UNLOCK THE STORY OF YOUR GENES
YOUR DNA WORKSHOP
Making DNA work FOR YOU
Welcome to the DNA Workshop! In every issue DNA adviser Karen Evans will be unpacking a reader case study, and giving step-by-step tips for you to use in your DNA research at home. It’s time to unlock the story of your genes…
CAN DNA RESEARCH HELP ME SOLVE A LONG-STANDING MYSTERY?
Reader Michelle got in touch with DNA adviser Karen Evans to ask her advice
MICHELLE: I read your pages every month and I try hard to concentrate, I really do, but I struggle! Science is not my thing, unfortunately.
I have been researching mine and my husband's (John Paterson) family trees for over ten years and have been stumped at times. His dad's family are such a mystery! Anyway we did DNA tests a few years ago and it was amazing. I found a lovely man who told us all about John's grandad. Family legend told us he was born in Aberdeen. He wasn’t! He was born in Herefordshire. So we have all the information about my husband’s grandad's maternal side. It’s the other side and his grandad and grandmother I struggle the most with. No birth certificate for grandmother and no marriage certificate.
Anyway, the biggest and best breakthrough came when I uploaded our raw DNA onto MyHeritage. This man, David, was given a DNA kit for Christmas by his daughter last year and uploaded the results in January where I saw it and couldn’t believe it! Such a massive match! I just don’t know where from. We have looked at names, etc, but the big thing is David's dad doesn’t know who his father was. I am in contact with David.
KAREN: How could I resist!?
According to his birth certificate John’s father was born in Liverpool to Douglas Paterson (born 1899, Ross) and his wife Doris, née Mooney (born 1900, supposedly Liverpool). Michelle has found the couple in the 1939 Register and been able to trace the Paterson line back to Scotland via a mixture of traditional and DNA match research. Doris is a mystery. There is no sign of a marriage between Douglas and Doris and, despite a date of birth, there is no Doris Mooney in the 1901 or 1911 census that fits the bill. Would John’s DNA give us some clues? As a further twist, David’s father was born in Liverpool.