UNLOCK THE STORY OF YOUR GENES

Welcome to the DNA Workshop! In every issue DNA adviser Karen Evans will be unpacking a reader case study, helping you learn how to use your DNA research at home. It’s time to unlock the story of your genes…

Karen Evans

JANET WRITES:

I read your column in Family Tree magazine with interest each month. It is amazing what advancements in solving family relationships DNA has made. I have a family mystery which I think may intrigue you and a question – can you triangulate DNA to give a likely place for someone on a family tree?

Our mystery relates to the Pyatt family and we have three DNA matches for myself who has a Pyatt grandmother, ‘Emma’ Pyatt and Hannah Hamilton née Pyatt. Our mystery surrounds the identity of Hannah’s paternal grandmother. Her father, Peter, was placed in a home only knowing that his birth certificate recorded his parents as John and Marjorie Pyatt. Using DNA, we have identified that Peter’s father was in fact a Greek gentleman, which leaves us to assume, as the three of us have reasonably close DNA matches, that the Pyatt connection must be through Hannah’s paternal grandmother. Obviously as I am writing to you a Marjorie Pyatt cannot be found anywhere. Despite creating a tree relating to the Pyatts, I appear to have ruled out most as candidates and wondered if your experience of DNA could help us narrow down where she would sit on our family tree?

Peter’s hospital letter, with information on his parents, including the detail that his mother had been born in 1913

Peter’s birth certificate

Hannah and Janet’s match

I am happy to do further research if you can make any suggestions where I should be looking, and Hannah has a few more documents. Sadly, her father passed away in 2018 before he could solve the mystery.

Janet Mackleston

KAREN REPLIES:

Janet and Hannah gave me collaborator access to their DNA Ancestry matches and supplied me with all the research they had previously carried out. This included an extremely detailed Pyatt tree and the documents concerning Hannah’s father. Peter Pyatt’s birth certificate from 1937 shows his parents as John Pyatt and Marjorie Pyatt formerly ‘----’. A document supplied to Peter when he was trying to find information about his mother gives a birth date of 30 September 1913, which she supplied to the maternity home on entry. As Janet had previously explained, she and Hannah already knew John Pyatt was fictional, but what about Marjorie?