8% dna matched, is this more likely to be a 1st cousin or a 2;nd cousin?

[QuintanaRoo]

Ancestry dna says could be either. But google says the range for a second cousin only goes up to 6%. I do not know who this person might be, as far as I’m aware I only have three cousins and she’s not one of them.

[Otherlifeform]

I have only one first cousin who is DNA matched and that is 13.5%. My next one with 4% has common great grandparents. From that I would say 6% is more likely to be second cousin.

[Otherlifeform]

Just to say that I have someone else showing as a second or third cousin who I believe may be related to me in more than one way - if that makes sense. Could be something like that.

[juneybean]

Yeah as pp says it's probably a 2nd cousin but there's another way you're related which adds to the percentage.

[Nottodaty]

I’m matched to two possible 1st cousin at 11%, & another at 6%. These would both be half - related cousins.

My Mums Dad was known to have a few affairs in his time. I have two known half uncles from one affair. So I’m guessing that I have another two half aunts/uncles.

[QuintanaRoo]

I guess the odd thing is I have an extensively researched family tree, my dad spent a decade doing it. There is nobody with her married or maiden name in my family tree on either side…..even if she was a second cousin or a first cousin once removed she should be on there….or at least her parents.

[QuintanaRoo]

My parents and aunts/uncles all deceased so nobody to ask. I’ve messaged her and she has been active today but no response yet.

[FatAgainItsLettuceTime]

@QuintanaRoo

I guess the odd thing is I have an extensively researched family tree, my dad spent a decade doing it. There is nobody with her married or maiden name in my family tree on either side…..even if she was a second cousin or a first cousin once removed she should be on there….or at least her parents.

Is it possible her father didn't know of her existence?

[QuintanaRoo]

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime

Is it possible her father didn't know of her existence?

That’s what I’m wondering. She’s the same age as me and lives a few miles from me which is the area both my parents are from and all generations on both sides going back hundreds of years.

[QuintanaRoo]

I only have one uncle on my dads side and one aunt on my mums.

My dads parents had small families and I know all their descendants. My mums parents were both from big parents but I know their descendants. Have also traced all sets of my great grandparents descendants.

[QuintanaRoo]

We share 595cM across 18 segments if that means anything to anyone?

[QuintanaRoo]

So more research suggests from the dna we share she’s likely to possibly be a cousin but more likely a half cousin or a 1st cousin once removed (so my mums or dads cousin).

I don’t think she’s a cousin, I’d surely know about her. So possibly a half cousin which would mean one of my parents has a half sibling they don’t know about which is possible….my Gran dropped hints she had had an affair with a usa soldier in ww2. So possibly my mum’s dad is not who she thought it was and her dad was actually American and had other kids.

Now on ancestry when it tells you where your
dna matches are mainly from. Parent two it says east midlands, no surprise. Parent one it says various parts of America mainly Ohio which is a surprise. We have no American relations that I’m aware of. But the majority of my dna matches for one parent are in America.

there is another blip in my family tree that I’m aware of. One of my grandads sisters had a child out of wedlock at 16yo. That baby was given to her older, married sister to bring up. But I’m aware nobody has a clue who the father of that baby was….they would probably have gone on to have other kids with someone else. That baby would have been my 1st cousin, once removed….and while the dna % matches up with that relationship this person is far too young to be that baby. Any child of that baby would be by 2nd cousin and Ancestry does say this match could be a second cousin but DNA Painter says we share too much centrimorgans to be second cousins,

only a 2% chance we could be 2nd cousins.
77% chance she’s a half cousin
77% chance she’s a first cousin once removed (but I think age makes this unlikely)

[Bibbitybobbityboot]

I share 17% DNA with a half uncle, so half cousin sounds likely. Interestingly I also have loads of matches in the USA and my dad was adopted but his bio mum always said his father was an American soldier in ww2 - no one believed her but it looks like it was true. No close enough matches to identify his dad yet sadly.

[QuintanaRoo]

@Bibbitybobbityboot

I share 17% DNA with a half uncle, so half cousin sounds likely. Interestingly I also have loads of matches in the USA and my dad was adopted but his bio mum always said his father was an American soldier in ww2 - no one believed her but it looks like it was true. No close enough matches to identify his dad yet sadly.

Wow, it’s crazy how these things can come out.

I’ve worked out this cousin is on my mums side which is narrowing things down a bit I guess. And ties in with my grandma telling me how she had a male “friend” during ww2 around the time my mum was born.

[KnittingNeedles]

I agree with the others that a half relationship seems more likely in this situation.

So my advice is tread carefully. This person may know all about you and your family, but it's more likely that there has been some sort of lying going on through the decades and you could be opening a huge can of worms.

[QuintanaRoo]

The half cousin/first cousin has not replied to my message.

I also messaged someone who comes up as a second cousin with 4% of dna matched…..she’s also matched to my cousin/half cousin so from same side of the family. She’s told me all the surnames in her family tree going back a few generations and no surnames match at all. Which seems a bit odd if we’re second cousins, we should share a great grandparent? Which is making me think that the thing about my grandad not being my grandad is correct

[SwedishEdith]

Have you heard any more?

[SirVixofVixHall]

I share roughly this amount with my half first cousin, who I didn’t know about either. The 4% person could also be a half first cousin, or a second ?

[KnittingNeedles]

It's so common for people not to reply to emails. Ancestry has been offering DNA testing for a decade, in the UK since 2015 Early adopters will quite possibly be bored with the genealogy thing and not logging into their account any more. You can't see the date that they took their test when you log in.

Fingers crossed you get a reply soon.

[QuintanaRoo]

Yes, I’ve heard back from both of them. They’re half sisters with the same dad. So I was thinking their dad’s dad was my grandad. The ages fit. I thought We have to share a grandparent.. so that would make them my half cousins.

however they believe that my grandad is their grandads older brother. I’ve asked them why they think that and not their grandad and they just said “by elimination “.

so I’m not 100% sure they’re right. The cM I share with one In particular is so high that it’s much more likely she’s a half cousin than a second cousin. Though I accept the cM I share with the other is lower, and could be in the range of either. I’ve added screenshots of a tool I found which gives relationship probability.

so I know for sure the guy I thought was my grandad isn’t. I know for sure who my new great grandfather is, just not sure which of two brothers my grandad is. Obviously they’re all dead by now. However both brothers have living children and grandkids, but the two half sisters don’t know the details of their great uncle’s offspring so I have no way of contacting them.

only way i think I’ll ever know is of one of his descendants takes a dna test one day.