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 privacy.
In this case, the adoptee identified the Blue Cluster as her biological mother’s. We were trying to identify her biological father, so we concentrated on the Orange and Yellow Clusters. (The Green column did not have a cluster.)
STEP 2: Determine which matches have trees and which do not and label.
Actual data from an adoptee I worked with, but names changed for privacy.
I look at each match and see if they have a tree – whether attached or not attached! I then label them to indicate “tree” or “no tree.”
STEP 3: List the “4th Gen” (great grandparents) surnames for each match with a tree. If they don’t have 4th Generation matches, use grandparents or even parents.
Actual data from an adoptee I worked with, but names changed for privacy.
To find the surnames, open the match’s “pedigree and surnames” page and look at the surnames under the “4th Gen” column. If their tree is complete enough, you will see 8 surnames at this level – the match’s great grandparents. In this example, both Gabby and Jamie have all 8 great grandparents listed on their tree along with their surnames.
STEP 4: Identify common surnames, if any, in each Color Cluster.
Actual data from an adoptee I worked with, but names changed for privacy.
(I find this step truly amazing!) I have highlighted the shared surnames:
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- Orange Cluster: Griffin & Bartles
- Yellow Cluster: Paulson, Austin, and Gray
STEP 5: Assign potential surnames to the Color Clusters, if identified, and use these clues to further your research!
Actual data from an adoptee I worked with, but names changed for privacy.
At this point, you have clues as to what surnames you are looking for in each cluster. Continue your research using these clues! You also might be able to look at first cousins or other “close family” matches to help label these clusters. (And, a big thank you to John Motzi for his help in refining this process!)
Happy Clustering!
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