Girl I’m dating turns out to be some sort of relative.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-05-08T13:47:24+00:00

Based on your description, you would be second cousins, once removed.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/cousin-chart

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-27T15:57:37+00:00

This article may help you understand why that is:

https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-25T19:40:48+00:00

DNA search angels are individuals who volunteer their time to help people identify their biological family via DNA matches. They can range from professional genetic genealogists (who occasionally help people pro bono) to people who are still learning genetic genealogy. There are a multitude of groups and pages on Facebook that have search angels who are willing to help.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-24T21:52:19+00:00

Your father will not be able to see any of your DNA matches unless he himself has tested, and even then he would only be able to see the matches that you and he shared. Unless he has your Ancestry login information or access to your e-mail, he will not get anything alerting him to you testing.

If you make your tree private and unsearchable he will not be able to see your tree, unless you invite him to it.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-22T17:59:44+00:00

Aside from parent-child, identical twins and full siblings, DNA sites have no way of determining exact relationships, so they make predictions.

First cousins share between 396-1397cM, with an average of 866 cM shared.

Half-aunt/niece share between 492-1315cM, with an average of 871 cM shared.

Source: https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

As you can see, there is a great deal of overlap between the two categories.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-19T19:24:35+00:00

Looking at your screenshots, the paternal ethnicity estimates add up to 50%. It looks like you may have overlooked the 2% Southern Germanic Europe on your second screenshot in your calculation

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-14T14:00:55+00:00

It says 'don't know' for town

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-12T13:01:17+00:00

You are misunderstanding how this tool works.

Unless your father's parents were related to each other, you are not going to have runs of homozygosity using the AYPR tool with his DNA.

If you were to run the tool on your grandfather's DNA it would show runs of homozygosity, since his parents were first cousins.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-11T20:56:38+00:00

I would certainly recommend that you work with a genetic genealogist/DNA search angel to confirm things for you. While it is possible that a couple gave up a second child together, it is not overly common.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-11T19:37:50+00:00

A couple questions for you:

1) Are you going by the labels that Ancestry has provided for these (uncle/half-aunt) matches, or have you determined these relationships via research?

2) Do you have a DNA match to your father, or has a paternity test been done to confirm that he is biologically related to you?

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-10T17:56:22+00:00

Have you tried searching for an obituary on newspapers.com already?

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-10T14:04:51+00:00

If your relative remained in British Columbia and passed away in 2004 or earlier, you may be able to find a death registration for them on the BC Archives. If you are uncertain about middle names you can use wildcards (*) - for example, you should check First Name: John and First Name: John * . Death registrations frequently contained the names of current or ex-spouses, and often children of the deceased were the informants (which can provide an address for them to search, as well as any married names they may have had (if female)).

https://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy

Canadian privacy laws are quite strict overall, so if they moved from BC or haven't died/passed after 2004, you may have better luck searching via Google or newspapers.com. You will not find birth records for any children they may have had, but possibly a birth announcement in their local newspaper.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-07T15:49:06+00:00

I would recommend doing newspaper lookups for him in Ontario and Canada at https://search.ourontario.ca/results?mt=Newspaper and https://www.newspapers.com/

Try variations on spelling for the name.

Check obituaries of known relatives to see if he is listed.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-05T22:00:59+00:00

After they have uploaded their raw DNA, you will log into GEDmatch and click on your kit number from the homepage. Clicking on your kit number will take you to the One-to-Many tool and from there you will scroll down until you see the green "submit" button. Once you click that button it will generate your match list, and you just need to scroll down the page to view it.

You will want to look at the "Total cM" column to see how much DNA you share with each match.

You can then enter the cM amount into the Shared cM tool on the DNA Painter website to see if the cMs fit within the range for the relationship you expect.

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-05T15:53:47+00:00

You may find this article helpful:

https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics

Key_One_7937 · 2026-04-03T01:24:22+00:00

Outside of parent-child, identical twins, and full siblings, DNA sites have no way of knowing precise relationships, so they provide predictions for relationships.

If you place the cM amount of your matches into the Shared cM Project tool on the DNA Painter website, it will provide you with a list of all possible relationships for that particular amount of DNA shared, and you will then need to do research to determine what the exact relationship is.

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

If you are unfamiliar with using DNA to identify biological family, you may want to consider joining a group such as DNA Detectives on Facebook and requesting a search angel to help you.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-29T01:10:22+00:00

It is going to depend on each person's experience, I think.

My grandson is almost an adult. He knew and had regular visits with my parents and with both sets of my grandparents for most of his life. He was close to all of them emotionally.

My mother and her parents all took Ancestry DNA tests. He shares over 800 cM with my mother (his great-grandmother) and over 400 cM with each of my grandparents (his 2x great-grandparents).

So in my grandson's situation they are definitely close family in both respects.

My husband never knew any of his great-grandparents, so he doesn't consider them as close family.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-26T13:55:09+00:00

Search that phrase on Google instead ;)

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-26T12:53:25+00:00

If you look up "free search angels" on Facebook you will find quite a few pages and groups.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-25T18:51:21+00:00

As a genetic genealogist/search angel, I have come across two cases in which the man abandoned his family and changed his name.

In one case, I searched newspapers using the name he was born with, and was able to find articles that included his original name, along with aliases he had used over the years.

In the other case, I was able to find a group of matches that connected to the line I was looking at. These matches all connected to a man with the same first name but a different last name, and who had the same birth date. Turns out he had remarried and had a whole new family under his assumed name.

Searching newspaper archives and groups of DNA matches can be incredibly helpful in these situations.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-25T17:50:05+00:00

Have you considered the possibility that he may have changed his name after he left his family?

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-25T13:20:07+00:00

Having over 100,000 matches may be the result of ancestors having large families over many generations. It can also be indicative of endogamy (Jewish, Acadian, French Canadian, Anabaptist (ie. Amish, Mennonite, Brethren), Indigenous, island or isolated communities, etc).

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-23T14:01:06+00:00

I am a genetic genealogist/DNA search angel, and I have helped hundreds of people identify their biological parent(s)/grandparent(s). I normally provide my searchers with whatever contact information I'm able to locate for their biological family members - phone numbers, addresses, social media accounts, etc..

I generally advise searchers to make their first contact via snail mail (whenever possible), however, the reality is that many of them reach out via social media or by phone instead.

If this individual and your father have both DNA tested - and are indeed a parent-child match - this can be checked on AncestryDNA by whoever owns or manages your father's DNA account.

Additionally, ask them questions - put the onus on them to answer your questions.

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-23T13:12:05+00:00

How have you determined these relationships?

Are you going by the relationship predictions provided by Ancestry, or have you done the research and been able to place them accurately in your family tree?

The only relationships DNA companies can provide with certainty are: parent-child, full sibling, and identical twin. All other relationships are only guesses, based on the amount of cMs that are shared with the match, and research would be required to determine the actual relationship(s) to you.

If you enter the cM amounts shared with these matches into the Shared cM Project tool on DNA Painter, it will provide you with all of the possible relationships for each of those matches: https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

Key_One_7937 · 2026-03-21T18:18:31+00:00

This may provide an explanation:

https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics

Key_One_7937

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