Which Test?

[berniceorgrace]

I have taken the MTplus test and waiting for a 1st cousin's results to see if we came from the same mother, therefore we would be sisters. My question is that no father was named on my birth certificate, what test should I take next to find out who my father is.I have also done the autosomal test.

[ech124]

You have not given enough information to answer the question.

Do you know anything at all about your biological family, or is the alleged 1st cousin someone you just found through the familyfinder test? If the cousin is on familyfinder, you use the "in common" feature to see the group of relatives that are in common to both of you. You then try and build up a picture of relationships and areas where they lived. If the cousin is determined to be maternal only, you want to do the opposite (find those relatives using the "not in common" feature).

[loobster]

You say you are "waiting for a 1st cousin's results" to see if you come from the same mother, and that you have no info on your father.

Do you have info on your mother?

What are you basing the statement that you are 1st cousins on?
If it is FTDNA's Family Finder Test - what did they give for the relationship range?

[berniceorgrace]

Which test

I have done ancestrydna and autosomal test on here, we are 1st cousins, but there is a slight chance that we came from the same mother..her mother had a baby in 1957 when I was born, and her parents said the baby girl died the same day she was born, so with that we are suspicious that I could be that baby, I have been to Canada to meet and spend time with my cousin, we are most definately from the same family..her name on here is Christina Todd-Malatesta, you can look at our matches and see the close or slight chance we could be half sisters...I have my mothers death certificate and my birth certificate also, I have no doubt Im in the right family and my cousin and I could pass for siters, very similar looks, mannerisms, laugh, walk, also she applied for a birth and death document for this baby sister and there was not a birth or death certificate...

[loisrp]

I have done ancestrydna and autosomal test on here, we are 1st cousins, but there is a slight chance that we came from the same mother..her mother had a baby in 1957 when I was born, and her parents said the baby girl died the same day she was born, so with that we are suspicious that I could be that baby, I have been to Canada to meet and spend time with my cousin, we are most definately from the same family..her name on here is Christina Todd-Malatesta, you can look at our matches and see the close or slight chance we could be half sisters...I have my mothers death certificate and my birth certificate also, I have no doubt Im in the right family and my cousin and I could pass for siters, very similar looks, mannerisms, laugh, walk, also she applied for a birth and death document for this baby sister and there was not a birth or death certificate...

If you and your relative upload your autosomal results to GedMatch and then get a qualified person to look, you will be able to tell immediately if you are half-sisters. You probably won't need the qualified person, actually, but just to be 100% sure.

[prairielad]

There is not any more testing you can do on yourself or cousin if you both have done FamilyFinder and mtDNA.

You can look for other possible relatives and test them with FamilyFinder to help weed out your maternal vs paternal matches.

Curious, what is your X share with this cousin...

[berniceorgrace]

tests

Hello, we have done the autsomal and MT tests, but I have only received my MT results, and my cousin is still waiting on her results...is that what you are refering to as family finder test?? we do share X chromosomes..we share 29.8 cm

[ech124]

The Familyfinder is the product name used at this company for the autosomal DNA test.

For close relationships, the results should be fairly clear.

Once the results are done, you will look at your match list and the company will assign the suggested relationship to the match and give a total shared cM (centimorgan) number.

If you then look at the total cM column, the ballpark expected match would be:

Full Sibling 2550 cM
Half Sibling 1700 cM
First Cousin 850 cM

Once you have that answer, anything other than full sibling would need further detective work, but I suggest waiting for the results first before considering more DNA tests.

[berniceorgrace]

gedmatch

ok, my cousin did the gedmatch and we have more CM's with them than anywhere...it is 1047.3cm how do we look for half-sibling range on there?? Gedmatch??

[MMaddi]

ok, my cousin did the gedmatch and we have more CM's with them than anywhere...it is 1047.3cm how do we look for half-sibling range on there?? Gedmatch??

Here's what ech124 posted for most likely shared DNA for relationships:

Full Sibling 2550 cM
Half Sibling 1700 cM
First Cousin 850 cM

Based on that, it seems much more likely that the relationship is 1st cousin, not half-sibling.

[loobster]

If your mother and her mother were sisters, then you would be first cousins -- and your MtDNA and her MtDNA would be expected to be an exact match, same as if you had the same mother (if her mother's mother and your mother's mother were sisters, you would be second cousins and again, MtDNA would be expected to be an exact match; etc.)-- so do not expect extra help from MtDNA results on deciding if your mothers were siblings versus the same person -- autosomal test (on FTDNA, called Family Finder) is the one to analyze (as folks have done above) for that question.

On the other hand, if the MtDNA is definitely not a match, that might suggest the cousin relationship is thru the father for one or both of you. (occasionally, since the mutations have to happen sometime, even mother and daughter may not be a 0-step MtDNA match - ask others their take if results show a non-zero step MtDNA match)

[prairielad]

If your mother and her mother were sisters, then you would be first cousins -- and your MtDNA and her MtDNA would be expected to be an exact match, same as if you had the same mother (if her mother's mother and your mother's mother were sisters, you would be second cousins and again, MtDNA would be expected to be an exact match; etc.)-- so do not expect extra help from MtDNA results on deciding if your mothers were siblings versus the same person -- autosomal test (on FTDNA, called Family Finder) is the one to analyze (as folks have done above) for that question.

On the other hand, if the MtDNA is definitely not a match, that might suggest the cousin relationship is thru the father for one or both of you. (occasionally, since the mutations have to happen sometime, even mother and daughter may not be a 0-step MtDNA match - ask others their take if results show a non-zero step MtDNA match)

The mothers are sister in laws, her mother and cousins father were siblings.

http://forums.familytreedna.com/showthread.php?t=39741

[berniceorgrace]

sisters

The reason that we think we could be sisters is because my cousins mother had a baby girl the same year that I was born. According to my cousin the baby girl supposedly died the same day she was born. She has done a search through ServiceOntario and guess what? there was not a birth or death certificate. Also my birth statement was hand written and my cousin thinks it is her mother's hand writing. My cousin's theory is that her mother had me and I didn't look like my cousins father, so they assumed she was cheating on her dad and he made her give the baby up for adoption, and just told the kids that the baby had died...

[MMaddi]

The reason that we think we could be sisters is because my cousins mother had a baby girl the same year that I was born. According to my cousin the baby girl supposedly died the same day she was born. She has done a search through ServiceOntario and guess what? there was not a birth or death certificate. Also my birth statement was hand written and my cousin thinks it is her mother's hand writing. My cousin's theory is that her mother had me and I didn't look like my cousins father, so they assumed she was cheating on her dad and he made her give the baby up for adoption, and just told the kids that the baby had died...

If you haven't read my post on Wednesday at http://forums.familytreedna.com/show...4&postcount=10, you should read it. Basically, it's not very likely that you and your cousin are actually half-sisters and very likely that you are in fact first cousins. The amount of shared DNA tells you that.