It is 2 AM Wednesday morning and having been summoned to consciousness by mother nature, I am writing or reading before getting back to sleep. My reading has been varied. After finding the genealogical mysteries of British author Nathan Dylan Goodwin and his contemporary of the same genre, MJ Lee. I've contentedly met the fictional characters of genealogists Morton Ferrier and Jayne Sinclair. If you enjoy this genre, you may like both series. I've gone on to decidedly non-fiction in the arena of DNA testing.
Speaking of this, all of the necessary DNA testing needed to unravel the backstory surrounding a great great grandfather on my mother's side has been completed. There was a surprise surname on the male line from his descendant with which none of us were familiar, so the mystery has deepened temporarily until the professionals build out trees and chase records, many of which are not digitized and are therefore unavailable online. This will likely take another six months. A tantalizing clue has emerged in the form of a couple but just how they fit in has yet to be established. The DNA also points directly to a particular area and so may also clear up questions as to where this man originated. He and his wife divorced after 1900 and. according to family lore, he was incarcerated for attempting to kill her with an axe, a sad testament to a life of addiction, among other things.
Navigating this sort of information can be challenging but without the DNA, the lid from Pandora's box would never have been pried off and the questions which three or four generations of my extended family have been concerned would never have been answered.
