DNA Testing. Why I did it and what I did with it. Part Two - Cousin Matching

This past week I've spent some time with the the cousin matching at the three sites, AncestryDNA, FTDNA and MyHeritage.  I concentrated only on 2nd - 3rd cousins matched with a total CM of 130 or greater.  These are considered to be fairly strong matches with fairly recent common ancestors.

I've now sent messages or exchanged emails with all of those people.  There are only 13 people with this close of a match.  My sister and a first cousin have tested as well and show up as expected.  Of the 13 people contacted I have heard back from 6 of them.  One I have actually met.  However, none of them have been able to help with my family history research.

I don't regret all of the testing and it was an interesting experience but I believe my interest really lies in the research area not so much the DNA.  However, it is out there now and perhaps someone in the future will contact me.

The only thing that has truly helped is the Varner surname project on FTDNA.  I have taken a Y-67 test on FTDNA and joined the surname project.  Based on my ydna it was confirmed that my paternal Varner family line is indeed part of the larger Varner family line that has immigrated from Germany.