family finder and second to fourth cousins

[owain]

I have recently received the results for my family finder. What within a range of relationships does second to fourth cousins actually mean ; is it the same as if I had a second cousin ie my cousins children for a second cousin etc?

[LynCra]

A second cousin would share great grandparents with you. A 4th cousin shares great great great grandparents with you. Your cousin´s children are first cousin once removed.

[prairielad]

2nd to 4th cousin range means common ancestor may fall somewhere between a great grandparent or a 3x Great Grandparent.

It also maybe further back.

[John McCoy]

What 2nd to 4th cousin means to FTDNA is that the amount of matching DNA falls within a range that someone once estimated is appropriate for a 2nd to 4th cousin. However, in my experience, this label is often wildly optimistic, the actual relationship appears to be at least a couple generations farther back, or even more remote than that! When the amount of matching DNA is on the order of 100 cM or more, that's something to get excited about. When it's on the order of 50 cM or less, compare pedigrees if you can, but don't expect to find the connection in every case. Most of mine remain unexplained.

[owain]

I have looked again at my FF results and my nearest relative ( classed as a second cousin to forth cousin) has a 0.00% chance of sharing a common relative with me in over 20 generations!

[dna]

I have looked again at my FF results and my nearest relative ( classed as a second cousin to forth cousin) has a 0.00% chance of sharing a common relative with me in over 20 generations!

How did you get that information out of Family Finder?

W. (Mr.)

[BBA64]

With the genomes in my family that I manage, the cousin estimates vary greatly. For me personally, the estimates of 1st-2nd and 2nd-3rd were right in the middle. Another family member has a very endogamous tree and the estimates were 3-4 generations further back (but we were successful in finding MRCAs). As others have said - it all depends. I have noticed from my experience only (and I won't extrapolate to others), larger and fewer segments had a bigger impact on predictability with the cousin guesstimate provided.

[T E Peterman]

If either you or the match are related through a side of either family that has a first cousin marriage, it will make kinships that are a lot more distant appear to be closer.

Timothy Peterman