Jim, Yes, I have found previously unknown cousins at 23andMe (and then a couple of them tested at FTDNA, and we also matched there).  The number I have found is very small.  Thanks to CNN I even got to meet one (Bob STUBBS) in person.  If you just count those where my match and I have identified a common ancestor or ancestral couple it has just been seven in my father's line (he is deceased so I can't test him) and 12 in my mother's line (fortunately she has been tested).  I only counted one match per family (e.g. where I might match multiple members of the same family - say a parent, child, and sibling).  I have been able to identify five cases where my wife and one of her matches have a shared ancestor or ancestral couple.  Unfortunately, my wife isn't interested in genealogy, and she has some early brick walls I need to work on. My wife's parents are deceased, so I can't test them and she has no siblings. I am starting to find matches with more than one person on the same segment where we all can trace ourselves to a shared ancestor or ancestral couple.  I need more matches to increase my confidence that the shared ancestor or ancestral couple we have identified is the one we inherited the segment from.  I also have several cases where I have identified a shared ancestor or ancestral couple with one match but other matches we (the first match, and my mother or me) have on the same segment don't have a deep enough pedigree to know if they are also descendants of the ancestor or ancestral couple.  In some cases we have matching surnames in our pedigrees but we just can't identify the shared ancestor.  Hopefully, they will take the information I share with them and do some digging and come back to me later with what they find. Perhaps the most valuable information for me was finding an African segment in both my mother's and my wife's 23andMe Ancestry Paintings (different segments so they don't match on them).  Finding my mother's African segment helped me to understand a story my maternal grandmother's 1st cousin had told me about where one of my maternal grandmother's lines had come from (Newman's Ridge in Hancock Co., TN) and the fact that the area was home to many Melungeon families.   At the time the cousin told the story I could tell he expected me to understand the significance of Newman's Ridge, but I had no idea what he meant.   While my mother and my wife don't match, I have noticed a pattern where my wife matches a person on a segment on one chromosome and my mother matches the same person on a different segment on another chromosome.  In about half of the cases the matches have ancestry paintings with at least one African segment.  I think this will lead me to finding my wife and my mother have a distant shared Melungeon ancestor. Well, I could go on and one, but I hope I have answered your question. Regards, Larry ________________________________ From: Jim Bartlett <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2012 9:29 AM Subject: Re: [AUTOSOMAL-DNA] SUBJECT: How do you work a 5 way FF match with few clues ? Is ANYONE finding any new cousins with FF or 23&me? By this I mean strangers, not the close kin you already know and/or have paid for their tests. What percent of your hitherto unknown matches have worked out? Jim - Sent from my iPhone - FaceTime!