A for Ancestry

Last year my A to Z was “Fact or Fiction – Family Stories”. When I reached Z I thankfully put family research on hold.  There was one last thing to do.  My husband and I decided to have our DNA tested on Ancestry to verify my family tree research.

After a six week wait our results came back. I found my ethnicity included 54% Europe West, 19% Ireland/Scotland/Wales and 12% Great Britain.  Of slightly more interest I found 6% Iberian Peninsula, 5% Scandinavia, 2% Finland/ Northwest Russia and 1% Africa North.

I was a little disappointed as I had expected to find out more.  Little did I know what was yet to come!

A few days later I discovered my husband had a cousin match.  We both recognised her name and marvelled at the fact that her family connection showed up purely through their matching DNA samples.

It was then I noticed that I had a cousin match as well.  That was impossible!  Not only was I an only child but so were both my parents, so there could be no cousins, aunts or uncles.  At the side of the page were listed 23 family names as my new cousin had quite an extensive family tree.

Not one of those names corresponded to anyone in my family.  Was this an error on the part of Ancestry?  Who was this person and how could she possibly be related to me?

I sent her an email through Ancestry wondering if she would reply.  I had an unsettling feeling however that I already knew the answer.