Impossible task?

[Graye]

I'm helping someone with their DNA link to me as she has no idea who her father is but he's obviously reasonably closely related to me.  She and I have 113cM of shared DNA.  I know this isn't a huge amount but I've found with this sort of length I can usually place someone in my tree or at least have a clue about which part of the tree they belong to.

By crossmatching etc with trees she has various DNA links with, I've discovered we have a link via my 2 x greatgrandparents.  She is younger than me so I will obviously have a much longer cM of shared DNA with her father but even then I think we would have a two generation gap.

We have located DNA information on descendants of various children of those 2 x greatgrandparents and, for each of us, people who would be placed in more or less our respective generations have much shorter cM matches with each of us. 

Could anyone else agree with my thought that it's likely she and I are actually both descended from the next generation down, ie my great grandmother?  If that's the case it would make it very easy for us to ascertain exactly who her father might have been.

I'm usually quite good at finding my way through this but it's a strange situation when she really is fighting in the dark as no one can tell her about her family history. She's thrilled with finally finding information on her "family" and has no intention of contacting anyone else with her findings.

Looking through other threads, I can see mention of DNApainter.  Could anyone say whether this might be something worth experimenting in this type of case please?

[Craclyn]

That is a fairly good match to get started with. Plug the number of cMs into the Shared cM tool at DNA Painter. This will give you the potential relationships to consider and the probability of each, including a good visual of where they might fit into your tree.
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

You should also use shared matches to narrow down which lines may be relevant.

[medpat]

According to DNA painter the highest percentage relationship for the 2 of you are

 2nd Cousin, 2nd Cousin once removed,  Half 1st Cousin twice removed and 1st Cousin 3 times removed

[Graye]

Thank you so much for these ideas.

I've looked at DNA painter and had a little dabble.  I've decided to look at the full seminar as I imagine there is a lot of info I can use once I know what I'm doing.

Those DNA connections are interesting too.  For some reason her DNA connection back to me is less than mine is to her.  No doubt I'll learn why.  We have a 3.4 generation gap according to Gedmatch so I might need to translate those cousin type links into something which will fit with that too.  It all feels tantalisingly close but I imagine there is a lot more work to do before we get anywhere!

[Craclyn]

Gedmatch giving 3.4 would suggest different generations.

As far as DNA Painter is concerned there are several parts to it. If you are planning to launch into chromosome painting or WATO then the videos are a good starting point. The Shared cM tool which suggests possible relationships is fairly intuitive. Just plug the number in and look at how the picture changes to shade out the options that are not feasible and leave those that are with a stronger colour.

[Graye]

Thank you, I can see I need to do some work on learning DNA painter!

We've had quite a breakthrough tonight in that we've managed to link her to my great grandmother.  It would appear that my greatgrandmother is likely to be her 2 or 3 x greatgrandmother on that basis.  That seems to suggest 2nd cousin several times removed.  Presumably I can see if that could be a possibilty, given the cM of 113, on DNA Painter once I'm a bit more adept?

[Craclyn]

If you think she is descended from you great grandmother then start by considering either 2C1R or Half 1C2R. Those would be the most likely. If you cannot find how she could fit in there extend your search to some of the other feasible, but less likely relationships.

[Graye]

Thank you for that.  Second cousin once removed (or possibly twice depending on dates of birth etc) is what works with the chart I've done.  I still haven't started on DNAPainter but just wanted to say how grateful I am for the pointers.