Chloe’s search

Search goal: Determine the relationship between Chloe and Travis

*All names have been changed

This search was unique because it was one of the ones where I was asked to confirm a relationship. Kathleen, from a search way back earlier in the year, reached out and said that her maternal half sister had done a DNA test and her second highest match was someone who they did not recognize, who was on Chloe’s paternal side. Though the person was at the average first cousin match level, he was 25 years older and they did not know him- Kathleen said she did not think he was a first cousin.

I took a look at Chloe’s matches and split them into groups as I always do. Since Kathleen had tested, it was easy to see which matches were maternal and which were paternal. Looking at her paternal matches, I could also easily see her paternal grandmother’s group which was great. Chloe’s dad was indeed her dad.

My theory was that the match, we’ll call Travis, was a half uncle to Chloe. Right away I ruled out that he was not a first cousin, because Travis did not match Chloe’s paternal grandmother side, and first cousins always share two grandparent lines if they’re full cousins.

I figured Travis’ father was Chloe’s paternal grandfather. I started putting together a mirror tree of the shared matches to Travis. After about a day, I realized that the family I was putting together in the tree was indeed Travis’ father’s side. Travis’ father Harvey was a perfect fit into the families and the locations, ages and dates all lined up.

Kathleen was again thankful for my quick findings and keen eye. This was an interesting one- sometimes the answer is in plain sight, as Travis did in fact have a small tree that had the answers right there!