DNA: Comparing the Closest Matches

Remember my 5% mystery match from a year ago at 23andMe?  From the new parental sorting feature, I discovered that he is a match through my mother.  This person has not responded to my requests to communicate.

To put into perspective how close a relation this mystery 5% man is to me, look at my closest genetic relations in the database.

23andMe
The P stands for Paternal Match and the M stands for Maternal Match.

D. W. is my known first cousin, twice removed.  The displayed relation of 2nd cousin is a prediction.  Second cousins (children of first cousins) should share about 3.125% DNA.  D. W. is my grandfather's first cousin, so the same spacing exists between us as second cousins.  [For DNA purposes, D. W. is better than a second cousin because he represents the DNA from two generations ago at my grandfather's generation.]

This mystery 5% cousin shares slightly more DNA with me than D. W. does!  That is how close a relation he is to my mother's family and why I really wish he would come forward.