Where to go from here?

[blissing]

I have a match on both 23andme and ftdna which is a "2nd or 3rd cousin" with 202 shared cM and 60 longest block.

I'm in contact with this person's mother, who doesn't show up being related to me, so I've been going by being a "1st or 2nd cousin" to his father (who has passed away). Is this a good assumption to go by?

I'm building a huge family tree, going back to the father's great grandparents and then coming forward towards the present. I've got 200 people in this tree already (I'm going back further just because it's fun to finally have stuff to research--my mother was Chinese).

I'm looking for my birth father. This would have been someone who was probably in the military in the early '60s, like my mother.

I'd love to hear from anyone else doing something similar, just to make sure my logic is right. I'd also like to hear about any experiences with finding living people.

I do already have some experience with this as the first possible birth father, the one on my original birth cert., was not my father per a paternity test. The second possible birth father (evidence via old letters) was sterile according to his widow. Thanks!

[EdwardRHill]

Hoping to increase my chances of finding Common Ancestors I started felling in my tree from 6 or 7 generation back up to present day about 2 years ago working on it, on and off. It seems to be a good idea and I have found it to be interesting and that your family can still be apart of history even up to present day. I have not found anything yet. But I think I will, I have still a lot of work to do but its been fun and I continue on felling in my tree.