The matches

As I continue the proof of the case for Robert Gibson as the father of Mary Alice Cain, I am taking some time to highlight the matches that helped break open this mystery. This would not have been possible if those individuals had not taken a DNA test and made parts of their trees available so these connections could be surfaced. My Mom's DNA results currently have about 60,000 matches. One aunt has 55,000, while the other has about 43,000. How do you even filter this many matches down to the right ones to point the path to a common ancestor?

Just like I had done on my Dad's side of the tree, I used the dot method to create groups of people who had connections with each other and my Mom's results. I started this in June, before the launch of Ancestry's Pro Tools. I created a group of Read/Cain matches, but this left me with 2886 in that group, which is still really large. I also created a group for Flatt/Gaw matches, and tried to isolate those who were descended from Nancy Jane's side of three. This group had 1530, again, still pretty large. I also tried to create a Cain Targets group. While some of the Gibson and related matches appeared there, more of them I had overlooked as they were in both the Read/Cain and Flatt/Gaw groups.

Using the Leeds Method was the real gamechanger. Searching within the highest matches on the paternal side for my Mom and her sisters between the range of 400-90 centimorgans, revealed the group of people who had the key to the Gibson side of the tree.

Matches to Robert G. T. Gibson:

- RG: 162, 180, 193 cM (grandson of Robert)

- PT: 110, 165, 130 cM

- RG Jr: 44, 130, 160 cM

- LG: 92, 23, 60 cM

- MB: 48 cM

- AC: 47, 14 cM

- LG: 39, 12, 20 cM

- JK: 30, 13 cM

- ML: 28, 14 cM

- LR: 21, 9, 11 cM

- AS: 23, 9, 20 cM

- AB: 19 cM

- IU: 18, 13 cM

- HO: 15, 15 cM

- RA: 15, 12, 16 cM

- RG: 13 cM

- GG: 13, 48 cM

- LG: 13 cM

- BB: 12, 12 cM

- JB: 12, 10 cM

- EC: 12 cM

- AT: 11, 10, 11 cM

- CC: 11, 9 cM

- TC: 10 cM

- SM: 10 cM

Two other high matches are doubly connected, through a son of Robert's brother Julius Gibson and daughter of Robert:

- RJ: 144, 119, 150

- MS: 153, 166, 159

One of my aunts had six other strong connections in common with descendants of Julius:

- SM: 90 cM

- SQ: 75 cM

- BB: 57 cM

- CE: 57 cM

- JO: 50 cM

- LW: 31 cM

My Mom has 111 matches descending from Robert's father, James Robert Gibson. 34 of those matches are connected to one of Robert's older sisters, and include two of the matches who are also connected to the Dowell-Hubbard group.