DNA

It's a lovely day down here on the Sussex coast. As we were reading the daily news, an email popped into Diane's inbox. It was from "Ancestry" reporting a new DNA match. This always creates a frisson of excitement. Is this a person we already know? Is this a person opening up a new branch of research? I logged on and started to dig into the DNA database. The match was previously unknown to us. Her family name is not one that we know from our research... but she shows up as a 2nd or 3rd cousin. Disappointment set in. She had no tree that I could examine. In the end, the only possible course of action was to write to her. I eagerly await her response, but experience has taught me that if there is a response at all, it could be many months before it arrives.

Having been delving into "Ancestry", I did look through some of my own matches and managed to find several 3rd cousins of my own. They were related to my Great-great-grandfather's second marriage (he remarried after his first wife, Caroline, died).

As the day wore on, I received a call from Jane. The news was not good. Dear Aunt Margaret (wife of my Dad's twin brother, Peter) died, peacefully, yesterday evening. She had been discovered by cousin Nick when he went to her flat to see what she wanted for dinner. She had died, peacefully, in her chair. This must be an immensely trying time for my cousins. I managed to talk with Zoe and inform her of the news, and early this evening I also spoke with Kim so that she knew. It's a sad day.