Inter-family marriages..?

[MarcuccioV]

Since Ancestry introduced their DNA matches-by-parent search, I've been playing around with it a bit. Since I have only ONE close relative on my maternal (Italian) side (an illegitimate 1st cousin previously unknown to me), I wanted to do some comparisons to her paternal DNA matches (her father was my mother's twin brother) and my maternal ones.

One match on her list (because of random recombination not on mine) seems to be related to her dad's wife (my cousin's 'stepmother'). The match's surname is "Moceri" -- my aunt (my cousin's stepmom) was a "Maceri".

This Moceri match (who hailed from Detroit as did our family) has a family history in Terrasini (PA). My aunt Nina's father is from Balestrate (PA), only a short distance down the NW Sicilian coast.

Being that our family (despite having distant Sicilian roots, yet uncovered) came from Lazio near Rome (and later Detroit, MI), what are the chances that my uncle (just by the thinnest coincidental chance) married into a family we have a distant genetic match to..?

BTW, further research has tied the Moceri and Maceri clans together by common family surnames, communes, etc, so no coincidences there.

Seems like a million-to-one shot, but the science is solid. Anyone else find a similar situation within their family..? I'm not referring to cross-relations within the same commune or province (as we already have that situation), but from COMPLETELY different parts of the country..?

Thoughts..?

[darkerhorse]

In my Sicilian family, almost all marriages were within town and the others were within province, without exception, as far back as the records go.

I would expect a higher probability of "cross-relations" on the mainland.

[darkerhorse]

When my father mentioned his first girlfriend was Italian he expected my grandfather to be pleased. But right away, he asked where in Italy was she from. My father eventually married a non-Italian woman, and of course, the point was moot. I suspect it was the same in many Italian families.

[MarcuccioV]

In my Sicilian family, almost all marriages were within town and the others were within province, without exception, as far back as the records go.

I would expect a higher probability of "cross-relations" on the mainland.

In this case, my uncle and aunt were both from the same neighborhood in Detroit, one being 'Roman' & the other Sicilian -- until DNA came along, there was no indication of Sicilian at all on our side of the family. But even so, the chances of 2 people marrying whose families were so far removed being distantly related HAS to be an astronomically remote occurrence.

We DO have cross-relations between the families of my grandparents within their commune, which is nowhere near as far-fetched, and is likely even common in some smaller hamlets. But this seems beyond the pale. The science backs it up, as ridiculous as it sounds.

Another mystery, another surprise. I should be used to it by now...