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!