Family

The Winter holidays, for me, seem like the only time of year when everything feels different. When I feel that cool air, I also sense the nostalgia of winters past.

Genetic genealogy is still a brand new thing. We are all unknowingly mapping out a singular story for all of us.

This year, if you find yourself at an awkward Thanksgiving Dinner, it can be helpful to understand how family/friends/loved ones are all connected to you. Family is often about fitting into a complex puzzle, and our differences are more reason to connect even more.

Jeff and his brother both decided to take a DNA test, and that's when Jeff's FamilyTreeDNA story begins to reveal some surprises.

When Ivy was 20 years old, her mother told her that she was conceived through a hospital-run sperm donor program in New York.

Sandy and Joe welcomed a new son into their lives. He was 30 years old and discovered through FamilyTreeDNA that Joe was the father he'd been searching for.

Juliet grew up not knowing anything about her heritage. All she knew was that she was Caucasian.

Ken's children gave him a DNA kit for Father’s Day. He had been searching for his father. When he received the test results, he got the shock of his life.

Patricia always knew that her great-grandmother, Bridget Lohan, had been born in Ireland in the 1800s.  But that was all the information she had.

Because Donna was adopted, she wanted to learn more about her family history. What came back was completely unexpected.