What does X-match mean

Question

I have just noticed that a couple of my matches on FTDNA have been marked X-Match . Could somebody explain what this means.

Thanks

Chris

Comments

Lucky you!!!  Your list of X-chromosome ancestors is on this page:

https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Colwell-593/89

Your X-matches will connect to one of your X-Chromosome ancestors.

Answer 1

Males get all of their X chromosome from the mother so an X match means that person is related on the mother's side. It helps narrow the search down when you can eliminate all of your paternal lines from the equation.

Comments

I dunno about that. I have an X-match with someone who is clearly on my father's side. I do have some x-matches on my mother's side, though. I put both of their dna on ftdna with my own.

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Men cannot inherit the X-chromosome from their fathers - unless we're talking about extremely rare genetic aberrations.

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True. But, like I said on FTDNA I have an X-Match with someone who is on my father's side. Dunno what to tell ya.

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It's possible that your known match on your father's side could also be related to you through a (currently unknown) ancestor in one of your mother's X-inheritance lines.

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Hmm. That is extremely doubtful. But, who knows? She doesn't show up as a match with my mother on Ancestry or the other sites. Not even gedmatch.

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If she's not a match for your mother, then prob not. Tho if she only matched your mother on the X chr, I believe that some testing companies (not sure about GEDmatch) won't identify that as a match.

But I have encountered a cousin (not DNA-tested) that was related to me via paper trail through one line on my father's side and another line on my mother's side.

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That's weird, Rick. Of course, like me she is part Italian and the other half is English. My mother has French-Canadian and English roots going up to colonial NH and Mass. I wonder if that's what FTDNA is picking up on. One small problem. My grandfather on her side is French-Canadian on both sides.

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Hi Chris,  Your X-Chromosome ancestors are listed on this page:

https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Ferraiolo-2/89

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Thanks, Kitty! =D

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Thanks for the answer Bill

Have taken a look at the 3 X-Matches in the chromosome browser and found that they are only 2.25, 2.16 and 1.34 cms. Normally these would be ignored because they are so small . Does the same apply for X chromosome as it does for the other chromosomes.

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I'm certainly not an expert so take what I say with a grain of salt. As I understand it, the X DNA remains intact for a much greater length of time so a small X-match may be from too far back to trace. I use X-matches simply as a means of eliminating lines and evaluate the concurrent autosomal match the same as for non-X-matches except that, as a male, I know that the match is from one of the maternal lines.