#6 Surprise-DNA Match . #52Ancestors

#6 – Surprise   #52 Ancestors A DNA Match        

Surprise! Genealogy is always a surprise when you open up records and read the information!    DNA matches seem to bring the biggest surprises.

Who is that name listed as a first cousin to my husband’s DNA?  The name was totally unknown and since I research his family; I was familiar with names.  Surprise!

A contact was made with the administrator of the DNA.  The story unfolded that the DNA was from a woman who was adopted 71 years ago.  Surprise.  And she had information indicating who her mother was.  Surprise.  But the location of the birth was a surprise as it was not in the birth mother’s family’s location.  Obviously the mother had been sent away in 1947 to have a baby, but the location was odd.  And then a surprise clue from my mother-in-law led me to include more family on the Ancestry tree.  And sometimes those shaky leaves in Ancestry are helpful! Surprise!  Unbeknownst to many, there was a relative living in the birth location as the public records on Ancestry led to the residence of an uncle of the birth mother.  None of us knew that the birth mother had lived with her aunt and uncle. 

Since all the players are deceased in the story, it was difficult to learn or trace.  The mother has numerous siblings and surely one of them knew.  There are only a few left and all claimed not to know a thing.  One even denies that DNA works!  But surprise—I received a call to tell me that she was told by one of the birth mother’s siblings that she had given birth to a daughter. 

The biggest surprise was who the birth mother was.  I would never have considered her without the information from the adoptee.   I would have liked to connect the birth mother with her daughter.  I can’t help but think that the birth mother would have been overjoyed. 

 

I haven’t given names, as there are living people still involved.  Many of the family have yet to learn of the story.

I created a collage of family pictures, including the new cousin, and the family resemblance is remarkable.

It was a pleasure to confirm her birth mother and give her family history; something she has been seeking for 71 years. 

We plan to meet the “new 1^st cousin” in 2019.