DNA Case Study

NORWAY — GK lives in Norway and has always been interested in his family history. Recently retired, he was bitten by the genealogy bug and earnestly began the paper trail search.
Both parents were born in Hungary, but very little was known about his mother’s side of the family. Following good practices, GK interviewed his mother, learning a few names and details to help his search in the Hungarian Civil Registry records. Here a family name and village was revealed. The connection to the ancestral village and their records was yet to be discovered.

GK recently tested with MyHeritage.®

PITTSBURGH — KAM began her genealogy research over 25 years ago. She combed attics and cemeteries, searched US records, and interviewed many of her elderly Slovak family members.
Her maternal grandparents’ marriage record revealed the names of the ancestral villages which became pawns in the game of border changes in WWI and WWII. Records for these villages are only available in the churches overseas and had never been microfilmed. Since 1999, KAM has been visiting the region to digitize these records.

KAM and her mother tested with several companies recently transferring their DNA results to MyHeritage.®

GK AND KAM… YOU HAVE A MATCH!

GK and KAM’s mom share 123 centimorgans and are estimated to be 1C2R to 2C2R.
They may share a great-grandparent!

  • GK doesn’t have an on-line tree.
  • One surname was shared with KAM.
  • GK continues his search in the Hungarian Civil Registries.
  • GK confirms the birth of his mother’s father, names of his parents, and the ancestral village!
  • GK shares these names and ancestral village with KAM.
  • DNA testing has led to GK knowing more about his maternal ancestral origins adding new branches to his family tree.
  • GK ’s mom now knows she has cousins in Pittsburgh!

GK and KAM go through a series of exchanges

Both go to work to find the common ancestor in the records.

The world just got a little bit smaller!

  • KAM contacts GK asking to compare notes.
  • From the surname, KAM believes that they may share an ancestral region.
  • KAM was successful tracing all her great-grandparents’ descendants’ marriages and children—except for one!
  • KAM confirms the shared ancestry between GK and KAM in the actual ancestral village records!
  • DNA testing has led to KAM now knowing the final destination of the last descendant of her great-grandparents.
  • KAM’s mom now knows she has cousins in Norway!