If you haven’t read my first two posts about the Color Clustering (aka Leeds) Method, read the original posts: Color Clustering: Creating Color Clusters Color Clustering: Identifying “In Common” Surnames An example of Color Clustering using Excel I thought this method would be too messy to work with 4th cousins. But, I figured out yesterday how to make it work: I built my clusters based on the shared matches of 2nd and 3rd cousins and then I just sorted the “4th cousins” into these clusters!   Here are the steps I used: STEP 1: Create a color cluster chart. (see first post)...

After creating Color Clusters using the new Color Cluster Method (aka the Leeds Method), the next step is to identify the surnames associated with these groups. (For creating Color Clusters, please read my original Color Clustering post.) Note: This method is especially useful for people working with adoptees or other unknown parentage cases where they do not already know what surnames to concentrate on! COLOR CLUSTERS: Identifying Common Surnames STEP 1: Create Color Clusters and determine which clusters you need to work with (or work with all of them). Actual data from an adoptee I worked with, but names changed for...

Unsure of how other people were sorting their Shared Matches from AncestryDNA, I created my own method. This method is quick – it usually takes less than 10 minutes – and visually shows genetic connections while also “sorting” the matches into groups reflecting the test taker’s great grandparents’ lines. Please test out this method and let me know what you think! Although I think it will be valuable for many genealogists, I think it will be especially useful for adoptees, Search Angels, and others who are trying to identify unknown, close relatives. NOTE: For the examples below, all results are...