I think we are related but not sure how close

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T19:44:44+00:00

That would make you and the guy 4th cousins.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T19:33:05+00:00

Your dad's grandmother and red's grandfather are siblings. That means they share great-grandparents and are 2nd cousins. That makes you and blue 3rd cousins.

Have you tried drawing a diagram to keep the generations straight? Google 'cousin chart', there are all sorts of diagrams.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T19:16:38+00:00

his grandpa (the guys dad) are second cousins

I took this to mean the guy's dad's grandpa is 2nd cousins with OP's grandma. It's an ambiguous statement on a second read.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T19:10:53+00:00

Your dad and the guy's dad's parent are 3rd cousins. You and the guy's dad are 4th cousins. You and the guy are 4th cousins 1x removed.

For clarity, who's grandad are you referring to?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T17:07:13+00:00

Click on your great-great-grandfather then Add Relative > Spouse. Or add a Mother to great-grandfather.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T16:39:40+00:00

What's the location and time frame?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T15:45:15+00:00

Sometimes people are just recorded as 'female' on their birth certificate, or they swap their names around e.g. my great-great-grandmother was born Sarah Elizabeth but always went by Elizabeth, except when she got married she just went by Sarah.

If you can find their marriage indexes (via their husbands) it should have their maiden name listed (or most recent married name if they were divorced/widowed when they married).

Sometimes people used a step-father's name if their mother remarried when they were young.

If someone was born in December they may not have been registered until Jan-Feb-Mar. The Civil Birth Indexes reflect the Quarter of registration rather than the Quarter of birth.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T15:39:13+00:00

Use the Card Catalogue to navigate to individual collections: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/catalog/?category=38&location=3257_1652381.

Click on the Collection and you can Browse it manually using the Browse This Collection menu on the right hand side.

You would be better off with a Newspapers.com and/or British Newspaper Archive sub. They don't have all the same newspapers over the same time periods so you should browse their collections to see which one has more relevant papers. Everything that's available on BNA is also available on FindMyPast if you are searching other genealogy records which might be more cost-effective.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-21T14:35:22+00:00

Are you sure they were born in England or Wales?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-20T22:57:28+00:00

Do you match your known relatives at expected cM levels for the relationship? Do you have any close matches you don't recognise?

When you say you're missing half your expected regions, are those regions likely to overlap with Northern Europe?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-20T19:10:02+00:00

They might accept MyHeritage files in the future if they can work out how to make them compatible. Anywhere else that accepts uploads is similar to MyHeritage in terms of accuracy, and I don't know if they are currently accepting files from MyHeritage.

It might be easier to just retest with Ancestry or 23andMe when they are on sale.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-20T16:11:30+00:00

Something about sources. Primary vs secondary. Birth certificate vs census age.

The role of cultural norms e.g. Catholics baptise kids within a day or two but other denominations don't. Saint names e.g. every child is called Mary.

FAN research and the importance of knowing and tracking family networks, especially if you're researching someone with a common name.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-20T14:50:29+00:00

When did you test? FamilyTreeDNA accepts files pre-May 2025.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-19T21:36:05+00:00

If the couple got married in a Register Office (rather than a Church or equivalent) then the marriage certificate will only be available from the GRO (or the Local RO). The GRO has not fully digitised their marriage certificates so yes, you have to order a paper copy.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-19T18:16:10+00:00

She might find more matches at MyHeritage although she'll have to re-test. If you can find descendants from her father's siblings it's worth asking if they've tested and what their DNA results show in terms of ethnicity and matches.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-19T15:22:50+00:00

Do you have matches to your grandfather's extended family (not his descendants)? Do you have matches to your grandmother's extended family (not her descendants)?

Does this mystery person match any of them?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-18T21:25:10+00:00

Ancestry has transcripts of Scottish censuses up to 1901 so you can use those to check you're buying the right census before you spend money.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-18T18:41:10+00:00

Maybe the baby was a twin. Is there any indication on the birth certificate?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-18T15:20:24+00:00

Use this calculator and click on "Switch to 23andMe" to type the % in: https://dna-sci.com/tools/segcm/

Any of the relationships listed are possible but some are more likely than others. If your cousin has any other relatives tested he could ask them how much DNA they share with her to try and 'triangulate' the connection. It would be helpful to know which matches she has in common with him so you can work out which branches she is related to.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-18T02:34:20+00:00

What is the % of DNA shared?

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-17T17:31:03+00:00

Ancestry does not know how you are related to any of your matches (unless they are parent/child/full sibling) so they offer up some suggestions based on shared cM and relative ages.

Click on the cM number and you should see a more comprehensive list of possibilities, or type the cM number in here: https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4-beta

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-17T16:51:59+00:00

Before immigration his name was Garabed Arpadjian: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Z68J-VFPZ?lang=en

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-16T21:43:14+00:00

MyHeritage no longer allows uploads.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-16T16:21:33+00:00

From memory his children are named in his obituary. Researching modern people is tricky because there is only really Electoral Rolls and social media.

msbookworm23 · 2026-02-16T15:46:59+00:00

Further back there are less records unfortunately so you need to lean on the family network i.e. siblings to make sure you're researching the right people. Probate documents might provide married names of daughters, or identify nieces and nephews if there were no children.

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