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Confused about #1 match on GEDMATCH v. 5th generation or beyond on FtDNA

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  • Confused about #1 match on GEDMATCH v. 5th generation or beyond on FtDNA

    First let me start off by saying that my mother is 50% or a little more than 50% Ashkenazi Jewish so this may affect the answer. However, on GEDMATCH her number one match - besides me of course- is another Jewish person who is listed as sharing a total of 114.9 cM with the largest cM being 11.6 with an approx distance of 3.5 generations. I am not so concerned with the generations.

    When I went to look up this match on FtDNA it took me some time because he is on one of her distant pages as a 4th cousin/remote cousin with a shared cM of 80.34 listed and the largest cM being 10.06.

    Why such a disparity? I take all Jewish matches with a grain of salt however FtDNA has twice listed 2 Jewish matches as 5th remote cousins when in fact they were actually 3rd cousins of mine. I was under the impression that they actually made the matches seem closer than they should be but I think they are doing the opposite and are missing many matches. So I am not sure what to think about this one.


  • #2
    Hi mollyblum nice to see you on the forum again! The best answer I can give is it is different how the two have the algorithms set. FTDNA is pretty strict, and I think they might be overcompensating the endogamy? Not sure how close your match on Gedmatch really is. My guess would be probably closer than what FTDNA predicated. I'm basing this on your experience with your known third cousins.