Question

When the relationship finds a common ancestor, does that mean we are DNA connected?

Comments

 IF THERE IS DNA EVIDENCE, You'd still need to do the paper trail to support the assertion there IS a blood kin relationship ... LOL 

We're "connected" to everyone by way of being born on the planet. We're related due to shared genetic material. 

So if you DO share the DNA (genetic material) and can paper trail this, depending on how much paper trail there actually is like birth, death, marriage, census, last will and testament, land transfers, and a host of other paperwork, you can take a victory lap (IMO) for finding all that paper work 

If there's no DNA evidence presented, you MIGHT be connected by a series of marriages 

Answer 1

No.  It doesn't mean you share DNA, but you might.  

If you're talking about the WikiTree "Relationship Finder," I just tried it a couple of times and it appears to show only blood relations.  On my second try, the screen said

"We couldn't find a common ancestor, however:

1. They could be related by marriage or adoption, but not blood. If it's a relationship by marriage within 10 steps the Connection Finder may find it...."

On my first try, I randomly picked someone from a G2G list, and it was Eowyn.  Turns out she and I are 11th cousins.  I think it extremely unlikely we would share DNA (above the thresholds used by the testing companies).

Most of the relationships I find through the relationship finder are quite distant.  A closer relation will be more likely to share DNA with you, but you need to compare your DNA to determine that.  The relationship finder has no way of knowing.

Comments

Thanks, Amanda!

Answer 2

My thoughts are that this question is in relation to Ancestry.com.  If not, then please disregard my answer.

If yes, then as a bit of background, Ancestry.com lists DNA matches which are sorted from close family members to more distant relatives.  Under the Filters pull down menu, there is an option to list only "Common ancestors".

If you entered an Ancestry tree, then the Ancestry.com will use your tree and that of your DNA matches to find a potential common ancestor.

However, if some of your DNA matches have not entered a Tree, then they will not be listed.

In either case, you are connected by DNA, but how you are connected may or may not be understood based on the Trees entered.

Answer 3

It all depends on the quality of the work.

If the research is solid, and each generation is proven, then yes, however as the common ancestor gets more remote the amount of DNA you inherit from that individual becomes smaller and smaller. The progression is theoretically 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 .... so you eventually get to the point where the contribution from that remote ancestor is not detectable.

Answer 4

I'm unclear exactly what is being asked, but maybe it's inquiring as to the likelihood getting a DNA match, given that you're related. The answer to that is that you will virtually always get a DNA for a 2C1R (second cousin, once removed), or equivalent, or closer. For a 3C, there's about a 90% chance.

The chances keep dropping as you get more distantly related, of course, but the number of possible relatives goes up dramatically, so you get plenty of matches at the 4C and 5C levels, but it drops off beyond that.