Looking for a blog someone posted a few months ago on making a spreadsheet to figure out a common ancestor match.
A few months ago, someone posted a very helpful 2 part blog link. It explained how to create a spreadsheet which will show you 4 columns of matches and how your 3-4th cousins match you. I made the chart, it has been very helpful in finding matches. For example, I had a sister who we did not know who her father was. By charting all her matches we were able to back into who he was through her cousin matches. It has been very helpful. I can't explain how to do it so looking for that blog again. Anyone remember or have seen that? Thanks!!
Posted Jan 4, 2019, 3:37 AM UTC
5414
The Leeds Method.
Is it this one? https://www.danaleeds.com/leeds-method-dna/
Or this one: https://www.google.com/amp/s/dna-explained.com/2018/09/26/the-leeds-method/amp/
YES!!! Thank you. That was fast. I got so excited I accidentally closed my browser and all my tabs! LOL
This is the best tool. I used the 1st link . I will save this now. Again thanks.
This is so helpful! At first glance, easier for me to read and comprehend than my first attempt.
Is there any reason why they only stop at 3rd cousins? Just because of the number of cousin matches going up, or something that will actually affect the outcome? I only have 4 3rd cousin and closer on Ancestry, so doing this method wouldn't really be any help.
I actually just looked this up today and they’ve made an update that explains how to add in 4th cousins. You gotta scroll down a bit to see the explanation.
Thanks for the heads up, but wow their 4th cousin examples look waaaaay neater than mine. I only did the first 50 matches and already used 16 different colors with not a whole lot of overlap, so I don't think this method would be too helpful for me unfortunately.
I think you're only supposed to add 4th cousins to your existing 4 columns, either through their shared matches or their top match's shared matches.
I suspect it's because it's a lot harder to tell how someone marked as a fourth cousin is actually related to you.
I've had "fourth cousins" turn out to be 6th or 7th cousins, or 3rd cousins, or in one case a 2nd cousin once removed (thought that last one indicated an NPE of either her grandfather or my great-grandfather, but her brother just got results and he shares way more DNA with me than she does, and she and I wouldn't be related at all if her mom cheated, so just one of those fluke outliers).
I also have a LOT of fourth cousins who relate to each other, sometimes on more than one branch, since my mom's entire family and a 2x-great-grandfather's family on my bio-father's side were all in the same area of Ohio/Indiana for like 150 years (200 now, for the cousins whose grandparents didn't move far away). That's not likely an issue for people whose grandparents were all from different places, but my adoptive dad and a good friend, who have recent ancestry in remote places in the Ozarks and Appalchians respectively, have the same problem.