Genetic Genealogy

One of the services we provide is helping people find relatives via DNA-test results. 

 

We have helped adoptees and others find near biological relatives such as a parent, grandparent, sibling, or half-sibling.  We have also helped individuals disconnected from or without close biological relatives learn about their more distant past.

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Our preference is to use the AncestryDNA testing results.  Their website makes it easy to safely share your data, and they have the largest testing pool.  If you already have DNA results from another testing company, we will consider using that data on a case-by-case basis.  Factors to consider include the testing company you have used, and how closely you are connected to the DNA-based mystery.  

 

Pricing

Our typical DNA case takes no fewer than 8 hours.  Some take much longer than that.  It's difficult to estimate how long an individual case may take, as it's a unique combination of the following:

• the quantity and closeness of your matches, and the details that they reveal about themselves;

• what details of your mystery are known (or believed) versus unknown; 

• the time and place in which the mystery occurred.

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We offer two initial options for those clients wanting to solve a DNA-based question.  

 

1.  For a $68 fee, we will review your DNA match list to see what data we have to work with.  We will then be able to provide a more detailed opinion of the time we believe it may take to find a solution to your question.  The fee is non-refundable; however, should you agree to book more hours toward a DNA-based project with us, that fee will be added value toward additional research time.  That is, some of the foundational work will already have been done.  

2. For a minimum commitment of 8 hours of time, we can work toward the solution of your DNA-based mystery.  That amount of time allows us enough opportunity to survey the data offered by your network of matches and begin work.  At the end of the agreed-upon number of research hours, we will provide the information we have found thus far. If the research question has not been answered in that amount of time, you can then choose to invest more time toward the research goal, or end the project with the details provided.  

 

Please note, there are cases in which we cannot provide a conclusive answer.  On projects in which DNA is our primary tool, we are at the mercy of who else has tested and which records are available in order to solve these puzzles.  We don't know the ultimate findings until we have invested the time.  Should we not provide a conclusive answer to your question in the amount of time you have purchased, you are still obligated to pay for the time we have invested. 

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More information about DNA and Genetic Genealogy:

We recommend one DNA service and platform: AncestryDNA.  We are not affiliated with them, but we prefer the data this company makes available and the manner in which they present it.  This test focuses on your autosomal DNA as well as establishing your ethnic composition to find out where your ancestors came from.  The test results connect you with people who have also taken that company's test and have genetic matches significant enough to predict a familial relationship.  The following are points to consider before participating:

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• Clients are responsible for purchasing the kit independently, providing the sample, and returning the kit to the testing company for testing.  Clients will need to share the results with us.  We can help you through this process.

• DNA testing may reveal information about you that is different from what you have believed.  For example, it might contain an ethnic component that you were not aware of. It might also predict that you are genetically related to more or different people than you have understood to be true. 

• The results of this DNA test do not include information about diseases and other genetic characteristics.  Again, it focuses on finding the people who share a family line with you. 

• You have the option of keeping your ethnicity and family tree private on the testing site.  However, it will limit the people who are predicted to match with you. Before you begin the process, you should think about whether your goal is learning more about yourself or finding members of your extended family.  

• Your DNA matches will be with people who have also taken this test and have allowed their information to be shared with others.  Not everyone has taken a DNA test, and not everyone who takes a DNA test shares their results. The DNA results might match you with another person estimated to be a first cousin, second cousin, and so on.  However, a DNA test will not prove whether you are related, for example, to William the Conqueror or Pocahontas. A DNA test might predict you are related to a person who claims to be descended from another person, but you have no idea whether that person’s claims are correct.  That’s genealogy’s role--to attempt to find historical documentation to support your familial connections.   

• This DNA test will not prove most relationships, it will only suggest them.  Comparing family trees will help you understand how you may be related to another person.  The information we provide during a project is a hypothesis created from the data available.  Further testing and information is generally required in order for a very specific relationship to be confirmed. 

• Your ethnicity results will not align exactly with your family’s countries of origins or strictly along generational lines. If your mother was from Norway, you will not be exactly 50% Norwegian. It all depends on which genetic puzzle pieces you inherited from each parent. You will also not match siblings exactly, unless you are identical twins.