DNA matching has become a very important tool in genealogical research. The unit of measure is the centimorgan (cM.) The more centimorgans you match the closer related you are. It is not that simple. You also have to consider how many different segments you match and if the locations are the same. The length of the matching segments is also a critical issue. Most Ashkenazi Jews share a small amount of DNA due to the fact that they married within their communities. It wasn’t unusual for two first cousins to marry each other.
DNA matching coupled with documented relationships can certainly establish that a connection is valid. Sometimes there are no documents to peruse but the DNA evidence is so strong that it must be so. I was recently able to decree that Beny Levin of Ft. Worth, Texas is my third cousin. I actually have addressed this relationship in earlier posts but I finally uncovered some additional DNA evidence that led me to this conclusion. Ancestry.com has a chart with centimorgan ranges for each type of relationship.
Parent/child 3200 cMs
Full sibling 2400-2800 cMs
Close family (aunt/uncle to niece/nephew or grandparent/grandchild) 1400 to 2000 cMs
1st and 2nd cousins 680-1150 cMs
2nd and 3rd cousins 200-600 cMs
3rd and 4th cousins 90-180 cMs
Beny’s family tree shows that his great grandfather was Meyer Levin. My great grandfather, Beryl Levine had a brother named Meyer. Beny’s father was Marvin and Marvin’s sister is Gloria. Marvin’s father was Ben and his grandfather was Meyer Levine. Beny has a sister named Haydee. I created a spreadsheet with all of the members of Beny’s family that have been tested. I also included my sister, Marian and my Aunt Ruth. Finally I included Jeff who is the great great grandson of Beryl and the piece of the puzzle that had eluded me until recently, David. David is the great great grandson of Genashna Levine who is the sister of Beryl and Meyer. David came up as a distant match to me but he matched with my sister and Aunt Ruth at a much higher level. I never pursued the match until Larry Rogoff, another cousin who is also a descendant of Genashna, gave me David’s name in a tree he shared with me. I’ve been in communication with Beny for over a year and a half trying to pin down this connection and we are confident that we have found it.
The numbers in the spreadsheet are the amount of cMs shared by those people. Refer to the chart above to determine what their relationship is. Examples; Sid and Marian are sibling matches as are Beny and Haydee. Ruth is a second cousin match to both Gloria and Marvin.
There are other factors that we considered to add more confirmation to the match. Marvin’s father, Ben Levin was born in Latrobe, PA. That was the area that all of our Levine family seemed to settle in. Ben also was in the auto wrecking business. Many family members made a living off of the horseless carriage including my father, Moe Levine, his cousin Izzy Friedman, and Matt Arkin. Matt was the son in law of Moishe Levine. Moishe was the brother of Beryl, Meyer, and Genashna. Matt’s son in law, Bob Sugarman had an auto parts business in Richmond Virginia.
I asked Beny to send me some family pictures. For those in the Levine branch of my family let me introduce you to some previously unknown cousins. I have updated the Levine descendant page of the blog so you can check out all of the new people.
Beny and his wife, Theresa
Marvin in 2020 shortly before he passed away
Marvin, with his sister Gloria, his son Beny and his daughter Haydee
Sid - Thanks for doing this blog and introducing us. Hopefully, we can meet you and our long lost cousins soon.
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