Using cM counts to help find the common ancestor: part 3 of 3

What if your analysis of your match doesn’t match the shared cM chart?

Most people are able to find their Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) when they share over 90 cM of matching DNA. Below that, it begins to get a little more challenging. In this February 2017 series of blog posts, I’ve been focusing on identifying the MRCA with people who share more than 60 cM with us, projected to be 4^th cousins or closer. You may not have much in that range and have chosen to work with matches who share 45-60 cM with you. That’s okay. There are a few key reasons why we want to focus on this group.

Using shared cM counts to help find the common ancestor: part 2 of 3

The previous post in this short series talked about the genealogy basics one should have covered before dabbling in DNA. Now we’re ready to explore how to use some of the DNA information in conjunction with that genealogy.

Using shared cM counts to help find the common ancestor: part 1 of 3

Last month I suggested that soon I’d be sharing some results of a citizen science DNA project I’m working on. However, I realize now that the proposed blog draft is too long, with too many diversions to explain some basics that might help newer readers.

So I’m taking a step back and planning several short posts first. The theme is ‘Using shared cM counts to help find the common ancestor.’