My The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Case
I got a call one night from my cousin, Carla, in Iowa.
"Hey Danny! I have a good friend here, Amber, and I was wondering if you could help her with her genealogy?"
"Of course! What does she need help with?"
"Well, she doesn't know who her biological father is."
"Ahh. Has she done a DNA test?"
"She has and the results just came in. Do you think you can help her?"
"I'll sure give it my best shot!"
So, I had Amber send me an invite to her results and I got started.
The first step was to separate her mother's families from her paternal ones.
Then I looked at what was left and it was encouraging!
She had a match of 373 centimorgans with "MS".
My Actual, Very Scribbly, Triangulation Chart
That's a first cousin once removed to second cousin. See here:
Centimorgan Chart For Autosomal DNA Tests
Very good indeed!
Working back the other matches, I found a solid triangulation for Roy Edgar Bowling and Onnie Smith. They had a BIG family . . . 11 children!
One by one, using the other tests and their relative strengths (and ages as the youngest were too young . . . and girls), I was able to eliminate all but 2 of the kids.
Of the two, only 1 had a son, Mattie, and she married Jessie Elliott.
So, I searched for the Elliott family in the DNA results and BINGO, there it was! A whole slug of them! That's the triangulation I was looking for!
Frank was their only son, and guess what? He had moved from North Carolina to Iowa.
There's your nexus, baby!
Frank was her dad! That's the Good.
Sadly, I found out that he had passed away in 2003. That's the Bad.
And on top of that, he had died of a rare blood disease. That's the Ugly.
In addition, I found out that Frank had two children, Amber's half-siblings. I was able to find her sister, Jessica, right away on Facebook.
So, I called up Carla and let her know the exciting news!
Amber immediately called me and I filled her in on everything, including her half-siblings. Here's what she posted:
Within minutes, Amber had already contacted Jessica. Here's what she posted:
And they met up the very next day!
Because Amber's father had died from a rare blood disease, she and her children got tested for it. Unfortunately, she and her son has it too.
Thankfully there's a treatment for it, but it involves getting monthly blood transfusions for the rest of their lives. But, that's far better than dying at a young age like her father did. He was only 45!
This is a perfect example of why it's so important to do good genealogical research. You never know, you just might save lives!
And you know what? It feels pretty dang good!
If you'd like to have me look at your family tree, or help you with a brick wall, or your DNA, I'd love to hear from you!
Drop me a line or give me a call and I'll get started on it as soon as I can.
danny@hallgen.com
(888) 444-3211
Photo Credits:
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Clipart Download - Thank You!
Facebook Post - Amber Inghram - Thank You!
Facebook Posts - Jessica Elliott - Thank You!
