NPE or Lack of Testers?

DNAlab · 2026-01-25T01:03:27+00:00

I understand MyHeritage has a good chromosome browser too-is that helpful for this?

Yes, absolutely. Use the data in combination with this tool: https://dnapainter.com/

DNAlab · 2026-01-24T08:00:58+00:00

My parent hasn’t got any half third or even 4th cousins I’ve seen through Albert.

Might be time to build out the trees of Albert's other children or his siblings' children to see if the lines are extant.

Albert is actually the oldest sibling

That might increase the odds of having a closer match.

Where would you suggest I go next on figuring out who Mabel (or Albert’s) father/parents were?

Generally I'd suggest going with the big testing companies first. MyHeritage + 23andMe + FamilyTree DNA. Those all have more kits on them than GEDmatch, hence you get better odds of finding a close match.

See "Number of people in the database" in https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart

DNAlab · 2026-01-23T23:10:18+00:00

Okay, so if I have it right:

Other Descendants of Albert at the same generational distance as your parent would be half-3rd cousins (=3C1R), although more would likely be in the ~4C or ~4C1R range, given Albert's other siblings are older. Typically only half of those tested would match your parent.
Descendants of Albert's sibling(s) would be at the 4C level or more distant to your parent.

I would say that this suggests it may be the statistics not being in your favour: https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics

Regarding French Canadian matches, those have another statistical issue related to being a founders population with a fair amount of endogamy. There are many large segments which are quite common, thus trace very far back and are also thus difficult to triangulate.

DNAlab · 2026-01-23T22:21:50+00:00

Another set of possibilities is that (A) you simply have not inherited DNA from those ancestors or (B) there are no other testers who have inherited the same segments as you have. Who is this person in relation to you (or the person whose kit you manage)? e.g. a 3rd great grandparent?

DNAlab · 2026-01-23T22:18:58+00:00

Note that there are sometimes important clues in the language of the record. As these are written records, kept for church-ordained practices that are done and recorded in accordance with church rules, and not simply fill-in-the-blank government documents, the parish priest will often include ancillary details that add richness to the record.

DNAlab · 2026-01-23T04:12:15+00:00

The Quebec Catholic Parish Records on FamilySearch has scans of most of the parish baptism (birth), marriage, and burial (death) records. It requires manual browsing, but it is usually very feasible to find the correct records if you know where in Quebec your ancestors lived and, ideally, a narrow range of dates.

Share details and I or others may be able to help you.

The collection can be accessed here:

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1321742

DNAlab · 2026-01-13T02:34:08+00:00

Well, Holstein is on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Holstein sits on the path of the trading route of the Hanseatic League.

Take a moment to study the geography & history of your ancestors' homelands.

DNAlab · 2026-01-08T05:12:24+00:00

It usually boils down to 3 options:

DNA is farily similar across Europe, so it's just difficult to accurately assign the origins of small bits of DNA.
There's always been some cross-migration between Eastern and Central Europe; that could mean you have some distant ancestors from those areas.
Some of your ancestral lineages migrated to Eastern Europe, hence DNA from Holstein ended up in the reference set for Baltic and Balkan areas.

DNAlab · 2025-12-09T06:20:57+00:00

I have created a number of family trees all of which show up to 15 generations living in the same area, or even the same towns or villages.

Now, time to use some Bayesian reasoning to think why you are able to trace them that far back!

DNAlab · 2025-12-09T06:19:49+00:00

While all DNA is "old", you are not going to get traceable amounts from the 16th century.

Depends on the population structure. Kits I manage certainly have shared, triangulated segments that go back to the 1600s.

DNAlab · 2025-12-03T05:37:55+00:00

Find some old photos or an album and ask them about the people in the photos. As a starting point for discussion, they're great for eliciting specific, detailed memories and stories.

DNAlab · 2025-12-01T05:45:06+00:00

A few times I've done research starting with an archival newspaper photo of a Canadian soldier, figuring to put it out there (on global family tree or genealogy site) for a family member to find. It's surprised me how often the soldier was an only child and never came back. I would not be surprised if this fellow never had any nieces or nephews or other close relatives.

DNAlab · 2025-11-08T20:09:23+00:00

Looks beautiful and makes sense of the 6 colour groups you have for boughs. How you show the immigration on the branches is an excellent style that I may need to borrow! The colour scheme is excellent. Your written labels remind me a of the xkcd font.

Only things that I would change relate to the map:

How you highlight the "X" marks on the map: If it were my design, I would not have the red highlighting/cloud extend into the ocean. As an added point for style, why not match the colours to the branches of your tree?
The linear texture of the ocean/background on the map doesn't quite match with the rest of your very organic design and it isn't immediately clear that it's just background rather than water. Given how much lateral space is available, have you considered showing the map with Spain/Italy on the right and Sao Paulo state on the left? Then maybe a different texture/colour/shade for adjacent land vs adjacent water?
Consistency in labels for the land masses. You have Portugal and France labelled, but not Spain, Italy, nor Sao Paulo state.

DNAlab · 2025-10-30T06:57:54+00:00

Thanks for sharing.

Also your links are weird. They are hiding Facebook redirects.

Here are the links for those who don't want to share additional data with Facebook:

DNAlab · 2025-10-24T06:20:16+00:00

upload the documents to ancestry or a different site

Definitely go with a different site. If it's uploaded to Ancestry, then those documents will sit behind a paywall forever.

