Using Gedmatch with Ancestry to find common Ancestors
(This only applies to those with Ancestry accounts.)

It dawned on me earlier today that there may be an easier way to do this, and thought I would share. Please use & test. I think this will help many who feel overwhelmed at the learning curve and don't know what to do with their DNA results.

1) On Gedmatch, do a 1-to-many search. To maximize success, set the minimum cM to 10.

2) When the results appear, sort them by Kit number.

3) Look for all the kits that begin with an "A"... these are Ancestry transfers. You KNOW they have an Ancestry account, AND they match YOU.  

4) Highlight all the A kits (all columns from Kit Nbr to Email), copy, and Paste into an Excel (or other) spreadsheet. This will be your work/discovery plan to go off of. Save it and give it a unique name for easy finding again (damn, I must be getting older to keep these reminders...). *Note: when I pasted into the spreadsheet, I used Paste-->Special and selected "text" to get rid of any formating, html, or unwanted checkboxes. If you have unwanted "stuff", undo the paste and try again.

5) Go back to the web page results and copy the column headings and paste them into your spreadsheet at the top (if you didn't do this before). You may need to insert a row or two beforehand.

6) Get rid of any unwanted columns. And add a few columns for your notes. I use: Notes, Checked for Tree?, Found Match?, Sent Email:, MRCA, ICW, Chromosome matches, etc. (anything you want so you don't repeat work).

7) Sort your new data by Total cM (Autosomal) from large to small.

8) Go to Ancestry.com and try to find your top match in the member directory based on the information you have--if they used a nickname, use that, most people don't change nicknames very often. As with anything, they may or may not be active, but I think these will be more likely to work with you simply because they took the extra step to get their results from Ancestry to Gedmatch--they are a bit more motivated I would think. They may or may not have a public tree (or any tree at all).

9) If you run into roadblocks or can't find them, email them. Try to contact them. Make a note, and move on to the next highest match.

10) You may have to do some of their work for them. (otherwise you would have found the match sooner right?  ). Don't be afraid to create private trees. I create and delete new trees on ancestry all the time. When I am researching someone, after I have found a person to start with, I save that person to my Research Tree as a new person. Then I go back to where I found that person, and save them again, overwriting the person I just created... this will bring in all their relationships and events. This is an easy way to build a tree from someone else's. (Let me know if you need an example). When you find someone you definitely want to keep, save them from your Research Tree to your Primary tree (and all their relationships). When the tree gets too bulky, review it for any keepers, and if nothing, simply delete it.

If they have a fully-developed tree, it is easy to look for recognizable surnames using the Pedigree view of their tree.

It is easy to see someone's direct Ancestors in Pedigree View

11) Make notes on your spreadsheet. When you have a confirmed match, do a 1-to-1 comparison on Gedmatch (using 7cM) to see what Chromosomes are shared. Wherever you are keeping track of your chromosomes (I use Genomemate), make note of the Surname match on those shared chromosomes. If only one, then you can be relatively certain anyone else sharing the same segments is from the same ancestors (or their parents).

Hope this helps! Your mileage may vary...