Some clients come to me having already taken a DNA test, because they need help interpreting the results. Others come with a genealogy problem and have no knowledge of how DNA might help; it’s me who suggests a test might be the way forward.

I have used DNA to help clients to find unknown biological fathers, unknown grandfathers, and even an unknown 2x great grandfather when the official documentation left a false trail.

We can also use DNA to help us work out an ancestral line where the usual records are missing. I did this to find my own 2x great grandfather’s parents. His 1826 birth pre-dates Civil Birth records, and no baptism has ever been found. My 2x great grandparents don’t seem to have actually married (if he had his father’s name would have been on the certificate) so there were no clues at all as to his parentage. The DNA test effectively stood in for those documents, and the birth family it pointed to was one of three on my watchlist.

My DNA service is fully integrated into my genealogy research practice
So you may come to me with a problem and, after discussion between us, decide that the best option would be to take a DNA test.

How it works
We inherit half our DNA from our mother and half from our father.  However, unless we are identical twins, we don’t inherit exactly the same parts of our parents’ DNA as our siblings do.  So when the next generation passes on their DNA, every sibling shares with their children a random half of the DNA they inherited.  For this reason, with every additional generation between us, our matches and the ancestors from whom we both descend, the amount of shared DNA quickly reduces.

DNA is measured in centiMorgans (cM).  The more cM we share with a DNA match, the closer our likely connection through common ancestors.  This means we can actually use the cM amount to predict that connection.  It is just an estimate, because for each relationship there is a range within which the amount of shared DNA will fall, and there will be other relationships that fall within this same range – but it’s a good enough indicator to give us an idea of whereabouts in our trees to look to place a DNA match.

What we’re really looking for is the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) or Ancestor couple from whom we and our DNA match both descend. If our match is a half sibling, we both descend from the one same parent; first cousins descend from the same grandparents; second cousins from the same great grandparents and so on.

We then turn our attention to the family trees. Provided the two lineages are properly supported through sound documentary evidence:

• this confirms your documentary trail is correct;
• it also confirms the genetic trail – that all ancestors are indeed the offspring of who the records say they are;
• and then, as we progress our DNA research, we can draw upon ‘shared matches’ with these confirmed DNA cousins to home in on other more distant matches (with smaller shared cM) by narrowing down the part of our tree we need to look at.

If the other person’s online tree is not available or not well-developed, we might have to work on their tree first, looking to see where we might find the common ancestor/s.
And of course if your tree is entirely blank, because you’re looking for an unknown father, then we can use information from our matches’ trees to start to fill in the blanks.

Please note

• The success of a DNA test depends entirely upon whether or not people who are somehow related to you at an appropriate level have tested.
• Sometimes we have to be patient. More people are testing all the time and a new tester might suddenly appear some months down the line. This can mean research has to be paused, and resumed when new testers and information are available.
• I do not trace living people; and I do not work as an intermediary introducing clients to biological families. My work is simply with the genealogy and the interpretation of DNA results.
• Please be aware before consenting to a test that DNA can reveal unexpected skeletons in the family closet. Be assured at all times of my commitment to confidentiality, and to sensitive handling of information. However, there is a possibility, however unlikely, that some of what is revealed could be upsetting.

Testimonials from happy clients

I’ve grown up not knowing what or who I am or where I belong.  I was left in the care system shortly after birth and brought up in foster homes, but was able to track down my mother through birth and adoption papers.  Having then started this journey to find my father’s birth blood line over forty years ago, I’ve tried unsuccessfully to use DNA to find out for myself.  In contacting Janice and with what she has been able to find out … sorting the wood from the trees … so much clear and accurate information, family links and ultimately … Success!  Janice has used DNA test results and wider research and has uncovered my birth father’s blood line and family.  For me to know that I came from a root of a line that goes back generations … I now belong to someone.  Of course this will not make me a whole person emotionally but it’s steps forward …  Thankyou with all my heart Janice.

John MH, June 2020.