to me, shares one known close match (#8) and one what Ancestry believes to be a distant match however they are my 3rd cousin once removed with shared common ancestors on my paternal side. They may show up close to me because there is some shared DNA with my maternal side. I will need to explore further as they are also from Ukraine and Philadelphia. 168cm

11) Second cousin on my paternal grandmother's side 164cm

19) Father's maternal side 112cm

21a) Maternal Grandfather's second cousin through his paternal grandmother 107cm

21b) Maternal Grandfather's fourth cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 107cm

37) Mother's 3rd cousin through her paternal grandfather 96cm

61) Third cousin on my paternal grandfather's side 91cm

72) Father's third and fourth cousin through his maternal grandparents (see #2) 52cm

85) Third cousin once removed through my paternal grandfather's mother's side 49cm


Those are my top 10 plus my knowns within my top 100. My paternal side definitely used Ancestry more than my maternal side.

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On MyHeritage I have 23,310 matches. Six kits in my top 50 are ones I manage. Overall I manage 11 kits. I did not go beyond my top 150 for this one as I was still getting matches with high CM numbers

1) Mother 3541.1cm

2) Father 3534.4cm

3) Second cousin through my paternal grandfather 344.7cm

4) Second cousin through my maternal grandfather 320.7cm

5) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 218.5cm

6) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 200.6cm

7) Unknown 175.9cm - Can't even determine which side from shared matches

8) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandfather 157.2cm

9) Unknown 144.3cm - This one is a super mystery that may or may not involve an NPE based on how close they are to other matches

10) Unknown 141.0cm - Unable to determine through shared matches

11) Third cousin through my paternal grandfather's mother 131.5cm

12a) Maternal Grandfather's second cousin through his paternal grandmother 125.8cm

12b) Maternal Grandfather's fourth cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 125.8cm

14) Fifth cousin once removed through my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother 122.8cm

21) Third cousin through my paternal grandfather's mother (same person as #11) 148.8cm

22) Third cousin once removed through my paternal grandmother's parents (pedigree collapse) 114.3cm

---


On FamilyTreeDNA I have 29,091 matches. This one may be a little weird since my parents tested at two companies so they show up twice and they allow data transfers. This one will also have more variation as they have been around the longest and more of my relatives have kits here. Additionally I am able to download an excel file of my matches to find people, which I did otherwise it would have taken me forever to get to 476, 594, 904, 7010, and 8990.


1) Mother 3384cm (first test)

2) Father 3383cm (second test)

3) Father 3381cm (first test)

4) Mother 3366 (second test)

5) Second cousin through my maternal grandfather 354cm

6) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 250cm

7) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 243cm

8) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandfather 200cm

25) Third cousin through my paternal grandmother's mother's parents 163cm (also a cousin multiple ways)

59a) Maternal Grandfather's second cousin through his paternal grandmother 154cm

59b) Maternal Grandfather's fourth cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 154cm

476) Third cousin once removed through my paternal grandfather's mother's parents134cm

594) This one is an educated guess that I am still working on proving. But from what my research tells me they are my mother's fourth cousin 132cm

904) Mother's third cousin through her maternal grandmother's mother's brother 127cm

7010) Fifth cousin through my mother's paternal grandmother's father's father 98cm

8990) Mother's third cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's sister 92cm


Additionally there is someone on my maternal side who matches me more closely on my father's side somehow they are #1493 however I do not know the exact relationship yet.

---


On Gedmatch I a have an undetermined number of matches. This one may also have some variation as they allow data transfers.


1) Mother 3571cm

2) Father 3569.1cm

3) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 219cm

4) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandmother 178cm

5) Mother's second cousin through her paternal grandfather 144cm

6) Father's third cousin through my paternal grandfather's mother's side 129.3

7a) Maternal Grandfather's second cousin through his paternal grandmother 102.4cm

7b) Maternal Grandfather's fourth cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 102.4cm

8) Unknown 93.9cm

9) Unknown 87.3cm

10) Unknown 86.9cm

30) Third cousin once removed through my paternal grandfather's mother's side 74.3cm


So thats it for me, within reason. I have knowledge of other matches beyond what is show here that either match my parents but not me or they are (supposedly) too distant.


Now lets look at my parents since I inherited half my DNA from them, their matches should be different.

 

Father's side - my father has been doing DNA research pretty much since it first started with FamilyTreeDNA. He had taken two tests - one on FTDNA and one on 23&Me. I will use 23&Me as it is more recent and better technology was used in the process. In some cases I will notate their relation to me in parentheses.


On 23&Me my father has 1509 matches showing. This is one of my issues with this company as they limit the shown matches and as you can see above a close match could be hidden because it is beyond their threshold.


1) First cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 549cm (SJ second cousin)

2) First cousin once removed through his paternal grandmother 429cm (SJ second cousin)

3) First cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 423cm (SJ second cousin)

4) Half-First cousin twice removed through paternal grandfather 242cm

5) Half-First cousin once removed through paternal grandfather 241cm (SJ half-second cousin)

6) Unknown 239cm

7) Unknown 225cm

8) Unknown 211cm

9) Unknown 204cm

10) First cousin twice removed through his paternal grandmother 200cm

11) Second cousin once removed through paternal grandfather's father 190cm

22) Third cousin through maternal grandparents (pedigree collapse) 118cm

29) First cousin twice removed through his paternal grandfather 107cm

---


On FamilyTreeDNA my father has 27449 matches from his more recent test, and 27349 from his older test. I will not count himself as his own match. After comparing the two there is not much overall difference in match placement.


