DNA Success

As an enthusiastic reader of the magazine for over six years now, I wanted to tell other readers about my latest success.

I have a friend who knew nothing about her paternal grandfather, other than that he was James Johnson and had been killed, aged 25, riding his bike in Blyth, Northumberland, in 1950. Estranged from her father, Liz had given up ever finding anything out. One glimmer of hope was that Liz knew her grandmother’s maiden name, and I found their marriage in 1943 in Bradford. The marriage certificate of course gave valuable information and I started to build a tree, but realised that there was an element of guesswork.

I then suggested two things to Liz. One was to let me put her tree online – she agreed. Then I suggested she take a DNA test, which I would manage for her. Putting her tree online brought instant results – someone else

was researching the same family, although they didn’t have James in their tree. Sadly the person doing that research hasn’t responded to an email request for contact. Then the DNA brought that eureka moment – we were contacted by people who had DNA links proving that my guesswork was correct. I have now taken her family back a further five generations, while she communicates happily with two cousins in the USA, discovered through her DNA connection. Andrew Tebbutt, by email

EDITOR REPLIES: As the databases grow, DNA testing will become more and more useful.