DNA

The study of family history has been expanded in recent years to include genetic genealogy, which is the use of DNA to verify and find relationships within the family.

Traditionally we have relied on baptism records and birth certificates, but some of these have damaged or never existed. And sometimes parentage was deliberately or mistakenly attributed to the wrong person, for example a different father, or a grandmother or aunt as the mother.

Now, inexpensive DNA testing is available with online access to the resulting matches. DNA can link people with shared ancestors many generations back, depending on the type of test taken and nature of relationships. The exciting thing is that this can fill in gaps in our family tree and find unknown cousins.

With the help of several members, we have been able to confirm that our ancestor Emanuel Hungerford is indeed descended from a line of male Hungerfords that go back at least several generations before him, and that the young man John Knight who arrived on the same ship to Australia, was most likely Emanuel's son. The DNA of our older family members is rich in connections to the Hungerford, Daunt and Becher families that we have in our traditional family.

In our search for certain connections, we have unintentionally discovered children born outside the known marriages and have branches of descendants we hadn't known of.  We treat the details of DNA analysis and discovery as confidential, to be shared only between the people who collaborate by doing a DNA test, and we treat the feelings and reputations of living people with great care.  

We are continuously adding to our knowledge and working on several specific projects using DNA. So, if you would like help using DNA in your genealogy studies or if you would like to help us solve some of our mysteries, please become a member and contact us. 

Maximising your DNA Test Results

Here is our checklist of how to get the most matches for least cost...