Moving Target

[darkerhorse]

I'm assembling a list of siblings, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd paternal cousins of my paternal grandfather who immigrated to the U.S. from Sicily.

Since my paternal grandfather's father and paternal grandfather had no sisters who had children, siblings, 1st, and 2nd cousins have been relatively easy to find because they all had the same surname as my paternal grandfather at birth.

However, when I get to 3rd cousins the dam breaks. My paternal grandfather's paternal great-grandfather had sisters who had descendants of both genders, and one of his brothers only had daughters. So, in those family lines, surnames are a moving target, they can change with each generation.

My questions are: is anyone diving deep into identifying 3rd cousins of ancestors, and, if so, do you have any tips for making life easier?

One thing I thought of was putting the paternal grandfather's surname as name of mother in the search box but this has only limited value.

DNA matching is not an option at this time.

[darkerhorse]

I should add that the immigrant generation for my family is my grandparents' generation, with a few exceptions of immigrants in their parents generation (my great-grandparents). Keep in mind my focus is on immigrants - permanent or temporary, not the ones who remained behind.