vivdunstan

Ancestry's DNA estimated "traits" are hit and miss at best. But oh this one's miles off for me! Who's supposedly "least likely" to play an instrument. Ticks off on fingers piano accordion, recorder, violin, piano, classical guitar, anglo concertina and chromatic button accordion. I may well have forgotten some ...

The very rare book that I ordered showing lost Dublin streets in pictures and text arrived safely. Huge thanks to Ulysses Rare Books in Dublin. The book is in great condition and was extremely well packed. I am really looking forward to learning more about the streets where my great granny and her family lived. Some of the very poorest parts of the city then, largely demolished and rebuilt over now.

It took me many decades to trace my Irish great granny. For a long time we thought she was from Northern Ireland. Even when I did finally trace her the documentary record was extremely incomplete, combined with zero family knowledge. We needed DNA testing to prove I’d traced her right. Her family was extremely poor, and constantly in and out of the workhouses and prisons. The latter means I have physical descriptions for great granny and both her parents, as well as other relatives! And while many Irish genealogical records were lost, it’s remarkable just how much detail I’ve traced about her family.

Some months ago I linked here to a blog post about a recent genealogical breakthrough thanks to DNA testing.

I've now written a longer blog post about my experiences of autosomal DNA testing, reflecting on the variety of results I've now had, particularly through AncestryDNA. It's also been interesting to see lines confirmed by science that I've been tracing through paper records for 35+ years.

I also wish that I could use science to confirm some of my academic historical research so easily. In that the research process is often very similar to genealogical research, building up a story using scattered and often conflicting bits of evidence. If only it could be DNA tested too!

Thought some of my online friends might be interested in my blog post, which shows some of the potential of autosomal (all branches) DNA testing for cracking genealogical brick walls. I've made other DNA matches with cousins, but this is the first one that has proven a tricky-to-trace line.