1) Son 3381cm

2) Unkown 230cm (Sitnitsky)

3) Unknown 200cm

4) Stern Second cousin once removed through my paternal grandmother's parents (pedigree collapse) 171cm

5) Unknown 171cm

6) Unknown 167cm

7) Unknown 163cm

8) Unknown 162cm

9) Unkown 160cm

10) Unknown 160cm

19) 2nd cousin once removed 155 (I am not sure which cousin this tests was, its either a 2c1r or 2c2r, I think the wrong name is attached)

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On MyHeritage my father has 21,975 matches.

1) Son 353.4cm

2) First cousin once removed through his paternal grandfather 578.4cm

3) Second cousin once removed through his paternal grandmother 233.5cm

4) Unknown

5) Unknown

6) Unknown

7) Second cousin once removed 144.9cm

8) Unknown

9) Unknown

10) Unknown

12) Second cousin once removed 138.1cm

15) Third cousin 125.4cm

---


I decided not to look at my father's Gedmatch as it would be basically the same as the other three companies

 

Mother's side - my mother first tested in 2013 with FamilyTreeDNA and then in 2020 with 23&Me. This will be based of her 23&Me results except MyHeritage since I did not switch it.


On FamilyTree DNA my mother has 29,947 matches on her original test and 31,503 matches on her new test. I am not counting her matching herself.


1) Son 3366cm

2) First cousin once removed through her paternal aunt (SJ second cousin) 544cm

3) Second cousin through her paternal grandmother412cm

4) Second cousin through her paternal grandmother 292cm

5) Second cousin through her paternal grandfather 244cm

6) Unknown 236cm

7) Unknown 234cm

8) Unknown 233cm

9a) Second cousin once removed through her paternal grandfather's mother's sister 228cm

9b) Fourth cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's father's sister 228cm

10) Unknown 222cm

15) Third cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's brother 215cm

165) Third cousin through her maternal grandmother's mother's brother 180cm

1782) This one is an educated guess that I am still working on proving. But from what my research tells me they are my mother's third cousin 131cm

6124) Fifth cousin through her maternal grandfather's mother's ancestors 150cm

6595) This one is an educated guess that I am still working on proving. But from what my research tells me they are my mother's fourth cousin 140cm

8040) Fifth cousin once removed through her maternal grandfather's grandfather's mother's sister 122cm

10678) Sixth cousin once removed through her maternal grandfather's grandmother's grandmother's brother 96 cm

16987) Fifth cousin through her maternal grandfather's mother's ancestors 124cm

---


On 23&Me my mother has 1513 matches showing.


1) Second cousin through her maternal grandfather's brother (didn't share)

2) Second cousin through her maternal grandfather's brother (didn't share)

3) Second cousin through her paternal grandfather's brother 253cm

4) Second cousin once removed her maternal grandfather's brother 160cm

5) Third cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's brother 150cm

6) Unknown

7) Unknown

8) Unknown

9) Unknown

10) Unknown

72) Fifth cousin through her maternal grandfather's mother's ancestors 94cm

151) Third cousin through her maternal grandmother's maternal ancestors 88cm


Side note there are four other people I have favorited but they are beyond #151 and didn't feel like searching.

D) This one is an educated guess that I am still working on proving. But from what my research tells me they are my mother's fourth cousin 49cm

A) Fifth cousin 74cm - need to double check this one but appears to be through our Dutch ancestry B and E) Siblings who are my mother's Third cousins through her paternal grandfather's father's brother. B is 71cm E is 75cm

---


On MyHeritage my mother has 19,164 matches. As previously stated this is from her kit from 2013 through FamilyTreeDNA.


1) Son 3541.1cm

2) First cousin once removed through her paternal aunt 487.6cm

3) Second cousin through her paternal grandmother 321.8cm

4) Second cousin through her paternal grandmother 240.8cm

5) Unknown 213.5cm This one is a super mystery that may or may not involve an NPE based on how close they are to other matches

6a) Second cousin once removed through her paternal grandfather's mother's sister 192.1cm

6b) Fourth cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's father's sister 192.1cm

7) Second cousin through her paternal grandfather 190.8cm

8) Third cousin through her paternal grandfather's mother's brother 160.0cm

9) Unknown 144.3cm

10) Unknown 136.8cm

28) Fifth cousin through her maternal grandfather's mother's ancestors 108.5cm


There are more known matches down the line but they are beyond #150 in this case.

---


I decided not to look at my mother's Gedmatch as it would be basically the same as the other three companies

 

So what does this all indicate to me.

- I have a lot of known close matches on my my mother's side.

- As he keeps mentioning I need to work more on my dad's side, however some of the unknowns to me might be known to him.

- I need to try to get more of my maternal grandmother's side to DNA test.








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janicemsj
06 may 2021

Wow, what interesting results! You went into a lot more detail than I did, but it appears that you have had many more relatives test than I have. I have to admit that I find the possible NPE (many people are now using MPE, for misattributed parental event, which carries less of a negative connotation) particularly interesting, especially that you are able to identify it as such.

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