A DNA group that I'm a member of has gone to a new format as the person who used to be the coordinator has said she's done and it's time for the membership to take over. So the consensus was that each of us will run one of the monthly meetings presenting on a topic about DNA. I'm not nearly as advanced in researching my genetic genealogy as the other members of the group. Sometimes what they talk about is way over my head but they haven't kicked me out yet. My topic will be about writing - go figure. At least that is something I do know about. I don't have to do my gig until 2027 so have a while to prepare. So it seemed like a good idea to have a look at what I've written about DNA on my blog.
I've written a lot of posts about DNA over the years but I took time out from trawling the posts when I found a family mystery that I posted about on January 22, 2018. It's a mystery about John who was born in 1845, the youngest son of Mary Rideout nee Maidment. He grew up with his older siblings but Mary's husband Thomas Rideout had died in 1842. So who was John's father? Could DNA be used to shed any light on this situation?
Mary Maidment was my 2 x great grandmother, so finding out about her is within the reach of autosomal DNA. In fact, I was able to take Mary's line back further by using DNA and there was a complication that arose as her father, Elias Maidment, married Martha Rideout just to keep the family ties closer.
I think I can use the original story as an illustration of writing and maybe get some pointers on how to proceed at the same time. And maybe, just maybe, I can use DNA to take the story further as it did when I found Mary's parents and went down a rabbit hole researching my game keeping ancestors.
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