4 ways a dna test can help you

I spend a lot of time talking about DNA and I love sharing my experiences with it, but occasionally I wonder what really makes genetic genealogy work for me. Below I’ve distilled my thoughts into four

Most of us have unfortunate brick walls in our family trees – those frustrating relations who seem to have appeared into the world as if from nowhere. Perhaps a person does not feature in the baptism

‘DNA isn’t a magic bullet,’ says DNA Detective Michelle Leonard. ‘Sometimes people think it’s going to be, and they think it’s going to “throw up the answers”.’ Occasionally this happens, ‘if you’re r

I remember, many years ago, a potential client making a very specific request. They wanted me to research their family but they were only interested in the direct male line. ‘I don’t want to know abou

Picture this: you have followed that advice, spending countless hours building your family tree, squinting at faded census records and wrestling with handwriting that makes doctors’ prescriptions look

I’d grown up wondering why I looked so different from my family. But it took 35 years to discover the truth.