Genealogy Brick Wall: Another New DNA Mystery Match- Part 1

Well, I just hit a new, temporary brick wall in my family tree. I just noticed a new DNA match in the 2nd to 3rd cousin category in Ancestry last night. This person is matched to my father’s line, and has to be matched through my paternal grandfather or one of his siblings; his shared matches were the first clue. Since he is matched to ALL the lines of my paternal grandfather, he has to be descended from that generation.

This is not the first unknown of descendant/DNA mystery/family secret match from ANY my lines. I have found and solved many unknown of children/descendants/family secrets that no one knew about; I will try to blog about those stories when I have time. This one just happened, so it is still fresh in my mind.

I know ALL of the descendants of those lines, and had published my descendant books on those lines about 6 years ago, and he was not one of them. Hmmmmmm, a new DNA mystery to solve! Challenge accepted! 😉

So, time to get an early start and wake up with my morning tea; I’ve got a new DNA mystery to solve, and my challenge awaits! 😉

His centimorgans shared with me are 201. This leaves him (only according to his centimorgans) most likely matched as a 1/2 gg-aunt / uncle; a 2c; a 1/2 1c1r; a 1c2r; a 1/2 gg-niece / nephew; a 1/2 2c; a 2c1r; a 1/2 1c2r; or a 1c3r, and a less probability (but still possible) as a 1/2
c3r †; a 1/2 2c1r †; a 3c; a 2c2r; a great-great-aunt / uncle; a 1/2 great-aunt / uncle; a 1/2 1c; a 1c1r; a 1/2 great-niece / nephew; or a great-great-niece / nephew (according to the DNA Painter Shared cM Project tool).

​Okay, time to get going on this!  
 
He had an unlinked tree with only 3 people in it: him as private, his father’s name and date and place of death, and his mother as private. The first thing I did was quickly build my own tree for them in Ancestry, as always. I found his father’s information right away. I found a marriage for his father, and added that spouse as a possible (who I thought at first) mother. I then added a few male and female children born to them with no first names or any other info, as I usually do, and searched for them. I found 2 children born to them, but neither had the name of my match. This was all in the first 10 minutes.

Stay tuned for more in Part 2!

Update, October 30, 2021: Part 2 is now here!: Genealogy Brick Wall: Another New DNA Mystery Match-Part 2
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Update, November 6, 2021: Part 3 is now here!: Genealogy Brick Wall: Another New DNA Mystery Match-Part3
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Find more research tips under the Genealogy Research Tips category, brick wall tips under the Genealogy Brick Wall Cases category, and DNA tips under the DNA Simplified category.
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Below you'll find some other genealogy brick wall research cases that may be of interest:

Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of an Ancestor's Secret Past

Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of an Ancestor's Hidden Identity-Part 1

Genealogy Brick Wall: The Case of the Elusive Ancestor

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