A new DNA match appeared to be descended from one of my Irish immigrants, based on their surname and the handful of shared matches we had that were known to descend from that immigrant.
Their tree had two names: their name and that of a maternal great-grandmother. There was no other data. A quick search for the great-grandmother’s name was inconclusive with no location to aid in the search and it turned out the name was more common than I originally thought.
So I reached out to the match with a very short, cordial email. Fortunately, I received a response that, while brief, gave me the name of their paternal grandfather and great-grandfather. That was enough for me to flesh out the connection.
Then I realized that their tree had the great-grandmother’s name in the wrong place–it was their paternal great-grandmother. Had I searched for that name married to a man with the correct Irish surname, I would have easily discovered who this person was.
Those skeletal trees sometimes need to be used creatively, particularly when it has little information.
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