Finding Family with DNA

Several weeks ago I had the great opportunity to visit my niece Nicole while she was studying abroad in Vina del Mar, Chile .  While having a wonderful time with my niece and exploring the cities of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso, Chile I was hit by that great big cosmic 2 x 4 on my off time at the Hotel where I had wifi.

Within the course of 2 days I received emails from 2 different woman searching for DNA connections to my mother’s grandfather’s Cornell side

                                                           and his wife’s Coolbaugh side. 

I have done very minimal research on this side of the family because life and my work on Carrie’s letters (Warner family side) has taken so much time.  It was simply amazing that when I had some time ‘relaxing’ in my hotel room in Chile I could work on these DNA connections due to technology.  My how genealogy has changed over the years!

While I was able to respond due to records on (Evernote,  Legacy  family tree and being able to access some data bases on-line) my iPad and with a little down time I had to wait to get home to do more.  Wendy is trying to make a connection for her 93 year old mother who was adopted.  I did autosomal DNA on  Family Tree DNA several years ago and haven’t really been able to make any real connections.  As time has progressed and I learned that I need known family to test, I have worked on that also. We did the mtDNA on my mother Marcella and Wendy’s mother matched to one side of my mother’s family.  We were able to talk today and share some information.  I don’t think I had much Wendy can use but you never know when one little piece of seemingly insignificant information can be the key.  At least we have narrowed her search down to the right surname.  Now she needs to find the right maternal connection (since the adoption records have little information) in to that surname.  I hope I can do some research and possibly help in that search.  I was a great treat to be able to just talk and hopefully one day meet Wendy and her mother.

The second woman and I are sharing trees and hope to find the right connection also.  What fun to be able to find relatives out there that we never knew about!  I still have soooooo much to learn about DNA and family connections.  I was an undergraduate Biology major so thought this would be a breeze but it’s like learning a new language.  I will keep you posted.

PLEASE contact me if you think you might be related to anyone mentioned in this blog.

Enjoy the journey,

Debby