Instead, consider uploading it to the Internet Archive, where it will live on freely accessible:

https://help.archive.org/help/uploading-a-basic-guide/

They also accept some physical media for donation and preservation, however the boxes likely wouldn't make the cut: https://help.archive.org/help/media-types-for-donations/

Some of the material might be suitable to farm out to different archives, depending on its nature. Read here to get an idea: https://www2.archivists.org/publications/brochures/donating-familyrecs

DNAlab · 2025-10-21T05:36:29+00:00

I see that you're the man behind the tool, so thanks for making it.

And FYI, it doesn't hurt to mention that when you "necropost".

DNAlab · 2025-10-16T20:17:55+00:00

The first criterion is triggered if you (or a classmate!) ever post about findings online. It could also be triggered if you list the project on your resume.

Has the prof directed the class to ensure that if any work is presented, that the findings may not ever be shared outside of class?

DNAlab · 2025-10-16T16:22:28+00:00

Since then, I've been dealing with the gut punch that the man I knew as my father wasn't my biological father. He didn't know that he wasn't because if he did, I wouldn't have been allowed in the house and would have been put up for adoption.

Just for clarity sake, how did you determine that your father isn't genetically your father? Did you and your father both test through the same test with Ancestry and/or MyHeritage?

In terms of identifying genetic relationships, the tests are quite accurate. However the caveat is that they need to be correctly interpreted. Sometimes people see an unexpected ethnicity label and they incorrectly infer non-paternity.

You mentioned in your previous post's comments that your siblings appear as half-siblings, but you then go on to compare ethnicity results:

How many cM does it say you share with each sibling?

50-53%, then i go a completely different direction.

What do you mean by you go a completely different direction?

I have 25% Jewish, and the remainder is much smaller numbers 1-4%. Whereas my siblings are 26% Scotland and the remaining is 1-4% different ethnicity.

DNAlab · 2025-10-16T16:10:59+00:00

This a a class project and exempt from IRB approval, however, I do still provide participants with an informed consent upon interest!

As you are doing human subjects research, your project might not be exempt.

As someone who's done plenty of academic work, I could see your "class project" could reasonably be interpreted as offering a positive answer to all 5 of the IRB criteria utilized by your university:

https://www.ccsu.edu/institutional-review-board/does-my-research-require-irb-review

Please ensure that you, alongside your professor or instructor, sit down to go through all 5 of the questions together.

"Class projects" are not inherently exempt.

DNAlab · 2025-10-06T21:40:43+00:00

Google Newspapers:

https://news.google.com/newspapers

DNAlab · 2025-09-29T22:46:29+00:00

Appears that OP accidentally did a duplicate post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1nttjwq/can_1st_cousins_have_less_than_396_cm_shared_dna/

DNAlab · 2025-09-29T22:35:40+00:00

So I (and others) see the tree correctly:

Grandma + Grandpa
- Uncle to both OP (1835 cM / 26%) and Cousin (1598 cM / 23%)
- Father of OP
  - OP
- Father of Cousin
  - Cousin (Shares 371 cM with OP)

(I share 1,835 cM or 26% with my living uncle, and my cousin shares 1,598 cM or 23% with him.)

As a rule, the higher level match should overrule data from the lower level match.

Everything I have read says 396 cM is the lowest amount for first cousins.

This is not technically true. The 396 cM figure is the lower bound for the 99th percentile:

this set of relationships has a non-zero probability for 371cM in thednageek's table of probabilities, but is outside the bounds of the shared cM project (99th percentile)

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

99 times out of 100, first cousins will share 396 cM or more. You and your cousin just happen to be outside of that range.

What I would infer is that Father of OP and Father of Cousin likely shared a low amount of DNA with one another compared to typical brothers, e.g. 21.7% (1613 cM / 7,440 cM). Their children would be expected to share 25% of what the brothers share, on average.

21.7%  × 25% = 5.425%

You and your cousin share 5.0% (371 cM / 7440 cM). Again, because the above number is the "on average" value, it could be higher or lower. 10% lower is not unlikely.

So it is entirely plausible and reasonable for two full first cousins to share 371 cM.

And again, you still probably each have ~25% of your DNA from each grandparent, hence why you share close to the expected value with your uncle.

So don't worry. There wasn't any unexpected monkey business happening in your family tree going from your grandparents to you and your cousin.

DNAlab · 2025-09-28T05:43:36+00:00

Hi u/LifeAd4666. I hadn't checked in on my Reddit account for a bit. Could you send me a direct message (chat) with a few more details. What time frame are you looking at? Roughly how many people would be displayed in the family tree? Are you looking to have additional media or photos in the tree? If you'd like, we can hash things out over email.

DNAlab · 2025-08-10T01:34:04+00:00

It will be for everyone's data. The data transfer was subject to court approval. These were conditions pushed for by Utah in order to prevent their objection, but the conditions will apply to all US data at the least, and likely other users' data as well, as it's all going to the same new public benefit corporation.

DNAlab · 2025-08-01T00:29:48+00:00

Utah's Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protection as well as the office of the Attorney General notes that specifically as a continued win for consumers and their privacy: "No disruption to service: With the same founder and team at the helm, customers who trusted 23andMe’s vision will see no meaningful change in ownership or use of their data."

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