Most distant confirmed connection?

pinkypinky

So I was trawling my Ancestry DNA matches tonight and thinking how I'd never figure out most of them.

My smallest cM match connection where I am able to document how we're related is a third cousin once removed with whom I share 10cM over 2 segments.

With and without DNA, I have at this stage confirmed a fair few 4th cousins and 4C1Rs, but haven't made the leap to a 5th cousin yet for myself.

I was amazed that Eneclann were able to document an 8th cousin of Barack Obama's. What's the best other people have managed on Irish lines?

Earnest

ThruLines has found for me a 6th cousin with 12 cM (1 segment), which I have confirmed by exploring the records on the relationship they claimed. But then there's also a 4th cousin with 7 cM (1 segment). So I suppose the hit-and-miss nature of how close the relationship is confirmed here. And at the opposite extreme there's a 54 cM (unlinked tree) that I don't have a clue about (haven't got round to writing to them).

Whether you can document distant cousins really depends on records. I have found 6th cousins 3 times removed through Ancestry, but that's involved access to a written pedigree which I had and another I was given through correspondence.

srmf5

I have 6 matches descended from one set of 4th great grandparents. 3 of these 6 are descend from 2 sets of ancestors so that has increased the amount of DNA shared. I also have 4 matches from another set of 4th great grandparents that I know of. Excluding those matches known to share ancestors from more than one line, the amount of shared DNA ranges from 8 cM to 30 cM.

tonycascarino

I was able to confirm a couple of 6cM relatives who turned out to be a 5th cousin once removed and a 6th cousin.


Just a question but how reliable does one think Ancestry matches are in general in relation to the 5th-8th cousin matches? Are the vast majority definitely related in some way or are there many phantom matches?

pinkypinky

There's definitely going to be some identical by accident segments in the mix. Try to see how many segments you match on. With the tiny ones, they can just be noise.

Autosomal is really only good out to 6th cousins (when you get back to a 5x great grandparent, you'll likely only have about 1.5% of their DNA, so the chances of that matching someone else's 1.5% from the same person is ridiculous).

endacl

If you go as far as 8th cousins, you can pretty much guarantee a connection with pretty much everybody.

Claim a relationship with anybody you like. If your questioned, just answer ‘maths’.