Help Needed
A DNA Mystery!
Hey Everyone. I need help. I have puzzled over this for hours, and this is where I am at. I have a DNA match at 139 cM. I have worked their tree back to a common surname. Here is the catch. Their ancestor is the sister of my relative’s husband. The attached chart shows the paper trail … many sources used: Ancestry dot Com, Geneteka, BaSIA Famula, Poznan Project, and FamilySearch. WHAT AM I MISSING HERE? How are the DNA Match and I related? We would need to have an MRCA on the Tobolski-Bzowa line, right?
You share 139cM of DNA with the match so yes you are related but there is no information provided here to suggest it is by any of the lines you have identified. If your objective is to figure out how this match fits to your tree you need to take a step back and look at two things. First what sort of relationship are you looking for in light of the amount of cM shared. Check the shared cM calculator at DNA Painter - https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4/139 (or some other reliable calculator but this is my go to). Second, look at the shared DNA matches. What matches do you and the match have in common with each other. Have you already connected any to your tree? If yes, what line is it suggesting the genetic relationship is on? This one or a different one. Can you join these shared matches together around a common ancestor. If you are on Ancestry and have Pro Tools you can also look at shared matches of shared matches. I hope that helps?
I think you need to look for another connection. How complete are the trees for you and your match? It is also possible that the genetic and the paper tree do not line up, that there is a not-the-parent-expected situation. As Jane suggested look at the shared matches to puzzle out the connection.