You don't get all the DNA your parents have; you get half. Thus, my dad is going to have matches that I don't but who undoubtedly are my cousins too. If they are my dad's cousins, they are mine!
And this is why I love DNA as a genealogical research tool...
I found a match in his 4th-6th cousin matches whose username included her maiden name which was Earle; just like mine. Her tree is private so I emailed her with the hope that she would reply eventually. I email users all the time and rarely hear back from anyone quickly, if at all.
She did reply right away! She shared that she was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland.
BINGO! That is where my great grandfather, Abram Earle was born in January of 1891.
Oh we're related but through who?.
We'll call her Cousin T. She matches my father at 47 centimorgans (cMs). Her father, who we will call Cousin R, matches my father at 62 cMs. I don't match either of them, nor do either of paternal uncles. My sister matches Cousin T at 18 cMs and Cousin R at 19 cMs.
My guess is that her dad (Cousin R) and my dad are at least likely to be 3rd cousins meaning they have great-great grandparents in common.
Cousin T went on to tell me her great-great-great grandfather was William Earle, son of Elias. Um, I think my great-great grandfather Abraham was the son of Elias. Although, Abraham could have been the son of William and thus the grandson of Elias. I am fairly confident that Abraham was the son of Elias and that William was Abraham's oldest brother. They had a significant age gap though. William was born in about 1829 and Abraham was born in about 1849.
So, I am waiting to hear back from Cousin T about what she knows about William. Was my Abraham his oldest son or his youngest brother???
Dun-dun-dunnn!
Very exciting!
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