DNA reconnections

I am thankful for DNA

In the past year I had contact with a fairly close DNA match - turns out they knew my Nan and my mother...but my mum had lost contact with some of that family.

Family is really important to my mum as she lost her father in an accident when she was eleven. As time goes on, many of her family have now gone - there is noone on her father's side that she knew now and few on her mother's side.

The greatest gift for my mum and the DNA matches mum was the fact that on Christmas Day they spoke for the first time in many years (50+). This person is about 13 years older than my mum.

Then last month we had the opportunity to take mum to visit her. What a lovely reunion it was. The older person in her mid nineties is still as sharp as a tack and we spent some time, listening to stories and she identified some people in photos that my mum had. This was an added bonus as I now have names to faces that we never would have known.

We are now planning another visit sometime in September!

So my suggestion is, when you have reasonably close DNA matches and you cannot instantly or easily work out where they belong - email them. Just write something quick and simple

"Hi my name is xxxxxxx and I noticed that we have a DNA match that is quite close - I would love to work out how we are related" I have now used this several times and in all instances have received a quick reply that they would be happy to work out where our DNA crosses. Within 3-4 emails exchanging surnames we usually have had it narrowed down and can then determine the match to the Common Ancestor. 

Whilst this does need to then be followed up with the appropriate research, it is a quick and easy way (especially for those that are older) to join those dots before it is to late!

A Review - A Venator Cold Case - The Sawtooth Slayer by Nathan Dylan Goodwin

 I am prefacing with apologies to Nathan, like a couple of others blog this has remained unpublished for some time.....

For those that are uninitiated into the works of Nathan Dylan Goodwin, I will introduce this entry by saying he writes different types of fictional work. I have read two of these types, one is the Forensic Genealogist series where you travel with Morton, the other is the Venator Cold Case series. 

This review is on the second book in the Venator Cold Case series. I will note however, that if you are at all interested in genealogy/family history and DNA you will enjoy Nathan's books!

Also be aware that Nathan Dylan Goodwin also has several Nonfiction books to his credit!

I would suggest that you read The Chester Creek Murders first, as it will set up the characters that continue with their lives in this new offering. However, if you don't you would still find this a very good read.

The Sawtooth Slayer is set in America during April 2020, during Covid pandemic restrictions. It begins with a current murder crime scene at Twin Falls Idaho, that appears to be yet another victim of a serial killer. The police engage the services of Venator, the investigative genealogy company based in Utah to assist to locate the perpetrator before another victim is added to the count using DNA.

Throughout the novel Nathan is able to weave the Venator's staff personal & work lives with details of the crime they are investigating perfectly to deliver a story that is hard to put down. Simultaneously enlightening the novice reader, somewhat, to how DNA clustering is used to join the DNA dots! (Not that it will make it any easier for those of us new to DNA, but interesting still).

Here is the link to Nathan's site

Genealogical Mystery Crime Novelist | Nathan Dylan Goodwin

I would welcome feedback on what you thought of his works so feel free to leave a comment!

Opportunities

 I recently visited an older relative with my mother. My "Aunt" was doing genealogy long before I became interested she did the hard yards, visiting State Records and building the story backwards piece by piece.

The wonderful thing is is that she has produced a family history for part of my ancestors that goes back to England and she didn't just concentrate on the direct line, she spread out and looked at siblings.

On the last trip to visit we had spoken about what she had and I was directed to a number of folders where the information was contained. Well it was contained, my excitement was far from it! Inside these folders were photographs with names and birth, marriage and death certificates as well as confirmation cards. 

This recent visit I took my flippal and asked if I could take the folders with me overnight to go through and scan - she was happy to entrust them to me! What treasure I found there (which I now need to download and sort) for my files. Due to the volume of information I am planning another trip to organise to borrow the folders in daylight hours and get documents photocopied!

Whilst in the area, we also visited another "Aunt" who had been going through her photographs and had sorted some from her mother's album to give to my mother. Talk about a treasure trove! The best was a photo of my Great Great Grandparents! But in going through what had been put aside there was a service record for one of her ancestors which she knew meant nothing to her children. She asked if it was of any use to me, I said I could definitely include it in my tree information and she handed it to me.

On returning to visit the first "Aunt" I showed her this document, it was on parchment! She was just as excited to see and feel it as I was! The person it was concerning is not directly related to either of us but that did not matter it was the understanding of the history that we held in our hands. The 40 odd year gap in our age melts when things like this come up....we are both like kids in a candy store!

(I found a number of blog posts that I have not published so am just doing so now. This one is from 21 June 2022)