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Autosomal DNA Evaluation of Distant Cousins

Autosomal DNA Evaluation of Distant Cousins

Posted: 18 May 2015 12:02AM GMT
Classification: Query
In reviewing my Autosomal DNA Matches on Ancestry DNA I need some help.

I've finally gotten around to attempting to evaluate my Autosomal DNA Distant Cousin Matches.
Up until this time I have been concentrating on Matches with Hints and close Cousins, 2nd & 3rd mostly, so my more distant matches have piled up.
Looking for the best logic in evaluating them. I am reviewing those who have Not Logged into AOL in several months First. Of these I see two major categories that I feel I can eliminate.
1. Those without a Family Tree. These because they are not likely to ever post a tree,
2. Those with only a couple of dozen people in their tree. because so few in the tree are unlikely to be of use in evaluating a "Autosomal DNA Distant Cousin" relationship.
I would appreciate any comments or observations anyone may have to the above.
How would you tackle this issue?
Thanks

Re: Autosomal DNA Evaluation of Distant Cousins

Posted: 18 May 2015 4:55PM GMT
Classification: Query
For those with no or minimal trees, double check it by going to their user profile. Some people have a tree but haven't linked. They may have alternate trees that are useful.

Re: Autosomal DNA Evaluation of Distant Cousins

Posted: 19 May 2015 5:52PM GMT
Classification: Query
Edited: 19 May 2015 5:54PM GMT
The distant cousins are a bit illusory. By the time you get three or four generations out there is so much DNA drop out that any effort to connect with DNA is probably not going to happen. See http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics

What the AncestryDNA results do is indicate how much common DNA you and your match have. At fifth to eight cousin it's a very very small amount and it's highly unlikely that even if your remote trees connect that that is the source of your common DNA. It could easily be somewhere else and the DNA test isn't going to give you any more information than that you have a small bit of common DNA.

Basically, the remote cousins may give you some idea of where to aim your research but remote ancestry still relies on the old paper trail.
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