My first DNA matches!

One of the first things I did when I got started in genealogy last year was submit my DNA to be tested with two popular services: 23andMe and Family Tree DNA.  I finally had some success in determining the relationships of some DNA relatives.

My first hit was with 23andMe.  In general I have been dissatisfied with the general lack of people interested in genealogy on that site.  People primarily use it for health analysis, and my own experience has been that only about 15% of users will respond to requests to find a common ancestor.

Still, even people who don't respond sometimes provide valuable information, such as their own name and a list of family names.  For one of my matches (a predicted 3rd to distant cousin), I was able to use the provided information to do a little Internet sleuthing and ultimately build a family tree.  By sheer luck one branch of the tree was fairly well researched by Ancestry members, and I found a connection between us.  We turned out to be 7th cousins twice removed.  Our common ancestor was a man named Hans Jorg Rex (b. 1682, Germany, d. 1772, Germantown, Pa.).

This finding was exciting but somewhat dissatisfying for three reasons:

1. The ancestor was so remote that I can't really be sure that we didn't share a more proximate ancestor on another branch.  I was unable to push back very far on a large chunk of my match's tree, leaving open the possibility that we are much more closely related.
2. The match was on an unconfirmed branch of my own tree.  I have circumstantial evidence to suggest that Hans Jorg Rex is my direct ancestor, and I believe that he is, but I lack documentary evidence at one step of the chain.  Perhaps this DNA match should be seen to strengthen my hypothesis of this direct ancestor.
3. Because my match will not share genomes with me (or even respond to messages), I will never know which segment of my DNA was passed down from this ancestor.

My second match was made using Family Tree DNA.  We were predicted to be 3rd to 5th cousins, and better yet, I recognized a surname from my tree in his list.  It did not take long to confirm that we are actually 4th cousins once removed.  Our shared ancestors are Peter Moyer (b. 1800, Lynn, Pa.) and his wife Catharine Gerard (b. 1804, Germany).  My match and another genealogist in his family were both extremely helpful and willing to discuss and share research.

This match absolutely confirms the chain of ancestors in my tree leading back to Peter Moyer, which I find to be quite a relief!  I sometimes worry about the presence of so-called non-paternal events (NPEs) in my tree, but this is one line of descent where that can be ruled out.