Could you still be related to someone even if they don't come up as a DNA match?

[GingerVicky]

Hi there,
I recently got in contact with a cousin where we share 6th great grandparents. We have both done our DNA through Ancestry yet Ancestry says we are not a DNA match. Could we still be related even though she didn't come up as a match?

Thank you very much
Vicky

[Rogtut]

I have a similar situation with a 6th cousin so will be interested in the responses.

[brigidmac]

The answer is yes
Because the match is so distant you may not share same bits

I'm lucky because I have proof
My mother and maternal cousin have both tested sometimes he matches distant relatives that I don't but my mother does .

And sometimes one of us matches someone that neither of the others do

Very occasionally younger generation matches me when their parent doesnt

This is especially probable with match levels under 10cm

You can see probabilities on DNA painter chart start at 0

I

[GingerVicky]

Thank you very much.  That's very helpful. I did wonder if that might be the case.

[aspin]

I have a match too with a lady in America although we are not a match on Ancestry
Both our great great grandmothers were sisters 
We keep in contact regularly
Elizabeth

[aghadowey]

OH, I and a friends all have several matches with people but not their sibling or first cousins. In one case OH shares DNA match with a person & her sister and I share match with same person & several of her 1st cousins but not her sister.

[Jill Eaton]

That's very interesting but also a little frustrating. As a general rule if I've thought I've identified a potential ancestor I've looked at other Ancestry Trees (always with the knowledge they may be incorrect) and then checked whether they are a DNA match to me.

This means we could still share an ancestor but no DNA

[Petros]

At that level the DNA match is likely to fall below Ancestry's  current cutoff . I have several 6th cousins who fall in the 6-8 cM range although two, descended from the same pair of ancestors are 14 cM and 15 cM matches.
My wife and 1 are related, she is my 4C2R, but only a 4 cM match on Gedmatch and obviously not a match on Ancestry

[Romilly]

DNA seems to be randomly allocated...

To help with my search for my Paternal Grandfather, myself, my daughter, sister, late Mother, and 2 Paternal and 2 Maternal 1st Cousins all tested with Ancestry.

Thanks to my late Mother having tested, it’s easier to split matches into paternal/maternal sides.

I’ve managed to isolate the paternal ones into ones most likely to be important, but the levels at which we match to them vary greatly. Some of the most salient ones, I don’t even match to individually, although I share matches with them.

It’s all very perplexing, and I still haven’t managed to track my elusive Grandfather down...

Romilly