Are you adopted and
searching for your ancestors? Are you are trying to find an adopted mother’s
biological family line?
If you have one of these problems an mtDNA test may help.
Although there are no guarantees of success, this is the most logical path to
try.
Finding an adopted female’s ancestors using mtDNA can be
difficult given the problem with the mitochondria mutating so slowly. The first
approach should be to get any birth records or adoption records if at all
possible. Admittedly, this is not easy, as the information each state obtains
varies, as does the information they will share. There are a few websites that
may be of help.
Google the term “Adoption Search Angels.” You will find many
sites including About.com which will guide you through some of the resources
available. Volunteer search angels can help you get started.
Richard Hill’s site, dna Testing Adviser has a wonderful section
on adoption. See:
http://www. dna-testing-adviser.com/AdoptionSearch.html.
Locating a female on your all-female line as a candidate to
test is a challenge. First, determine in what area or county your last proven
ancestor lived. You may need to check all the available records, not just the
usual ones, to see if there are any clues that indicate possible parents.
Sometimes there is oral history in the family which may lead you to a possible
connection. If you can locate enough circumstantial evidence to suggest the
parents, you then need to bring down an all-female line to present day and test
that person. If the result matches you, your brother who shares your same mother,
or some direct-line female you know is related to you on your all-female line,
you have found your relatives!
mtDNA testing works best in genealogy if you have a
specific problem to solve and can find viable candidates to test.
Following are some mtDNA success stories, originally posted
on the International Society of Genetic Genealogy website,
http://www.isogg.org/
reprinted with permission.
MISSING LINK
“A woman wanting to prove her fifth great-grandmother in her
maternal line could not document the link between the sixth and seventh
generations in the pedigree. mtDNA appeared to be the only answer. After much
researching, a female line descendant from a proven daughter of the seventh
generation ‘grandmother’ was found and mtDNA testing for both descendants
proved that they were descended from the same seventh generation female.” — Posted
on 16 Apr 2005
EMMA’S STORY
“Emma’s mother was unwed and barely 18 years old. When Emma
was born, an old preacher abducted her and raised her as his own. He probably
thought he was doing the right thing, and later he claimed to have legally
adopted her (e.g. 1930 census). Emma was raised with the preacher’s surname and
she never knew her biological mother’s name.
Emma’s daughter recently started to add some genealogical
evidence to the family stories so she could present an iron-clad story of her
ancestry to Emma before she died. Despite the daughter’s best efforts, there
was always some doubt that she had the right family. Emma’s daughter did some
research on the web and discovered that mtDNA might offer a tool to solve this
puzzle once and for all.
Using her own mtDNA and mtDNA from Emma’s presumed Aunt
Oleta HVR1 & HVR2, she found an exact match, thus confirming the paper
trail!”— Posted on 27 Nov 2006
ACADIAN CONNECTION
“I started to seriously research my heritage about 12 years
ago. I purchased an early version of Family Tree Maker (FTM) and admittedly, the box sat on the shelf for a while
as I gathered up what I knew personally about my ancestors. I made inquiries
to my father who, though I hadn’t had much contact with him since I was quite
young, was willing to send me reams of papers and copies of documents such as
family bibles. On my mother’s side I was fortunate, as well.
Apparently, an aunt, who had recently passed, had begun to
document my maternal side. Her research went to another aunt with whom I was
very close. As my mother was explaining what I was doing, over the phone and in
French, my aunt told my mother that I could expect the papers soon.
I knew my mother was French; it was “her first language,”
she tells me. And just looking at my uncles, aunts, cousins, and pictures of my
grandparents, well, you can tell. Along with the materials forwarded to me, and
the information I gleaned from oral histories given by living relatives, I was
able to document my direct maternal line back seven generations, though many
other marital offshoots led even further back. According to what I had on hand,
my furthest known direct maternal-line ancestor was Clothilde Quinter and the
spelling was questionable.
For many years, and through several software updates, I
continued to explore the various branches. A couple of years ago I came across
an article in Time, I believe, relating DNA research conducted on a
fossil found on a mountaintop in the Alps. After researching online, I signed
up to have my own DNA tested, and my step-father, and his mother, to see if
there would be anything productive to aid in my research. I had, by this time,
become the so-called family genealogy “expert” and had worked on my wife’s
family and that of several friends.
