Comments on William Jones - DNA

+2 votes
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On 24 Nov 2020 Eleanor (Holmes) Colson wrote on Jones-59088:

I am listed under the DNA Connections for Jones-59088, William Jones [1701-1771]. When I click on his father, Henry Jones [Jones-44999, I am not listed under DNA Connections for him. Is this a glitch in the system or does this mean I am not related to him? I have had this happen on several of my lines so I thought I would ask.

WikiTree profile: William Jones
in Genealogy Help by Eleanor Colson G2G6 Mach 1 (12.3k points)

1 Answer

+7 votes
 
Best answer
I think that autosomal DNA cuts out after a certain number of generations up the tree, as it becomes less likely that you'll share any DNA with them (on average). It does the same going sideways in the tree - cousins that are too distant don't appear on each other's DNA connections list.
by Kathleen Cobcroft G2G6 Pilot (104k points)
selected by Christopher Childs
I agree.  Autosomal DNA is generally regarded as inconclusive, at best, when you go back more than five generations.
Autosomal DNA connections propagate 8 steps from the test taker. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:DNA_Features#DNA_Test_Connections_on_Relevant_Profiles for details.
Testing atDNA can reveal background ethnicity to the 10th generation, but if you're trying to establish a relationship between particular individuals, past the level of a 5th cousin you're on shaky ground unless you have additional, strongly supportive data.  From https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA :

"Autosomal DNA tests can be used to confirm relationships with a high level of accuracy for parent/child relationships and all relationships up to the second cousin level. For all relationships additional contextual and genealogical information is required to confirm the nature of the relationship.... Genealogical relationships beyond the 5th cousin level of relationship are more difficult to prove with autosomal DNA testing and, as a general rule, these can only be approached using triangulation."

If some way could be found to accurately interpret data revealing shared atDNA past the level of 5th cousins, that would be a remarkable advance, but the quantity of shared DNA past that level is so small that it's not now possible to rely on test results for anything beyond speculative conclusions.
Thanks for the link to the details, Rick!

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