Help with a DNA puzzle

Question

About a year ago I set out on the DNA journey,it has been interesting. I started with autosomal and this past December I did a YDNA test at the 37 marker level,that test linked me to Rev John Smith,Smith-6919 since then I have been trying to fill in a gap between him and my 5x GGrandfather Samuel,Smith-77801. Last weekend I got some info from a cousin that led me to Thomas Smiths family,Smith-3146,YDNA on Thomas' family is scarce but there are quite a few descendants that have done autosmal and I match a lot of descendants of both families with as much as 30-45cm of DNA but nothing over about 6.6cm,the families aren't connected anywhere that I have found. My question is,is that enough DNA evidence to suggest that these two families are related? I can see a path to Thomas Smiths family but so far can't figure how they connect to Rev John Smiths family unless John and Thomas are related,which looks like it could be possible.

Answer 1

There is a man named Paul Smith who says he has a Y DNA test listed on [[Smith-3146|Thomas Smith Sr.'s]] profile. Is he among your Y DNA matches? If so, then you share a common Smith ancestor with the descendants of Thomas Smith. If not, you need to ask him if he has an NPE (has Y DNA matches to another family). If he does, then look for another man to take a Y DNA test, steering away from Paul Smith's direct family branch. If he does not have an NPE (he has matches to other Smith men), then... no, you do not share a common ancestor.

Comments

There are two Paul Smiths,the one who's DNA is on Thomas' profile was apparently only active on Wikitree for a while 10 years ago,I sent him a message but got no response. He has no haplogroup listed and I can't find him on FTDNA. If you go down 2 generations to Thomas' son Johns' son Samuel there is another Paul with autosomal DNA but if you go to his profile page he has had YDNA tested it's a different haplogroup but there is some controversy whether his ancestor is a son of John and his wife or not,both of those seem to be a dead end. I have found another possible descendant on a Smith DNA group on FacebookI'm waiting on more info from him. I have checked descendants of a couple other New England/New Jersey Smith families the past day or so and if I have any autosomal DNA with them it's much less than the two that I mention above.