I share 53 segments of DNA with a relative. I’m currently not sure of my exact relationship with them however, but Ancestry.com shows us as cousins with confidence being extremely high. This person is 82, I’m 53. He’s the age of my parents. Is it possible that he’s actually an uncle or my biological father?
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Hi Doris, welcome. I'm going to remove the image as it contains personally identifying information, and your DNA match may or may not want his name and photo displayed here. However, can you please give some more information about the match - the total cM (centiMorgans) shared is generally more useful information than the number of segments. Feel free to add information to your question using the edit button below the post.– Harry V. ♦Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 5:04
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You can add the picture again if you blur out any names, kit numbers and email addresses.– lkesslerCommented Jan 15, 2018 at 5:34
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2 Answers
Based on your information, it is hard to say the relationship based solely on the number of segments. The number of cM is the more important measurement.
However based on my experience, if the match was your father, then he should be in the predicted relationship of Parent/Child. Just as a reference, my parents show up as around 3450 cM. My dad shares 68 segments while my mother has 87 segments. My Aunt and half-sister both show up as a predicted relationship of Close Family - 1st cousin. (~1700 cM with 66 segments and ~1400 cM with 56 segments respectively) All my actual 1st cousins (3 have tested so far) show up with a possible range of 1st-2nd cousin (range of 692-793 cM with 28-31 segments)
I am positive the match is not your father. If the range reported is Close Family-1st cousin, based on the age difference, Uncle seems the most likely.
The simple answer, that really it may be your uncle and I am sure that this person can't be your biological father. What makes sense is the shared segments length in cM. The number of segments is much-much less important.
