Another New Relative

A few years ago, Larry received an email through one of the sites where we had our DNA evaluated. It was from a DNA relative—one he had no idea about. She had been adopted and was looking for her birth mother. Both Larry and his brother, Casey, had received emails from her.

She indicated they were related on his father’s side as second cousins. She only knew her mother’s age at the time she was born and that she was from California. (The “new” cousin was from another state.)

This one was easy to figure out even though we had no idea that this particular cousin had ever had another child. We were out-of-state ourselves at the time Her daughter was born, so we were unaware of her whereabouts.

Larry passed the email on to his cousin, and we were able to connect her to her first child.

We also communicated with the daughter and invited her to come to California for a visit and to meet the other family members. This has yet to happen, but we are hopeful.

Last week, it happened again. Larry and Casey received emails from another DNA relative. This time, it was a first cousin! She was born in another state where we were fairly certain NONE of the relatives had ever visited. She was looking for her birth father, whom she had never met. She had just gotten her DNA results and was shocked to find out she was over half European. Her mother was Native American, and she had always believed she was, too.

We spent a couple of days trying to figure out who her father could possibly be.

There were four brothers in Larry’s dad’s family. His dad was immediately eliminated because they are first cousins. This left three others.

We went through all the scenarios before Larry dredged up a memory from his childhood that put everything in perspective. We are now over 90% certain we have the right one. Since this uncle had no other children and has been dead for many years, we can’t confirm this 100%, but we are quite sure we have the right person.

The only way to be completely sure would be for Larry’s cousins to take DNA tests with the same site to eliminate their fathers. (We are confident of the outcome.)

We shared our theory with Larry’s brother and our daughter, and they agreed completely.

Since then, we have been in touch with his “new” cousin, sharing photos and other family information. She is understandably shocked with the results, but she is also happy to finally clarify her parentage.

We have welcomed her to the family and invited her to come here to meet her other relatives. We are excited to get to know her.

We love the show, Finding Your Roots. As Dr. Gates always says, “DNA don’t lie.”

This is the side of the family with “boring” farmers. Who would have guessed?

Have you ever had this kind of surprise?

 

St. Paddy's Day

According to my DNA, I am 87% British and Irish. On my father’s side I’m at least 25% Irish. His mother was a McNamara and his grandmother a Connolly. I also have a bit of Irish on my mother’s side. Despite my grandmother’s claim that her family was 100% Scottish, we discovered that my 5^th great-grandmother in her line, Grace Smith, came from County Cork in Ireland. The ancestors on my grandfather’s side were from Scotland as far as we know.

I have always related to my Celtic ancestry. When we visited Scotland in 1993, we went to the island of Iona, where Christianity first came to Scotland. I felt very at home there amid all the Celtic symbols. Scotland was one of the few places I’ve been where people not only knew how to pronounce my name but could also spell it. And we saw stores  and buildings with my name on them.

Larry is 72% British and Irish, with his Irish roots coming predominantly from Northern Ireland. Many of the Irish in his background were Protestants.

When Larry worked on St. Patrick’s Day, he always wore a special tie—green and orange plaid. In this way, he could pay homage to both his Catholic and Protestant forebears.

I don’t care for corned beef, and I can’t eat cabbage, so they have never been a part of our observance of St. Paddy’s Day. (It is “Paddy” not “Patty.”)

We visited Ireland in 2004—both the north and the south. I felt right at home. I enjoyed all the Irish food we ate there (no corned beef and cabbage to be found). We ate quite a bit of pub food and discovered why the Irish love it.

One of my mother’s cousins invited our entire tour group to stop at her home, where she prepared a traditional afternoon tea for our group of twenty, plus our driver. Visiting her was the highlight of our whole trip. She lived at the tip of Northern Ireland. She was born in Scotland and married an Irishman. They ran a bed and breakfast there for many years. What terrific people, and we are related!

So, this St. Paddy’s Day, as on every St. Paddy’s Day since 2004, I will recall all the wonderful experiences we had on our trip. Heck, I’ll probably watch the video we created from the photos of our trip. Experience Ireland vicariously by watching Enchanting Ireland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb_yMQ87q-o