An aunt asked me to get involved with our family genealogy. Then she talked me into sending my DNA to Ancestry.com. I was surprised to find a close, but unknown, DNA match. To learn how this person was related to me, I had to learn how to use a peculiar website. My presentation will take you through the process of how I discovered the daddy who raised me was not my birth father. You will see what can be accomplished with today’s websites. Family trees and historical records, DNA results and DNA-matching features that make identifying relatives possible, all played a role in my story.

 

My Surprise Family: Find Your Ancestry Story is as a mystery, a memoir, and a manual. Available now as a print-on-demand book from Amazon, copies will be available at the meeting for purchase and signing.

Biography: Dr. Nicholson moved to St Augustine, FL from Harrisburg, PA, sixteen years ago, a move prompted by the birth of her grandson. After retiring from university teaching, Margaret eagerly switched from academic writing to personal subjects. Creating a family tree for Noah sparked her interest in genealogy. She says, “He’s sixteen and ignores me if I utter the words, ‘first cousin once removed,’ but he will look at the ship manifest showing the arrival of his maternal great-grandfather from Italy.”