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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2011-08 > 1313874123


From: Ann Turner <>
Subject: Re: [DNA] Family Finder - FTDNA
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2011 14:02:03 -0700
References: <5c63c.5e819453.3b805fc5@aol.com><371F98DF-06A3-4B81-9319-681D0AC676EB@telusplanet.net>
In-Reply-To: <371F98DF-06A3-4B81-9319-681D0AC676EB@telusplanet.net>


These are good examples of hypothesis-testing. Random matches can be fun,
but I do think scenarios like yours illustrate the real power of the test.

Ann

On Sat, Aug 20, 2011 at 8:00 AM, Patricia <> wrote:

> Great success with this test. For years I have researched two McMahon
> families on Ontario, Canada. They both lived in the same small town. I spent
> a lot of time and money working on both lines trying to see if they were
> connected. I descended from one and was curious about the other. After many
> years I made contact with people who actually connected with my branch and
> they had more information than I did. They said the other McMahon family was
> connected to ours, but they had no proof. I ordered baptisms, marriage
> records, wills, death records, obituaries - anything that may show a link
> between the families, there was never any mention of the families being
> connected...
> Last year I finally found a person descended from the other McMahon
> family. I paid for his Family Finder test and I had already done the Family
> Finder on my mother. If connected they should have shown up as 4th cousins.
> At this point I was happy to know either way - if a match great, if not time
> to quit spending time and money researching the other branch.
> It was agony waiting for the results but one day sure enough, my mom showed
> up as a 4th cousin to the person who tested. I was elated, it was such a
> great breakthrough.
>
> That is not my only success though. I had been in touch with a relative in
> Galway, Ireland. They did not like to write letters and communication was at
> a minimum. I paid for his Family FInder test and was happy with the results
> as it confirmed our distant connection. Sadly though I did not have this
> persons full documented line so I did not know for sure how many generations
> back we connected. One day he had a match with someone the same surname as
> him. It turns out it was his nephew who was able to fill in the tree for me
> and let me know his lineage.
>
> I am still waiting for test results from 4 more people from different lines
> and can't wait to have more to explore.
> Needless to say I would highly recommend this test to anyone who would care
> to listen!
>
> Patricia
>

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