How to find Great Great Great Paternal grandfather
I know who my Great Great Grandfather is (2nd great) Paternally. My problem is this: No one knows who his father is. However on the back of a photo with him in the photo (my 2nd great ) someone wrote on it a surname that they obviously think is his true father. It was only a last name tho. This photo was taken before 1908. Now the 2nd great grandfather was born in 1860, and as I researched where 2nd lived about the time he was born-I found this man with this last name only 4 houses down from 2nd's mother. This possible father of 2nd, was 45 at the time and the mother was 22 at the time. The other's with that same last name were way too young to be the father. So I am thinking this man most likley is my Great Great Great Grandfather (3rd great)/ father of 2nd great grandfather. What I need to know is how hard is it for me to DNA search this man out? Can someone give me a list of how to go about it? DNA understanding is very hard for me.
Comments
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It is unlikely that your 3rd Great grandfather took a DNA test. So it would be impossible for you to search him out with DNA. However, if you have taken a DNA test and if one of his other children or grandchildren take a DNA test you would know by the numbers if he was related.
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You don't indicate where he was located. The AncestryDNA database is heavily loaded with the DNA results of Americans. MyHeritage has lots of European input that is not found in AncestryDNA. DNA information can be moved from AncestryDNA to MyHeritage for free. Finding a 3rd great grandfather may be challenging with autosomal DNA, such as in AncestryDNA and MyHeritage. If this is your direct male line then Y-DNA testing might give you leads. FamilyTree DNA is the place for Y-DNA. Again, you can move your DNA information from AncestryDNA to FamilyTree DNA for free.
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I wanted to expound a little on what @WKathleenM4 suggested. Do your DNA. See if any of your siblings or cousins (also descended from that same 2nd great grandfather) would also take DNA tests. The more data points you have to compare against the more certain your results will be correct.
Next, research on that possible father. See if you can find living descendants who might be willing to take DNA tests.
One way to do this is in whatever company you do your DNA at, look for that possible father in private trees at that company. Then see if the person who owns that tree shows up as a DNA match to your DNA. If not, you can suggest to those tree owners that they take DNA tests (if you are financially able to do so, offering to provide the DNA test for them will make them more likely to take one.)
You will then compare say 4-5 of your known relatives' DNA against the DNA from the descendants of the possible father (hopefully another 4-5 DNA tests). If you match, then it is highly likely that possible father is in your tree somewhere. You would have to look at the percentage of DNA that matches to be sure that the possible father is indeed a direct-line ancestor, or if you only have a shared ancestor.
Search RootsTech for free video webinars on using DNA in your genealogy research.
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