The Magic of DNA: Here is my History

When you're adopted, there's nothing more life changing than finding members of your biological family.  It's exciting, you can ask questions and get answers you only wondered about before, and there's no end to the discoveries you can make as you're getting to know your "new" family. But in addition to that, DNA has given you a marvelous gift you would not have otherwise - and that's a link to your ancestry.

The ads for the DNA websites are everywhere - Ancestry, 23andme, Heritage DNA, Family Tree DNA - and they're all making money.  Everyone has a different reason for researching their own DNA.  I have recently joined a Genealogy group, and talking with others, I am finding that different people have different reasons why they are interested in their own ancestral history.

When you're an adoptee, it's totally different.  You find out that you are connected by blood to people you have never known before. You have to learn people's names, look at family trees, and if you're lucky, there is someone in your family who already knows a lot about the ancestral history - I am so lucky we have such a person in our family. Whew!

For non-adoptees, I'm told the fascination is finding the document(s) or photograph(s) or a footprint (evidence) in a place where they were never found before, therefore adding more to their personal history.  Having it explained to you in that way, it makes total sense.  However, since all I knew was my birthdate and birthplace, I am more than happy to have someone tell me stories so I can understand the path of not only my mother's life, but my grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. 

The family members that I'm connecting with are able to tell me stories, about things they were told when they were young, and it's really amazing that one little DNA test not only led me to my birth family, but it unlocked another door to a world I'd never thought of before.

I've always been fascinated uncovering of secrets and hidden mysteries, and that's all DNA is really.  I'm intrigued by people who look so much like their ancestors: being able to see where they came from, what struggles they had (how did you get here from there? type of questions), and those stories being handed down from generation to generation.  As an adoptee, I always felt I'd never have those connections with myself.   Now I can. Because of DNA, I have been able to find a family I might otherwise not have known.

Your DNA is your story. Starting with your grandparents, and going back from there, looking at all the generations that came before - and they're all connected to you.  

I'm learning that although we didn't have computers or the internet, a lot of families kept meticulous records of births, deaths, marriages, children, recording what people died of and when.  A lot of those people, are connecting that information to the digital age.  There are some documents that exist, and it's wonderful to learn and find those gems of information that can open an entirely new world to you.  It makes U.S. History so much more exciting if you can find out where your family was in the revolutionary or civil war, what major events in history did they survive (earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes), what were they doing in the Gold Rush when everyone was heading to California to find their fortune?  

There is an upside, and a downside to all of this as well.  I am incredibly fortunate that my birth family has welcomed me with such open arms, and the reception is absolutely wonderful.  However, discoveries of a child from long ago doesn't always fare well to family members who might not have been in on the secret.  A grown son who finds out his mother had another baby before he was born, fathered by a man who was not his father, can have serious emotional effects, and not always in a good way.  

For the adoptee, it's not our intention to cause emotional pain to anyone, we just have a natural curiosity to know where we came from.  Sometimes the DNA path might not always be as clear.  My wish is that all adoptees everywhere may someday know the answers they are looking for, but it can often cause tension in a family.  Sometimes the parents who adopted you are hurt because you want to know where you come from.  So having the weight of other people's emotions weigh huge on an adoptee's search for answers.  My wish is for more people to have an understanding of the natural curiosity that adoptees have in our search for our ancestry.

I am grateful for Genealogy groups, individuals who can help others learn about themselves, or any way possible a person can connect to your own heritage.  There are so many more people out there learning about themselves, and it's always exciting, and sometimes, life changing. There is nothing more important than your story.  There will always be new roads to discover.

As someone who grew up knowing absolutely nothing about my bloodline, finding out truths through DNA has been life changing.  I'm fascinated and curious about what I will find as I go back through history - my own history - through my ancestors. Finally, there is a connection, and I can follow it.  Who knows where it will lead?