Is it possible to find my grandmother.

[richjh]

I had my uncle take the mtDNA test in the hope that I might be able to locate his mother, Mary Elizabeth Irvine. Unfortunately my uncle being 94 just can't remember and after an exhaustive search no record can be located to find a paper trail.
Do I have any hope in finding her?
Rich

[The_Contemplator]

If she has relatives who have taken a DNA test, maybe. Have your uncle take the Family Finder since not everyone takes the mtDNA tests. Then upload to Gedmatch.com (which is free) to find matches from other places. You might even consider taking Ancestry's test which is their version of Family Finder just in case someone there is related to your grandmother. If she had other children or had nephews or nieces, you might find them as being close matches to your uncle.

[richjh]

If she has relatives who have taken a DNA test, maybe. Have your uncle take the Family Finder since not everyone takes the mtDNA tests. Then upload to Gedmatch.com (which is free) to find matches from other places. You might even consider taking Ancestry's test which is their version of Family Finder just in case someone there is related to your grandmother. If she had other children or had nephews or nieces, you might find them as being close matches to your uncle.

Thank you for your reply even though I placed it in the wrong forum.
Rich

[richjh]

Norman and all cousins have taken FamilyFinder tests and all have been uploaded to GEDMatch. I have taken AncestryDNA as well as Norman. I think I have done everything humanly possible to find her. At this point I think I will just need to wait.
Rich

[The_Contemplator]

A lot of this is just a waiting game. However, you might have better luck tracking down possible cousins from that side of the tree. So those matches that are close but not too close could be distantly related to your grandmother. You may need to build a mirror tree based on the trees of your close matches. Then find the branch or ancestor they all share that you don't. That branch could have a connection to your grandmother. Maybe a long shot but digging can give you better odds than waiting. If you build that mirror tree, it would probably be best to keep it private if those matches don't like you building a huge tree from their data and in case their trees are flawed.