Of the three of us who submitted to testing, only my
step-father benefited—until last week. I received an email from Lucie LeBlanc
Consentino which began in a familiar way as I had received other inquiries that
led, effectively, nowhere. Lucie inquired as to whether I was of Acadian
descent, and whether I would be interested in participating in a project. I
quickly replied, and we exchanged several emails the very first day. In one of
these I provided her with information about my maternal line, and she
introduced me to the project; further offering to forward my information to
noted [Acadian French heritage] researcher Stephen A. White.
How very pleased I was to relate to my mother, only two days
following, that Mr. White had not only corrected a couple of errors in my
information, but was able to provide detailed information about my direct
maternal line which he had extended to twice its length. One of these “errors”
might have been the stumbling block for my own research, yet by combining his
knowledge of my mtDNA and his extensive research on Acadian heritages, he was
able to double my maternal line to fourteen generations.
This was truly a success story for me and my family. My
mother has already requested an updated poster to take to her next family
reunion in Louisiana. Merci beaucoup Lucie and Stephen!” Troy D. A. Hammond
Mr. White adds:
“I am glad to learn that Mr. Hammond is so happy with the
way I was able to complete his family tree. That I was able to do so is as much
a result of his having had his mtDNA tested as anything else, because in the
context of our early Acadian families his results suggested that he must be a
descendant of Andre Guyon. Sorting through the problems in the documentation
was thus quite rewarding, given that the end result confirmed what the mtDNA
had suggested. Sincerely yours, Stephen A. White” — Posted on 22 Apr 2008
 |
Acadian
French By Klaus Mueller CC-BY-SA-2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
|
FROM THE MOTHERS OF ACADIA DNA PROJECT
“I have been doing some form of family history research for
over 30 years. During that time I traced my mother’s family on the male lineage
back to France and was delighted with the results. In the meantime, a cousin on
my father’s side took up that research, and I started on my husband’s European
lines from Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
I have been a subscriber to Richard Eastman’s Genealogy
Newsletter for a long time, and about two years ago I read an article he wrote
about dna testing. I thought it sounded interesting, so I ordered the basic
test, and then decided to go to the second level of testing. Because it is
mtDNA and traces the direct maternal line, I went back and started researching
that line, promptly running into a brick wall. Even though I had two major
source books I could not find any information before the mid-1700s. I started a
broader search and discovered that my maternal line may have immigrated to
Acadia (Nova Scotia) in the mid-1600s. I was doing online research and thought
that I had figured out my maternal lineage, but because I had no access to
primary sources I could not be sure. I joined the French Heritage DNA Project
during this time.
Very recently I received an invitation to join an mtDNA
project and I accepted. I sent the information on my maternal lineage to Lucie
LeBlanc Consentino who sent it to Stephen White for verification. After fewer
corrections than I expected, I can now lay claim to being a sixteenth
generation descendant from a daughter of Acadia, Jeanne Motin de Reux. I am
fortunate to descend from such a distinguished line, because at sixteen generations
it gives me the longest female-line lineage to date.
On my paternal line, my cousin had done all the research and
we thought we knew which English Carter line we could claim as our ancestors,
but one link was weak on documentation. We convinced our Carter male first
cousin to have his DNA tested and submitted our lineage to the Carter Society.
Through the DNA test comparisons we were able to determine which Carter settler
of the New World we descended from.
I am delighted with all the new information that I have
recently obtained. It has become my custom to print a small family history book
with pictures for each new baby that is born in our family. As my nieces and
nephews turn forty years old I make a family history book as a birthday present
for them. The dna results will add an additional validation to some of the
information.” — Posted on 1 May 2008
HVR1 MTDNA MATCH!
“mtDNA has just today proved useful to me for genealogical
purposes. I had recently (last fall) done some historical research that
extended my maternal line back for several more generations. I thought what I
had looked good, but I wasn’t sure that it was airtight. I just got an HVR1
match at FTDNA who noticed my newly established most distant ancestor was hers
as well. She wrote me and we found that we were descended from two sisters who
were born in Virginia in the late eighteenth century. This was at least
partial confirmation that the part of my research of which I was least sure was
in fact correct! I hope others will have this pleasant experience too.” —
Posted on 6 Feb 2009
Appeared in the GFO
Bulletin, Volume 64, No. 1, September 2014.
GFO is the Genealogical Forum of Oregon in Portland
Oregon. See their website: www.gfo.org
For more information about DNA, read Emily’s book, Genetic Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond which can be
purchased online at AuthorHouse.com, Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble in
paperback or as an e-book. The book can be ordered at any bookstore.
