Biological Grandfather Search

[brigidmac]

Ps nanna 52
I'm doing a similar thing for finding which of many descendants is the DNA link

I think it might be useful looking up their wives surnames in name search too .this can show in the locked but searcheable trees .
Am getting hits at 50-60cm level which come out as 4th cousins or half 4th  cousins when I link to a tree with an extra son called bio ...+ Surname

[Nanato3]

Thank you for the replies.

I am now learning to use the tools on DNA Painter in hopes of zoning in on this man.  On the basis of the replies I've received here and what I can see from the tools I've used (as much as I can understand), it seems like I may have to go back a generation to find him.

This is a bit perplexing as this would give a minimum age difference of at least 30 years between my friend's  parents.  Of course this is not impossible, but seems unlikely.

At any rate, these replies have helped me to broaden my search

[scotmum]

Alongside using DNA painter and their other tool WATO (what are the odds), you could attempt drawing up a colour cluster chart using the Leeds method, which might also prove helpful:

https://www.danaleeds.com/the-leeds-method/ for links to expanding on the basic method

and to start with

https://www.danaleeds.com/dna-color-clustering-the-leeds-method-for-easily-visualizing-matches/

[Nanato3]

Thanks for this additional tool.  I am so excited to learn to use the Leeds method, along with the other tools I'm learning.

[brigidmac]

 Btw My mother's half cousin was product of his father's second marriage so 30 years younger than herself.

I have not used the Leeds tool myself but do colour cluster my matches

There are some other out of the box  tips you can use on ancestry  . If a distant match has a full tree with photos you can click on a photo of a potential ancestor or a related picture and see if the image has been shared by any of your matches who have closed trees or unlinked trees .

Also look at shared matches of shared matches . + Check out their locations .

I always look at ethnicity too . Just in case you can eliminate one side of their family .

[Nanato3]

Thank you for your reply.

Both the mother and father's people are from Scotland.  On the mother's side I have many matches and have been able to trace her family back several generations. 

Unfortunately, on the father's side there are only 5 matches between 92 cM and 391 cM, and two below 10 cM.  This includes the matches of matches and none of the matches on his side has a full tree.  In fact, only 1 had a tree - a very small  tree.  I contacted her, and although she hadn't done a any research and only wanted the ethnicity result, she was able to provide me with her parents, grandparents and great grandparent's names.  From there I was able to create a well-documented tree going back 6 generations.  I just have to figure out where my friend's grandfather fits in.  Therein lies the problem.

I feel like I have all the pieces to the puzzle, but don't know how to put them together.  I am trying to learn the basics of DNA and learn to use the tools as well.  These tools are helping me sort the pieces, but my brain just doesn't know how to put the puzzle together.

Neither my friend or I are young, and she would like her children and grandchildren to know their roots on her father's side.