If your ancestors came to the US from England between 1680 and 1720, what is the closest relative you could find in England?

Question

So I did this DNA test where it finds relatives and my most distant cousins on there are 8th cousins.  But they are all in the US.  I was hoping to find distant cousins in the UK.

My ancestry is mixed with European, Native American and African but most of my European ancestry comes from the UK.  But that was over 300 years ago.  That's like 14-15 generations ago.

So I guess someone in England could have the same great great great great great great great great great great great great grandparent as me.  So what degree cousin would that be?

Would that be a 13th or 14th cousin?  Would there even be enough DNA to classify them as my cousin?  Is it possible to have more similar DNA to a perfect stranger than to a 14th cousin?

StephenWeinstein · Accepted Answer

Same grandparent is 1st cousin.
Same great-grandparent is 2nd cousin.
Same great-great-grandparent is 3rd cousin.
Same great-great-great-grandparent is 4th cousin.Same great-great-great-great-grandparent is 5th cousin.Same great-great-great-great-great-grandparent is 6th cousin.
Etc.

TedPack · Answer

Pick 1700 and assume 30 years per generation; this is a "guestimate".

alive in 1700 - sibling
1730 - 1st cousin
1760 - 2nd C
1790 - 3rd C
1820 - 4th C
1850 - 5th C
1880 - 6th C
1910 - 7th C
1940 - 8th C
1970 - 9th C
2000 - 10th C

So, to make it broader, somewhere between 9th and 12th cousin.

Observer · Answer

Based on the information you provided yes they would be 13th or 14th cousins and there would be some removed in there.  My ancestors were in Salem in 1692.  I found a gentleman who claims to be a  3rd cousin 9 times removed in England,

Anonymous · Answer

Personally I can never bother to think much beyond second cousins. Going to 12th or 14th cousins feels just silly.

Me? Southern English' recently', with some ancestry from French Huguenots who fled France in religious persecution in the 1670s. Other Huguenots went to Germany. My other ancestry is from northern England, but in London from the early 1800s.

martin · Answer

That would be your great, great, great (say it 9 times) grandparents.

If your ancestors came to the US from England between 1680 and 1720, what is the closest relative you could find in England?

5 Answers