six brothers, which is the father??

[Biggles50]

Build a standalone tree including all the six and their parents, GP’s, GGP’s etc and bring each line from the six as far forward as you can.

ID the oldest ones on each line and attempt to contact them with a view of them taking a DNA test.

Ideally you want to have a DNA test taken buy two or three who are direct descendants of different ones of the six.

If your line is a direct male to male to male then a yDNA test could then help.

If you have taken an Ancestry DNA test then look through your matches who have an appropriate cM value.  A 1/2 3C would be the relationship if you are of the same generation as the match so that should be about 50cM shared.

There are other tools and processes you can use but the above is a way to start

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

A key thing in this type of scenario is to build the tree as wide and deep as possible, bring it towards the present day and have as many descendants as possible test. Knowing how much dna everyone shares with everyone else (not just what they share with you), may point to half relationships in some cases which were previously unknown. The problem however is that the relationships are quite distant so not everyone may appear as a match and the shared dna figures of matches could apply to full or half relationships in some cases with no way to be sure which is correct. 

I've had a result come back for a paper trail full 1c but the cM figure is too far low, at best we are h1c. When taking into account other matches in that part of my tree it's apparent the children registered to my grandparents are not all full siblings to each other and it's my line that is the 'half'. Were it not for that one test I would be none the wiser as the others are at least one and sometimes two generations further along so the shared cM amounts are less conclusive. I also have some matches between 200-280cM that are unique to me which I can now be more confident are in the 'missing' part of my tree.

[larkspur]

Many thanks for all of the information, and for the time you have spent. I have a very good tree of Sarah Spicer and her family including census info and B M D certificates. My great grandfather William Thomas Spicer  It is the Blakemore connection I was trying to untangle.
 1881 "Young William" is with his grandparents  in Trysull.
I will continue to build the Blakemore boys lines and see where it gets me.

[larkspur]

larkspur - do you have WTS' 1875 birth cert? Just curious what Sarah's address was. It might offer a clue as to the brothers in question.

Yes I have his birth certificate, no father named. His mother was living in Lower Penn, nothing further in the address and she registered the birth. Sarah's father was called Thomas, there is no William in the family, not a name that seems to have been used. So was the William Blakemore the father??