Taking a DNA test through Ancestry.com or Family Tree DNA can lead to some exciting and wonderful genealogical gems and discoveries. I have taken tests with both companies and each time I find a relative I never knew existed it can lead to something unexpected.
A few months ago I was analyzing my new DNA matches on Ancestry.com when I noticed a new match — a third cousin named Kathleen Hickey. I wrote to her and it turns out she is, in fact, a third cousin. (DNA isn’t always a precise science). Her grandmother and my grandfather were double first cousins.
My great grandfather, John O’Rourke married my great grandmother Mary Rogers and his brother, James O’Rourke, married Mary’s sister, Rose Rogers. James and Rose had two children, only one who survived – Mary Catherine O’Rourke. Mary Catherine O’Rourke is Kathleen Stupfel Hickey’s grandmother.
Kathleen sent me a DVD of her grandmother reminiscing about her childhood in Ireland and Liverpool, England where she was born. The video was taken during a Stupfel family Thanksgiving gathering in Oregon in 1984.
Continue reading “Finding a cousin and a genealogical gem with DNA”
