The story of how DNA testing found my Grand Father

[msfarrar]

I wanted to share my story of how I used my autosomnal and Y-DNA tests to find my grandfather..
Several DNA matches allowed be to focus in on the only person who it could be ...

Before I took the tests several years ago, my paternal grandfather was a total mystery.
A couple of years ago I got a new DNA match with EH who had recently taken the test. She was  313cm match
and did not match to any of the DNA clusters related to my three known grandparents! She knew three of her grandparents , but one of her grandfathers
was also a mystery.  So it looked like her mystery grandfather and mine were the same person
Her grandmother had spent time in Rochdale UK in the early 1930's, which is where my father was born.. So now I am looking for a
man , living in or near near Rochdale between 1930 and 1935 ...

I also had two other DNA matches in the same DNA cluster with EH . They were
HL  (40cm)
JK  (94cm)

HL had a couple of grandparents from the Rochdale area and several more great grandparents. I made a list of all those surnames and sent them to JK, but none of them rang any bells with him, but he did gave me the surname 'Mitchell' of some ancestors from that area.. I thought I was going to hit a dead-end...

A few months later I found a new Y-DNA match with a genetic distance of 1 ( all the rest were 4 or greater).  I contacted them and found that their paternal line hailed from the Rochdale area and the family surname was Pelling ,  which was one of the surnames I got from HL !!!!!!!   ..  Getting closer now, I know my GF was named Pelling and lived in the Rochdale area in the 1930's.

I researched HL's Pelling ancestors and found that her GGM  S.A.Pelling had a brother A.Pelling who married J.Mitchell.  I went back to JK with this and he confirmed that J.Mitchell was the sister of his GGF.

So now I know I am related to both A.Pelling and J.Mitchell, which by my reckoning means that my GF has to be one of their sons. As luck would have it, they had only 1 son and 4 daughters He was W.Pelling, lived in Rochdale and was 1 year older than my GM. And as far back as I can go he is the son of a son of a son of a Pelling. I can't see any way it can be anyone else.

Since then i have had another DNA match to LK (123cm).     LK's great grandparents were A.Pelling and J.Mitchell.. i.e. her grandmother was one of W.Pelling's sister

Most of the DNA matches to EH,HL,JK and LK seem a little on the low side but within tolerance.
He looks nothing like me whatsoever, but what can you do ?
So there you have it! If anyone can find any flaws or dubious assumptions I have made I would be happy for you to point them out..   

[brigidmac]

Great detective work
Looks convincing.

But ..
There is also the possibility that great grandfather Pelling had an illegitimate son ,isnt there . ?


Im  working on a similar deduction
The.dna range doesnt quite align tho the range is wide

 It turns out the missing grandfather was from the generation above so matched all the same people but at a different level
,

[msfarrar]

I don't think it could an illegitimate son because if so I wouldn't be DNA matched to JK through J.Mitchell ,?

Thank-you, as you know   it takes a lot of hard work, persistence, assistance from the DNA matches (thank you  to them all !) and more than a little  luck  to achieve that light bulb moment.

Now that I think I have found my GF, and so found 2 GGP I have investigated A cluster of three Canadian DNA matches which I think reveals my last missing GGP. I'd like to share that here also when I have a moment.

[brigidmac]

Oops sorry yes of course.looks like you only have one candidate

But it can serve as a reminder to others  that it's worth looking at father son half siblings of potential match

Good luck with finding the more distant ones and thanks for sharing your successful method

[Rosinish]

What a great story, well done.

I use my brother's account but have only found 2 out of 100s I've contacted who have a tree from the ones who've replied.

Most the others can tell me very little i.e. no further than g/parents names so it's a bit of a single handed job.

I seem to have a line/cluster connected to me & each other but who they descend from is a complete mystery as nobody seems to recognise the surnames from my tree although I think I've worked out it's my paternal line & closest matches descend from my 2 x g g/parents & the matches don't have any names I recognise.

Annie