Charles I load as many ancestors as FTDNA will take - 9 generations, I think. Once I got a paper trail to a Common Ancestor at the 6th cousin level. Actually it's almost always a match to the husband and wife - you don't know which one passed the atDNA down. I noted the size and location of the largest segment. Recently I got a paper trail to a Common Ancestor at the 8th cousin level who was ancestral to one of the ancestors at other 6th cousin level and the large segment overlapped! Wouldn't this be a type of phasing? As more folks take atDNA testing, I expect to find more of these. Jim - Sent from my iPhone - FaceTime! On Feb 21, 2012, at 8:15 AM, "Charles Acree" <[email protected]> wrote: > If it should assist analysis of the apparent problem, considering other comments posted: My successfully-uploaded GEDCOM was 318KB and contained strictly vital data on my ancestors (detailed BMD dates & places). It's still on the FTDNA website, working fine. Only my parents were rendered private - properly, by default. The births of the six-generations included were uncomplicated by any double-dating because they all occurred after 1752. > > I've researched more extensive ancestry, but have excluded earlier generations because, while I've had wonderful success with 23andMe, I'm skeptical that identifying mutual ancestors among "matching" contacts beyond fourth cousins is realistic. It's not just the IBD vs. IBS quandary. Quite simply, all of us have far too many fifth cousins for any definite correlations. At that distant relationship, there's no way that you can be certain that the mutual ancestor you and a cousin have laboriously identified through genealogical comparison (though worthwhile endeavor in itself) is definitely the ancestor responsible for a matching DNA segment. Fortunately, I can refer curious contacts to my family-history website that extends to an arbitrary twelve-generation cutoff. > > Charles Acree