Don't know any of my DNA matches!!

[Kloumann]

Although the US were not in the war in 1940, there were regular allied convoys across the Atlantic to UK ports including Liverpool from the US with much needed supplies. Your ancestor may have been a crew member.

[brigidmac]

My mother was in a similar position to you 10 years ago
Her grandfather was unknown but of a specific ethnicity and origin and a few different surnames kept cropping up .even when we found his identity we didn't understand the DNA matches because they were all descended from his sisters and none of us had the common ancestors on our trees

When I eventually found the names of his parents we found them on one of her second cousins trees

 It's important that you get the surname
De Burgo on your tree so that it flashes up for matches
I suggest you add your mother's father as first name unknown + surname ' from USA ' with an approximate birth date  1915
Then add his father with first name "maybe surname : DE BURGO

With birth location of cape Verde and a provisional date 1890

This means that any other matches who are doing name searches or location searches will find you .and shared surnames will appear when you look at their profiles if they have a closed but searchable tree

[Lol-R]

My mother was in a similar position to you 10 years ago
Her grandfather was unknown but of a specific ethnicity and origin and a few different surnames kept cropping up .even when we found his identity we didn't understand the DNA matches because they were all descended from his sisters and none of us had the common ancestors on our trees

When I eventually found the names of his parents we found them on one of her second cousins trees

 It's important that you get the surname
De Burgo on your tree so that it flashes up for matches
I suggest you add your mother's father as first name unknown + surname ' from USA ' with an approximate birth date  1915
Then add his father with first name "maybe surname : DE BURGO

With birth location of cape Verde and a provisional date 1890

This means that any other matches who are doing name searches or location searches will find you .and shared surnames will appear when you look at their profiles if they have a closed but searchable tree

Thank you so much for this information. I’d have never thought about doing something like that. I’m quite excited now and I’m going to get straight onto it. Xxx

[brigidmac]

4th - 6th cousin level may be closer than you think because it is not taking into account generations removed

For example some of my 4th- 6th turned out to be grandchildren of a 2nd cousin so 2C2R
 There are 100 years between my mothers greatgrandparents and my generation my cousin's.and siblings

One of the new relatives was suggested as a 5th - 8th cousin and only matches me by 19cm but she is actually a third cousin matches my cousin by 45cm.

She's 2 cousin once Removed to older  generation my mother 49cm

And 3rdcousin 1R to my nephew the generation below 8cm

Her aunt matches me& my cousin's by amounts from 154-232cm we are 2C1R

And to my nephew the 2C1R by 57cm

So if you have suggestions of 4th - 6tn cousins factor in possibilty of different generational matches
Also half cousin descendants if the grandparents had second marriages or affairs

Our half 3rd cousin in this line also comes up as a 4th- 6th cousin suggestion

[brigidmac]

In your case ethnicity will play a big part

Can I ask what are your percentages of native American. Portuguese.+ Indian .

When you look at your top 5 matches always check their ethnicity and shared matches...even those with no trees or closed trees .
 And look at your shared matches with them .

For example if they have trees you can put the surnames of their 4 grandparents or 8 ggparents  into the surname search option ( middle bar ) and see if you get other matches
Which you can colour code into clusters .

Can you work out which generation they are from the dates of birth of their grandparents...if grandparents are living ...so private check the private profile anyway as they may have listed siblings who are deceased or spouses surname

If they have no trees or closed trees  but have used their surname on profile you can put that name in a search ...( Works better for males as women often use their married names )
 
Next do a location search and add colours to each match
So you will have some matches that are unknown for now but you can see at a glance if they have capeverde as location . Certain surnames .. Portuguese ethnicity.and shared matches to a group of people
Or if they have native American ethnicity but.no Portuguese and live in particular area of USA

Top matches will have lots of different colour circles and you can find crossovers
You might have a colour for particular professions .

Add a colour for Liverpool location as a control could your mother s maternal half siblings have grandchildren or great grandchildren who you can ask to do a test .?

 .could the "American"  have had any relatives in Liverpool who were already established there or who stayed or had children ..

Could he have had other children there who now have great.grandchildren they would be your half cousins.1 removed ( probably show up as 3rd-4th cousin matches )

  you'd be lucky to find ones who have tested .

What are your highest cm amounts to people who  connect to your mothers father ?.

It might take months or years for patterns to emerge .
But Clues may come from unexpected quarters .like shipping records or newspapers

[brigidmac]

I have sent a private message because I found a ship chef with De BURGO surname who travelled from New York to London in tne1930s was born in Massachusetts but parents from Cape Verde.
You can check.his parentage + look for other DNA matches

It would be a lucky find if he is the actual birth father .

But it shows that given a surname we could find paper trails that link Liverpool to USA and Cape Verde

 

[Lol-R]

I have sent a private message because I found a ship chef with De BURGO surname who travelled from New York to London in tne1930s was born in Massachusetts but parents from Cape Verde.
You can check.his parentage + look for other DNA matches

It would be a lucky find if he is the actual birth father .

But it shows that given a surname we could find paper trails that link Liverpool to USA and Cape Verde

Wow, thank you so much. This group have got me much further in my search than I have ever been and I’ve been searching for a few years now. Could I just ask though, I’ve had a few people from Massachusetts’s message me saying I have cone up on their list of matches as a distant cousin but neither of them are on any of my lists of matches.  One of them actually has a rare medical condition which my mum and I both suffer from and which I’ve never mentioned, so I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence. Why would I show up on their lists (they done know each other) but I’m on there’s?

[brigidmac]

Only explanation I can think of for not showing up as their matches is if they are linked to a spouse's tree so not immediately obvious that it's the same person .

Btw
 if your maternal grandmother was widowed.k Moss school cleaner 1939 she is at 35 Lennox street on her own
Line above At 33 Lennox street is a married wIlloam.P JAMES b 1890

At no 37 is Thomas + Annie NEIL both married b 1918 + 1920 and if you look at the actual image ;  line under her is no longer redacted

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

4th - 6th cousin level may be closer than you think because it is not taking into account generations removed

 

Exactly the situation in my tree. I've had a mystery 2nd-3rd cousin match  ever since my test results came back, the match has no tree, no profile information, nothing to indicate where/when they were born and hasn't responded to messages. The name is too common to make any assumptions.
A new match came up last week marked as a 4th-6th cousin, like most at that sort of level it's easy to overlook as being worthy of much investigation but as a shared match to the mystery match I decided to dig a little deeper. The new match is only 18 years old and is the grandchild of my mystery match. I'm glad I did follow up as the 18yo is much closer than the headline 4th-6th cousin suggestion. The real work is still ahead of us as it's linked to an NPE in my tree and potentially could blow their well documented tree apart too but it would have been so easy to miss what could be a very important match as the suggested relationships can be very misleading.