Tag: DNA

Great stories

Chasing the Ghost of Cecilia Black

DNA Mel

I have been chasing the ghost of Cecilia Black. After meeting a new friend, who was actually my AirBNB host Pamela when I stayed in in Castle Hill for the DNA Downunder Roadshow. Her unit was awesome and I loved my stay. 

Pamela was telling me about her friend and how they felt that Cecilia was living in her friends house.  Excitedly I wanted to know more and if I could assist with the mystery using my research skills. 

Have you a Cecilia Black on your family tree? or do you DNA match to her? Have you heard stories about a Cecilia Black? Maybe she visits your house? 

What do we know?

Cecilia is a friendly ghost who likes to open and close doors, sometimes being cheeky and locking them. She leaves footprints in the carpeted areas of the house. She likes to stand beside a white marble fireplace calling out for “John”. 

She lived in the 1800’s and she wears a long black skirt with a white shirt with puffy sleeves and a tiny waist. She has her hair pulled back into a bun. Her perfume smells like old fashioned flowers. 

We believe that she lived in the Monaro area of New South Wales, Australia.

She is very protective of babies and young children. 

Do you know Cecilia or know anything about the Black family from the Monaro Area of NSW? Comment below or email me – mel@thednaconnection.com.au

Stay tuned for what I have found so far…… 

To read the next instalment Click Here

Conferences, DNA

DNA to the Max – Sydney

DNA Mel

What a fantastic conference that was!! For the first conference of its type in Australia that was an amazing success. Congratulations to the team at Unlock the Past for creating such a wonderful event. I cant wait for the next one.

Highlights of the last 3 days for me:

* The discussions around informed consent – I know I will be changing my practices, when asking people to take a DNA test

* I have an increased awareness of the need for support, for all who have surprises pop up, when taking a DNA test, and I am more conscious of the ripple effect on families when surprises and secret are discovered

* The exciting changes that are coming for use the DNA testing in the future including the use of DNA to inform about Medical information eg Medications and conditions

* Chromosome Mapping and Visual Phasing – Thanks Blaine Bettinger for allowing the nerd in me, to be excited about this. Linking the ancestoral stories to the chromosomes was a lightbulb moment for me!

* The rise is DNA testing is increasing the awareness of the need for Genealogical societies and showing others the joy of traditional Genealogical research.

I am excited to think that we are going to see many more DNA testers in Australia and that I have potentially have many more cousins to meet. 

My 11th Cousin 1x Removed Blaine Bettinger enjoying an aussie meat pie

I made another Cousin connection – Shelley Crawford from Connected DNA

 https://www.connecteddna.com/ She is my 7th Cousin 3x removed and was my closest match of the weekend. 

Shelley creates these amazing graphs of your shared cousin matches which look amazing!

I have followed her blog for a little while and wonder what segment of DNA we share that might make us think that this stuff is super fun! Would be cool if we could link it back to our common ancestor. 

She is my cousin!!!

I can’t not mention my friend and Mentor Louise Coakley. She has taught me all I know about the world of DNA and I would be lost without her. She was inspiring on this tour and I loved seeing so many people come and say hi as well as, thank her for all she has done to assist and teach others. 

Louise Blaine Mel
Louise, Blaine and Mel

Thanks to all the old and new friends I made – I will be sure to forget someone if I try to list you all, but I look forward to seeing you online or catching you in person at the next DNA Down Under. I am off to get painting some chromosomes! 

Adoption, DNA, Great stories

My First DNA adoption case

DNA Mel

My First DNA adoption case

Search for Birth Father

I met unnamed female in November 2016. A fellow genealogist suggested this might be a good case for me to get started with.

She knew her birth mother but was desperately seeking connection to her birth father

Initially her ancestry test revealed 68 4th cousin matches or closer and slowly over time this number grew. We would excitedly email each other when new closer matches arrived. Each new match was matched to other matches and if we could we added the person to our online speculative tree and we worked out how the new match fit into the family.

Initially progress was slow and there was weeks with no new matches until we had a match appear that was in the 2nd Cousin range – Who was this mystery match? We had great excitement that there was no shared matches to her mothers side of the tree. For weeks we internet searched and stalked profiles on Facebook to piece together whom this match may be. We were able to start a speculative family tree for this match and slowly work backwards to see if there were links to the maternal lines – but nothing. We sent emails and messages and spoke to living family members trying to piece the puzzle together. There were many twists and turns and paths leading to dead ends, but we persisted.

We initally headed down the maternal side of the new matches tree but we couldnt get this information to gel with the trees of the other shared matches. So we moved onto the Paternal side. We built lots of lots of trees and finally found links back to similar towns in NSW. Was this what we were looking for???

Some matches clicked in, and others didn’t, we found some more matches that didn’t know their past family either, this added to the mystery and drove us on! (Still working on one of these mysteries – it involves an adoption following a shipwreck of the Cairns Coast, but that’s another story)

Now we are sitting at 292 4th cousins or closer according to Ancestry DNA, and we are close to finding her birth father, but again we are at a Brick Wall of a deceased brother whom we know nothing about, and the relatives seem to know nothing either. Its two steps forward and five steps back but each week we hope for new DNA matches to add to the story.

If you want to read her side of the story – I’m proud to share her blog with you – The Rollercoaster Ride Called Adoption : From the eyes of an adoptee

I hope that I am able to update this blog post in the future with more news.