With Family finder the results say what level cousin the match is expected to be. What happens in the case of half siblings with what level the cousin will show at? For example if a woman marriages twice and has a child with each father. The grandchildren are 1st cousins and the great grandchildren 2nd cousins and great great grandchildren 3rd cousins. But when it comes to reading the DNA family finder result would it show the relationship as this or would it be more distant as the DNA shared is half to begin with. Would a half third cousin be shown as maybe a third to fifth cousin? Karen

Dear Karen, I suggest you study the file called "Distant relatives, non-endogamous" at http://kquilting.homeserver.com/23andme/ref.html. Note that 3rd cousins should share .781% of their autosomal DNA, or about 55 cMs. However, there is a wide range of possible amounts of shared DNA for 3rd cousins. You would expect 1/2 3rd cousins to share .391% of their DNA, or about 28 cMs. When you get below about a 2nd cousin once removed level of relationship the percentage of shared DNA varies relatively widely from 0 to as much as 150 or so cMs. I suggest you not focus so much on what Family Finder suggests the relationship might be, but rather on the precise number of cMs shared that are over 5 cMs. From my perspective the suggested relationships in FF beyond the 2nd cousin once removed level of relationship are simply wild guesses. I generally lump everyone who matches at less than 100 cMs into a broad group that ranges from 2nd cousin once removed to 15th cousins. You might want to review the summary of my Youngman project I posted at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2011-05/13043235 85. The testing was helpful in establishing a genealogical link between people who are 1/2 4th cousins to each other. However, I tested multiple people (14) in order to come to this conclusion. Sincerely, Tim Janzen -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Karen Hodges Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 10:39 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [AUTOSOMAL-DNA] matching cousins With Family finder the results say what level cousin the match is expected to be. What happens in the case of half siblings with what level the cousin will show at? For example if a woman marriages twice and has a child with each father. The grandchildren are 1st cousins and the great grandchildren 2nd cousins and great great grandchildren 3rd cousins. But when it comes to reading the DNA family finder result would it show the relationship as this or would it be more distant as the DNA shared is half to begin with. Would a half third cousin be shown as maybe a third to fifth cousin? Karen

On the average, a half-third cousin would share the same amount of DNA as a third cousin once removed (i.e., between a third and fourth cousin). The range displayed by FF should be bigger to account for the random element. Ann Turner On Mon, Mar 12, 2012 at 10:39 PM, Karen Hodges <[email protected]> wrote: > With Family finder the results say what level cousin the match is expected > to be. What happens in the case of half siblings with what level the cousin > will show at? For example if a woman marriages twice and has a child with > each father. The grandchildren are 1st cousins and the great grandchildren > 2nd cousins and great great grandchildren 3rd cousins. But when it comes > to reading the DNA family finder result would it show the relationship as > this or would it be more distant as the DNA shared is half to begin with. > Would a half third cousin be shown as maybe a third to fifth cousin? > > Karen >

Karen If I understand your question correctly, you'd treat half-siblings like regular children when analyzing for atDNA. That's because the segments you are comparing only come down one path. Although all of the atDNA is a different mix, considering the different fathers, the IBD segment you should be comparing only comes from the mother OR a father, and not a mix. Jim - Sent from my iPhone - FaceTime! On Mar 13, 2012, at 1:39 AM, Karen Hodges <[email protected]> wrote: > With Family finder the results say what level cousin the match is expected > to be. What happens in the case of half siblings with what level the cousin > will show at? For example if a woman marriages twice and has a child with > each father. The grandchildren are 1st cousins and the great grandchildren > 2nd cousins and great great grandchildren 3rd cousins. But when it comes > to reading the DNA family finder result would it show the relationship as > this or would it be more distant as the DNA shared is half to begin with. > Would a half third cousin be shown as maybe a third to fifth cousin? > > Karen > > > ______________________________ > For answers to Frequently Asked Questions about mailing lists, please see: > http://dgmweb.net/MailingListFAQs.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message